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9 months of broken sleep!

7 replies

S082018 · 06/11/2020 20:24

Hi all

My little one has always been a terrible sleeper. Hasn't yet slept through the night and he's 9 months old today.

We never set out to co-sleep, but it was the only way we were able to get some rest. However this week, I've finally put him in his cot (although it's in our room for the time being). He has pleasantly surprised me, and 9 times out of 10, I can put him in his sleeping bag, put his white noise on and he was babble and put himself to sleep with no assistance from me whatsoever.

I was absolutely baffled as he is a boy who has always needed to be shh'd, patted or have his back rubbed to sleep. I am SO pleased he has learnt how to drift off alone both for his night sleep and his naps.

My problem is night wakings. For the two nights he has been in his cot, the first night he woke 4 times. The second night he woke 6 times, one of which took 1.5 hours for him to go back to sleep. I had to pick him up to rock him in the end but I'm only doing this as an absolute last resort. Ideally I won't want to be picking him up.

When he wakes in the night, he just whinges. There are times he babbles and just sits up. I've tried to ignore him but he then starts to stand in the cot then I have to place him back down and he needs a lot of assistance from me to go back to sleep.

How can I help him to work on the night wakings? I appreciate it's only early days him being in the cot but I would love to get a bit more than 2 hours of sleep at a time!

Thanks in advance

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LeafyGreen333 · 06/11/2020 20:33

Firstly well done on making it this far, and well done for getting him in his cot. I would say that while he is in your room he knows you are there and he will be tempted to try and get to you in the night. If you are able to put him in his own room that will probably help.

We got a sleep lady in and did controlled crying with our son when he was 7 months, it worked wonders. After 1 night he slept 7-7 and our lives were transformed. I know this is a controversial choice for some people, but we, and he, were so much happier afterwards. I highly recommend it. Good luck!

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IntoP20 · 06/11/2020 20:58

We did controlled crying too. He went from waking up every 45 minutes to sleeping all night (12 hours). We did it at 9 months and loosely used the Ferber method

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whoareyouIwonder · 06/11/2020 21:04

DS is 2 and still wakes around 3 times a night.

It's perfectly normal for them to wake

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S082018 · 06/11/2020 21:04

Thank you both for your suggestions!

I really don't want to go down the route of controlled crying, although I know that by doing this, success will take a lot longer to achieve.

Unfortunately I'm not able to move him into his own room just yet until we move into our new house which will be in December sometime!

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Keha · 06/11/2020 21:26

I've just decided to put LO in her cot at the start of the night and then when she wakes after I go to sleep, I bring her into my bed and co-sleep the rest of the night. She's in a separate room in her cot. If I've gone to bed but DH is still up he will rock/pat her back to sleep as well. He finds that if he can get her back to sleep quickly she will sleep for a while, but if she starts to wake up properly then it's game over and he brings her in with me. Anyway, I think slowly she has been doing some longer stretches in the cot. It's quite hit and miss but I'm really taking the path of least resistance, making sure I get enough sleep whilst giving her opportunity to sleep in her cot (and connect sleep cycles, get used to being in there etc). Oh, and she can't get herself to sleep either, so you are ahead of us there. I know this doesn't give you any answers but if I was you I would be patient, you've achieved something just by getting some sleep in the cot and over time hopefully it will get better. I wouldn't spend hours trying to get him back to sleep in the cot if it's not really working. The other choice is, as others have said, some sort of sleep training. I get enough sleep at the moment that sleep training doesn't feel worth it to me.

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S082018 · 07/11/2020 22:25

Thank you @Keha! I did go through a phase of putting him in the cot intially then bringing him into the bed at some point but I'm really trying to break the habit.

We had 3 wake ups last night compared to 6 the night before, so here's hoping things will slowly but surely get better by itself!

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FATEdestiny · 08/11/2020 16:03

There are times he babbles and just sits up. I've tried to ignore him but he then starts to stand in the cot then I have to place him back down

It would be a good idea to start encourage him to lie himself down in the cot. It's good for sleep hygiene at this stage.

Assuming he is physically able to go from standing to sitting to lying down all unaided, then start putting him in the cot standing up (every time), tap the mattress and ask him to lie down on his own.

Instruction-following games played during awake time helps with this. Babies and young toddlers almost university like to please you and be praised for doing well. So work on understanding verbal instructions like sit down, lie down, etc without you physically intervening.

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