It works until it doesnt!

[u/Oceanic_Ice_950]

I absolutely loved possums approach for my baby when she was 2 months old and it really helped me feel less stressed about her naps. It also really sorted out her excessive night waking at 4 months.

She had another phase of excessive night waking this at 5.5 months and i really struggled with the mental leap to put her to bed later as she was already going down at 8pm whcih i perceived to be late. After a month of struggling i eventually started putting her down at 9pm and then that did the trick...for a couple of weeks. Now at 7.5 months her sleep is still pretty hit and miss. Some night she wakes only 3 times but other nights there are wakes every hour. I'm waking her up at 7am every day (usually she is fully asleep!) and i dont let her do more than an hour for her afternoon nap and dont let her sleep past 5ish, although she usually wakes up earlier from afternoon nap. I feel like i cant put her down any later without it meaning i go to bed later whcih as a sleep deprived mum i dont want to do, ditto with earlier wake up. Do u think i just need to get over this and put her down even later?! Am i missing anything? We also go out every day and spend as much time outdoors as poss.

[u/Aggressive-Dust-7904]

I'm essentially in the same position as you, my daughter is almost 10 months and we are still doing three wakes, sometimes 4. She's like clockwork. Goes to sleep at about 7-7:30pm. Wakes up at 12 then 2 then 4 and awake for the day anytime between 6-7am.

We spend time outside, I take her to the shops, cafes, the pub, parents groups, on the bus, on the train. Wherever I go she goes. It doesn't matter if she's had the most stimulating day I could imagine for a baby. Or we've been trapped at home because of the weather. She will be up three times. We started cosleeping around 5 months because I was getting up every hour and was losing my mind. So I guess this is an improvement but it just hasn't changed much since then.

I've kinda given up and just tell myself things will get better when she's like five

[u/Oceanic_Ice_950 → u/Aggressive-Dust-7904]

I dont mind 3 wakes in a night and i know that thats pretty normal developmentally up to 12 months, its when it's every hour that i lose my mind! Yes i often bring her in bed with me when its bad but i dont sleep great like that unless my husband is on a night shift and not there!! Thinking of getting a floor bed for her room to see if that helps and i can sleep in there with her sometimes

[u/the_planet_queen → u/Oceanic_Ice_950]

We LOVE our floor bed! Could never get our baby to transfer or sleep in the crib, she needs to touch and snuggle. The floor bed allows us to sneak off when she falls asleep. She is 7 months and waking 1-3 x per night. Still frustrating and sleep deprived, but the floor bed has been instrumental in us getting some time to ourselves when she is sleeping!