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Child mental health

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Sleep training help

1 reply

Gusgus23 · 01/07/2024 21:33

My little boy is 16 months old. He’s always been a poor sleeper. Chunks of a few hours then waking. At around 8 months we tried the cry it out method and it worked quickly. 10 weeks passed and he got a bug and ever since then he went back to waking 3,4,5 times a night again. This has gone on for 5 months. We decided to sleep train again. At 15 months 2 weeks we did the cry it out method and again it worked quickly. Only this time he has started getting terribly upset around bed time. He knows when we drive on the street in the evening it’s nearly bed time. When we go upstairs his face drops and he starts waving at us while welling up. It is heartbreaking. He used to love his bedtime routine of bath and books. No he just cries and sometimes makes himself sick from crying. We put him down after kissing him goodnight he sits up and cries but as soon as we close the door he lays straight down and falls asleep in minutes.
this is a good thing but the build up seems so distressing for all of us. So many tears and sad waves like he knows what’s coming and he is too sad to fight it.

have we made a mistake with this method? Are we damaging his kind happy personality?

during the day he is the happiest clever little boy. It’s just the night time routine that has gotten.

first post on here and first time parents. Apologies for the essay.

OP posts:
MouseAnony · 10/07/2024 20:40

I’m no expert but I thought that cry it out has been shown to negatively affect child mental health? Reading this it does not sound like the best thing for your child, it’s sad to read. although I do understand these things are not simple and parental wellbeing does have to come into play. Maybe you need some professional guidance? I had two non sleepers and co sleeping saved us but I appreciate that not for everyone.

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