Saturday, March 28, 2009

Desperately Seeking Sleep

Well she's at it again, our little cherubic nightmare. Almost every other night she's waking every one or two hours, for no reason other than seeming to need to be put back to bed. She gets no feeds, no drinks, no conversation, no nuffin and STILL she wakes. Some nights are fine, but last night was a kicker - awake at 2am, 3am, 5.15am, 6am, and then 6.30am. She is not sick (hallelujah and pass the potatoes).

We have come to the conclusion she's doing this because she is constantly whinging to be picked up during the day, so spends most of the time being carried around, on account of the fact she's not walking yet, at almost 18 months - I am not worried, just exhausted and frustrated. I'm so tired I can't think straight half the time. Apologies to those of you who have noticed, LOL!

8 comments:

sharyn said...

God, sympathies!! Only thing that seems to work for miss minerva is to make sure she has at least an hour a day (not all at once) in the jolly jumper...wears her right out, make sure she eats & drinks lots during the day so the tank is full. then usually only one wake around 3am to put the dummy back in & remind her she is not alone in the house!. Also the temp has just dropped...is Lillian cold? those one piece fleecey sleep suits seem good. Otherwise I recommend running away from home or selling her on ebay (both things I've considered this week!) Good luck...oh and your car keys are in the freezer.

genevieve said...

Sending wishes of sleep to your daughter's brain right now.
Sounds like she needs to be entered in some crawling Olympics. Good luck :-)

traceyleigh said...

No advice here really, aside from maybe trying a different approach with her during the day. You poor love. I hope she starts sleeping for you soon. You've battled for so long with this :-(

xxx

Dustyjo said...

Oh gosh sympathies from me also. G is still yet to sleep through the night, not even once, and is feeding 2x per night. My body, brain and mind are completely addled.

Penni Russon said...

Oh Maria, you poor thing. Fred was a crap sleeper while Una didn't walk till she was almost two but she always slept quite well. Is she on the verge of walking? A lot of those milestones come with disruptions that settle down again later.

We used a version of Diane Levy's boring cuddle with Fred at night at 2 or 3 and that worked quite well...but Fred's default is crap sleeper (Una goes through crap phases, but her default setting is good sleeper). Actually I can't give any advice cause we fail at sleep, but I can give you buckets of empathy.

Good luck, hope it all settles down to a more bearable normal soon.

Maria said...

Thanks everyone - must blog more often, keep in touch! Love the idea of the crawling Olympics. Instead I took her and her brother to the pool this morning for some exercise. Hopefully it will have worn her out enough. She normally sleeps in a fleecy suit because it's cold in the mornings. Yes, she's just on the verge of walking and I am sure it's related to her unsettled nights. *sigh* Onward and upward.

Antoinette said...

Oh no Maria. I do sympathise. And empathise. Mine went through a stage like that too. Just when you think you've got the sleep thing sorted, they have to go and throw something like the ol' waking-every-two-hours-trick.

My girl didn't walk 'til she was nearly 18 months. You may be onto something there with the connection between sleep and getting ready to walk. It's a huge gear shift for them.

sharyn said...

Just had a couple more ideas whilst waiting for sleep to descend ...(default sleep deprivation setting!)when I was nannying a particularly sleepless 18 month old we discovered the joys of background static. just a radio tuned off station , on low. not sure why it worked, but did. also the hammock beds they had in that house, bub wakes, easy to reach over and just bounce the bed up and down til the motion put them back to sleep. I'm not sure whether they're too small for an 18 month old though. Also just got this in my email too, great site, even if it isnt australian (apparently babies are sleepless all over the world, how bout that!)
http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/week-36/crib-training.aspx?xid=nl_YourDailyNewsletterfromWhattoExpect_20090330