Why oh why is my baby not sleeping?

[sinead]

I just need to moan for a minute. Feel free to offer any suggestions if you can think of something!

Ever since Molly has RSV over New Year's her sleep has been awful. She's sleeping 2 or 3 hours at a time (or, like tonight, 1 hour at a time :O ), and this is the kid who was sleeping 6 or 8 or sometimes even more at one time!

I'm still nursing, and part of me wonders if something's up with my milk. I've had a sinus infection for the last week, but I've been drinking more water than normal, so I wouldn't think that would be it.

WAH! Any ideas? I'm exhausted and I just feel awful that she's not sleeping and clearly not happy. :( I'm thinking of taking her in to the doc tomorrow just to get them to check her in case there's an ear infection or something. I'm stumped otherwise!

[kateypie]

Oh poor you, that IS exhausting!! I quite often find when my daughter doesn't sleep well, and has had a cold or virus, it's her ears. She gets ear infections a lot. I hope it's not that, but at least that is something you can fix!

Otherwise it could be perhaps that she has gotten in the habit of waking? Mine do that too sometimes when they've been sick, and it just takes some time to get them back into the routine of things.

Good luck!!

[jacinda]

Oh dear, that must be tiring for both of you. You're not feeding her every time she wakes are you? Stick to your normal feed times and inbetween maybe a bit of tough love? Or just cuddles and straight back to bed. I bet the SuperNanny website would have some answers.

[judet]

How old is she? We had problems with Lizzie sleeping but she 18th months and sly and mucking us around :-). I think Kateypie's probably right in that she's got out of the routine of sleeping and maybe is expecting more attention in the night since she was ill. I think that was the problem with Lizzie, after a while of us being a little more 'hands off' (stroking her hair rather than picking her up and just saying 'night night' and tucking her in) she got back into the habit of just going back to sleep if she woke up without needing us.

Are you demand feeding? (Had to laugh at 'normal feed times' Jacinda - I never had those!) The only thing I remember from those days is to try to put them down awake (sleepy but not quite asleep) so that they don't wake after an hour and expect to be in Mummy's arms.

We've had a couple of rough nights with Abbie (decided to try night training and don't think it was a good idea!) so you have my sympathy Sinead :-)

[Charla]

Mari and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago when Hudson went through this.
She's 8 months now...is she on the verge of learning something new? Crawling/cruising/walking? That seems to affect their sleep patterns, for some reason.
Or teething?
Hudson did both for awhile and he and I had some rotten nights. :nite: Thankfully he's sleeping better again, or I'd be even more scatterbrained than I am :giggle:

[gonewiththewind]

Oooh, girl, Daniel is 4 1/2 now . . . and I just remember those sleepless nights were miserable. We had the added problem of his surgeries that totally messed up his sleeping that we are just NOW getting somewhat better. So I am not here to give any advice 'cause obviously I'm a huge pushover . . . LOL . . . just sending you BIG HUGS. Been there. Done that. Correction. Still doing that some. HA!

[danijane]

Sinead...did you take any antibiotics for your sinus infection and/or did she take any antibiotics? Could she have thrush? I don't know if you have ever dealt with this..but I did all the time with Ava because the child got everything you could get and then I had mastitis and had to take antibiotics and well between her and I it was a viscous circle of her with thrush in her mouth and me with nipple thrush and rounds of diflucan and nystatin and "the purple paint" oye, oye...now my Ava would sleep more during her thrush episodes but some kids don't sleep and they are more irritable.

I think it is fantastic that she slept that long as a nursing baby..wow....NEVER did my kids do that and I nursed Ava until she was 3, so you know what that meant..I didn't sleep for 3 years, lol!!!

Whatever it may be, I will say a prayer it gets better...I have heard some parents say all it took was one illness to take their sleeping baby to a non sleeping baby and their baby never went back to being that good sleeper until the nursing was done?

Hugs to you hon :)

[sinead]

Thanks, everybody, for the thoughts! Last night was another rotten night (she was up 8 times between 6 and 9), so I decided to bring her in to the doc this morning just to make sure there wasn't anything wrong before I made her cry it out.

So, her ears and lungs are good. And when the doc was tilting her head back so that he could look into her nose, I got a really good luck at the 4--yep, 4!!--top teeth that are all on the verge of breaking through. Mystery solved! He gave me something called Magic Mouthwash, so hopefully that'll make her feel better as we wait for those darn teeth.

Oh, and Charla, yep, she's just started crawling. That isn't helping matters either, I'm sure.

[sinead]

Danielle, mastitis and thrush are no fun at all. I'm sorry!

[MariKoegelenberg]

Oh Sinead! I wish I knew what it could be but I dont...(okay well maybe hey I am not a doctor right! :giggle:) But I so wish I could help you...it is hard when they dont sleep plus you have the other two who also demands your attention, I am sending you lots of hugs and 'peace' (because if you dont sleep you get irritable...or I do at least and then I am not a friendly person at all!)...I use a herbal remedy called Schlehen Blackthorn Berry Elixir by Weleda (my Mom brought it from home so I dont know if you get it here) but this just about saved my life with Chrismari who did not sleep at all and as a nursing mom not getting rest that does influence your milk supply...oh the active ingredients are: Extract Prunus Spinosa, Fructus and Sugar (so it is very sweet and not recommended for diabetics). It tastes good and it just gives you that extra 'boost' and is wonderful to keep your milk supply going.

[Charla]

I'm glad there's a clear reason for it! It makes it so much easier to handle, doesn't it?? Still not fun, still exhausting, but at least if there's a reason then hopefully there will be reprieve soon.
I hope the teeth come through and she starts crawling so she can sleep again :)

[jacinda]

Would a dose of baby Pamol (pain reliever) help at night to make her more comfortable for sleeping?

[sinead]

Mari, I might have to look into that.

Charla, thanks!

Jacinda, this Magic Mouthwash stuff is a mix of Benadryl, Lidocaine, and Maalox, and I'm supposed to rub the mixture on her gums several times a day. I did give her a dose of Tylenol last night just in case it was teeth or ears or whatever, but it didn't seem to help. We'll see how tonight goes... :)

[kateypie]

Good luck, hope tonight is better! That's the only good thing about having crap nights, is that one night you just magically have a great sleep and you feel like a million bucks, even if it's not as much sleep as you'd like, it's still better than the previous nights.

[judet]

Hopefully they'll pop through soon - sending tooth vibes your way!

My eldest was AWFUL when her top teeth were coming through, screaming absolute blue murder for days. Teething must be awful, I moan and groan enough when I've got toothache. Hope she's on top form and sleeping properly soon :-)

[danijane]

oh yes good ole magic mouthwash...Ava had that when she had a good ole case of herpangina (aka hand foot and mouth virus) How is that working for her...no wonder she was acting that way...4 teeth, that hurts...poor baby!

[marianneh]

...I use a herbal remedy called Schlehen Blackthorn Berry Elixir by Weleda It tastes good and it just gives you that extra 'boost' and is wonderful to keep your milk supply going. oh YES +100 for that stuff!! add some rescue remedy and it's all good, calms you right down :) Mari - SO glad to hear you also used this! I had my family bring some over as well :) it really does work like a charm!!

Sinead - hun, I don't actually have any remedies, just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you and sendin prayers and love your way .... I'm horrid when I don't sleep, so really, taking my hat off to you {{hugs}} glad to hear about the teeth though, maybe she's over the worst already?

[sinead]

Thanks, guys! She's doing better with the sleep, so whew! :)