Getting desperate! - Real Mum story on MoM

I apologise in advance but this is a rather long story.

My youngest daughter has just turned 6 months. At around 2 months old she was a pretty good sleeper – having regular naps during the day and having one 6-7 hour sleep at night then waking every 2-3 hours after that. Then all of a sudden it was like a switch was hit and from then on it was a struggle to get her to sleep during the day and she was waking every hour at night. She’s been slightly better the past week or so, sleeping around 5 hours during the day (as opposed to the 2hrs she was having) and is sleeping for 1 1/2 – 2 hours at night before waking and repeating.

I’m really at a loss..she has the dummy and is wrapped. We’ve got a bedtime routine of quiet time/reading, bath, bottle and bed (in her darkened room). We’ve tried taking the dummy away, partially unwrapping her, completely unwrapped, rocking, patting, singing. Tried changing the time of her solids to night instead of morning, tried extra bottle, tried nurofen/panadol for teeth (I do know she is teething), infants friend and gripe water for wind, teddy warmed up on her belly, she’s currently on Losac for suspected silent reflux (has been on this for about 2-3 weeks and her head is raised in the cot), tried less clothes/blankets and more in case she was too hot/cold. She has very mild eczema and we rub cream on the couple of spots before bed (they’re significantly better now than they were about 2-3 weeks ago). She has a bowel movement every two days and has been like that since she was born.

She’s on Bellamy’s organic formula and has been since she was born (I was unable to breastfeed).

I think the only thing we haven’t tried is controlled crying and that’s because we have an almost 2 year old daughter who, if woken in the middle of the night is INCREDIBLY hard to get back into bed again.

My husband and I are currently doing on night on, one night off (whoever’s night it is sleeps on the lounge and our daughter is in the portacot) and it’s really starting to get to me. I can’t figure out what it could be – is she just a really bad sleeper? But then I feel like it has to be something because she was starting to sleep really well.

I have taken her to the doctors about it and they mostly just said to continue what we’re doing.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions because I’m starting to go a little crazy?

Thanks!

Posted anonymously, 25th May 2014

10 Comments

- - mum888 said
  - 04 Jan 2016
    9:09 am
Have you got a baby clinic near you . Talk to the childhood nurse there as they have been full of advice and help when my kids were born . Also I used to feed solid around 2-3 hours before bedtime ( as they say don’t sleep on a full stomach ) , then give them some milk before they sleep ( esp the sucking of the bottle teat makes them comfy and sleepy). Good luck .

- - dannsbuild said
  - 29 Sep 2015
    11:56 pm
Interesting topic! Good comments given as well! Thanks so much for sharing this!

- - mom81879 said
  - 12 Sep 2015
    8:12 am
Firstly, you could try trimming the daytime sleep, 5 hours is a bit extreme isn’t it? Just a thought

- - shortaez said
  - 16 Sep 2014
    3:19 pm
My son definitely does not like sleeping

- - bridgwll said
  - 01 Jun 2014
    5:51 pm
She has her times mixed up. So you need to keep her up as much as possible in the day for her to sleep at night. She is having her night sleep in the day so you need to reverse this. Add an extra scoop of formula to her bottle to thicken it just in case she has some heartburn discomfort. Maybe the organic milk is not suited to her … Just because that is what you prefer doesn’t mean she is getting what she needs each and every child is different it is all trial and error .

- - coppin85 said
  - 30 May 2014
    1:38 pm
I would take her to another doctor that may be able to help more…

- - tamandimmy said
  - 27 May 2014
    7:36 am
I think you need to call for help, Tressllian or Karatanie are the ones to help you.
Ask your community centre midwife or doctor to refer you, it will help everyone.

- - arcticwynta said
  - 26 May 2014
    11:38 pm
might also be worth checking that her bowel movement one every 2 days has turned into something else, May be nothing but worth checking

- - arcticwynta said
  - 26 May 2014
    2:48 am
I hope you find an answer as I have not had that problem with mine but my daughter does have a bit of going to bed problem with her son

- - Kelly said
  - 25 May 2014
    10:12 pm
By the sounds of it you have tried most things that i would of suggested.
I would head back to your GP and ask to be referred to a sleep doctor they are fantastic a few of my friends have been and their children now go to bed no problems and sleep through the night, they did say its hard to start with but its so worth it.
Good luck hope you get it sorted soon.