Getting so little sleep!

Post your parents and sleep questions here.

Moderator: talkhealth

Locked
2 posts
Guest Posts
Posts: 796
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:12 pm
Quote

by Guest Posts on Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:46 am

Getting so little sleep!

I have recently had my second child and am obviously up a lot during the nights am breastfeeding. My 2 year old who for many months has slept very well has now also taken to waking up and although my husband tries to help with her she is only wanting me to be with her. I am struggling to now get any sleep. This is leading to all kinds of friction in the day as I'm tired and also have a 2 year old who is also tired! Any thoughts and help would be very helpful.
Mandy
talkhealth team on behalf of a guest visitor

User avatar
Vicki Dawson
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2019 11:48 am
Quote

by Vicki Dawson on Thu Jul 09, 2020 8:44 am

Re: Getting so little sleep!

Hi Mandy,

Any change can potentially disrupt sleep patterns. It could be a number of factors that are having an impact. The arrival of a new sibling may mean your 2 year old needs a few tweaks to their bedtime routine to help them to adjust. You could try putting one of your worn t-shirts over their pillow so that the scent of you is close by. A photograph of parents in the bedroom helps some children to feel more secure at night time, this will depend on how light it is of course in the room!

You may need to develop a bedtime routine where your toddler has little jobs to do, making her feel involved with her sibling. I'm presuming your baby is in your bedroom, depending on the cognitive ability of your daughter you may need to explain simply why this is and that she is a big girl and sleeps in her own room now.

Some children are very noise sensitive, consider if your toddler may be getting woken by the feeds in the night. If you think this could be a factor you could try introducing white noise to mask out background noise, you can buy white noise machines - just check that you can safely leave it on throughout the night as consistency is key.

Maybe plan some special time in the bedtime routine just for the two of you? A full consultation to unpick these issues can take around an hour so quite tricky to do here. If you want to contact the charity we do have some sleep services in certain geographical areas and can provide you with that information.

Keep consistent in what you are doing and congratulations on your new arrival,

Take Care
Vicki
Vicki Dawson
CEO and Founder of The Children's Sleep Charity

http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... dawson.php

Locked
2 posts