16 month old doesn't sleep through

[DebbsL]

Any advice on this topic would be very welcome. I have 16 month old little boy who has never slept very well and has probably slept through only a handful of times since he was born - and even then it was only until 5am! He usually wakes any time between 11pm and 2am and cries so we tend to change his nappy and give him some milk (he usually takes 6 - 8oz of cows milk). He used to go back to sleep after that but recently he has start sleeping for 10 minutes then waking up crying again. This has resulted in either myself or hubby sleeping on the floor next to his cot - just so we all get some sleep. I have tried the 'disappearing chair' and it seemed to work really well until recently but now he seems to need the reassurance of having one of us in the room with him. After 16 months of broken sleep we are totally exhausted and would really welcome some advice.

xxx

I feel for you, broken sleep is a nightmare!

Have you thought about giving him water instead of milk? If he is eating well he shouldn't need milk in the night and it sounds like he has got used to it. I am sure there will be tears but a tiny bit of crying possibly won't hurt.

Also have you thought of co-sleeping?

I take every night as it comes, sometimes we give ds (17mo) some milk or water and sometimes we let him sleep in our bed. Anything for a quiet night

Hi Figgyrolls. Thank you for your reply. I have thought about giving him water but chicken out every time haha. I really should give it a go though. I think part of the crying is because he does want to co-sleep but once he gets in our bed he just starts messing around and playing - anything but sleeping! He actually slept through until just before 6am last night (yeah!) so I know he can do it - he just doesn't want to! Will try the water and see how we get on - well, thats if I am brave enough! xxx

Do you think he could particulary worse at this time because 16 months he could be getting molars...

Ah, yes Molars - hadn't thought to mention that one - we have hellish weeks and then back to normal. Also because we both work and have 2 dc I am a bit more mean and do tend to ignore a bit of crying in the night. We used to think it would wake dc1 but she slept through everything and we got into a habit of jumping whenever ds cried. We are more mean relaxed now than before and tend to ignore a little bit more of the crying to wait and see if he falls back to sleep. Again this is pretty hard and you have to control yourself but they do say 3 days to break a habit and it does sound like he has got into a habit with milk in the night etc its not so much crying it out but letting them know who is boss . If he seems in pain try some calpol and soothing and pick up and put down. I find dh has to do it for me as ds lunges for my boob at any given opportunity......even though I have stopped bf!

Why do you change his nappy? Does he really need it or does he particularly hate a damp nappy? Maybe you shouldn't change his nappy, unless you really have to because it has leaked or he has poo-ed. It will wake him up more. Don't turn on any lights - that will keep him more sleepy.

Agree with the water comment

Thanks for all your advice. I never really thought about his molars but that could explain a lot! I think the main thing is to get rid of the bottle though because I know he doesn't need it - it is purely habit and also easier for us I suppose because we know he will sleep after it - or at least he used to! My mother-in-law has agreed to have him overnight in a couple of weeks so maybe after we get a good nights sleep we will feel brave enough to tackle stopping the milk ha ha.

With his nappy he does really hate being wet but I guess we could try not changing him - however, that would have to coincide with cutting out the bottle otherwise his nappy will be overflowing! I think myself and DH just need to get brave and bite the bullet. Will also try ignoring the crying for a bit to see if he stops. Wish me luck!!
xxx

Good luck Debbs, no one ever says it is easy and I have to say it is slightly easier to ignore the 2nd than the 1st. Remember these are things that have worked for us, they worked because we persisted but if at any point any of us thought that we might be doing something bad for our child we wouldn't be doing it, that being said sometimes those monkeys do need a little bit of reminding that they might think they are in charge and know what is best for them they actually don't really!