SLEEP... IS THERE SUCH A THING?

[MrsBigD]

I know, it's been covered about a million times, but I need to write about it just to make certain it's not me... going mental... ah well I am mental but that's another story.

Ds is 11 months old and he used to sleep so well... which was a blessing after dd (now 3.9) as she was an absolute nightmare... well I shouldn't have counted my chickens...

for the last few month's it has gradually gotten worse... first it was teething then it was god knows what... he goes down alrigh around 2000 whilst being cuddled. Sleeps for a couple of hours like a stone and then the 'fun' starts. Almost hourly waking.

Can't leave him crying in the bed room as he'll wake up dd - if we do let him cry she comes into our room and tells us off or she goes 'be quite ds' and then she's grouchy.

He's not hungry (eats well and gets bottle at 2200 when he first wakes after going down)

gets wonderful massage in the evening as I thought maybe it's because he started walking and his legs hurt

He drinks chamomille tea in the afternoon so that should calm him down a bit I thought

he is quite active so maybe he keeps knocking himself in his cot, despite the padding we put round

not teething at the moment either - well at least I think so... he likes chewing on things but hasn't got the other tell tale signs like snotty nose syndrom etc.

I know... there is no one solution and besides handing him a bottle of beer for the night, which I of course would never do... (but it's oh so tempting ) I'm at the end of my tether.

All in all I consider myself fortunate if I get more than 2h sleep in one stretch!

dont really want to take him into our bed as that's a bad habit to break later on plus dd would get incredibly jealouse or just join us too which then of course would result in us getting even less sleep.

Oh and I work full-time so can't even take a nap when he naps during the day - he has 1.5 h in the morning and about 1h in the afternoon. Tried without the afternoon nap but no change in night sleeping pattern
ARGH yawn

[MrsBigD]

anybody? ;(

[colditz]

How long did you try to drop the afternoon nap for? It took a week to make any difference to my ds, but then it all caught up with him and he slept.

Have you tried the silent approach? Go into him when he cries, but don't make eye contact, make as little bodily contact as possible and don't talk to him. Just put him back lying down, and leave the room.

[MrsBigD]

Hi Colditz,
tried the no nap for a few days. Will tell nanny to keep it up then
The silent approach doesn't work as he stands straight up again either screaming or happily gurgling... both disturbing dd

[colditz]

What about making a little camp bed up in your room for DD, while you sleep train your DS? It does sound like all he wants is your attention, and nothing is actually needed.

[MrsBigD]

hmmm might try that... dd would LOVE to be in mama and papas room... though then the trick is to keep her out of our bed

[Seona1973]

Do you mean that you cuddle your lo till he goes to sleep? That could be your whole problem as how your lo gets to sleep in the first place will be what he expects when he wakes in the night. He doesnt seem to have the skills to send himself back into deep sleep after a period of light sleep (which occurs roughly every 45 minutes, hence the hourly waking). I think your best bet is to get your lo to go to sleep by himself in the cot - try to put him in the cot progressively more awake so that he can learn how to send himself to sleep rather than having to rely on you to do it for him.

I also wouldnt restrict the daytime sleep too much as if your lo is overtired when he goes to bed it will make it 10 times harder for him to settle to sleep and can also contribute to night wakings. Your lo may still need a good couple of hours of naptime during the day to ensure he is not overtired by bedtime.

[MrsBigD]

Seona... tried that for about week, but the problem is that he just pulls himself to standing and wants to play or scream...

The plan for this coming week is letting him have a 2h lunch time nap and see whether that changes anything.

If that doesn't do anything than we might take dd into our room as suggested further down and try some cc for a while though boy can he holler! Poor neighbours aren't going to be impressed - we live in a block of flats with the walls not being too sound proof...

[Seona1973]

when your lo pulls up to standing just lay him back down again over and over until he goes to sleep by himself. It may take a lot of lie downs and a lot of crying but at least you would be helping him to go to sleep rather than leaving him to cry by himself.