sleeping advice

[Racheyg]

hello mumsnet,

My 8 month old is having trouble sleeping at night. He has only 2x 30 min naps in the day (he is like clockwork) around 10.30 and 15.00. He has his last bottle at 18.15 and falls sleep around 18.30. up until 3 weeks ago he slept right through till 7am, but recently keeps waking up sometime to the point where we need to comfort him in our arms until he falls back to sleep, and most of the time we end up getting him into bed with us and i really dont want to continue with him getting into our bed and start bad habits.

do we try the controlled crying method? I go back to work in 1 1/2 weeks and will be getting up at 5.30 so would love to at least keep him settled in his cot till then, as he could then join his daddy in bed :) he is still in our room, but we tried sleeping in the spare room and I was up every 10 mins and then gave in and slept with him in bed on my own.

would love some advice on this as I feel so helpless. have I been spoilt that he was such a great sleeper before hand?

Thanks all xx

[Cigarettesandsmirnoff]

Hi rach snap!

My dd 9 months was doing the same - going down at half six tll 6am.

The past weekend half she has woke up for a bottle at 10pm and dummy around 4 (her old habit)

It might be developmental. You only need to do something three nights for a habit to form.

Controlled crying is not for me AND it can happen on cc where you have to start all over again.

I've taken over all night wake as dp wakes her up as she is excited t see him.

Does your ds want a feed when he wakes up?

[Racheyg]

hi cigaretts,
he doesnt fully wake up just starts crying, so we do put his dummy in, but then around 2.30 he wakes up fully which is when we cave in and get him into our bed. He hasnt had a nighttime feed for a long time, he dropped it naturally at about 4 months, which is the age he started sleeping right through.

yeah, im not sure about controlled crying as I hate to think of him needing me and me not going to him. He doesnt have any teeth yet either.

what do you do with your little one?

[Cigarettesandsmirnoff]

Have you tried wake to sleep? We tried it with dd. You could set your clock by her. Half an before she woke I went in a gently disturbed her, not to wake though. Waking up at half three was hideous but worked, I had to do it for four days the fifth she slept through.

What about upping his feeds so you know it's not hunger as he might be having a growth spurt.

No more letting him in your bed, went down that route myself - nightmare , nobody gets any sleep. I even put a bloody quilt n the floor and slept with my arm through bars.

At the moment she is happy with the dummy just going back in but f she starts sitting up and shouting again I'll try the sleep to wake again.

It's bizzare how they can just stop sleeping through, could be teething, regression, developmental mile stone anything - little monkeys!!