sleep help please

[FredFlintstone]

Advice from anyone but especially co-sleepers would be really useful. DD is 18 months, ahs always been a rubbish sleeper. We co-sleep for damage limitation. For the last few weeks she has been waking at 4:30 am and just tossing and turning, moaning, wanting to lie on my arm but after 5/10 mins moaning again and generally not settling until 5:30 am when she gets up for the day!

DH and I are knackered. She's still breastfed and I offer her milk then, she often feeds but it makes no difference. I don't know what the problem is or how to fix it. Any suggestions? Helllp! She also wakes at about 1am for a feed but goes straight back to sleep after this one. She goes to bed at around 7:30 but a later bedtime makes no difference to these horrendous early mornings.

Hi Fred!
I've no answers as I am in exactly the same boat... I look like I've got two black eyes where I'm hardly sleeping.
I don't know want to give up bf until she's happy to (17months) but I can't continue like this. hold down a fulltime job, run around a 2 yr old and 5 yr old...crazy.
I feel your pain and I also feel like a rubbish mum. Particularly when my 2 yr old has started waking up at 3am every morning and takes 3 attempts to get back to bed.
Fed up with other mums telling me that their baby sleeps for 10 hours straight usually every night and then moan that their 'exhausted' when they have 1 or 2 broken nights sleep due to baby teething.

Hammy - thanks. I know the feeling!
It must be even harder with more than 1 child!

Usually my toddler sleeps really well, always has done (yes I was a smug mum once lol!!) but I'm not sure if its nightmares or what but he wakes up and takes a while to settle.
I don't know whether to try to stop the co-sleeping first and just persevere with getting DD to stay in her own bed all night (easier said then done! I must admit I am sometimes just looking to get some sleep rather than constantly up and down to get her back to sleep in her own cot, so rod for own back as I'm lazy ) and then sort the feeding to sleep issue out (cripes, I'm textbook rod for own back aren't I??!!)
Think I need Supernanny

Can anyone help us poor sleep deprived mums??!!

5 year old frightened I may disappear!! Since my little girl started school in September she has been following me around like a shadow. She worries constantly where I am and now is frightened to go to bed lest I disappear during the night. As a baby she was very clingy but has reverted back. I understand that starting school is unsettling but what can I do to reassure her especially at night as she is taking ages to fall asleep and then wakes up once/twice during the night. This is now having an effect on her behaviour. Help!

I can't offer any magic solutions, but it will pass......

Fred & Hammy, you can be a bit constructive and try to explain that Mummy needs to sleep, or take it in turns with DH/P to get up early, but basically this won't go on forever, they will start to sleep longer and you won't always feel like this. I promise. The big break came for us when we put DD1 into a normal bed rather than a cot. Once she was able to just get out of bed and come through to us se began to sleep much better, and bit by bit the time she woke got later and later.

Herry, try having her in your bed for a while, cuddle her until she goes to sleep, give her as much reassurance as she needs, and once she's settled at school she'll also stop being quite so high-needs.

Thats my suggestions anyway, no doubt someone will be along with step-by-step Controlled Crying instructions any minute.......