How to get from here to there

[kittiker]

I'm looking for some suggestions to improve my 6.5 month old's sleep, which has went to pot at 4ish months and seems to be getting worse. I'm not in a hurry as I have 6 month left of maternity leave and I'm managing to get a decent amount of sleep, even if it's very broken.

DS is BF and still sleeps in our room. He used to start off the night in his cot then come into our bed around 4 but now will only sleep in our bed. He wakes several times in the night but I usually just stuff my boob in his mouth and doze off so I'm not quite sure how often! I think he manages 3 hr stretches at the most. He likes to sleep quite late (9ish).

He naps for about 3 hours over 2 / 3 naps. Again, this used to be in his cot but now is on our bed - but without me there. He'll sleep in pram or sling if we are out.

Our loose routine is based on giving him a nap after 2 hours awake, with all naps ending at 5.00. Bedtime routine starts at 7.30ish. He falls asleep easily but doesn't stay asleep in the evenings, waking and refusing to go back to sleep until we come to bed. He is fed to sleep mainly, but will also settle himself with a dummy if he is lying beside me.

I'm feeling lost about how to improve things, with a view to him sleeping through in his own room eventually (ha!). All suggestions and strategies welcome. TIA.

[ODog]

Sorry I can't really help as my 17mo slept through the night in his own bed for the first time ever last week. Time was/is the only thing that helped in our situation. I didn't want to force him to sleep alone before he was ready and as it wasn't massively impacting my life I was happy to go at his pace. I don't believe much else would have helped him anyway besides some fairly brutal sleep training.

[kittiker]

Oh, that's disheartening. I thought things were supposed to get easier at six months, not much worse! I just feel a bit inept that I can't even get him to sleep in his cot and I worry I'm setting him up for sleep issues in the future. Will letting him sleep till 9 make him feckless? :-) In all seriousness, I don't know if not having any evening time to ourselves for another year or so is sustainable. Does no one have any ideas to try?

[ODog]

I'm so sorry I think I've made that sound worse than it is. From around 6/7 mo he would let us rock him to sleep and he would do the first stretch in his cot so we got a couple of hours to ourselves. Gradually we have been able to settle him back in his cot/bed more and more. Until last week he has started sleeping through without us having to go in. It's not linear. It's a bit 2 steps forward and 1 step back but things improved bit by bit. It does get better in time though, just don't expect to go from where you are now to STTN in one go, well not without some fairly hardcore sleep training. CIO and CC weren't for me but some people swear by it. There are gentler methods too that might work. Again, not something I was really on board with and I feel like I am starting to reap the benefits of being patient and letting him go at his own pace. It's a long, slow way to do it though. Hope this makes you feel better.