Posting for traffic. I'm at my wits end.
Dd is 14 months and never yet slept through the night. For this reason (and because of how loud and crazy she is when she wakes up in the middle of the night) she's still in our room. We've tried her in her own room a couple of times but she woke my older kids up and it just wasn't working for anyone.
At the moment our night looks like this:
Goes to sleep in her cot in our room about 6:30-7pm. Falls asleep well on her own for a few hours. Brill.
Wakes around 8/9pm screaming. Sometimes can be soothed, other times she just screams and screams sometimes until she's sick. When I'm struggling I end up bringing her into the living room where she'll fall asleep on my chest while we watch tv. I know this is a terrible thing to do.
Put her back down when we go to bed and she may or may not settle again in her cot. If she doesn't she will come straight into bed with us. If she does settle in her cot she will absolutely wake again later on and end up in bed with us.
Throughout the night she will toss and turn, sit up, shout, cry, wriggle, lay on top of us. Basically none of us get good quality sleep. In the morning she is tired, we are tired but she point blank refuses to settle once she's in the screaming fit unless I pick her up and bring her onto my chest or into our bed.
I know I've created some horrendous sleep habits here. How do I sort it at this stage? I looked at the Ferber sleep method which may work in the evening but in the dead of night I can't allow her to scream continually for the sake of my neighbours and my other kids.
I am so so tired. I actually feel unwell. Please does anyone have any suggestions?