How did your Valentine's Day morning go? Breakfast in bed? Exchanging cards over a cuppa? I spent mine glueing toothpicks to my eyelids to stay awake while ripping my sheets off my bed as after I finally got Rafe back to sleep after he'd been awake since 4am wanting to play, (fuck you four month sleep regression) I needed to stealthy change his nappy - but obviously not stealthy enough as he woke up and peed all over my bed. Which he thought was HILARIOUS....And they say romance is dead.... P.s But he's the most gorgeous Valentine isn't he? ❤️ So, the early hours of Wednesday were a laugh a minute. Rafe had taken a while to settle, then was up at 10.30pm for a feed, then every hour after that. After his 3.30am feed he was wide awake. Chatting away to himself and just wanted to play. I shushed and I sang Twinkle Twinkle a million fucking times, I begged, I paced up and down, I gently rocked, I tried putting him on my boob, I tried leaving him to self soothe - nothing. This dude wanted to party. Every time I put him back down, a few minutes later I would peer over the snuzpod and he would just be staring back at me and smiling as if to say - YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SLEEP MUM. Was cute - but exhausting. I fed him again at 5.30am and praise the Lord he fell asleep but I really needed to change his nappy. I can do this without waking him, I thought. I don't need a changing mat, I thought. He won't wee as soon as I take the nappy off, even though he's done that very thing a million times before, I thought...So I held my breath and unzipped his sleeping bag and had everything prepared on the bed to do a record breaking nappy change. Just as I was about to put on his nappy, he decided this would be a good time to have a fucking wee. To prevent it from going anywhere, in my sleep deprived state I just put my hand out. Which made it spray everywhere. All on my sheets. So obviously Rafe woke up as I was trying to quietly take the sheets off my bed while through gritted teeth saying FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. He found it all hilarious though. Then he refused to go back to sleep and in the end only had one measly 30 minute nap during the day - and on top of that he had his immunisations in the morning, which were obviously awful for him. 😢 So he was just so upset all afternoon. Poor little man. AND wait for it.....We have teeth!! Well one tooth coming through. (Four month sleep regression+Leap 4+immunisations+teething=BRUTAL 😩) I noticed he had been quite upset the day before and then on Tuesday he was screaming and putting his finger in the same spot, so I had a look and there it was. A little white spot in his gum. (Wasn't it just yesterday that I was holding this tiny baby in my arms for the first time - and now my boy is getting his first tooth?!) I just feel so sorry for him and his little rosy cheeks but Anbesol seems to help and my friends recommended Teetha teething granules and they sometimes soothe him. But some days nothing seems to work and he's just so upset. He just hasn't been himself for a few days. (Any other teething tips to help? I have a teething mit, Sophie the giraffe and of course the wonderful calpol.) So back to Wednesday. On top of him being awake since 4am, his jabs and teething - he had a pretty rough first Valentine's Day. I'd had better too! Husband is still away. To be fair, I think my husband and I have spent one Valentine's Day together in the last six years as he's always been working and it's not like we go overboard anyway - but I do tend to miss him that little bit more if he's not here - especially when you see people posting cute Facebook statuses while I'm cleaning up wee. (His course finishes in March but he's getting to come home for the weekend next week for Rafe's hospital appointment. It's been six weeks so he's going to see such a huge change. Can't wait for him to see Rafe.) So, this four month sleep regression is literally having my life. For those who have gone through it - seriously help! A mum commented on my post last week and gave some great advice about trying to change up Rafe's sleep associations so he doesn't always need rocking, or shushed, being on the boob. She said she has tried reading to her little one - or introducing a cuddly toy when feeding so they associate sleep with those things. But Rafe seems to be as stubborn as his mum and is not having any of it. It's boob - or rocking to sleep - or awake all night. I've been googling loads (obviously 🙈) and read that you should try and get baby to be able to self soothe back to sleep - and try to gradually take away each way you normally try to get baby to sleep (although keep using white noise) or you're making a bit of a rod for your own back if you have to always shush to sleep. And to try and have at least one nap in his cot and to have the room dark - and the big one - to put him down drowsy but he literally wakes up straight away and cries! I've tried leaving him to cry it out but no joy. So basically, in a nutshell HELP. Will he just sort himself out and do this getting back to sleep malarkey on his own? Or do I need a miracle? Or can I do something? Oh and people keep mentioning MyHummy. I have used Ewan the sheep since he was born and it works sometimes - but it goes off and I keep almost breaking my back to put it back on. My friend is lending me her MyHummy to try out - wish me luck!! The fussy feeding is getting better(ish). I would recommend the teething necklace - https://www.mamaknows.co.uk/ as he pulls at it, rather than pulling at my boob! The fussiness seems to be just on some feeds - rather than all. But that could change again! He does however, seem to be feeding a bit more frequently. We had got into three hours between feeds routine (that dreaded word) but I don't know whether it's the teething, the development leap, growth spurt or what - but sometimes it's been every two hours or so again - or just having little snacks in between feeds. And obviously during the night he wants to feed a bit more. Have you found your baby seems to want to feed more at this delightful stage? I bought a Minbie bottle the other day and got my mum to try and feed the little monster with some expressed milk but he's just not a fan. It's like he doesn't really know what to do and he just doesn't want to do it. So that's three bottles tried - with no success. But my friend said to try three times with a bottle before moving on to another one so will keep trying. I honestly wish I'd tried sooner but I was just so terrified of the whole bloody nipple confusion and because I struggled to breastfeed to start with I worried introducing a bottle would have a negative impact early on. I know midwives and health visitors advise not to try a bottle until breastfeeding is established so it's so hard as a first time mum to know what to do - but I know so many other babies who had boob and bottle early on - and took to both well. But who knows? He may never have taken a bottle and always preferred breast. And it's not like I want to stop breastfeeding - it's just so I can have a break now and again. Or have a night out! It's my birthday coming up (21 again 😩) so I'd ideally want to be face first in tequila for the night. I might just try and skip the bottle and go straight to a cup. Has anyone had success with this? And finally - Hartbeeps this week was a Valentine's Day special. Literally LOVED it! So I will leave you with this photo ❤️ - and again, to all those going through the four month sleep regression and teething - high fucking five. We've got this!
Faye x P.s Thank you in advance for all of your advice, I know I've asked a million questions but value all your help! P.p.s Lasted two days on giving up chocolate and biscuits for lent. As my friend quite rightly said: "You're fucking sleep deprived. Why the fuck would you give up chocolate and biscuits? You need it." So who am I to argue with her and everyone else who said I was an idiot?! So I'll give up cereal bars instead....🙈
10 Comments
Sam
2/18/2018 06:21:00 am
This is literally my life right now! I’m a week behind you and hoping someone leaves a magic cure in the comments!! And advice on how to get baby to sleep anywhere but on my chest with boob in his mouth?! Help!
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Faye
2/18/2018 11:12:38 am
I am praying to all the Gods that someone leaves a magic cure too! What is sleep? ? We've got this though! ?
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Kylie
2/18/2018 01:50:41 pm
Keep trying the Minbie. I tried a few diff bottles and my son wouldnt take any (around 14weeks old). It took many attempts but he did eventually take the minbie at 16weeks old. Then once he took that a few times we moved over to tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and he switches fine between bottle and breast now at nearly 19weeks old. My hubby actually did a night feed for me for the 1st time Friday night and i got a lie in saturday morn. I felt like a new woman Saturday! 🤣
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Faye
2/19/2018 11:56:29 am
Date night and a lie-in sounds amazing! Will deffo keep persevering - thank you xx
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Gemma
2/19/2018 08:19:07 am
My daughter is now 15 months old and has only just started falling asleep on her own, I thought I was doing something wrong and kept being told I was making a rod for my own back but I did anything to try and get some sleep!!!!! Don’t be so hard on yourself, you are doing a brilliant job and when he’s ready he’ll go off on his own, do anything to get him to sleep so you can get some rest xxxx
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Faye
2/19/2018 11:59:21 am
Thank you Gemma! It's such a minefield of knowing what to do - and if I had a pound for people saying, like they did for you, "you're making a rod for your own back." I'd be a very rich woman! But there is no way he's ready to settle on his own yet - so got to keep singing Twinkle Twinkle!! It's good to know there's light at the end of the tunnel xxx
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Jenny
2/19/2018 11:44:22 pm
I am a proud owner of a 2.5 yr old and my newbie is 3 months.my eldest still pings and ive tried everything but the only thing that works is the littlest interaction i change then feed and then when she tries to play smile or drum up conversation i dont react and pretend to go back to sleep which usually ends with me asleep for real in the chair. Obviously i cuddle and comfort if she gets upset but eventually she realises its not playtime and goes back to sleep. But this can take a while 4 hrs is the record.im hoping her sister wont be the same but we will soon see. But thats the only thing that works for us.but the pings do become less frequent over time she now only does them every few months now. Though it will be interesting when they both do it together.also i change everytime they wake before we feed so when they fall asleep they can go straight down no leaks or having to stealth change. Dont know if it will help but hopefully so. Thank god for coffee and chocolate.
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Faye
2/20/2018 04:01:47 pm
It does help - thank you! Good to know it's not just me going through these things. And long live chocolate and coffee!! Hope you're having a successful night! x
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Manpreet
2/21/2018 06:19:37 am
Hey I so feel your pain with the sleep regression my little one now 7 months went through this at week 15 and lasted about 2 weeks a few things that helped was I used to lay the top I had been wearing all day in his cot so he could smell me when I put him down I nursed him more often in the day which helped also. When he got over that I started to sleep train him and used the controlled crying method which is amazing does take upto 2 weeks if you have a stubborn child like mine! He had got into the habit of waking every hour and the self soothing definitely helps with that! Hope this all helps good luck x
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Faye
2/21/2018 12:29:11 pm
It does help - thank you!! Tried a bit of self-settling with him tonight which is a bit like control crying I think! It took an hour of perseverance but he did eventually self soothe himself to sleep so just need to persist. And hope we conquer naps too! It's good to know there is light at the end of the tunnel though. Thank you ? xx
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