Hi all, I hope everyone is doing well! I'm having such a bad time with Llewy's sleep over the last couple of weeks. He's always been a good sleeper, we sort of bed share - his cot is attached to the side of my bed with one of the sides taken off. He usually goes to bed at 7pm and he comes in with me when he wakes up at around 1am then boobs on and off until wake up around 6am. But this last few weeks he's learned to crawl and since then he's so unsettled, he sits up in his sleep and starts crawling about, he wakes up ridiculously early - before 5am today 😳 this is fine at the moment as I'm off work for the summer but come September this is going to be a massive issue.
Basically I'm asking is this normal and will it stop? I'm starting to get quite down about the very early wake ups, it's a very long day alone with a baby when the day starts at 5am 🙁 thanks for reading if you've got this far ❤️
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Kitcat12
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Hi My little one is 7 months old tomorrow. she had slept fairly well for the first 3 months and she then went into a regression early which lasted for 8 weeks, up every 2 hours or less, because I was so tired I just fed her back to sleep which I soon realised was just a comfort thing, but at that point I was just doing it as it was easy to quieten her down quickly. I then worked on sleep training using a sleep guide that didn’t require an extended period of “crying it out“ which really helped. She learnt quite quickly and then She was only waking once a night for a couple of months and has started sleeping through in the last week. But I would say It takes a lot to muster up the strength to not pick them up at 2am in the morning when you just want them to be quiet. I’d say if you want to help him along so it’s tackled in the next few weeks then sleep training is a good idea. Good luck xx
Thanks for your reply lovely. I'm really unsure about any form of sleep training. I can't stand for him to cry, even for short periods to be honest. Can you tell me a bit about how it works? x
It doesn’t bother me too much as long as I know she’s fed and safe. The guide I use teaches you the difference between a cry because they’re a bit grizzly or an emotional cry. The emotional cry (the one that pulls on your heartstrings) you don’t leave for anymore than 2 minutes. Grizzly Cries more of a whinge with different pitches and tones and not continuous you can leave for 20 minutes. It’s not as harsh as the full on cry to sleep method which is why I like it. But I didn’t need to cope with that for more than a few days as she learnt quickly. I also use white noise all night long, which I myself can’t sleep without now 😂 it also gives a guide for the daytime too. I only used parts of it to begin with to mainly help her nap away from me during the day, then I slowly started implementing the whole guide. It’s been a god send. But I get why some people don’t like using sleep programmes though! Xx
There’s so many ups and downs and it’s often linked to developmental milestones like you say, so before you know it things have changed again!! Which is another reason for me why I could never put us through sleep training and also the research I’ve looked at I wouldn’t do it personally, but you know your baby best
With lots of breastfeeds and cuddles I think babies ultimately become more independent with their sleep because they feel so secure, it just can take lots of time
My little one is very similar to you we have a side car cot to our bed, sleep is very up and down, especially I’ve noticed when teething or learning a new skill but then it often settles down abit again for us. We had a phase of 4/5am wake ups but it just passed (I never did anything differently !!)
Thank you so much! This is so reassuring. It's great to hear that if sleep training isn't for us (I'm inclined to think it might not be) then he may just come through it in time x
Sounds completely normal, especially when they learn a new skill. I would say I know a lot children wake up about 5 half 5 even when much older. Especially in the summer when its light. My 2 year old never sleeps past 6, I have just had to go to bed earlier.
Hi, sounds like you are doing an amazing job. Your baby has found a new skill so just wants to try it out whenever he feels like it. Who can blame him 😏 my little boy was the same. A great sleeper until 3 months then sleep regression hit and he wasn't able to settle himself to sleep very well, which meant he would wake every 1 1/2 hours and only have boob to help settle. He often slept in bed with me just so I could get some sleep! When we moved him into his own room he seemed to change after a few weeks. He started waking up only once or twice in the night, would go back to sleep easy on his own. Not sure if it was because he likes to move around so had more space in his big cot then the small one in our room, or because i wasn't there so he couldn't smell my milk? Would moving him to his own room be an option? He went through another regression again and we just went in there and cuddled him,put him back in his cot and left the room again. Did this until he stopped crying. Took a few nights but he soon got the hang of it. This may be an option for you if you don't like crying. My friend did the pick up and put down technique where she stayed in the room with her babies and would put them down in their cot, when they cried she would pick them up then put them down again until they were either asleep or no longer crying. It took them a few weeks. It does get easier I promise. Good luck xx
Thanks lovely 🥰 at the minute I'm in his room with him so it's definitely an option for me to move out and back in to my own bed, I'm sure my partner will be pleased 😂 I like the sound of the methods you've described here, I think we're going to give it a go next week 😳x
Hi! It is super normal. There's this unrealistic expectation that at 6 months babies are sleeping 'through the night' which is total bs. Some might... and then start waking up lots of times after a couple of months. Literally speaking no human being sleeps through in the sense that we have sleep cycles that we connect with each other (adults cycles are longer than babies). It's a survival mechanism to ensure that every is well in our surroundings and that we can keep sleeping. It's very normal for adults to wake up at some point during the night, even more than once but we have lots of experience at constantly waking and immediately go back to sleep and also if anything in our environment or with ourselves is not right we can modify it and make it right again (if we're thirsty, uncomfortable, scared, hot etc.). Babies can't modify any of these things, need comfort often (not only fancy it but actually need it) and they don't have the experience of connecting sleep cycles all through the night (which in their case it's a lot of cycles). It takes time and they will get there. Unfortunately it's not something you can teach or expedite... you can only make sure their environment is appropriate so hopefully they connect cycles more often.
The early wake up time is pretty normal too. Babies are very primal and not very conditioned yet by our schedules but they will get there. It's very hard (my lg is in a sleep regression now) but they are babies for 5 minutes (not literally but you know what I mean).
I hope it gets better but pleas don't worry in the sense that something is wrong with your baby for not sleeping all night without calling for you several times xxx
Just wanted to add that at this age it might be time to increase the waketimes gradually as the norms are changing with them growing.
Going to sleep at 7 pm might be too early, not being awake for long enough periods can lead to early rising and waking up at night every 1-2 hours.
As for the sleep training, not all babies are capable of being trained at this age and later. If the nervous system is not ripened, they might not be able to relax and connect the relaxation and falling asleep. Adjusting the regime can help the sleep almost if not just as much as sleep training.
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