too old for this

Laura - posted on 07/13/2011

Thank you for your suggestions. Routine is not the problem I don’t think, we never have trouble getting her to go to bed, just the staying asleep part. She is still in a crib and I haven’t fed her in the middle of the night since she was five months old, I am guilty of picking her up and holding her for about 15 minutes, maybe if I just rub her back she’ll find that less fun and not worth it. I also cut her nap to two hours instead of how ever long she feels and I find that has helped a bit already. Thanks again

Louisa - posted on 07/11/2011

sorry to say it but same as above my eldest cant do more than 2 - 3 hours whereas my 3 month old sleeps through from 7 till 7 then just a bottle and a hug and sleeps till 10 we do use cio on our eldest and tbh (i know its wrong) but we've had to learn to shut his door and ours and if he wakes in the night we ignore him it did work then we moved him to his bed then he reverted to 2 - 3 hours

Sharon - posted on 07/10/2011

Ummm....sorry to say, it's NOT a joke...new bubs may be sleeping through first!!
My eldest, 20mths, was a fabulous sleeper, then he decided that waking up around 2am was great fun (doesn't stay awake, just relocates himself to our room). Especially once he could get out of bed and come into mummy & daddy's room. I have to take him back into bed almost every night, unless he wakes 430am onwards, then he's allowed to stay in our bed (he starts his day around 530/6am). He has a wonderful daytime & bedtime sleep routine. He has just decided that waking and getting up is fun. We don't do the CIO technique.
We also have an 11wk old and guess who gives me the peaceful night sleep....yep, then newborn! I can be almost guaranteed he won't wake or even stir before 5am (then it's just a re-wrap, and he's back asleep until 7am), but I can almost guarantee our older son will wake up.

Tracy - posted on 07/05/2011

One more thing, I know every kid is different but both my twin daughters (20.5 months) nap for 3hrs all the time (at least 3 times a week) and sleep thru. Although I must admit on days that they sleep past 4:00 it is harder to get them to bed, it is rare that either one wakes up once asleep. When they nap late I often let them stay up 15-30 min depending what else is going on the following day. It is important to follow their cues. Of course if they cry or say "no"when I bring up the word "bedtime" this does not mean they aren't tired.

Tracy - posted on 07/05/2011

I really like all the suggestions about bedtime routines. They are great, but routine will mostly help settle your daughter and prepare her for bedtime. I am not sure it will necessarily help her sleep thru the night (most nights) without waking. The first thing I would do is make sure bedtime is constant (the same time every night), then rule out temperature and noise issues. My girls are in sleepsacs so I don't worry about them kicking off covers and getting cold. When we got air conditioning it seemed to really help my girls sleep thru as well. I would also suggest not picking her up anymore, try rubbing her back instead, even if she cries just stay with her, talk to her, sing/hum, etc. but DON'T pick her up. I have actually had to do this for nearly an hour before (I think it was 55 minutes). My muscles were aching but I stuck with it. In less than a week the problem was solved and I only had 2 really bad nights. At the time it seemed unbearable but looking back it was just 2 really bad nights and couple other really tiring nights. That's it! Also don't give milk only give water if you think she needs it. Other than that I think you only have 2 options: either a mild version of CIO (which is a lot of work and you don't seem up for that anyway) or the family bed. Both are extreme and not for everyone but both will do the trick if you are willing to stick with them. I am not about to suggest either though.

Nicole - posted on 07/05/2011

Routine is key. Whenever my 21 month old son is out of his routine, he wont sleep, refuses to lay by himself.. all things he's very well aware he's capable of doing all on his own. I used CIO the first few nights along with routine, and soon it wasn't CIO.. he just went to sleep. Today we do the following: Quiet time, shower/bath, get dressed, cuddle with mom/dad and rock and or read, pending his attitude and then we lay him in his crib. He says "bye bye" whispering, and gives us a kiss and goes right to sleep. but trust me mama.. It took a while to get there! Good luck!

Tammy - posted on 07/03/2011

My little one gets off schedule if she sleeps more than two hours for her daytime nap. Two other factors that will affect her sleep is if she takes a nap late in the day or if she goes to bed too early. I know we are not on a 'normal' sleep time of between 7:30 to 8:30, it is more like 10:30 or 11pm. If I get her to sleep at the 'normal' times she is awake within 2 to 4 hours and she will be up for at least 2 hours before I can get her to go back to bed. Keep in mind we are co-sleepers and even then they have trouble staying asleep.Best of luck!

Laura - posted on 07/03/2011

We have a bedtime routine that seems to work, we just extemded her bedtime by a half hour, she takes one nap a day for two or three hours. Maybe i should keep it more two hours rather than the three.

Tiffany - posted on 07/02/2011

Is she taking too many naps during the day? My son wasn't sleeping through the night so I stopped giving him a morning nap and he was fine.

Carmina - posted on 07/02/2011

im in the same problem but my son wakes every night and its VERY hard to get him to go back to sleep in his own bed lol. im also 22 weeks preg and thinking my newborn will sleep through the night too lol!

Kris - posted on 06/24/2011

A constant bedtime routine can help with this. Perhaps bath, story and tuck into bed. What ever it is consistency will encourage her to no whats next. Also are you going in her room or getting her when she awakes? If so that could be apart of the problem, she expects you to be there. I would go in to sooth her and ask her to lay down maybe once. But if you keep going back and going back she will expect that every night. Also are you giving her a cup at night when she wakes up? If so that is another thing she will come to expect nightly so it is best to break this as well. A night light and soothing music may help as well. Take care. You can also visit my blog at www.childhoodcheatsheet.blogspot.com for more tips. I have an post on this. Take care.