little girl just doesnt sleep
 

ok bit background first

she was born 5 weeks early but still wayed, 6pound 6oz, ever since born her sleep pattern has never been right.


now she is 2 yrs 8 mts, is extremely intelligent, can count to 15, reel off the full abcd etc etc, speech is awesome and knows the meaning of nearly all words and strings perfect sentances along, she has the attention span to stack a plile of building bricks 20 odd high, she has had constant love and encouragement since day one as nanna is a qualified child minder so holly spends her time between nanna and the wife with constant stimlulation

she really is a good little girl knows right from wrong and puts me to shame sometimes lol, naturally she has her temper tantrums etc end of day shes only two


she does horse riding every week, dancing school every week, she adores reading, writing and drawing

but she just doesnt sleep, no probs going off to bed at 7 ish, bt awakes maybe 3 times during the night, she awakes at 4 aybe 5 every morning and insists on getting up and watching her kiddies progs in the living room

gets lots of love from mummy and daddy and never go's without, but at the same time we try our best not to spoil her so sometimes we stand our ground no matter what tamptrum shes throwing infront of us

shes well potty trained, well actually hates potys she uses the normal toilet, but for some reason will only do a number two in a nappy ...lol we can live with that for the mo


so what can we do? we have another baby due in max 8 weeks so naturally things are going to become a lot harder, but we will try our best not to make her left out when new one comes


heres the little devil herself:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/07...Picture145.jpg

gin

gorgeous girl you have there :)

what do you do when she wakes in the night? do you speak to her, give her a cuddle etc etc... if you do then stop, when she wakes just pop her back into bed, do not make eye contact with her, do not cuddle or make a fuss of her and do not speak to her... sounds harsh i know, but trust me it DOES work, once they have realised that their behaviour recieves no attention at all they will stop.
My boy kept waking in the night, sometimes up to 10 times a night he would get out of bed, i was given this advise and followed it strictly, within 3 nights he was sleeping right through from 7:30 to between 6:30 and 7:30am. not had any more problems since!
My boy too is bright as a button, and always on the go, at under 2 years old says over 130 words clearly, can count to 6 and do abc up to f, though he can pick out all letters if you ask for specific ones off the fridge!! Can be very tiring or the parent when a child needs constant stimulation and attention, so a good nights sleep for all is essential!

it is yes but worth it



she awakes for a botle as she still has a bottle at nightimes to go off to sleep, or sometimes may be a nightmare etc, normally she just takes the bottle and goes back off after 10 mins or so but its soooo tireing

not so much of the cuddles etc

Of couse, you need to do something about it or, it will drain you and your partner esp. if the other one is on its way.Docs do prescribe medication for short period that can be given to her at night.That will give her intact sleep and regularise the pattern.Apart from that, tiring her out with lots of play etc. will be good thing too.
Hope prob gets sorted for you soon.She looks lovey:)

Read the contented little baby book by Gina Ford, theres a chapter on sleeping patterns, goes into more detail to what Scoobyangel has said. You may have to do "controlled crying", eg let her cry for 10 mins, settle her down, if she wakes again go to her in 15minis, and so on. Hopefully she'll get the message that no one will come if she keeps crying, and will settle back to sleep by herself. Get her off the night time feed!!

Our twins are just over 8 months and sleep through from 7pm to 7pm. Fully recommend this book.

I'm going through exactly the same with my baby.
He's only 7 months though but wakes up 6times a night and I'm exhausted :(

I've bought a few books with ideas in that might help you...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...012968-8287618

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...012968-8287618

Hope you find some ideas to help you soon.

cath

BOTH my lads woke at least 3 times every night from birth to about 3 years old.............in fact the eldest stopped doing it just as the youngest was born, so we had 6 years of it!

Then they just stopped, one night they were doing it, the next, not, that was it! Very odd.

Alcazar

don't watch The Ring :D

Don't let him sleep too long during the day, we don’t allow more than 3 hours of sleep during the day. We've set the following routine for our 8 month old twins:

7am -gently wake them up, (draw the curtains, leave the room for them to wake up naturally, if they are not awake already). Once awake, bottle feed both. then play with them until....
8.am - breakfast (solids - blended fruits with some baby rice). keep them entertained until...
9-9.15am – half an hour nap and no more as they will sleep till the afternoon if given the chance.
11am - lunch time.
12-12.30 - 2 hour nap in their bedroom (curtains drawn to keep room dark)
2pm - bottle feed milk. more play until
5pm - dinner
6pm - bath time.
6.45pm - bottle feed
7pm - sleep.

We’ve stuck to this routine, based loosely on what we’ve read in the Gina Ford book. Sticking to a routine is essential. We have found that if you let them wake up naturally, do this by draw open the curtains and remove covers and leave the room, they got used to waking up without us there and will entertain themselves. If you go to them and pick them up as soon as they wake, either for morning or afternoon naps, they will expect this when they wake up during the night. Now and again they stir around 4am-5am but now are able to get themselves back to sleep. Eventually we’ll cut out the daytime sleeps as they get older.

I empathise with you all as we have been through the same situation, so I really hope this helps you.

We took our little girl to cranial osteopath - there's a thread on here about it somewhere - seems to have helped no end. She sometimes only sleeps for 30 minutes during the day, but every night she sleeps 7 pm to between 6 and 7 am. She's 11 months old and has been sleeping like that since about 6 months.

It's worth considering the cranial business. We took ours cos she was born with ventoux and eventually forceps, and her nut was a funny shape. The improved sleeping was an unexpected benefit. :)

Another thumbs up for the controlled crying technique, as it helped with my 2.5 year old insomniac. It's pretty simple but you've got to stick with it. Leave them to cry for 5 mins then go in and put them straight back in bed : no drinks, no attention, no talking ; leave the room. If she starts carrying on again let her cry for 7 minutes then go in and do the same. Increase the crying period by 2 mins each time. She should be sleeping through within the week. You may have to repeat the process if for example she becomes ill and her sleep pattern is disrupted again.

propercharlie funny ya say that


she had to be puled out with the sucker thing on her head which i hated, porr little thing has a sore bump on the head for days

[Harry Enfield]This baby is having a restless night whereas this baby is sleeping peacefully. Thats because this baby's mother gives it......GIN. For a good nights sleep drink GIN[/Harry Enfield]

Apples - I have a 2 year old monster and he still wakes up once maybe twice through the night its not every night but he still does it.
Just out of curiosity is she in a cot still or in a bed? (some still have them in cots)
when thomas was 7 months old he would not sleep in a cot at all so i put him in a bed and he started sleeping through but then he started waking occasionally. he still wakes now i go into him lie him back down and give him his blanket then he goes off to sleep on his own I do not stay in the room with him as sometimes this will make him want to play. Its tiring but if you can stick by it then you will do just fine.
What drink do you give her through the night?
I put lil man to bed after he has had a drink (8pm) then leave his cup within reach incase he wakes up wanting a drink he knows where it is so sometimes i do not need to go into him.
Not sure what she has to drink through the night but maybe giving her a biscuit or something to eat 30 mins before she goes to bed might help her to go through the night a bit more?

she has a proper single bed with side suport

in the bottles she has full fat milk

My friends little girl is 2 yrs6 months and she dosnt really go through the night. She is super intelligent and her speech and language ability is fantastic.Whereas my niece who is 2yrs 3 months, doesnt really talk, but sleeps all the night without waking from 8ish till 7ish. Seems to me to be a pattern with these children who are a bit more advanced - could be wrong, but thats in my professional opinion.


Jane x

aww a lil beauty mate :) a princess

my kids the same mate, she has always been hyper

dont let her sleep during the day, what way she will be tired at night, play alot with her during the day and at night maybe a wee run in the car, the kids tend to get sleepy in the car for some reason :D

then put her to bed at night

she hardly sleeps during the day, if she does maybe an hour or so but its quite rare


getting her to bed isnt also a problem, most nighs she asks to go lol

Relax. Sounds like she'll grow up to be a Tory Prime Minister :)

Try getting her off the bottle. Gradually reduce the amount she has in the night by a couple of ounzes every few days. My youngest was the same waking in the night expecting a feed and it worked for him. After a week or so of reducing what he had he went through one night and that was the end of it. Also agree with the no talking or eye contact method.

Good luck

Martyn

I'm so glad to say that from 6 weeks old Dan has slept for 10 hours a night :D He's maybe only 3 months old and I'm sure he'll become a little monster in years to come but I hope to god he continues to sleep all night!!

Problem solved
 

My 7 week old has been messing about for the last week so I have applied the same solution that worked for his older sister.

By about 10pm last night when he hadn't been to sleep since about 5pm (he's supposed to go at 7pm but he isn't word perfect on Geena Ford yet...) I wrapped him up warm and stuck him in the scoob and headed off into the country - half an hour later of being jiggled in the back of a noisy decatted P1 and he's fast asleep. It doesn't work in our other car so the scooby warble strikes again.

He stayed asleep until 7:30am this morning, instead of the usual 2 wakeups/feeds in that time.That's the second time this week that it's worked. I'm thinking of writing a child care book :);)

From what I can see, you do have a cutie :)

Unfortunately she has gotten into a routine that you keep feeding. this routine needs to be starved and although you might find it heartless in the beginning you will all benefit having a proper sleeping pattern.

Decide upon a routine and stick to it.

At exactly the same time every eveing bath your Daughter - pop on jimjams and sit in lounge to read a bed-time story. It's important to read the story outside the bedroom because then the bedroom will not be associated with night-time excitement.

Put your Daughter to bed after the story, after cuddles and kisses. Pop into bed and leave the room.

If she wakes up in the night (which she will do for a few days) simply pop her back into bed with no kisses, cuddles, drinks or treats. If she is that distressed, give a very small quanity of plain water. If she is really thirsty she will drink it - if it's just attention seeking she wont. However, it's important not to make a fuss or to start talking.

She will soon realise there are no benefits attached to waking up and will, within one week (possibly 2 for a stubbon girl) be sleeping like a baby.

Ahhhh... child psychology - aren't they just great :D

scoobypreza-did you say Adam was born with ventouse?

I've noticed a pattern with babies that have assistance coming out, my partner's boy with his ex was born by ventouse he said and had probs sleeping and also noticed PC said about his little girl. My baby was born with no assistance and i'm amazed at what a calm little guy he is-no probs sleeping. Seems like the osteopath is a good option along with the other advice on here:)

Our problem is he wont even sleep during the day :eek:
He never sleeps :freak3:

I'm lucky if he will have 30mins in the day!!!
How can a baby survive on such little sleep ???

Yeah Weapon69.......
He was dragged out by vontouse so we have been going to a cranial osteopath for a couple of months.

I can't say it has made any difference to his sleeping but he is much happier in himself so I would recommend it for sure.

Apples.....
She may need a little fine tuning to sleep maybe?
Won't harm to try it :)

cath

How's it going now Apples???

itw worse lol

she is bright awake at 5 or 6 most mornings wanting her programs on ( the kiddies stuff)

still wakes a few times during the night

we have tried keeping her awake till ten no good, tried making sure she has a good nap in afternoon no change

as for the bottle havent realy tried reducing that

I'd say it's perhaps worth for an appointment with a cranial osteopath. My boy (now 2.5) had complicated ventouse delivery and did not sleep for more than a couple of hours until he was about 8 months old. Turns out the delivery has mis-shaped his head and was causing problems with his sleep gland releasing the appropriate chemicals at the right times (seratonin/melatonin/can't remember exactly?) This is how cranial ostepath explained to us.

...anyway he how sleeps through every night from 7.30 - 6.30, and the improvements came in exactly the way the osteopath explained over the 3 or 4 appts we had over a couple of months. Initial effect was immediate and after first session the kid slept for 8 hours (never more than 3 before that!:eek: )

From a year or so he still woke a few times in the night (for more attention, or because he was simply used to it) so a bit of controlled crying (ie. going in for 60 seconds, few calming strokes of the head and back into bed) did the trick in a few days

Probably worth a try with the C.O. for just a few quid. Our osteopath mentioned that almost all babies and toddlers that came to her with issues like ours had been delivered with either ventouse or forceps.


Hope this helps
Joolz

PS. Cute kid, and an obviously proud parent :D:D:D

She can see what a fuss you are making apples... did you do the routine bit? (see my post above) 6pm is about the right time to get a small child ready for bed. Have lots of fun in the bath, betime story in the lounge then straight to bed - no fuss, no attention. Do not re-enter the room unless absolutely necessary and don't speak to her if you have to. I suspect you are still feeding her psychologically which is why it keeps on. Cruel to be kind really does work :)

PS. The osteopathic treatment, although not yet medically proven, has shown to have great benefits. I would give that a go as mentioned above - nothing to lose and everything to gain :)