My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

Are boys worse sleepers than girls?

16 replies

joasia · 15/04/2005 21:11

I have a 6yr old daughter and a son 10 months. As a baby she was initially a very poor but after about 6 weeks consistent and good sleeper. With my son it was not to be. Although his sleeping pattern was acceptable as a newborn he hasn't really altered it much since. I put him down about 9.30 an he wakes up usually first about 12, then 1am, 3 am, 4am and finally gets up at about 6. Sometimes he wakes up every 30min or so between 2 and 4am. He usually gets back to sleep quick with the help of a dummy or a bottle, but I'm really fed up. I keep telling myself it will get better but so far there is slim chance of that it seems. I keep looking for answers but so far I found none. until about a week ago he slept in a cot next to my bed, but now he's in a separate bedroom. I once left him to cry at night and it took about 45 mins for him to fall asleep on his own. He still got up at a usual time and there was no change the following night. I had a few people telling me that it is normal for the boys to be poor sleepers as opposed to the girls and there is not much I can do about it. Incidently I have a friend who has a boy of 9 months and she is faced with similar problem. I feel that I'm perhaps missing something , no tdoing something quite right and that is why I have the result I have, that it's not the gender. Should I go 'oh, it's a boy' or should I try CC instead?

OP posts:
colditz · 15/04/2005 21:13

My boy has always been a brill sleeper, and I was a little nightmare, so I would persist with cc if I were you!

jamiesam · 15/04/2005 21:18

No girls to compare to in my family, but our two ds's are both very good sleepers. Resorted to controlled crying with both, for waking in the night and early morning waking, always successful very quickly for us, otherwise I don't think I could do it.

(PS when I say always very quickly, I must confess that first night with ds1, it took my dh several hours of visits, but after second night of maybe 45min of visits, never ever looked back. Dh took charge because I could never ever be that disciplined and would cave in, even though I knew in the cold light of day that we ALL needed a good nights sleep.

Mowjo · 15/04/2005 21:19

Not wishing to rub it in, I also have a boy who has given us very little trouble with sleeping. We did CC at 6.5mo to get him to sleep through and I would recommend it, but only if you're comfortable with the idea and happy to see it through. (It's hard but worth it.)

joasia · 15/04/2005 21:45

Thanks for your comments. I used cc for my daughter to get her to sleep for a while as she was refusing at the time and it worked. this time I'm slightly concerned that not only us i.e. parents but also my daughter will suffer the screams at night and she has to be rested for the school. However it is Fri tonight no school for 2 nights so we may give it a go again.

OP posts:
blueteddy · 15/04/2005 21:53

Both my boys were sleeping through the night as soon as they were on solid food & are now both very good sleepers.
They are now aged 5 & 2.
My 2 year old goes to bed at 6.30pm & normally wakes at around 7am.
My 5 year old goes to bed at 7 - 7.30pm & sleeps until at least 7.30am.
Neither of them tend to wake up unless they are ill or have had a nightmare.
Maybe I am just lucky in the sleep department!

Shazzler · 15/04/2005 22:00

My dd is a better sleeper than my ds. He is OK now but was not good as a baby and would not go to bed easily either. My dd has always been a better sleeper. DOn't know if it's because she is the second one and I learnt from past mistakes but whatever I am very pleased that I did not have too many sleepless nights when she was a baby.

joasia · 15/04/2005 22:05

BLUETEDDY, I WANT YOUR CHILDREN!!!:0

OP posts:
nutcracker · 15/04/2005 22:06

Dd1 - Brilliant sleeper

Dd2 - Nightmare sleeper and still isn't great

Ds - Fantastic sleeper, complete angel

blueteddy · 15/04/2005 22:07

That can be arranged!

joasia · 15/04/2005 22:10
Grin
OP posts:
tomasinatank · 15/04/2005 22:12

2 boys aged 3 and 4 and both fantastic sleepers and potty trained themselves at 24 months virtually (going against the grain that girls are easier to potty train)

joasia · 15/04/2005 22:41

should I with cc still give milk at night as before or should I only stick to teh dummy?

OP posts:
joasia · 15/04/2005 22:41

should I with cc still give milk at night as before or should I only stick to teh dummy?

OP posts:
blueteddy · 15/04/2005 22:45

I stopped the milk in the middle of the night once mine were eating solids, as I didn't think they needed it.
When they first woke I used to just put there dummy back in & walk out.
Within a few weeks they had stopped waking up at night.

Seona1973 · 16/04/2005 12:17

I dont think boys are any worse sleepers than girls but I think you've pointed out what the problem is - sucking on a dummy/bottle to get to sleep in the first place.

Babies come into a period of light sleep every 45 minutes and may come fully awake - the babies that can self soothe put themselves back to sleep. The babies that rely on sucking a dummy/bottle to get to sleep in the first place will need that same thing to get back to sleep in the night and will cry for you to get it for them.

It may be time to wean off/ditch the dummy and give up the bottle in the night (if he is eating/drinking enough in the day he doesnt need it in the night - although I'd only get rid of one thing at a time so you dont totally upset him)

I dont believe in controlled crying as I prefer the kinder methods of the babywhisperer such as pick up/put down and this is what I would use to help your lo go to sleep by himself. (pick up to calm him down and lay him back in the cot - repeat as necessary until he goes to sleep by himself)

AussieSim · 16/04/2005 13:24

I have used cc from time to time with my DS following disruptions to normal sleep patterns (jet lag, illness etc) during which I have been known to form bad habits with him - sleeping with me etc, and I have found it usually takes 3 nights. I would generally regard him as a v good sleeper and don't really buy the generalisations about boys and girls. It sounds to me like you need to take action to sort this out as you must be absolutley dead on your feet.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.