u/Interesting_Item344

I’ve posted before for some advice as we have recently started implementing lots of the possums approach and have definitely been finding it helpful!

The one thing I’m unsure about is how rigid to be with the morning wake up time. As far as I’m aware it’s the only true “rule” and I think a 10 minute window is recommended. My worry is that we chose a 6:30am wake up time but baby is mostly still deeply asleep at that time - we turn off white noise, open the blinds, speak to her and give her cuddles but she still is deeply asleep and it can take 10 min or so of this to wake her up!

She can be a bit groggy/upset at first too but does come round fairly quickly and tends to manage about 2 hours awake before falling asleep for her first nap. She is 7 months old and we have been following possums for about 3 weeks. She usually ends up going to bed between 8:30-9:00pm and totals naps for the day often fall between 2.5-3 hours.

Do I continue waking her up at 6:30 or should I gradually move the morning wake up time later? I suppose I’m mostly worried about waking her from deep/restorative sleep that might be helpful for her development!

Posting in the hopes that someone has advice or has at least gone through the same thing and come out the other side!

My 7 month old girl who we completely adore has always had trouble with sleep! I recognise that things have improved from a couple of months ago where wakes were every 20-60 minutes, but I’m now starting to really struggle with the disrupted sleep. I’m completely exhausted, often have tearful days, and can feel so irritable/angry which is so unlike me and makes me feel upset in itself.

We recently started to follow the possums approach about 1.5 weeks ago. We do a consistent 6:30am wake up time. Some days baby is in a deep sleep and we have to wake her up gently (she isn’t normally upset once awake) but sometimes she does wake up around this time. We were getting some longer stretches of 2-3 hours since implementing possums which was great (previously she mostly woke after 1 hour 20 mins) and she settled so much easier for naps/bedtime, but the past three nights have been really challenging - she has been sleeping for about an hour at a time at the start of the night, and then often even less as the night goes on. One positive is that she had been waking previously around 4am and 6am some nights and was wide awake taking a long time to get back to sleep, but now 90% of wakes are very quick and she is easy to resettle. She sleeps in bed with me and we have also tried the cot but sleep is pretty much the same no matter where she is! Sometimes she likes a pat and sing back to sleep but I breastfeed her to sleep if this doesn’t work.

Currently our baby has 2-3 naps a day following the possums approach - some might be a 10 minute nap in the car and others might be a 1.5 hour contact nap. She had been napping about 2.5 hours a day pretty consistently. Yesterday I put her down for naps and she did 1.5 hours across the whole day (2 cot naps and 1 pram).

Last nap of the day usually needs ends 3-4pm, or slightly before or after. I’ve wondered about another nap before bed but she doesn’t seem to fall asleep again until bedtime.

Bedtime tends to fall anytime between 7:15-8:15pm depending on baby’s cues - most often the earlier end of this at the moment as she cannot make it any longer!

My husband will take baby until midnight a couple of times a week and I sleep from 8pm until then but even with that I’m struggling. He can help more if it would be beneficial, I’m just not sure of the best plan forwards. I’m also considering stopping breastfeeding at night (would try settling & then bottle feed if needed).

Any advice would be much appreciated, I’m totally exhausted at the moment and starting to struggle.

I would love some advice as we have just started the possums approach! We weren’t super strict with nap times or schedules before but I definitely would get a bit stressed if I thought baby girl was awake for longer than “age-appropriate” wake windows. I’m really just looking for reassurance we are on the right track and advice if not.

We are starting to implement a consistent morning wake time - moving from 7:30-8am back to probably 6:30am. Or possibly 6am depending how things go! Bedtime pretty much is always after 8pm already as baby does seem to sleep worse if she goes to bed before then. So we’ll follow her cues but imagine bedtime will fall around 8:30pmish. I really just wanted to check if it is fair for me to aim for 10 hours of sleep overnight to see how nights go with this? Baby was previously in bed for closer to 12 hours.

We have only started possums for 2 days and nights and baby is definitely falling asleep easier for naps which is great! She is doing 2-3 hour naps with total daytime sleep lasting about 2.25 hours. At night though she is still waking as frequently and possibly even a little more - very frequent partial wakes and then last night she was wide awake at 2am and 4am. I’m hoping this is just her adjusting?

Naps before possums probably totalled 2.5-3.5 hours (usually on the lower end).

We have been going out lots during the day, lots of walks, activities, daylight etc. We have been doing this for a long time anyway before reading about possums!

For context, She sleeps in the bedside crib for the first couple of stretches before coming in beside me. No matter where she sleeps she usually wakes within the first 30-40 minutes. Then after if in her bedside crib it will be 1 hour 20 minutes, and either the same or slightly longer if she’s beside me. I feed baby back to sleep.

Thank you!

Hi all, I’ve posted previously about our little one but looking for some more advice 🙏🏻 She is now almost 7 months old and I’m a bit unsure about what to do with sleep at this point. To summarise I’m wondering if there’s anything we can do to support longer stretches at night, what her sleep set up should be next, and for her to do the first part of the night without me in the same room.

Baby was previously waking every 40-60 minutes so sleep has improved slightly, but now it is frequently every 1 hour 20 minutes with very occasional 2-3 hour stretches. She sleeps beside me in bed but does tend to wake if I move so we’ve been trying her in the bedside crib for the first couple of stretches before coming in beside me. No matter where she sleeps she usually wakes within the first 30-40 minutes. Then after if in her bedside crib it will be 1 hour 20 minutes, and either the same or slightly longer if she’s beside me.

My husband sleeps in the guest room at the moment as I breastfeed overnight so am happy to do the night shift! But we would love a bit of time together in the evening again, even for a couple of hours. We have been thinking about moving baby into her own room where she has a standard cot for the first part of the night but unsure how she will manage this as at the moment she wakes very very frequently during the night either to feed or for comfort.

I have thought about getting a floor bed for the nursery and then trying to roll away once she is asleep but I don’t know if this would work for us? She doesn’t fall asleep at all unless she is being held so we always have to transfer her down, no matter whether she is in a cot or in bed with me. Then I feed to sleep at each wake or sometimes she resettles with bum pats if she doesn’t need fed. If I could get her to sleep initially when lying down they would be amazing but I don’t know if she’s there yet.

I also have heard some people say that bedsharing & breastfeeding babies can wake more frequently so I don’t know if she would sleep better if she wasn’t right beside me? There is so much conflicting advice I’m not sure what to think or try at this point! I am totally happy supporting her as she needs but I would just love a little bit more time with my husband and a little bit more sleep.

With daytime sleep we follow her cues completely, she tends to have 3 naps a day and overall daytime sleeps is 2.5-3.5 hours (usually closer to 2.5-3). Naps are in daylight with normal daytime noise. She will also only contact nap but I’m happy to continue with this for now if we can get nights to improve a little.

She is formula fed during the day and at bedtime, then I breastfeed overnight.

She has a little bit of reflux and gas but this has MUCH improved and usually doesn’t cause big issues with sleep any more.

No oral ties etc.

Thank you!

Help needed with sleep please! 🙏🏼

My baby girl will be 6 months old next week. She has never been classed as a “good” sleeper, even as a newborn before the 4 month ‘re/progression’ hit. I thought things were getting a little better as we were seeing a few 2-3 hour stretches again, but the last few nights have been so difficult! We might get one 2 hour stretch at a push then wakes are around every 45-60mins. They get even more frequent from 3am onwards, for example last night it was every 10-30mins. I then let her sleep in my arms for the last stretch so she isn’t too tired for the day.

I’ve heard not tracking sleep is better mentally but I do like to see if there are any patterns! My husband can also quickly check the app in the morning so he can see how the night went and how much help I might need that day 😅

My husband sleeps in the spare room and I bedshare with baby. She does the first stretch of the night in her Snuzpod (this tends to be 20-40minutes) and then I bring her in beside me. I also breastfeed back to sleep. This is usually the easiest method but sometimes if it’s every 10 minutes I can feel overwhelmed and like I can’t do it again, so I will try to settle her with shhs and pats or pick her up until she falls asleep (I never let her escalate to full crying). Last night I did try to give her a bottle instead of breastfeeding but she the seemed to be wide awake and it took 45 mins to get her back to sleep. I also know most of these feeds are for comfort

The room temperature is 18-20C lately - she wears a short sleeve bodysuit, sleep suit, and 1 tog sleep bag. She doesn’t seem to be too hot or cold when I check.

Baby has had a little reflux since the early days, but this is much improved from how it used to be. She can be quite gassy at night but not consistently so. We have tried lots of things for this like infacol, conclude legs bicycle. Sometimes at night she just seems like she can’t get back to sleep rather than being uncomfortable! But she does seem tired.

She is combination fed - breastfed all night and twice during the daytime.

She has fallen into a pattern of bedtime at 7-7:30pm. By this time she is very tired and falls asleep quickly. She wakes for the day around 6:30-7:30am.

At the moment she naps for between 2.5-3.5 hours a day. These naps happen in a bright room with normal daytime noise. If she wakes crying then I try and get her back to sleep, but if she seems content then I don’t. She currently has 3-4 naps and each ranges from 30 mins - 2 hours. The last nap is the shortest. Naps have always been contact naps as she won’t go down for them. Lately she will transfer down but wakes within a couple of minutes. She tends to be awake for 2-3 hours between naps.

I understand frequent wakes are developmentally normal and am of course happy to support baby in any way I can, but I can just get SO tired and then feel like I can’t be as interactive etc with baby during the day as I’m just trying to function. I think now we’re approaching 6 months of this sleep the fatigue is really setting in. My husband is supportive and will take baby a few times a week at the beginning of the night so I can at least get a couple of hours sleep. Any advice or suggestions is really welcome 💖

I currently bedshare with our almost 5 month old. We do have a Snuzpod 5 beside our bed but she doesn’t tolerate it at all currently so I am solely bedsharing for now as she still wakes around 8 times a night so it’s much easier. I do like bedsharing but I am a little nervous about continuing as she gets more mobile with the risk of falling out of bed, and I would like my husband to be able to move back into our bedroom as he often sleeps in the spare room currently so that baby and I have more space. I also do miss spending some evenings with my husband as I go to bed at the same time as baby. So I do think once she is over 6 months I would ideally like her to sleep in her own space, but I’m obviously happy to continue doing what she needs!

The issue with the Snuzpod is that there is still the mesh barrier between my mattress and baby’s so I still have to lift her out to feed her or give her a cuddle back to sleep? Plus she will outgrow it soon! Are there any alternatives that would be level with my mattress and don’t have the barrier/side, and of course will last as she gets bigger?

She does have a nursery but we already naively got a standard larger cot which converts to a toddler bed in it before baby was born 😅 So there is limited space for anything like a floor bed there!

My 4.5 month old baby girl has never been a great sleeper, however things seem to be getting more difficult. We hoped things were improving as she does occasionally do a 3-4 hour stretch near the start of the night, and she had started doing some 2 hour stretches after. However, for the past couple of weeks she has been doing about a 2 hour stretch at the start of the night and then waking every hour or less afterwards. I am starting to really struggle with fatigue, but I want to continue supporting her sleep.

Baby is combination fed. She has about 100-150ml formula during the day and is breastfed the rest of the time. We have a bedtime routine of nappy change, sleep sack on, bottle, book and upright cuddle (if she isn’t too tired/cranky) and sleep. She does need to be bounced to sleep although the intensity of this has reduced a bit. Bedtime varies based on her last nap but most often fall around 8pm.

When she wakes during the night, I breastfeed her back to sleep. We cosleep.

During the day baby naps for around 3.5-4.5 hours overall. We don’t follow a strict routine and go by baby’s cues but her wake windows tend to be about 1.5-2 hours on average. Sometimes stretching to 2.5 hours recently. I have wondered if she is getting too much daytime sleep but she seems genuinely tired and is just upset if we try to keep her awake for longer.

Any advice or suggestions are very welcome!!!

My 4 month old baby girl needs to be bounced to sleep for naps and bedtime - this has to be standing and the I gradually reduce the intensity until we can sit down and bounce, although she sometimes still wakes up and we have to stand again. At nighttime she is fed back to sleep when she wakes.

I am totally happy to continue helping her get to sleep but am finding the bouncing really physically challenging, especially as she is getting heavier and the weather is getting warmer here. She also has nights where she is awake every hour so I have limited energy for bouncing! I have managed to reduce the intensity of the bouncing since she was younger but don’t seem to be able to progress any further. I’m wondering how I can switch to an alternative settling method or any other advice people might have.

Any advice is very welcome!

My 4 month old baby girl hates the pram, car seat and carrier which is making it so difficult to go anywhere, even a quick trip to the shop or for a walk! Any advice is very welcome, or if anyone had a similar experience when did it pass?

For context, we have the iCandy peach 7 pram. She has never liked the bassinet - when she was very small we used to be able to get her to sleep before a walk and then put her in and she would sleep for a while but cried when she woke up, now this is nearly impossible. We changed to the stroller attachment (just up a tiny bit from the lie flat position and she has good head control so her chin isn’t on her chest) so she can see around more but she has only tolerated this for about 10 minutes max before screaming.

Again she has alwaaaays hated the car seat. I have tried this in the car and also attached to the pram. She will scream to the point of almost choking often for the whole car journey which is so stressful. We did do one longer car journey and I sat in the back with her so could keep reinserting her dummy etc which seemed to help and she did fall asleep. But my husband works during the week so this isn’t an option then.

She used to tolerate the wrap carrier and I would get some housework etc done when she was in this, now she hates it too. We have a structured ergo baby carrier which she cries going into but I can get maybe a 10-15 minute max walk done before she cries again (again with support of shushing, singing, reinserting dummy).

We have tried so many things. We have a white noise machine. I have tried music (including the happy song by Imogen heap). We have tried with and without a toy arch in the pram and car seat, teethers, toys on her lap. I have tried going when she is asleep, when she just woke up, when she is due to go for a nap. She has a dummy. We have experimented with different temperatures and layers. If she is just fussing a bit I try to settle her with shushing, pats, dummy etc but this basically never works, and if I take her out to resettle her she cries as soon as she goes back in. She just wants to be carried all the time but this is getting really difficult the bigger she gets. I’m continuing to practice everything at least 1-2 times a week for short periods, more often with the car seat as we do to out somewhere nearly every day.

In the past couple of weeks she will also try to sit up and push against the straps so I think she doesn’t like being restrained, but again she has always struggled basically since she was born!

Help please!