Desperate for sleep help!!

[OverTheRainbow88]

So my 6 month old DS has never been a great sleeper! Initially I guess it was pretty normal, he got a terrible case of chickenpox at 12 weeks and since then his sleep has been a disaster!
He’s in his own room, in a sleep grow, black out curtains, with the Ewan the Sheep. I start bedtime about 6.30, he has a bottle of 7oz breast milk then I put him awake into his cot, I lie on the side in his floor and rub his back, this can take an hour. I wouldn’t mind it taking so long if I knew he would the sleep for a while! So last night he slept til 10pm where he woke up and was wide away til 1am and then slept on my bed until 5.30 when he woke up for the day... he’s been grumpy all day!!!!! Other nights he wakes up about 8 time’s and I have to go in and resettle. So he either wakes loads and quick ones or once for hours and hours! I tried 3 days of the Ferber... half hearted really only let the crying get up to 4 min; but I didn’t like doing that. I’m not sure how much longer I can function on so little sleep! I would happily co sleep but it doesn’t seem to work anymore, he’s waking and kicking about, rolling into me; pulling my hair!! He naps in his cot in the day time, for about 1.5 hours!

Please any ideas.. lockdown is making it feel so much worse as I can’t even get a break! My dad used to walk him around the block I his pram Occasionally whixh now he can’t do!

Could try putting him on his cot and leaving him with the door half open so he gets used to being in the cot means sleep without mummy. When he wakes, have a lamp not the bright ceiling light on, cover him up, lay him down. Say night, keep door half open again.. The repeat every time he should learn the routine.

In the morning then turn the ceiling lights on, pick him up, fuss over him. So he knows there's a difference. It'll take a bit of time, but perseverance is the key.

For 6 months old he doesn’t sound as if he’s getting enough sleep during the day time and is really overtired, I’d look at the daytime before the night as it doesn’t sound like he’s rested enough in the day and quite overstimulated maybe?

He is awake all day? My child is couple months older and has 2 sleeps during day, probably totalling about 5hrs sleep, he gets really grumpy and struggles with going to bed at night if he hasn’t had enough sleep so perhaps it’s similar? Dc sleeps for 11-12hrs night normally.

Thanks for all your suggestions!! In my shear sleep deprivation I missed out the 1!! He’s 16 months old!!!

Find a sleep consultant. We used one over Skype recently for our 13 month old and it had changed our lives. I have a (mostly) happy baby who sleeps through and naps and we went from a daily battle for naps and not sleeping through. I had tried everything online and was also reluctant to any kind of CIO. It is tailored for you and your baby. Sweet Dreams Baby good luck! X

Money is a bit tight at the moment so not sure we could get a sleep consultant!

Ours was £260 and included 8 weeks follow on support. It isnt cheap, but gives you your life back! One thing they said which helped me loads is that a lot of the crying in the cot if you are there is that dont want to be in the cot and they are expressing annoyance rather than being upset so work through the crest of the wave, regain control (I.e. they learn that they dont just have to shout loudly and you will pick them up) and hopefully you will crack it. If you are there with them as they work through their annoyance and frustration, with a hand on them constantly, and talking gently or singing they will learn very quickly that it is ok and they dont need to be so annoyed!

Ah ok that’s good to know about the crying! Will have a google for a sleep consultant!! Maybe my parents would be happy to pay if it would stop me harping on about being tired!!!! Thank you everyone

We found 6:30 was just too early for DS and bedtime became a battle and then he'd have a disturbed night, so now bath time is 6:30 gets out at seven, lush sleepy moisturiser (no idea if it actually works or was just coincidence that he started to sleep better when we started using it, either way it smells lovely and makes his skin soft), he sits next to one of us on our bed in his gro bag and has a story or two, then a cup of warm milk, then he snuggles in and goes to sleep in about ten minutes and we shift him into his cot, at some point we'll try him in his cot from the outset again but he just used to go mad trying to bounce, climb out etc. Also we're both working full time so when life is normal in some days that's the only real quality time I've of us might have with him.
He was asleep by 7:45 last night and got up at five to nine this morning, usually it's 7:30/8 ish but clearly he needed a lie in today! He naps from about 11-1 give or take half an hour either way

He's almost 18 months