13 month old NOT sleeping

Gwen - posted on 03/30/2010

So glad to hear a "we" in there. I'm sure having some back-up helps a lot! Do you let him fuss for 5 minutes or so to see if he'll settle himself? This sounds a lot like my daughter :-) I'm sorry to say I don't have much advice for you. I am not a "cry it out" mom, so I followed a similar routine. Eventually we got through it. In my opinion, taking 1 minute to go in and pat his back is much more appealing (sleep-wise) than listening to him cry for 45 minutes.

Heather - posted on 03/30/2010

he takes a bottle about 8:30-9pm then falls asleep til about 1:30/2am, rock him, he goes back to sleep, then sleeps until about 3:30am, then wakes up at 5:45am, then wakes up at 7 or 8am.. when he wakes up, he fusses til someone comes in, then he just wants to be held, usually takes about 10 min or so to get him to go back to sleep.. most times tho, we can just tell him, its ok and to go back to sleep, which works about 60% of the time.

Renae - posted on 03/29/2010

Heather how does your little boy go to sleep at the start of the night? And how do you get him back to sleep when he wakes and how long does it take? Do you go to him every time he wakes or only when he cries? Last question... has he ever had a phase of sleeping at least 6 straight hours for at least a few nights in a row or has he woken every couple of hours consistenly since birth? I can probably help you but just need a few more details.

Noone knows why some babies sleep well and others do not. It has nothing to do with being a 2nd child or being a boy! lol. Most babies get the hang of sleep all by themselves completely REGARDLESS of anything the parents did or did not do. (Although these parents are often convinced it was the routine, or the cereal or whatever - fact is most babies just get it.) However about 20% of babies never figure out the sleep thing until they are taught to put themselves to sleep and resettle themselves without fully waking at night.

There are several methods for doing this, gentle no-cry methods which take some time and CIO methods which work more quickly. Every situation and every baby are different and only the parent can decide what is best for their baby and family. Give me a bit more info and I will give you some options for sleep methods.

Gwen - posted on 03/29/2010

My daughter was also still waking at that age. Hang in there! If you have to go in the room, keep the lights dim and try not to get him out of the bed, if possible. See if you can get him to lay back down and let you rub his back for a couple of minutes. Also, it sounds like you already are, but if not, wait about 5 minutes before you go to him. It amazes me how my daughter can go from screaming to snoring within 1 minute. :-)

Casey - posted on 03/28/2010

my son was a great little sleeper untill he hit 9 months old and he was a monster up until he was 18 months, I do think that it is a stage that they go through cause so much is happening to them (getting teeth, crawling, walking ect) but I found a few things that helped us, first thing is make sure you have a good routine at that age I never allowed my son to be awake for more then 4-5 hours so if he woke in the morning at 7am he'd have a nap at 11-12 and then if he woke at 3pm he'd go to bed at 7-8pm, also make sure he has plenty to eat for dinner and make sure he doesn't have his dinner to early, after dinner give him a bath (try the johnsons bedtime range it's really good) and then cuddles and then bedtime (I have always fed my son a bottle before bed I find it relaxes him), if he wakes during the night don't get up to him straight away wait untill he is actually crying cause sometimes they might make some noises but then settle back down, if you do have to go back into him don't turn on the light or talk to him or even make eye contact with him, just lay him back down give him a sip of water (not milk, juice or formula) and then walk out (sounds cruel but he has to learn that his not going to get anything good by getting you up and down all night), we also bought our son a cheap cd player and some cd's with lullabies on them (fisher price make some good ones) and I play them softly all night and I find they keep him asleep cause he can't hear anything else like people snoring, traffic outside, rain, wind ect. sometimes a nightlight is a good idea too, also make sure his not to cold or hot I found my son can't wear flannelett pyjamas to bed or those fluffy jumpsuits cause he cooks in them. I would also try (just for one or two nights) giving him a dose of panadol or nurofen or some kind of pain medication because sometimes you can't see or feel teeth coming through but they are moving and causing pain and his the perfect age for those nasty molars to be coming through. Good luck and hang in there :)