Sleep deprived and stressed

[Awayawayohohohawayfromhere]

I’m ashamed to say I just cried into my pillow. Pure tears of frustration. I’m a grown woman ffs! I’m just so tired and mentally exhausted. I’ve been awake since 1. DS is 18 months and only just started going in his cot for stretches of sleep about 4 weeks ago. Previously we co-slept with DH in the spare room. Me and DH have worked on bedtime loads so now DS goes to bed around 8pm and wakes about 7am. We have time to ourselves for the first time in the evenings. DS doesn’t sleep through which I know is normal. Previously, when he wouldn’t settle back in his cot, I’d bring him in to co sleep. All of a sudden though, he is waking earlier and won’t settle in the cot or go to sleep properly in the bed anymore. He will feed on one side of me and once he’s done he will half wake and climb up me, sometimes crying till he can latch back on, I know it’s more for comfort than milk now but he constantly fidgets and after several days in a row I’m knackered. Me and DH work full time with condensed hours so it’s exhausting. DH will try his best but ultimately DS just wants to breastfeed to sleep. To top it off, my job is pretty stressful. I’ll often find myself thinking about it in the evenings when I’m trying to sleep and my in laws have been causing me and DH a fair bit of mental stress lately which has been on my mind. I’m not sure the point of this thread other than a handhold really. Just needed to get it off my chest as there’s not much else I can do at this time in the morning!

Can you take some time off it adjust your schedule for some rest? This sounds intense and tbh if your son isn’t ready to sleep through yes you will be knackered!! Does he have a comforter / dummy? I think one of the key things here is why is he waking aswell - by that age I wouldn’t think it is hunger so I would go all out on bed time routine, plenty of milk before bed, dark quiet environment for sleeping, no disturbances. Good luck xxx

When DS 1 was that age we had a double mattress on the floor.
I put him to bed, went downstairs, then bedtime I laid with him, dream fed him and went to bed after, however we still had early morning wakes (04:30) till he was 3.
Is something waking him up, hot water coming on?
We tried to do a meal before bed, but that back fired as he then had tummy ache, I think it's just trial and error

Thanks guys, he just fell asleep on his own so I got almost 45 mins of actual sleep just there. He could actually have 2 teeth coming in so perhaps that is making him wake. I will maybe try him with calpol just before bed in case it’s teeth. There’s nothing in particular that I or DH can hear that’s causing him to wake. Funnily he was waking at 4:30/5 ish too and then I would just bring him in the bed to co sleep till morning, that worked well. I don’t mind if he does that till 3/4 years old even. It’s this sudden waking and fidgeting/comfort feeding from the small hours that’s causing the issue. Have tried to offer water when he wakes and will keep trying this. We’ve a couple of dummy’s we’ve never really used but I could try those. Unfortunately I can’t fit a mattress in his room nor the cot in ours or I would definitely do this. Things on the mind combined with the lack of sleep has just been a bit of a recipe for disaster. Will keep with the bedtime routine (dark room, story, feed) and hope things improve.