How long of sleep stretches are you actually getting?

[snowbunni]

Hello! My LO is 7 months and wakes every sleep cycle for boob. If he doesn’t get it, he cries. The odd time I will pick him up and rock him back to sleep. Either way, I’m exhausted and even with cosleeping I’m hardly getting any sleep.

It was like this since his 4 month regression for about 10 weeks then around 5.5-6 months we started to see longer sleep stretches and only 2-3 feeds per night. During this heavenly time, he maaaay have stirred or woke lightly each cycle, but it was unbeknownst to me cause a simple cuddle would get him back to sleep easy and it felt like I was getting 3-4 hour stretches of sleep. I was just starting to feel human again when…

Around 7 months (the last 12 days to be precise) we’re back to hourly wakings settled only by boob.

I’m curious for others who are cosleeping, how often do you feed baby at night? Do you settle other ways? Have you experienced ebbs and flows of many waking’s to just a few?

He’s a month into solids, probably teething, starting the 3-2 nap transition and so many other developmental milestones are happening so I know other things are a factor here but needing boob every sleep cycle is rough. I’m hoping for some solidarity or advice from people who are in the same boat or have been there

(P.S. He sleeps with his mouth open so I am seeing a pediatrician to rule out any medical conditions like sleep apnea)

Thanks all

 

[jmssmith317]

@snowbunni At around 8 months old (sooner for some babies, later for others) there's a "crisis" (I hate calling everything a crisis) in which babies get clingier to their moms. It's when they start understanding distance and develop some separation anxiety, so when you disappear from their sight they think you've stopped existing. It's a phase and it'll pass, especially if you have already had better times with sleep. It'll get better and you'll rest soon! Hope it's fast for you!

 

[snowbunni]

@jmssmith317 Totally but I am in his sight, literally cuddling him, and he still starts crying unless he gets the boob. I guess he forgets where he is when he wakes up? Lol

 

[jmssmith317]

@snowbunni Hahahahahaha that's pretty much it! He has to feel you with every one of his senses to be like COMPLETELY SURE you're there lol

 

[whalefood]

@snowbunni My LO was going 5-6hr stretches prior to 4mo regression. Then it became needing resettling every sleep cycle including false starts at bedtime and then 1/1.5hr wakes all night. Now at almost 5mo he needs the boob every 2-3hrs I’d say haha I feel you lol

 

[snowbunni]

@whalefood Ahhhh interesting. I’m glad I’m not alone. My guy was also 16 days late so his regression started at 3.5 months. I remember the day it hit and it was like wwwtttfff 10 weeks later (not 2-6 weeks for us ) it got better and I thought we were over the hump…but I guess not… if you don’t give them boob, how do you resettle?

 

[whalefood]

@snowbunni omg, i dont think ours is over yet and its been 6+ weeks!! I thought we were the only unlucky ones

for the first cycle i know for sure he isn't hungry so I end up either holding him the entire first hour before putting him down, or alternatively if i put him down before 40min mark then i often need to pick him up again and rock him till he dozes off to be put back down. if that doesn't work i offer boob... and all subsequent night wakes unfortunately im too lazy to make myself get up to rock him so i just give boob.

he also just recently started fully waking - like eyes open babbling haha - between 3-4am (like wtf, i thought regression was over?!!!) and nothing except letting him be awake for an hour or so, and then sometimes rocking him works. i don't know weird sh*t to say the least lol

 

[whalefood]

oh forgot to mention - sometimes putting him on my chest resettles him but i try to only do it if im fully awake ie. before going to bed myself.

 

[snowbunni]

@whalefood Ya that all sounds pretty similar to me! No more actual actual night wakings (he did have those for a while) (knock on wood)! Best wishes

 

[whalefood]

Ps. He was 2 weeks overdue so his regression actually happened when he was 3mo. Just for reference

 

[teee]

@snowbunni ...we were every 1.5 hours until 12 months. It varies between 3 wakes a night and 12 on the worst nights.

If you had just 2-3 wakings at 5 months, it'll likely come back to that, though you might consider moving away from a feed to sleep for the first sleep. That's the only thing that's currently helping me get my now 17 month old to stop with the 1-3 hour wakes, but she was clearly always a difficult sleeper.

We had success with moving the feed earlier and rocking her to sleep. But timing was always tricky.

 

[snowbunni]

@teee Interesting! And good to know, thank you.

Ya it seems his normal/baseline best is 3 feeds per night (this was newborn to 3.5 months and 5.5-6.5 months) then his baseline not so best is hourly (3.5-5.5 months and 6.5-now)…I actually happen to rock him to sleep for bedtime last night cause the boob just wasn’t working (rare but happens sometimes). He slept on my chest but still woke after one cycle. I do hope the better nights return

Did you find that it was random for you? Like you never knew what type of night you would get? Or were there periods of 3/nights and periods of 10+ etc?

 

[john178]

@snowbunni 10 month old. Still waking up 40 minutes on the dot after bed time (False start). Can’t fix this no matter what I try! From there usually every 2-3 hour wakes and needs boob every time may get 4-5 hours (rarely)

I’m hoping it’s going to get better soon because any form of sleep training ain’t for us.

Our bed time is 9 pm at the moment and honestly that’s working for now as I’m seeing longer stretches..because when I put her to bed at like 7-8 I would get like 2 hours of awake time at some point after midnight. So for now we are night owls and that’s okay with me

 

[snowbunni]

@john178 Oomph. Literally exactly the same. We tried an earlier bedtime but why bother when they just wake up every hour anyway! I find the later bedtime works too for a chance a get longer stretches. Sleep training ain’t for us either so solidarity and I hope it gets better soon too! I find if I can stretch him on his last ww that sometimes I can get a first 2 hour stretch if we’re lucky lol

 

[theworldandthechurch]

@snowbunni Been waking every 1-2 hours since he was 10 weeks old. (That’s why we started bedsharing.) He’s 7.5 months old now.

ETA: he initially falls asleep fine with just a paci and being rocked, but boob is pretty much the only way he resettles. Have tried offering the paci or rocking to no avail.

 

[snowbunni]

@theworldandthechurch Yup. Sounds about the same but he won’t even take the paci at all. Ever. Solidarity friend.

 

[speedkr7911]

@snowbunni Our LO is 4 months, and in the thick of her regression. She wakes up hourly if she’s in her co sleeper, but if she’s in bed with me (which typically happens a few hours after her bedtime, when my husband and I come to bed), if she’s fed she can go 6 hours.

She doesn’t nurse to sleep though, and only requires some cuddles to fall asleep thankfully.

 

[snowbunni]

@speedkr7911 Love it when they cuddle back to sleep. That’s when I feel like I “sleep through” any wakings.

 

[victor2021]

@snowbunni 6.5 month old and we are going through it, I'm sk exhausted when he wakes up in the morning I feel like crying!!
We also cosleep since the beginning, EBF, started solids, also in the midst of going from 3 to 2 naps. This week he's been up every night every 1.5-2 hours. Won't settle for just boob I need to get up at around 02-03 every night and rock him!! I already nurse and rock him while walking around for naps and bedtime but the MOTN rocking is killing me. Literally so sleep deprived I'm fantasizing about rest.
No advice just solidarity. I'm not a fun person to be around lately hahaha

 

[victor2021]

I must add we haven't gotten longer than 3-4 hour stretches since 5 months.... I'm seriously so sleep deprived it's amazing I'm still going about daily life. Mom superpower!