Baby Sleep diary

THE CHALLENGE:

Leanne Pringle, 23, lives with her partner Kevin Robertston, 33, and their son Daniel, 8 months, outside Edinburgh. Leanne is a full-time mum while Kevin is a landscape gardener. At first Daniel was a dream baby, sleeping through the night at just five weeks old. But after four months he started teething and began waking up three or four times, as well as demanding a feed. Now, an exhausted Leanne doesn’t know where to turn. Can our sleep expert help?
 
THE EXPERT:

Andrea Grace, Independent Health Visitor and Children’s Sleep Specialist
“If you have a healthy baby; gaining weight, on solid food and feeding well during the day, he doesn’t need a night feed. Past six months, feeding during the night can lead to sleeping problems and spoil your baby’s daytime appetite.”

Here are Andrea’s top tips:

1. Don’t let your baby fall asleep during his bedtime bottle. It’s scary for a baby to wake in the night and find he’s no longer in your arms, so always place him in his cot while he’s awake. If you have to, sit reassuringly beside his cot while he lies down to settle.

2. Introduce a book or song after the feed and before he goes into his cot. This will break the milk/sleep connection.

3. Have a consistent bedtime routine. Make it fun with lots of cuddles, so when you say goodnight to him, he knows how much you love him.

4. Gradually dilute night feeds for healthy, well-fed babies over the age of six months. It’s a gentler alternative to stopping abruptly.

LEANNE’S DIARY

Daniel only settles if we rock him in his bouncy chair in the living room. It can take an hour before he’s in a deep enough sleep to transfer to his cot. If he wakes up, I have to start all over again!

Some mornings I’m so exhausted, I can’t face the day. Kevin’s brilliant and takes over at weekends but both of us would love nothing more than a good night’s sleep.

WEEK ONE

DAY ONE

I felt nervous about the challenge, with visions of Daniel screaming for hours. Andrea says the main focus is to put him down awake in his cot and let him fall asleep on his own. It all makes perfect sense – I just hope it works. We gave Daniel his bath as usual followed by milk and a story.

When we put him into his cot he rolled about, banging his head a few times. But after 30 minutes of shushing, he fell asleep. Amazing! Daniel woke at 4.30am and settled himself back down but woke again at 5.15am. He was really crying so I gave him his milk. At 6.30am he went back to sleep for an hour in his bouncy chair.

DAY TWO

Tonight after four minutes of rolling around in his cot, Daniel was alseep. Knew it was too good to be true and he woke at 8.45pm. Kevin gave him his comfort blanket but he woke again at 3.30am and cried on and off for two hours. By 5.30am Daniel was so upset, I fed him. He then fell asleep on the sofa with Kevin.

DAY THREE

It was a disturbed, tiring night but I still feel pleased with Daniel’s progress. We’ve managed to get him to go to sleep in his cot - a huge step. Andrea told us to sit by Daniel’s cot for the first two nights and implement ‘controlled crying’ – when you let the baby cry for increasing but small periods of time - by night three.

But I’m not confident enough to leave him yet. Tonight he fell asleep after 25 minutes and I’m beginning to move further away from the cot each night. Daniel woke at 4.45am and seemed hungry so I fed him. He went back to sleep in his cot and didn’t wake until 8.00am. Fantastic.

DAY FIVE

Yesterday Daniel didn’t wake until 5.00am but today we took a huge step back. He was clingy and out of sorts – probably teething. When we put him down to sleep he screamed for 30 minutes even though Kevin rubbed his back and talked to him. Daniel was burning hot so I gave him some Calpol.

After 20 minutes, I put him back to bed but he was still so unsettled, I cuddled him to sleep. I’d given in but it felt like the right thing to do. He woke at 4.30am but wouldn’t go back to sleep so I fed him at 5.00am. He refused to resettle in his cot so I put him in his bouncy chair where he fell asleep. I genuinely thought we’d made progress so this is really disappointing.

WEEK TWO

We’ve certainly had our ups and downs this week. We had a fantastic start. Daniel slept from 7.30pm until 6.45am but I’m sure he knew Kevin was on duty! The night after he then did the same again but woke at 6am.

I took another big step forward and actually left the room while he was still awake. Daniel was fine and fell asleep five minutes later. He’s settling well in his cot now and for the most part, sleeping through the night.

He was unsettled towards the end of the week, probably because of his teeth. I’ve felt tired and tetchy and as soon as Kevin gets in from work, he takes over and sends me off for a relaxing bath.

Our biggest problem now is Daniel’s early waking. Andrea still feels he’s waking out of habit not hunger. I have to try to wean him off the feed. I usually give him 6oz of milk but I’m to give him 4oz of water and two scoops of milk for two days, followed by 4oz of water and one scoop for another two days, and after that just water. I’m not convinced but I’ll give it a go.

WEEK THREE

A really positive week. I fed Daniel at 3.00am on Saturday night because he wouldn’t settle but I watered it down as Andrea suggested. But on Sunday he went to bed at 8.00pm and slept right through until 7.00am! Brilliant! And he now seems to be waking around 6.00 instead of 5.00am. An extra hour in bed for us!

MUMS VERDICT

I’m amazed. Daniel will now happily go to sleep in his cot. He usually sleeps through now, I no longer dread bedtime and feel more confident as a mum. My advice for new mums is to be consistent from the start and put your baby to bed awake – then you might not end up like us!

EXPERTS VERDICT

Leanne has done really well. By helping Daniel to fall asleep by himself and gently dropping unnecessary night feeds, Leanne has taught him how to sleep through the night. Sleep training can be hard on the parents, but it should be as gentle as possible for the child. If you’re really determined, the process should be quick and the results will benefit the whole family.