Baby cannot connect cycles

[beautifulspirit22]

Hi everyone!

We cosleep and contact nap with my 6 mo boy. We nurse him to sleep and he sleeps 3-4 hours in 3-4 naps every day. Unfortunately, he cannot connect cycles, so if I want him to sleep more than 20-30 min, I need to do contact naps and nurse every 30 min. I love the snuggles but I cannot get anything done during the day and I basically spend 4 hours a day in bed with him asleep on me… nights are tough as he basically cries every 30 or 40 min unless I am in bed with him and holding him from 7 pm until 7 am…

any tips to support babies to connect cycles without nursing? I do not want to sleep train but the constant need of contact and nursing is taking a toll in my mental health and my overall life. I cannot have dinner or brush my teeth without being called by a screaming baby. Thanks for the support

 

[oilumiun12]

@beautifulspirit22 I don't have a solution but my 4mo is like this and my nights are just like yours, it's exhausting. during the day I wear him in the tula explore so I can get stuff done and it's easy for me to just loosen the straps a bit, pop a boob in his mouth, keep him sleeping and get on with whatever I'm doing. It's definitely not ideal tho lol, it's a pretty tiring way to eat a meal or do laundry (or anything) I have heard that this is a developmental stage and it gets better.

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@oilumiun12 Thank you! You are my hero for being able to nurse while carrying. I can‘t seem to figure that out

 

[charlieblues]

@beautifulspirit22 Since the four month sleep regression, we've been in a similar position, although not as severe. Something I've tried doing with varying success is transferring LO before the end of the sleep cycle. It rouses them a little bit. Then when they are in the crib, I keep my hands on LO for a minute or so and let her go back into a deeper sleep. It isn't successful every time but when it is, I usually get about 30-45 minutes of additional nap time. We just keep practicing this. If I need LO to get a good nap in because we have plans or something, I'll contact nap, but if not, I practice this and hope it helps her to connect cycles. For bedtime, I honestly just keep going in and settling whenever LO wakes. It is exhausting but it's getting better. It used to be every hour. Now it's anywhere between 1-3 hours. I just keep hoping it gets better . LO is almost 6 months.

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@charlieblues Thank you so much for your kind words… I will try transferring to see how it goes!

 

[charlieblues]

@beautifulspirit22 One more thing, something that helped me with all of this is just knowing what is "developmentally normal". Connecting sleep cycles is something that is learned over time. Heysleepybaby on instagram has been helpful. She talks about baby sleep, isn't an advocate for sleep training but also gives tips if you don't want to co-sleep. We also nurse to sleep for the most part. Sleep is a journey. And definitely not a linear one! Good luck, I wish you a full night sleep!!

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@charlieblues Thank you! Did you buy her guide? I‘m considering it

 

[charlieblues]

@beautifulspirit22 No, I didn't. I feel like she has quite a bit of content online for free. Flourishingbabies also has some sleep content too. Between those accounts I feel like I get enough info!

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@charlieblues Thank you!!

 

[simply4g]

@beautifulspirit22 My baby did 28 min naps until 6ish months. I didn’t change what I was doing it just took awhile for it to click for him.

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@simply4g Aww so sweet

 

[nowhereman]

@beautifulspirit22 OP how is it 2 months later? I’m in the same boat now and it’s been 7 weeks of this, I’m exhausted

 

[beautifulspirit22]

@nowhereman Hi there… well I think it’s better because I am in peace with it, but he still wakes up very frequently at nights. I put him to bed at around 7, he wakes up 30 min later and then I might be lucky to get a 60-70 min stretch, but no longer than that. He wakes every hour until 11 when I join him in the room. He still BFs often in the night but I guess it’s normal. I am exhausted though, cosleeping is so so tough