Hello,
I am looking for some advice. I have an 8 month old who is the happiest little boy in the day, but feel like he turns into a different baby in the night and I feel so fed up of not having more than and hour or so of sleep at a time.
I have always put so much work into his sleep, because my husband and I love our sleep and aren't very early risers (we consider 7am early!) But baby has always woken at night and for the last 4 months wakes every hour or two and I'm finding it harder to settle him.
I started putting LO in his crib for naps at 3 months, we started practicing self settling from 4 months, to move away from rocking and briefly got to a good place with it, but not any more. He used to have a dummy, but started waking every half an hour through the night for it, so I got rid of it at 6.5 months. I started a routine throughout the day for naps and milk to help about 3 months ago. He started solids at 6 months and eats really well and is on 3 meals a day.
I am finding I have to rock him more than ever now, because he cries if I leave. I try to stay with him and hold his hand which he wants, but found now that he's older, that just makes him more awake and the second I remove it he cries, this can often go on for over an hour. I am now at a point that the only method of settling him through the night is putting him in my bed, which I don't love as I don't sleep that well and he still wakes every two hours.
Naps have improved, he started napping longer at 7 months but it's still hit and miss, one day he'll nap 2 hours at lunchtime and the next 30 minutes, so day sleep can vary from 1.5 hours to 3.5 hours. I always try to get him back down, but it doesn't work most of the time.
He no longer has feeds at night(2 weeks in) and hasn't fed to sleep since he was a few weeks old. I don't get it, am I doing something wrong? Do you think he's ok? I would never leave him to cry and I want him to know I'm his safe space, but I just don't know what to do now, I feel like I've run out of options. Everything I do, I think this is going to be 'it' but it's not. I'm starting to feel like I'm not a good mum because I'm getting fed up and annoyed with it all. Advice, moral support and words of wisdom are all welcome!