cutting down or stopping altogether

[littleomar]

DS will be 1 in two weeks. i've got to go back to work in three weeks.

he's still breastfed first thing and last thing. but i am thinking i may need to stop altogether because he won't sleep.

a typical night is as follows. goes down fine at 7. wakes at around 11 and can be cuddled back to sleep and put back in his cot. wakes again at around 2, comes into bed, goes back to sleep eventually but wakes if i try and put him back in his cot again. 4 or so, wakes and cries until he gets boobies. i've been holding out until 6.

we've had a week or so of this and it's not getting any better. which is why i'm posting at 5am (i've been up for an hour). i just placated him for a moment with a piece of bagel but he is sitting here crying and refusing any more.

won't take a bottle, either of EBM or formula. will drink a few sips of cow's milk from a cup, but that's it. i've thought of looking at sleeping books, but he is sharing a room with his brother so i can't do controlled crying etc because then everyone will be up all night.

DH no help - obsessed with getting him to take a bottle of formula and makes such a fuss about it that the one night he managed to take over he woke up me and DS1 stomping about. so it's up to me.

help. cold turkey, or stick at this in the hope he will eventually crack.

Well my DS went through a growth spurt around 1 so more feeding. You could try feeding morning and night and a feed around 11pm? Then cut back on the 11pm feed a bit at a time? DS is now 15 months and this is his normal pattern. I'm at work and it's manageable as I get a good chunk of sleep.

The risk is you go cold turkey but he'll still wake for things like teething/illness. Also he might be unsettled when you go back to work.

I went cold turkey. With all six of them, the third night they settled with a cuddle and no feeding. It's really tough (I cried lol) but what a relief.

Is it just a week he's been doing this for? It sounds like the 13 month sleep regression to me (it's the few weeks before a big developmental spurt at around 55 weeks). Nothing to do with feeding, and not much you can do about it (sleep training doesn't fix sleep regressions) but it does pass on its own.

There's info about it here and here.

The book 'the no cry sleep solution' by elizabeth pantley might help.

Sympathies, though - my 12 m.o. is in it at the moment, although he's been refusing feeds at night, so I'm running out of strategies to get him back to sleep.

thanks everyone. here we are again.

i don't think this is sleep regression. if anything, he's getting better - did 8-3:30 last night which is the longest he has ever slept.

the 11 o'clock feed sounds like it would make sense - but he's not interested then.

i'm going on amazon now to order NCSS.

Other possibility is wind - DS wakes up like that when he has trapped bottom wind. I give peppermint tea before bath and some in the night (3 teaspoons diluted in water). Works pretty well. Also have you checked his gums for teeth? DS's canines and molars are causing real trouble - his gums have changed shape and he's chewing his fingers in the day if he's not distracted. However this has been on and off for a few months (so he'll have sore gums for a bit then it stops).

Oh and sometimes if he won't settle and I know it's bot wind or teeth, I tell him it's sleep time and lay him down. Keep saying it gently but firmly and keep my hand on him. It works (provided I've not made a mistake and he does need to burp/fart - he'll get more annoyed)

not not bot!