Mum question: I would love your advice regarding my almost 9 month old. I fed/rocked her to sleep up and held her for all her day sleeps (she would sleep in her cot at night) until she was about 6 months old. Then it stopped working, she wasn’t napping for long, she was overtired and I was exhausted. I didn’t know what to do so I reluctantly started controlled crying. She started sleeping in her cot for her day sleeps, she would fall asleep by herself and would generally nap for an hour. However after about two months I started rocking her to sleep again as she had started teething and was unsettled. At first she would let me rock her to sleep and then place her in her cot but now she has started waking again as soon as I place her in her cot, so I am again holding her for her day sleeps. She is waking every hour at night, needing to be rocked back to sleep and during the day I am lucky to get her to have a 30 minute nap whether I’m holding her or have her in the carrier. I have tried cosleeping, it takes her ages to fall asleep and once she does she only sleeps for about one or two hours then wakes up crying and I have to rock her back to sleep. My husband is very supportive and gets up at night to rock her to sleep, but we are all exhausted and I am worried about my daughter as she is so tired and cranky and not getting enough sleep. She isn’t going through a leap. It isn’t solids related as she isn’t interested in food, I’m lucky to get her to even lick some food.She is exclusively breastfed. I don’t have any family nearby to help. I don’t want to do controlled crying again but I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I am doing my best and giving her what she wants but I am failing as she isn’t getting the sleep she needs. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated. Pinky says: Huge hugs to you. Teething? Separation anxiety? Starting to crawl? has she ever had reflux? This can re-occur. Have you had ears checked? Checked for a UTI? Please dont beat upon yourself - babies go through all sorts of stages that are nothing to do with how you are managing - you arent doing anything wrong, you are responding to the baby you have. Will she breastfeed back to sleep instead of you getting up to rock her? Here is a blog that may be supportive even though it may not give you answers. pinkymckay/what-every-sleep-deprived-mother-really-needs-to-know/
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:30:01 +0000