Desperate help need. I'm shattered

[foodgloriousfood1]

I'm really struggling here. I'm exhausted.

My LO is 10 months old today. He's never been a particularly great sleeper but he's slept 10-6 a couple of times so I know he's capable of it.

On an average night he wakes twice. On a bad night he wakes 3 times. He usually wants milk to go back to sleep.

However the last three nights he's woke in excess of 6 times. I can't handle it :(. I'm at work following maternity leave now also so I'm really feeling it.

He already has 6 teeth. We follow a strict bedtime routine every night. He's eating a good 3 meals a day and still drinking around 21oz milk.

What am I doing wrong?????

Last night not great but not horrendous.

Took about an hour to get to sleep but slept until 11. At 11 however, he screamed the place down for 15 mins, then once he calmed down it took me another 30 mins to get him to sleep.

He then woke at 2 but I managed to get him straight back off to sleep.

Then he woke at 5:30, bright eyed and hyper for the day ahead. I've been trying and trying to get him back off to sleep but it was impossible. Now I need to get ready for work :(

Hope you don't mind the daily updates, this is like a release/diary for me.

Bless you - I can still remember the hell of my ds not sleeping when I had gone back to work. His record was into double figures!

It feels like forever but it will pass x

Nope, keep us updated! How are you getting him to sleep now? Hope work isn’t too tiring today.

So last night, we did his bath at 7pm and got him into his pjs. Sat with relaxing lullabies in his bedroom and gave him a bottle. He was still wide awake so we sat and had story time.

When he began running his eyes etc, I lay him in his cot and "shushed" him, rubbed his back etc until he was really sleepy.

When his eyes were particularly heavy, I sat on the chair in his room (the one we use when feeding) and he lay watching me. Then after a good while of shushing, he flipped over and went to sleep! :)

The 11pm one where he really cried, I gave him a hug until he calmed down. Gave him a little water when he was back in his cot and sat on the chair again.

I'm having to gradually take steps towards the door because if I just up and leave he cries.

I'm determined to stick with this, it may not seem like it but i really do feel like we'll get somewhere if we persevere

I think we may need to invest in a black out blind though

That sounds great, from what I’ve read it sounds like a sort of gradual retreat thing, which a lot of people swear by.

I would definitely get a black out blind, DD won’t sleep unless it’s really dark, and wakes up much earlier if the room is lighter. We’ve also bought a portable one for when we go away!

I've seen some stick on ones which I think I may give a go before getting a proper one up!

Thanks for listening to me :)

No probs! I’m pretty obsessed with getting a decent night’s sleep (years of shift work have drilled it into me!) and love hearing about other people getting a (nearly) decent night’s sleep too!

Last night was great!!

Fell asleep within 5 mins of going into the cot at bedtime.

He slept until ONE O CLOCK... 1!!!!!!

I gave him a little water and he rolled over back to sleep. I had a worry as he woke up again at 2:30. I gave him a little milk and he slept until 6.

I feel amazing today. Now it's the weekend, and I have some days off I am going to try the whole night without milk and offer water only. The last few nights I've been giving a drink of milk if he woke at around 3.

This is bloody awesome news!!!!! Well done to you all, that’s fantastic. The world always looks a lot brighter with a few decent hours of sleep behind you.

Hope the weekend goes well, and enjoy the sun feeling refreshed and well rested!

We only had one wake up last night!!

Well done you. You've earnt that improvement with a constant and calm approach

Brilliant you know now that it can be done.

Fantastic news!