And why?
For me, anything between 0 and 6 months. Was the hardest. Although the potato stage has its benefits (no defiance, power struggles, tantrums, relatively immobile), the lack of sleep obliterated my mental health.
My oldest is only 2y9m but I’d say so far between 1y and 1 and a half has been pretty fun
…aside from mere survival of course
I have so much time on my hands yet unable to finish a single thing! My days consist of tidying the house as much possible within the bounds of my little energy, sell baby clothes or items my baby has outgrown, and try to watch a show but somehow never managing to finish an episode
Wby?
Hi all,
Looking for some perspective/reassurance from people who’ve been in a similar situation.
My baby is 11 weeks old, gaining weight well, and we’ve recently transitioned to full formula. The “positive” is that he falls asleep completely independently — both at bedtime and for naps. We do a short routine, put him down awake, leave the room, and he just goes to sleep on his own.
However…
- Naps are quite short
- He wakes to feed during the night (fair enough)
- But from around 4am onwards, things fall apart
From 4am he’s really restless, grunting, unsettled, and basically just wants to be picked up and sleep in our arms. We used to think it was digestion, but it increasingly feels more like he just wants comfort/contact.
Schedule-wise:
- 4–5 naps per day
- Wake windows ~1.5 hours
- Seems age-appropriate overall
Feeding:
- Takes ~330ml overnight, which feels like a lot given we offer plenty during the day
- Feels like he’s clustering calories at night and I don’t know how to shift that
My main concern is: since he already falls asleep independently, I’m worried sleep training won’t “fix” anything later on. Like… what is there left to teach if he already has independent sleep at the start of the night?
Has anyone had a baby like this — great independent sleeper at bedtime, but early morning chaos and lots of night intake? Did things improve? Did sleep training help later on?
Would really appreciate any experiences or thoughts.