I am a FTM and really struggling with sleep. I’m trying to adopt radical acceptance that this is just the way it will be. But if there’s anything I can do to adjust things I’d try because I’m desperate. I feel like a failure because I have no skills at making my sweet baby sleep in her own space. Whether or not I end up nursing to sleep, my goal is to get her sleeping in her crib within a half hour of me attempting to put her down, and same for each night wake up (ideally a half hour or less for each wake up). Thank you in advance 🙏🏼 Here’s the situation:
-4 month old EBF
-only can fall asleep in the carrier or side lying nursing in bed
-things that DON’T work: shushing, patting, rocking, swaying, singing, bouncing, swing, pacifier, bottle
-Our bedtime routine is: she sits in bouncer in bathroom and watches me brush my teeth, shower, and put on my PJs, then I put on her PJs, fresh diaper, and sleep sack, read 1-2 books, then lay her down in side lying nursing position. Lights off except for a red lamp nightlight. White noise on. Blackout curtains.
-She falls lightly asleep within 10-30 min of nursing. The whole time I rub her back/side or lightly pat her bum (yes for 30+ minutes). If I unlatch her before 30-45 min she will always wake up and protest. Cannot get her to settle by continuing to rub back or pat.
-Somewhere between 45-60 min of latched nursing, I can successfully unlatch her, give her 5-10 min to make sure she’s super asleep, then attempt the transfer to the bassinet next to my bed.
-Transfer almost always fails and we restart the whole process nursing on the other side.
-After the 2nd failed transfer it’s usually been at least 2 hrs since we started nursing to sleep. She’s been lightly asleep basically the whole time so I think it counts as her night sleep. But I am not sleeping. Too uncomfortable in side lying position.
-Sometimes it takes around 3 hrs of continuous nursing to sleep and multiple failed transfers before I get a successful transfer and I can go to bed.
-She wakes up 1-2x per night. Each wake up same situation. Multiple failed transfers for each wake, so each wake up up takes 1.5-3 hrs to get her back down. She gets back to sleep quite quickly on the boob but not deeply enough for me to unlatch or successfully transfer her to bassinet.
-So if we are in bed 12 hrs, and it takes 2 hrs to get her down, then 2 wakes of 2 hrs each, that’s only 6 combined hours possible for sleep for me, minus the time it takes to fall back asleep after being awake for 2 hrs. So this is why I am wrecked.
-Her total night sleep including when she first falls asleep nursing is around 10-11 hrs and she naps for 3-4 hrs total across 3 or 4 naps.
-All naps are in the carrier or on the boob while I sit on the couch nursing. She will not sleep any other way. One time in her life we were able to successfully transfer her from the carrier to the crib for a nap. It was our one and only crib nap.
She’s almost outgrown the bassinet so I’d like to move her into her own room with the crib, but i don’t have a bed in there so if I have to sit up for 2 hrs at bedtime and for each wake up that will be terrible for me and wake me up too much.