Help! DD won't sleep.

[leighe]

I am so frustrated. DD (10 weeks) is completely inconsistent when it comes to sleeping at night. Most nights she goes to bed at about 11, gets up at 3am and then at 6. Monday night she went to sleep at midnight and slept until 5. Last night she didn't go to sleep until 4:30am then was up again at 5. She cried/fussed constantly unless you were holding her or feeding her (she's bottle fed). There just seems to be no pattern to her sleeping habits even though we make every effort to keep her on a consistent feeding/napping schedule. Most nights we can put her in her crib and she will coo and kick until she finally goes to sleep. Then some nights (like last night) she just cries all night no matter what you do. Her pediatrician doesn't think she has colic or acid reflux or anything like that. His only suggestion has been to keep her on a schedule as much as possible. I am so exhausted but I swear the worst part is never knowing what is going to happen. DH is out of town until Sunday so it's just me this week.

My brother, sister, and I all slept through the night at 6 weeks, my DH did at 7 weeks, the three little boys I baby-sat in high school/college at 5-7 weeks, my friend Kayla's baby at 8 weeks - so what am I doing wrong? Any suggestions or advice?

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

No advice but wanted to send hugs and support. .

 

[mickeyboat]

My kids didn't sleep consistently through the night until 9 months or later. Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but some babies don't develop consistent sleep patterns by 10 weeks. They sleep like little troupers now, at 5 and 6, so it was worth it.

Does your DD sleep in your room? I found that when the slept in their own rooms, they tended to sleep a lot better - or maybe I didn't wake up every time they sighed or wimpered.

Does your DD take a pacifier? I swore I would not give my kids pacifiers, but it was the only way Emily would sleep longer than 15 minutes at a time - I waited until she was 4 months old.

Good luck.

Denae

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Kids and sleeping...ugh. You know you sound like you have had her checked out medically, no ear infections right?

Some kids are great sleepers and some are not. Just keep up the consistency and it will fall into place. I also think it is about weight gain??? Once they reach a certain weight, they start sleeping through the night.

My "bad sleeper" is now 14 and I woke up at 2am, and there she was AWAKE on the computer! I sent her to bed but now she is going to want to sleep in till 2.
They are on spring break.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

Good luck. You are most likely doing NOTHING WRONG. Some babies don't sleep well until almost a year old. Period.
I had a few like that, each one is different. Hang in there!

 

[Tinijocaro]

I know it's frustrating, but I don't think the majority of babies sleep well at 10 weeks of age. That is so young. My sister's son did it at three weeks, but she let him cry it out, which I don't agree with for a young infant. None of my four slept well till close to a year. Then, just when you get them sleeping well, they get sick, or daylight savings happens, and you have to do it all over again!

Jackie

 

[Christine]

Don't you hate the "my baby slept through the night at 6 weeks" stories? You hear a lot of those. You don't hear the majority of stories of the babies who don't. The parents are just too tired to talk about it--or they are embarrassed by the wonderful parents who were patting themselves on the back about their kids who slept through the night.

My kids did not sleep through the night until they were about 9 months old.

BUT, I will say that within that, they were consistent. They did fall asleep around 8:00 p.m. every night. But they consistently woke up in the middle of the night. They went back to sleep quickly though.

I don't have any words of wisdom but I don't think you are doing anything wrong. This is just how this child is right now and I think you pediatrician is correct in that you should stick to a schedule as best you can.

 

[Hannathy]

Your child is just being a normal baby ,sorry. None of mine slept more than 4-5 hours until almost a year. I didn't even hope for any regularity until closer to 6 mos. I also do not agree with letting them cry it out. It is hard and seems never ending at the time but sooner than you think you'll be on her saying my teen sleeps 14 hrs ughhh. Hang in there and don't let others tell you how wonderful there kids were and good sleepers blah blah blah - most exaggerate ! or have terrible memories.

One important thought nap when you can and if the house is a wreck who cares take care of you.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My first 2 slept through the night at 8 weeks.

My 3rd was 9 months! He drove me batty.

Good luck! Sleep when you can, everything else can wait.

Lori

 

[tw1nsmom]

How much does your DD weigh? Our pediatrician told us (admittedly almost six years ago) that until babies are at least 12 pounds that they need to wake up to eat at least once a night.

As long as she's waking up hungry, then she needs to be fed. When it eventually becomes waking up and she refuses to eat, then she may be physically able to sleep through the night, but not emotionally. Her body may be slowly making the shift, and that's why there's an inconsistency. Besides, I had my twins on a schedule too, but babies can't tell time and sometimes we need to adjust a little to their internal clock.

Please don't compare your baby to others. I've heard all these stories about babies sleeping through the night very early in their lives. I'm not sure I completely believe all of them. Also, remember that when we were babies our mothers were encouraged to start feeding thinned out cereal at a very early age, and the formula was different. We know now that babies just aren't ready to process all that, but of course babies with a full tummy sleep longer.

 

[Nancy]

Sleeping "all night" isn't really all night for some babies. I used to say that my oldest slept all night when she was 6 weeks old..but really she had a bottle at 11:00 and slept 5 hours, had another bottle and slept another 3...that certainly isn't all night! Then we always had nigts where the scheduale wasn't anything remotely close to that...that is just what babies do....just when you think you have it all figured out..they do something else.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I've had four kids and not one had the same sleep pattern as another--The only thing you can do is go with the flow-Everyone kept telling me to wake them up to feed them so they would be on a schedule but I never did this maybe if you are waking her up shes mad about it lol you never know--my DS14 slept thru the night after about 2 weeks scared the crap out of me that first morn I woke up,they actually tested him because he would sleep about 10 hrs if we didnt wake him up-He would go to bed at the start of Arsenio and wake up with Phil Donahue every day(anyone remember these shows)--DS10 had no sense of time at all he was most like your DD but at about 4 months he started his regular schedule and would only wake up once during the night usually between 3 and 4am---DD8 wasn't to bad but she didnt get regular for a long time(she had night and day mixed up)she was on a regular type schedule at about 4 months also but she didnt wake up during the night at all for a feeding--DD4 was the toughest because of all her probs w/formula DH(Army) was away at the time and it was just me and boy was I tired she eventually straightened out when we found the formula that was right for her and after that she was sleeping thru the night by 6 months

Just relax let things go and try not to be the perfect mommy none of us are-We learn to roll with the punches but do try to get as much you time as possible-With the other kids I wasnt always able to sleep when DD4 did and found that it only made things worse on the situation--Sleep every chance you get-if you dont shower for a day or two oh well-If the sink is full of dirty bottles and the laundry pile is growing into the hall oh well---Enjoy your baby and get as much sleep as possible and in a little while everything will fall into place!

 

[Hillbeans]

Leighe, my son will be 6 months on the 23rd, and he's not slept through the night once. He's had a few 7 hour stretches, but that's about it.

Last night he was up 4 times with a bad cough.

My oldest child slept through the night at around 11 weeks. I think my baby just doesn't sleep well and is a very light sleeper - and he's a big baby and wants to eat at least once during the night.

I hope for all of our new mom's sake, we get some well deserved sleep soon. Enjoy your new baby!

 

[leighe]

Thanks for all the replies! I am really very laid back and knew from the very beginning I wasn't going to be a perfect mommy so there was no reason to stress about not being perfect . . . but the sleeping thing was really starting to get to me. It seemed like everybody I know had a baby who just slept all night. I totally don't mind the not sleeping all night - I just wish she had some kind of routine so I knew what to expect. We are even thinking about cancelling our April Disney trip so we can try to keep her on her schedule. She actually sleeps better in her crib in her nursery than she does in her cradle in our room - maybe it's because she knows we're not right there to jump up the minute she cries. I also think that crying it out at this age is not very effective - usually I'll let her fuss for 5 minutes or so and if she hasn't put herself to sleep or calmed down by then I'll pick her up. When she is hungry she has a very definite cry - last night she was just fussy and whimpering the whole time.

 

[mariolatry]

My baby is 7-months old and still doesn't sleep all night.

Everyone was full of advice and criticism and I was always filled with the sense of urgency to "fix" the sleep problem so that she wasn't a bad sleeper forever. I've tried most of the solutions and she still doesn't sleep through the night. What worked for us was napping a lot during the day, lowering my expectations of what I could accomplish during the day (especially when I was up all night), and following my baby's lead.

It's probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

[minkydog]

Well, now you know a whole bunch of people whose kids didn't sleep through at 6wks I think that is probably not the norm anyway. At 10wks most babies are only sleeping 5hrs at a stretch on a good night.Take naps when the baby naps--I know people tell you that, but you really have to or you're going to be seriously sleep-deprived.

I have three kids and none of them slept through until at least 9months--my oldest was well over a year old. It made me crazy at the time, but there wasn't much I could do to change them. Eventually they learned to sleep. My 19yo could sleep through a trainwreck.

 

[zalansky]

Add me to the list of moms with babies who don't sleep through the night! My dd just turned 6 months old and is still not sleeping through the night either. She has done this only one time and I am now sure it was a fluke.
At this point, she goes to bed at 8pm, wakes at midnight, we feed her and she sleeps until 6-7am....sometimes even waking earlier! If that happens, I give her the paci and she falls back to sleep....but it still interrupts my sleep which can be maddening after 6 months! I've learned sleep deprivation can change a person completely.
I have a DS who slept much better than this....so it is not parenting. Just know you're not alone. Someday, hopefully soon, we'll all be sleeping soundly again!