Sleeping - how bad is this?

I'm just curious how far outside the norm (if at all) my girl's sleep patterns are. I'm not after suggestions, just comparisons

At 10 months, 2 hours at night is a huge stretch of sleep for her, and about 1 hour is the norm. She needs resettling 6-8 times on a *normal* night. She takes about an hour to settle for the night, and is keen to get up for the day at 5.30-ish. Night wakings can be anywhere from 2 minutes to more than 2 hours and usually involve plenty of tears I usually BF her 2-3 times overnight.

What were your babies like at her age?

And if they were like my DD, dare I ask when things improved? I'm tired

Edited by T_Rex

My DS is about a month behind (so 9 months) and isn't sleeping through the night so you are not alone!

He goes to bed at 7pm, and is up between 6.30am and 7am. In between that he can wake anywhere between 10pm and 5am for one or two feeds. On a good night he will go straight back to sleep after feeding. On a bad night he cries the minute he is put back into his cot. On a worse night, he won't settle and I take him into bed with me for the rest of the night. Luckily this has only happened on the odd occasion so far (crossed fingers!!!)

I think you are amazing to cope on so little sleep.

Edited by 1st_Time_Preggies

Teyla was pretty much exactly the same unti l3 or 4 weeks ago. I was up every 1 - 2 hours and often up for 2 hours at a time for no apparent reason. Things have settled down now - I am not sure why exactly - she's now got 6 teeth and can't see any other white buds so hoping we have a break from teething for a while. I've also stopped feeding her over night and am now settling her without the dummy (which means settling is much more challenging)... but she has started sleeping from 8 - 6, sometimes right through, sometimes a wake at 2, sometimes at 4.30...

ANyway - that's just what we've done, but just giving you some hope maybe that it can get better, cause OMG at 9 months I was thinking "will this ever get better".. I am not convinced we have solved the sleep thing completely but at least I know it isn't always going to be bad!

From memory at 10 months dd would be waking at least twice a night. But sometimes ALOT more.

If you BF her does she go straight back to sleep?

Until 10mo DD was similar.  It took hours to get her down to sleep at night and then she'd wake within 1-2 hrs, if I resettled her back into her cot it would only be for another 1-2hrs so she usually ended up in my bed on the first wakeup. 

By 10mo I was constantly exhausted, not eating properly because putting her to sleep took so long I missed dinner and by the time she was in bed I was too tired to care and at my wits end.  I was working fulltime and was in a rut - the norm wasn't working for me but I was too tired to do anything about it.  I spoke to several mums including Louise from The Sleep Store and took advice on how to encourage her to self settle, picking and choosing what would work for us.  I took a week off work to instigate the new routine which involved set bedtimes, no more feeding to sleep, no more rocking to sleep, no more night feeds, clearer sleep cues, darkened bedroom, lots of cuddles and reassurance (I won't do CC or CIO).  It took me an hour the first night to get her too fall asleep in her own cot, only 30 mins the next night but on the 3rd night she went to sleep almost immediately and what's more she slept through the night - I was stunned.  For months afterwards I still couldn't believe how well she went to sleep and slept through.

I started using sleep cues and routines when DS was still a newborn and he started STTN from 7mo, which is only 3 months earlier than DD but he was self settling from 7 weeks old and having decent daytime naps too (which DD didn't do).

I think at 10 months (and that wasn't that long ago but shows what lack of sleep does to your memory lol) DD was still waking 3 times a night, and would have a quick feed for about 10 mins and then fall back asleep. Around 10 months I introduced water at night time and over a week or two cut out the night feeds, if she really screamed I gave in and fed her but other times she was happy with a big drink of water and a cuddle and rock back to sleep and at the most might have taken an hour but usally 20 mins.

Now she still doesnt sleep through the night but only wakes up once, has a drink and a cuddle and falls back to sleep in about 5 mins.

My DS (who shares a birthday with you wee one) usually sleeps through the night. He goes to bed between 6.30pm and 7pm. Usually wakes for the day between 6am and 7am. Although this morning is was 5.30am!

I have night weaned him, started that at around 8 1/2 months. But before that he was usually only having 1 feed a night. If he does wake at night, he might grizzle for a wee bit but then he will go back to sleep. We were having problems with him moving around the cots heaps at night and waking himself up etc but we have a brought a Babe Ok sleep sheet which has helped heaps and his day and night sleeps have been so much better. I do not cope well with not a lot of sleep, it starts to wear me down.

I think you are amazing to be able to cope with that broken sleep!! I hope things improve and that you start getting some decent streches of sleep.

I feel your pain, although DS isn't awake for hours at a time, he is waking every hour at night at the moment, on a great night its every 2 hours (I co-sleep). He only sleeps during the day if I'm holding him.
Its all got so much worse in the last month, for a while there he was sleeping pretty well, waking just 3 or 4 times a night and sleeping in his cot (which is next to my bed)
Its lovely to hear similar stories but with success at the end of the day, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Hugs hun, I hope it does improve for you. You are soing amazing, especially with working too.

We had multiple wakings for I can't remember how long. About a month ago I was so over it and starting to think about weaning which was something I didn't want to do so put a plan in place. I wrote it down stuck it on the fridge and set a date to start it on. I had tried gentle techniques but they hadn't worked for DD despite using them consistently for months. She always self settled to sleep at night but never during the day. Co sleeping didn't work as she woke more and was really restless.

I used verbal reassurance which is basically controlled crying but added in some extra things from sleep sense. I decided that I would stick to it for 1 night and if that was horrible then I would go back to using the gentle techniques and try again when she was older.

First night I was surprised she did do her protest cry (the one she makes when things aren't going her way) but only for a couple of minutes each time she woke and she was asleep within 15 minutes each time. So I persevered and each night got better with cries mainly grizzles. Now we still have night waking but we have broken the feed every time she wakes habit (and it was a habit as often she'd stop sucking as soon as let down happened). Last night was the worst night in about 2/3 weeks. She woke 3 times first 2 I went in and lay her back down and she was asleep before I got back to bed., the third I fed her. Most nights she wakes only once or shock horror sleeps through! My rule of thumb is if she wakes after 4am I feed her otherwise I just check in.

GL in finding something that works for you!

Jake slept 7pm til about 7am at that age, with two day naps, and Morgan did 7pm til about 6am with mostly 2 naps but starting going to one at 10mths (both on one day nap by 14mths). They rarely woke.

Although both of mine slept thru young and didn't wake around that age, I've found just over 1 they do/did wake the odd night, usually related to molars or being sick (I think Jake stopped that by 18mths tho, but we still have it once or so every week or two with Morgan).

Hope things improve for you soon. sleep deprivation is horrible!!!