horrendous sleeper now won't settle either, at the end of tether and feeling blue.

[billiejo]

hello all,
im completely at the end of my tether, my ds2 is just 13mnths....he's always been a really poor sleeper but would usually, initially, settle ok. now he screams blue murder every time i put him down, wether it's at night or even for his lunch nap. he basically doesn't want to be left, if i touch him he goes quiet and starts to suck his fingers to go to sleep but the minute i take my hand away, he goes ballistic, any advice? am slowly going mad. xx

we had a similar thing with DS1 following bonfire nigth, he was frightened by the fireworks and went from being a fantastic sleeper to hysterical at sleep times. He is a bit older, he was 22 months when it started. I tried controlled crying, but it didn't work for him and I was sobbing just as much as him. So we tried doing stories, basically reading him to sleep at night, then gradually just did 2 or 3 stories, then sat with him in his room til he went to sleep, and gradually moved out of the room, at 1st if he sensed we were moving out, he would become hysterical, but as time has passed, this has got easier, til we could just stand by his bedroom door. We are at a point with him now where we do 2 stories, then leave the room while he's stillawake, he does kick up a bit of a fuss, but this dies down within 5 minutes, I am hoping that this will improve so that he can be left awake without getting upset, as he used to.
There is no quick fix, it takes time, as you can see it's taken us about 3 months to get to this point.
Good luck.

thanks mabel1973, it at least gives me a ray of hope x

try the No Cry Sleep Solution book, gives some really good ideas on how to identify your own child's preferences and behaviours and how to make a plan of action to change sleeping habits to help them and the family. Really good, worked for us and loads of our friends, and no tears at all.
good luck, it does get better with time too, promise!