little sleep may be normal

[Anonymous]

Well, many of you know my situation, but I will go over it again. Justice sleeps only 6 hrs max in a 24 hr period. Well, I e-mailed James Mckenna today and asked him if it was normal. James Mckenna does mother baby sleep studies. He said with everything that I told him he didn’t think anything was wrong and that there are some babies that just don’t sleep that much. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY? Why is it that I finally have a baby whose reflux is under control and he still doesn’t sleep? Just to be honest I feel like withdrawing from the world. I am sad, numb, and feel sick to my stomach. Now I am questioning everything. Does he really have reflux? Maybe I was wrong about that too. Dr Mckenna said that I am the mom and if I feel like there is truely something wrong to have a sleep study done. I would love to do a sleep study to rule anything out, but I know my husband won’t go for it. We did so many tests with our first and it never did any good. I think the only way my husband would do a sleep study is if he saw Justice stop breathing or turn blue. None of which I have seen him do. Sorry, if I sound frantic, but I feel frantic. I don’t know where to go from here. Do I now just get up after Justice’s 5 hr stretch and say well that’s it? Do I just let him cio? If 5 hrs is all he needs then I don’t really see how him crying it out would help anything. I am still worried that something could be wrong and I would hate for him to be crying to let me know something is wrong and I don’t go to him. I don’t know what to do. I guess I should add that Dr. Mckenna said it doesn’t sound like anything with my diet is causeing it.

Thanks for letting me vent. Sorry to depress anyone.

[Anonymous]

Who is James McKenna?

I agree that some babies need much less sleep than others, but six hours total in a 24 hour period seems extreme.

I know what you mean about husbands not wanting to go along with your wishes…mine is the same way. I sometimes have to make things up in order to pusuade him. Or I simply say “the doctor insists he have this or that test.” If my baby was only sleeping 5 – 6 hours a day I’d go nuts and I’d want tests done.

I’m sorry that probably doesn’t help much, but I really feel for you.

[Anonymous]

Sorry. James Mckenna does baby mother sleep studies.

That amount of sleep just doesn’t make sense to me either. I am trying to talk my husband into a sleep study. Who knows. I hope Justice just grows out of this and starts sleeping again. I thought it might be teeth, but I’m not so sure anymore. Like I said earlier. Who knows?

[Anonymous]

Just curious – how much Zegerid is he on? Has he ever had a dose increase? Just a thought…

I hope things get better for you soon. Something must be up to only let him sleep 5-6 hours in a 24 hour period.

Robin

[Anonymous]

I have a baby who does not sleep much and has never slept much… but still 6hours sounds like very little… there were days when Matthew slept 7hours a day, but mostly 8. But does that mean your baby sleeps a 5 hour stretch at night and no naps at all?? Because Matthew used to sleep 2 3-hour stretches at night and maybe couple of 30min naps…. then we discovered that he would fall asleep on his stroller so we went out for maybe 3 hours during the day when he slept, so that made 9… things get better – Matthew must sleep a total of 10 or 11 hours these days… (that is what other babies his age sleep at night!) and he is really awake and happy during the day so i know that is it

5 or 6hours sounds little, really. he is fussy and cranky all day i assume and fighting sleep?? Is that what is going on??

We also spoke to someone about Matthews sleep and they said some babies sleep very little…and that Matthew was in the range… but 6 hours?? That really seems like nothing for his age

[Anonymous]

Shelby, I feel your frustration (we also have a POOR sleeper!!!).

But I have to say that I do agree with the others that regardless of what James McKenna says (How did you hear of him btw?), I really think that 6 hours in a 24 hour period is on the low side- very low. Especially if Justice isn’t napping.

You say that he does a 5 hour stretch at night, then what happens? How does he wake up? Is he crying, does he scream, or is he just awake. Are you able to get him back to sleep? What do you do when he wakes after that stretch? If so, for how long? What is he like during the day- cranky or content?

I know that it seems that he should be sleeping through the night by 4.5 months, but many babies really don’t, and some wake up more than others. I’ve read A LOT on this topic in my search to find answers for why my child is up so much at night. And I’ve never seen anything that indicates that 6 hours sleep is enough for children.

Have you ever watched him sleep? Does he seem like something is obstructing his breathing or bothering him? I don’t know if a sleep study is the answer, but I understand your wanting to seek answers. I’m in the same position at 16 months.

I really wonder if your son’s reflux is truly under control. Given the sleep issues, I might try an increase (rather than a decrease) and see if that makes a difference.

Another thought that comes to mind is that he’s chronically overtired and sleep deprived, which makes it harder for them to sleep through. What about an earlier bedtime? When does he go down for the night? The other thing I wonder about is if it’s a pattern or a habit. Even 4 month olds can learn to wake for attention and to stay awake.

I really hope that you get answers soon and that you can get some sleep. Believe me when I say that I know where you’re coming from. Sleep deprivation is so horrible. Hang in there. HUGS.

[Anonymous]

Justice is about 17 pounds and is on 5 ml 3x a day of zegerid.

Justice goes to bed at 8. He will sleep a 4 to 5 hour stretch. He wakes up and I feed him. I then put him back to bed. He is in an amby by my bed. After 30 min he wakes up and tosses and will cry until I bounce him back to sleep. He does that 30 min waking all night long until I finally give up. I say it’s 30, but I’m not positive. Last night I watched the clock and it was every 10 to 15 min. I don’t think he is even aware that I am there. He can’t see me unless I sit up and I don’t talk to or touch him. He is in a pretty good mood during the day. Definantly more fussy than he used to be. of course, he went a whole night and day without eating and was still in a good mood.If that tells you how happy he is.I try to lay him down for naps, but all I can get is 2/ 30 min naps or one 1 hr nap or no naps at all. I don’t know maybe that all adds up to more than 6 hrs, but it still doesn’t sound right to me. Also, I have tryed earlier bedtimes and I still try every day to get him to take 3 naps. It never works, but I still try. It seems like to me that every 2 to 3 hours he is getting tired. After that time he is rubbing his eyes and getting cranky.

I am so confused. I am so tired that I just can’t make sense out of it all. Maybe he is doing what all babies do. Do some or most sleep a stretch and then wake after 10, 15, or even 30 mins for the rest of the night. I watch him and he seems to be desperatly trying to go back to sleep. His eyes are closed and his head is going back and forth over and over. I just watch him until I see he can’t go back to sleep and then I will bounce the amby. Sometimes I don’t get him soon enough and he will cry. Thanks again for listening. Maybe I am just over reacting. What do you think? After I all I just said does it sound like in the range of normal?

[Anonymous]

At that age, Aidan actually went to bed pretty late, around 10, would waqke up with my older son at around 6 am and then go right back to sleep after a bottle until around 8….but he didn’t and still doesn’t nap very much at all…I find that a dose of mylanta right before bed helps him a TON, especially now that he’s teething!

[Anonymous]

Shelby,
I honestly don’t have any advice on Justice’s sleeping, but for yours, could you and your husband take turns with him each night? Maybe even sleep in another room (just come in when you breastfeed, if you do that at night). I don’t know, I just think it would really help you deal with things better until you get things figured out if you could get some good sleep once in awhile. I’m worried about you! Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

I feel so bad for you, sleep debrivation is the WORSE!!!

My daughter has never been a great sleeper but 6 hours a day does seem extreme.When her reflux is not under control i find she sometimes won’t sleep all day and at night wakes up every hour or so. The only thing that gets her back to sleep is my boob as she won’t take a dummy so we are co-sleeping, dad is on the floor in a campbed!!

I think it could be his reflux causing pain as i don’t think a baby of this age would just sleep for 6 hours out of 24. You could try and get a dose increase and see if it helps? at least if this doesn’t help then you can look to other reasons for his difficulty sleeping

Good luck I know how hard it is with no sleep.

[Anonymous]

Shelby,

I wonder if he’s just not comfortable in the amby bed or on his back anymore. Many babies do not sleep well on their backs. Have you tried him in his crib, on his side, with mattress elevated? I’d even try tummy sleeping in your situation. Also, I think he’s become so accustomed to the bouncing that he knows no other way to fall back to sleep. He’s so overtired….and that contributes to his wakefullness at night…the body produces adrenaline when overtired. It sounds like a vicious cycle. I think that teaching him a better way to fall asleep will help in the long run but it won’t solve the problem over night.

Also, I’m not sure about his Zegerid dose…have you checked marci-kids to make sure he hasn’t outgrown it?

[Anonymous]

shelby, no that is not what i would call “normal”. i do think maybe you should see some kind of specialist.

i know some babies need less sleep than others, but Jusctice almost sounds extreme.

Trace usually sleeps 9 hours at night. during the day, once he has been up for 2-3 hours, he takes a nap. then nap can be anywhere from 30 min to an hour and a half.
i cant imagine how exhausted you are feeling and im sorry its hard right now. i think the sleep study sounds good!

[Anonymous]

My husband would never stay up with him. Last night once I finally got Justice to go to sleep he slept for 7 hrs before I got him up to feed him. YEAH. By that I mean, I was too lazy to get up and feed him the first time he woke up so I just bounced him back to sleep.The funny thing is I was up for an hour with him trying to get him to go back to sleep. He was fussing a little. He cryed a few times too. Anyway, my husband woke up this morning telling me how tired he was because he was up all night with Justice just like I was. I wanted to ring my husbands neck. He has no idea what it means to be tired. He got about 9 hours of sleep last night.

I will try giving him mylanta again. The weird thing is that he will sleep the long stretch and then has a hard time staying asleep for the rest of the night.

[Anonymous]

i know what you mean about your husband

[Anonymous]

My dh is the same way. I’ll be up and down all night with Myles due to an ear infection or some other thing and my three year old gets me up a lot due to night mares. The next day DH will tell me he was awake the whole time (meanwhile I heard him snoring blissfully) and complain endlessly about how tired he is. Men just don’t get it.

Anyway, good news about the 7 hour stretch last night. I wonder if that first feeding is screwing up his sleep cycle and that’s why he can’t go back to sleep. I know my babies were usually eating their last meal around 9pm at that age and then went to bed for the night. Maybe that would work for Justice.

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