sleepless nights

Helen - posted on 02/22/2011

So pleased it worked out for you - it is such a relief when yours and their sleep is uniterrupted! x

Alysha - posted on 02/21/2011

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I've tried lettting him cry and everything, turns out the one thing that worked was his daddy! every night now, his dad tells him 'tonight we sleep through the whole night, and we don't wake up mommy or daddy until the morning' and apparently it works! who'd have thought something so simple.

Alexandra - posted on 02/07/2011

I totally agree with Rebekah and Helen. At this age and size none of our babies NEED to wake up during the night to eat or to be changed. Everyone, even adults, wakes once in a while throughout the night but we know how to soothe ourselves back to sleep. That's the skill you need to teach your baby. We make sure our son has a good dinner and/or a bottle of milk before bed and we put him in the 12 hour diapers so he never needs to be changed (if your child really notices and is bothered by wet diapers it may be about time for potty training so that's sort of good news)

We also use the "controlled crying" method with our son. We did this at 5 months old and he has mostly been sleeping through the night since then. Every once in a while he gets out of practice (from sickness, new milestones, vacations or mom and dad being sucks) and we do a couple nights of retraining.

We let him cry for 5, 10 and then 15 minute intervals until he goes to sleep, either when he goes down or throughout the night. We also make sure he always goes to bed sleepy but awake.

The key is consistency. When I go in I put Tristan back down, rub his back for a bit and I actually do talk to him to tell him it's "sleepy time" and that mommy and daddy are just in the next room. I feel like it's a bit creepy to not say anything but that's just me. When we first started this technique, however, we were silent with him. We always leave the room after about one minute, even if he's still not completely calm.

It is a bit tough to hear the crying but just remember it's never for very long and your baby is not in real distress. They are just mad that they don't get exactly what they want anymore. They are very smart and know how to get mommy and daddy to do what they want! I would love my husband to rub my back everytime I woke up for a second but I'm not traumatized when he doesn't!

Stay strong, be consistent and I promise your baby will start sleeping through the night. Everything will seem better when your baby and you are getting a good night's sleep!

Helen - posted on 02/07/2011

I had the same problem with my son who is the same age, that is until Christmas - We had got into the habbit of laying in our room with him until he went to sleep with his milk then we would lift him into his cot - Then he would wake 2 o 3 times - it started gettig riddiculous so in the end we started to put him in his cot whilst he was sleepy but still awake. there were tears for a few minutes then silence. The same the next night...thats been 5 weeks or so now and he is even eating better during the day as he is getting his proper sleep... hope this helps

Bola - posted on 02/07/2011

Thanks everyone for all your advice, I will start today and give you the feedback my cousin also mentioned water, but i have tried that a few weeks ago but i noticed she cried more when i gave her but, like you've said now i will be persistent and try it for the whole of this week. Thanks i'll definately inform you of our progress

Raji - posted on 02/07/2011

facing the same problem... my daughter is 20 month old.she also wakes up multiple times for feed and makes disturbing noises in between.Have anyone felt that the chill weather could be a reason?? coz she sleeps when we are at our hometown which is warm...

Kristi - posted on 02/06/2011

I has this prolem with my son. The pediatrician recommended that whenever he wakes up don't pick him up and only give him water instead of milk. If he does seem hungry give him a snack before bed. My son now wakes when my husband is home at night but the nights im home alone he sleeps all night

Bola - posted on 02/05/2011

Hi there, i just read yours I seem to have this problem too with my 20months old daughter, but she use to wake up twice before but now just once for her milk but i really need to stop her waking up because she will turn two in aa few months so am abit worried that i still need to break my sleep to give her milk, pls if you have any suggestions for me pls do let me know thanks

Rebekah - posted on 01/24/2011

Has he always gotten up multiple times a night, or is this a recent thing? Could he just be sick or not feeling well? How do you respond to him when he does wake in the night? How do his grandparents respond to him at night? What do they do differently? Could it be that he's just getting everything he wants when he wakes at night with you?

At our house, night is for sleeping. The rule is that children stay in their own bed, all night long, every night. Even if my kids are sick, I generally just give them more medicine, give them a hug, and cover them back up.

If you really want to teach him to sleep all night, then there will likely be some protest tears. I would recommend letting him protest for short intervals at first and then gradually increase the time. So, go to him after 5 minutes of crying, lay him down without saying a word, and then leave. Then wait 10 minutes, lay him down without saying a word, and leave. For the first few nights it might take a while, but eventually he'll learn that you're not any fun at night anymore. When he can get to the point where he can predict that if he cries at night you'll just lay him back down and cover him up, he'll stop waking in the night.

Good luck to you!