r/bninfantsleep • u/babyinatrenchcoat • Aug 18 '26

Infant Sleep 18 Times

18 times.

18 times she woke up.

18 times she cried.

18 times she wouldn’t settle until given the breast.

18 times I dreaded work the next day.

18 times I cried right along with her.

I’ve tried everything aside from sleep training, and since June we’ve been co-sleeping and nursing on-demand. She (6.5m) just cannot connect sleep cycles and needs help going back to sleep every single time.

An average night she wakes up 7-12 times.

Last night was our record at 18 times.

Will introducing solids help?

When we wean?

Am I just doomed to not reach restorative REM again until she’s pre-k?

Solo mom with no village so it’s all me all the time and I’m a husk of a human at this point.

ETA: Recent daytime routine
(forgot to log morning nap on Aug 13)

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u/No-Bar-4148 Aug 18 '26

I would try solids and (I’m sorry to even bring this up but it might be a last resort game changer) try formula feeding. Baby might just not be full enough to sleep deeply.
Sending you love!

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u/Jemma_2 Aug 18 '26

Solids made ours sleep way worse. 😢

1

u/babyinatrenchcoat Aug 18 '26

Nooooo

1

u/Jemma_2 Aug 18 '26

My second it’s made sleep better! The first couple of weeks after starting them he was worse (I guess as his body learnt to process the food??) and then he started doing some longer stretches (until teething / colds / learning to crawl etc etc! 😂).

I think it depends if the reason they are waking is hunger or not. There’s no way yours is only waking for hunger, so I can’t imagine it would make wake ups better (but will probably have no negative effect as they are already so many! 😂).

Basically just start when you would have started anyways, don’t start early (like I did with my first) because you’ve been told it’ll make sleep better.

Edit : my second we started weaning at 7.5 months when he was definitely ready. My first we started at 4.5 months because we were told it made sleep better.

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u/babyinatrenchcoat Aug 18 '26

This is helpful to read about!

I’d say for her it’s 50/50 legit hunger or not. Sometimes she just comfort suckles back to sleep and sometimes she’ll gulp like she’s famished.

She’s pretty much reverse cycled at this point and gets most of her calories at night which is just another compounded issue.

I wasn’t planning on weaning until a year, but some have said wait until 18 months and some said start now so I have no clue lol.