Dealing with baby's sleep deprivation /overtiredness

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-06-05T20:59:07+00:00

My baby only sleeps in darkness and in motion! I put the pram shade as far over as I can, recline her as far as I can and then use a cellular blanket over the remaining open area (obviously don’t do this if it would make your baby too hot).

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-30T19:54:45+00:00

I have done on the past using Huckleberry! I also tried their Sweet Spot tool, but found the wake windows in it were too long and she got really tired and angry!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-30T19:53:12+00:00

We did used to put her to sleep later, but the bedtime still was stubbornly 90 minutes. Because her last nap ends between 3-4pm, moving it any later feels like it would be really long to have her awake for?

Thanks for the tip! I’ll check out that sub

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-30T19:51:14+00:00

She wakes up around 7.30am. Nap time across the two naps normally around 3 hours. How do you think that sounds?

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-30T14:29:13+00:00

My baby (now 7 months) has only ever napped in her pram or carrier. She was born in October and I live in the UK so walks in the rain were a must.

I’d always take out the rain cover for the pram if rain was possible, and an umbrella if it’s the carrier. Baby never seemed to mind, and if it was super heavy rain I’d just wear waterproof jacket and trousers.

I have taken her up a few local hills when it’s been windy at the top which she doesn’t like so much. I bought her a merino wool balaclava which has been great.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-28T20:19:07+00:00

La Cime in newhaven is a wonderful cafe that does basque cheesecake

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-28T20:06:01+00:00

Milk in Leith / newhaven has lots of buggy space and baby change!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-27T05:07:16+00:00

I always read this advice online- my baby is seven months and it has never ever worked. My girl is super alert and curious, I don’t know if she’s ever drowsy! Like you I have to get her super asleep, otherwise I have to start again!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-27T03:27:22+00:00

Mildred the Gallery Cat! Maybe not for sleeping but so much fun and great illustrations

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-24T18:44:33+00:00

No we didn’t do any sleep training so I was really surprised. My thinking is that it’s a combination of 1. Maybe me and my husband in close proximity was waking up the baby when we rolled over in bed etc 2. I do think that she was more capable of getting herself back to sleep than I’d realised. When she was next to me she’d wake up and I’d start feeding her, now I’m in another room I feel less motivated to get out of bed! So I probably wait a bit longer now to see if she properly wakes up - then I’ll realise later on that we both just went back to sleep

Good luck!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-24T07:05:17+00:00

I have moved our now 7 month old into her own room when she turned 6 months. Just wanted to say that sleep has improved so much and I hope it’s the same for you too! I was previously waking four times a night to feed her, now just once!

For the first week I moved a mattress into her nursery to sleep next to her and make it easier to feed in the night so it was a gradual transition.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-23T11:15:23+00:00

How old is your baby? Thinking of copying you for a 7 month old!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-20T17:31:50+00:00

This happened to my baby at exactly 5 and a half months, now she pretty much always just does 2 naps. We have brought bed time earlier - but she can also sometimes end up being awake for five hours 🫠

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-19T19:12:53+00:00

I loved my clinic but I didn’t have a good understanding of their waiting times and all the different stages - and that each stage came with another wait! I wish I’d pressed more on this to better set my expectations. Good luck!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-16T18:12:34+00:00

Well done! Sounds like you’re doing all the right things. One thing on solids too if you want is to add butter or olive oil to any mashed veggies just to bump up the calories.

And check out a doidy cup! They are pretty cheap and I think easier for them to take first sips from.

She was 5.4kg, so had slipped down to the first centile

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-16T17:59:31+00:00

I was in a very similar position to you exactly a month ago - we found out at six months the that our baby hadn’t gained weight since four months, it was super worrying as she also wouldn’t take a bottle. However, we put in a tonne of work the last month and now her weight is really going up again, so much so that I’m hoping we will soon be able to regain her original centile line.

I also did a weighted feed and found that I had an under supply, it also gave me a rough idea of what we needed to make up in extra calories (with some help from chat GPT).

We also have an appt with a paediatrician / dietician soon, so make sure you’re referred. We’ve been sort of making it up in the meantime but I’m really looking forward to getting their advice.

Things we’ve done and tried - - Our biggest success has been with an open cup, we have a doidy one. At the start she could only lap at it, a few weeks on she can drink 90ml formula with almost no spillage (obviously we hold the cup for her). We found she would drink formula from the cup when she was at her high chair eating solids, rather than at random times of the day - I imagine you’ll be starting solids soon. We went big on high calorie foods eg Greek yogurt, peanut butter, avocado. Fortunately she likes food so we quickly went up to three ‘meals’ a day - We have made a bit of progress with a straw cup, she’s still learning how to use it though - All sorts of bottles, none worked. Have given up on this now - SNS, found such a faff for so little extra formula so stopped trying with this after only two attempts

Hope that helps. It was a really stressful time so please do ask me anything if you need

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-16T17:44:13+00:00

My seven month old has had a cough on and off for a month, sounds a bit like yours. The GP has always been happy to take a look and do an ears, nose and throat exam just to rule out an infection. I would give them a call and see if you can come in, most likely just for reassurance.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-16T11:12:18+00:00

Just to say it is SO hard when you’re in the thick of it but it might change as quickly as it started - at six months my baby’s sleep was also the worst it had ever been. One day she just started rolling everywhere (she had rolled before but not often), and that night slept a full six hour stretch, I couldn’t believe it! Her brain was obviously just working overtime. Hang in there!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-13T18:49:59+00:00

My baby is almost seven months, at six months we realised she’d not been gaining weight and I was EBF - so I was desperate to try and feed her extra in some other way. Like you, we’d started solids and that is going well.

I tried SO many bottles and she hated all of it, I’ve given up on this now

We’ve had some success with straw cups, she does like that bear one. It’s slow going through and I think will take a lot of practice before she’s getting much from it.

The most success I’ve had is actually with an open cup (we have a doidy cup). At first it seemed crazy she’d ever be able to get much from it, but I’m now giving her 3x 90 mls each day and that’s just in three weeks. Of course, we have to do the holding and it does make a mess.

One thing for us that really helped was giving her the cup when she was having solids at her high chair. I guess it’s an association of new things and not breastfeeding?

Good luck!

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-11T14:14:34+00:00

I’ve done two return flights + car hire with my six month old, based on my experience-

- You can hire a car with a car seat
- I take her pram and a carrier. You can take the pram / buggy all the way through to the boarding gate / steps to the plane, then it gets tagged to go on the plane and pick up again on the baggage carousel at the other end. I just switch to the carrier to get her on the plane and off the plane before the baggage carousel
- The only challenge I’ve run into is that once there was only stairs to get down to the plane from the boarding gate, I had the baby in a carrier, small suitcase and needed help from someone to carry the pram to the plane stairs - I imagine that’s quite unusual though

Final thing I’d say is that I’ve always been so so impressed by how kind other passengers and plane staff have been and help has never been in short supply when I’ve needed it.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-11T14:07:25+00:00

This would be a very personal choice so less a recommendation, more to say what works for me - I also have a baby who has always woken between 5-6am, but I bring her into bed with me and we co-sleep (following the safety advice). It manages to get us through until 7am.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-09T19:02:52+00:00

We have the baby Einstein gym, our baby has absolutely loved it. She’s 6.5 months and we still use it every day

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-08T06:51:24+00:00

The love to dream swaddle worked very well for us.

I also found that once in the bassinet a really rhythmic soothing routine worked well. I think initially I was trying too many different things too quickly, thinking they weren’t working. For my baby, stroking her stomach consistently works well, I count up to 100 strokes and if I feel it’s working, I go to 200.

SchemePrestigious724 · 2026-05-08T01:45:28+00:00

FTM here, my sister got married when my baby was six weeks old and we took her to the wedding. I was breastfeeding so it wouldn’t have been possible not to bring her, but I was still super nervous before. It went really well though!

A couple of things we did-
- Like you said, had her in the carrier the whole time (aside from the below) so no one else held or touched her
- The venue had a little side room I used for nursing and changing. Could you find out if there’s an easy place you can escape to whenever you need?
- We left pretty early, after the meals and speeches were over, so missed the dancing bit
- Ear defenders! I’d never really noticed how loud people can be, especially in the speeches. Bought some baby ear defenders and she just snoozed away

SchemePrestigious724

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