How can I gat my son to sleep through the night?

[charlotte121]

Im really starting to dispair! Ds is nearly 9 months and was sleeping through the night. He was in a great routine, eating 3 large meals a day and having 2 good naps. We then hit a bad spell where he had a really nasty tummy bug and wouldn't eat which disrupted his sleep pattern. This was well over a month ago and his appatite has returned, he is napping well and generally seems like a happier baby in the day time, the night however is a different story. Im 27 weeks pg and very badly anemic so I dnt have much energy to start with, ds is waking up sometimes up to 15 times a night and im absiloutly exhausted, its also causing problems with uni as i drive 60 miles to get there and end up missing the mornings in an attempt to catch up on sleep (last week i chanced driving there on 3 hours sleep and nearly crashed). Im on my own so there is only me who can get up and deal with him. I do try and leave him to cry for a little while but I get concerned that I will disturb my neighbours children as my flat has paper thin walls. Im desperate to get ds 2 sleep through the night before the next 1 pops along as i know it will make life a lot easier if I only have 1 screaming baby in the night. Please please please can somebody sujest something. Im not sure what else i can do and i think im going to end up going mad if i dont get a full nights sleep soon. Thanks char x

Do you have any idea why he wakes, is he cold? Or is he looking for his dummy?

sometimes its for his dummy, sometimes he wants milk. I try not to give him milk as he doesnt really need it and i dont want him to get used to waking up for a bottle in the night. Last night he was stood up in his cot screaming because he wanted to get out and play. I tried to be calm and didnt talk to him. I just picked him up, put him back under the covers and went back out the room but about 10 mins later he was stood up again screaming and the minuit i appear in the room he is silent. Im just not sure what to do. Normally tho he cries for his dummy. He's such a happy content baby in the day. i dont understand y he's like he is in the night.

My son is almost 8 months old. He recently went through a bad speight of waking, and with the support of a friend who did it I got rid of the dummy. I was terrified it would make things worse, but I braved it, and now he sleeps better than ever.

I also use a sleeping bag, as then I don't panic he is cold. I now try not to go in the room at all, I peer through a crack to see if he is trapped in his cot (he rolls around like a mad man).

I wouldn't give him milk as he seems like he is getting enough through the day from what you say.

I can appreciate that it is hard, I am often alone at night and find it hard,a nd I am not pregnant!

Thanks its nice to have a sympathetic ear. It helps just talking it out with someone who understands as all i get of off xp is that its because ds is not in a routine, But he is. I have a sleeping bag, although i dont always use it so i will and will attempt to take the dummy away and just will not give him any milk. Im guessing its going to be one of those processes that will be hard to stick by especially when he has woken me up for the 1 millionth time that night but it will be worth it when i get to sleep through the night thankyou very much!!!

You say he was ill - has he got used to having you there in the night with him? This happened to my DD after an illness, once she recovered there was nothing wrong she just had got used to having me or DP around on call during the night! So then she wanted comfort during the night - sounds similar? I don't believe in letting babies or toddlers cry and cry, we decided to give her reassurance but with still some firm boundaries - no getting out of her bed into ours for example. So gave her lots of cuddles but kept putting her back to bed. It took nights of us getting little sleep but she soon realised it was ok to sleep in her bed alone and we didn't have to leave her crying to achieve it. I appreciate that's easier if you have support - can you get someone to take him for a bit in the day so you can catch up on sleep?

That was meant to read "took 2 nights of us getting little sleep", it wasn't indefinite!!!

Im at uni 3 days a week and most other days i have to work on coursework so i cant really get much help with care in the days. Just so u know i dont leave him to cry for too long. i think my neighbour would be bashing the front door down lol i just count down slowly from 30 so that he doesnt get instant attention and sometimes just as i get to his bedroom door he stops crying. (didnt want u to think i was neglecting him or anything)
it probs is that he got used to the attention and cuddles when he was ill so hopefully if i follow everyones advice on here i may get some sleep!!! Heres to hoping

I will say that he has not woken up in the night since the dummy has gone (fingers crossed, touching wood etc!). You will have to put up with some crying when you first take it away - but he will sleep eventually!

Hope it works..

mee tooooo Im quite excited for bed time now. Want to try it all out and get this sorted. Once again thank you!!

Sorry didn't meant to sound like I was judging you, just explaining why I dealt it with it my way! Good luck, maybe a couple of tough nights but then hopefully he'll settle and you can get some much needed rest!

I was being defensive either. Its just Im a young mum and i get a little defensive sometimes. Im sure you understand what i mean. Thankyou for your advice anyways. Im going to out it all into practice and hope for some good results!!!