My 10month old has never slept through the night!

Daniela - posted on 05/25/2009

Quoting Jessica:

Wow! I'm sorry you're going through that. It feels horrible to hear them cry and not be able to get any good sleep on top of it. I was having the same problems up until about a month ago but I read Good Night Sleep Tight, also known as the Sleep Lady Shuffle. It had a lot of different options with regards to breastfed babies and babies that "room in" with their parents. Within a few days of doing the "Shuffle" my baby was sleeping so much better! He used to go to bed at 10 pm and get up at 6 am and he would take naps here and there during the day. Now, he goes to bed at 7:30 pm and wakes up at 7 or 7:30 am. He has his naps from 9-10:30 and 2-3:30. I hate it that I have to work my schedule around his naptimes and meals but I would rather do that and get a good full nights sleep. I'm loving this new schedule! (P.S. The daytime naps are very very hard and much harder than putting him down at night so if you can, just stick with it and you'll pull through!)

Jessica, who is the author of these books?  I'm interested in reading them.

Shanna - posted on 05/21/2009

Go and order "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" That worked for me when my daughter was waking every 2-3 hours to be nursed back to sleep

Krystal - posted on 05/21/2009

Hi mummies,

thank you sooo much for all the advice & support. A couple dys ago I noticed that my baby girl's upper tooth had broken through. I guess that's y she was waking up 3/4 times a night recently. Last night she slept from 7:30a to 5a!!! My baby never really cries so I just really believe that when she cries at night its for a good reason & shouldnt be ignored.

Anyways i'm trying to get a copy of the books u mums suggested, i'm sure i'll find ideas in there. But for now she's sleeping well.

Mary - posted on 05/21/2009

Sorry for the long post. I couldn't do the cry it out method either... but my baby who used to sleep through the night was starting to wake 2-3 times a night every night. My doc said it was just a part of him developing and separation anxiety, etc. and to not go to him. I simply could not go through with the CIO. So, as the others have posted, there are many other options out there.

First, you should realize that this problem will probably not go away on its own... at least not for a long long time. And second, you should realize that this problem will probably just get more difficult to resolve the longer you let it go on. At this age, she can sleep through the night and should not need any food at all at night. So don't worry about starving her.

I saw this process (the process of sleeping through the night) as any other developmental process with a baby. Nothing is immediate, everything is gradual (i.e. walking and talking.. these are gradual developments with little advancements made over time like babbling and crawling). So, you may want to start with her sleeping in her own room and falling asleep not by the breast or bottle. Rock her, walk her, whatever else to get her to fall asleep. Just accomplish these two things at first and that can be the first step.

Gradually you can get her to fall asleep in her crib by herself. You can use some other methods out there for this. With my baby, I had to use the pick up put down method in Baby Whisperer at first. I also sat on the floor by his crib so he wouldn't stand up.

When she begins to fall asleep by herself in her crib, you will notice that she will sleep through the night!! I guess what happens is whenever she wakes at night, she's learned how to fall asleep by herself and she will not need you or cry out for you. She will just fall back to sleep.

Sorry for the long response, but my hubby and I are so relieved that we can sleep through the night again with no crying and we are almost at the point when the baby gets sleepy at night we can just put him in his crib and leave his room immediately! Life is so much easier this way!

Hang in there... this won't happen over night. It is a lot of work and it will pay off eventually. It is worthwhile and you'll be happy that you have a child that can sleep by herself for years to come

Marina - posted on 05/21/2009

Forgot to add he now sleeps from 7 30pm-6am

Marina - posted on 05/21/2009

This was me the past few months and I just didn't know what to do and then decided to do the cry it out method even though baby's crib is in our room. Before we did it hubby and I decided to stick together and ride it out no matter what. Around 10 pm he cried for a few minutes and just fell asleep and then the party started at 3 am. I could see he was sitting in his crib wide awake, he first started chatting away and then a couple minutes later he started crying. It was really difficult just waiting and checking the time, and then after about 30 minutes he fell asleep and slept tight till 6 am. I was so terrified that when he woke up he would be grumpy or something, but he had one of his big smiles plastered across his face and it was such a relief knowing that we actually helped him go to sleep on his own. The next two nights were much easier because the crying was just 10 minutes in all and ever since then he's been a happy sleeper! Hope this helps, good luck and hope you get your well deserved sleep.

Jessica - posted on 05/19/2009

Wow! I'm sorry you're going through that. It feels horrible to hear them cry and not be able to get any good sleep on top of it. I was having the same problems up until about a month ago but I read Good Night Sleep Tight, also known as the Sleep Lady Shuffle. It had a lot of different options with regards to breastfed babies and babies that "room in" with their parents. Within a few days of doing the "Shuffle" my baby was sleeping so much better! He used to go to bed at 10 pm and get up at 6 am and he would take naps here and there during the day. Now, he goes to bed at 7:30 pm and wakes up at 7 or 7:30 am. He has his naps from 9-10:30 and 2-3:30. I hate it that I have to work my schedule around his naptimes and meals but I would rather do that and get a good full nights sleep. I'm loving this new schedule! (P.S. The daytime naps are very very hard and much harder than putting him down at night so if you can, just stick with it and you'll pull through!)

Lise - posted on 05/18/2009

Oh oops - you said 'waking' not 'walking'. But still, in the same boat over here :)

Lise - posted on 05/18/2009

My daughter is also an early walker and she is the exact same way. The No Cry Sleep Solution helped us a lot with naps, but we are still waking every 2 hours at night with her. To me, sticking her in a room by herself to cry it out is simply not an option, and based on our nap experiences, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work anyway. I am so tired but I figure she has to start sleeping longer sooner or later.

So no real ideas here, but you aren't alone!

Aubrey - posted on 05/18/2009

My son (9 1/2 months) does the exact same thing. I have tried to let him cry it out but I am just to tired to hear him cry (he is also in our room because our house is REALLY small). I thought he would maybe start sleeping better because he only wants to take one nap a day now, but it hasn't changed night time sleep at all. I am just hoping he grows out of it.

Ldoo - posted on 05/18/2009

My thoughts are:



Put her in her own room. She'll never sleep as well with you guys as she will on her own.



Yes, you probably need to intervene. She won't learn how to sleep on her own after a year of not doing so. I really like the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book. It has all sorts of solutions from Cry it Out to No Cry. Whatever you choose, be very consistent with it for at least a week, otherwise you'll just confuse her.



Just remember: In the end, it's not for your personal comfort that she needs to sleep all night (although it helps). It's because she needs 10-12 hours of straight sleep to be at her healthiest. So even if it's difficult, stick with it. It will work eventually.



Good luck!