Wife exhausted - live wire 1 yr old won't sleep

[Tireddaddy23]

1 year old sleep issues/mum is exhausted

Posting as a worried dad! My wife is at her whits end with our 1 year old (just turned), she is an absolute live wire from the start to the end of the day, she's already walking around almost running! She never...and I mean never stops! Which is great fun admittedly

However the worst part is that she just won't sleep great at night, last night she was up 5 times! Tonight we've only just got her down after two false starts and it's taken an hour and a half to settle her (she woke from her last nap at 4pm!)
Every night she is up at least twice or three times a night and has only ever slept through twice!

Naps are usually ok she still having two of them and are anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours AVG about 1.5 hours x 2

My wife goes back to work in two weeks (baby starts nursery) and feels almost depressed by the worry, partly because she just isn't getting enough rest, she's absolutely exhausted and when she starts back as a solicitor she has a stressful amount of work to get through!

We've tried everything...
Night feeds, ignoring her, Calpol, gum teething stuff, early bed time, later bed time, more layers, less layers, heating uo a bit more, night light, setting the wind down tone early, read books, bath time and she feeds fine with solids (but has started chucking a lot more food on the floor ATM)! I'm not sure what else we can do but it's so hard for this to keep going!

It doesn't help that we've got a Bengal cat that doesn't shut up either lol

Please help 🥺

Thanks for advice. Mine is just 11 months but similar situation. We were stranded at Clapham junction earlier when all the trains were cancelled so I let her snooze and wow are we paying for it now. Baby is WIDE awake and squawking - chatting not crying - so loudly. I took a PP's advice about food and she was indeed hungry, she's just polished off a large bowl of natural yoghurt and a slice of (proper) bread.

Absolutely do not rehome the cat!! I hate when people suggest/do this. Your pet is part of the family from the moment you take on the responsibility!

Not that you have made any reference to doing that @Tireddaddy23. Maybe another cat to tire out the Bengal - I know they can be demanding?

You really do make a rod for your own back when you breastfeed an older baby overnight. I know, because I weaned DCs 1&2 off the breast when they were a year old. DC3 was the worst sleeper anyway but kept up the night feeds until 22 months, by which time they could pretty much wake up and help themselves!

Nursery will really help though - they keep them so busy during the day, and keep with their routine at weekends etc. I know I didn't take my own advice but I'd really recommend knocking the night feeds on the head now! They literally wake up to feed. Best way to sort that is if you could take over for a few nights so mum is not available.

I also filled them up on Weetabix/porridge etc before they went to bed.

Trust me, it doesn't feel like it not but you will look back in years to come when she gets to the stage where you can't get her up in the mornings, and you will smile wryly... Good luck!

@allmyliesaretrue meh. People matter more than pets and DW is at risk for MH issues/delayed PND if she doesn’t get more sleep. Been there.

It was one suggestion of several, and I also suggested a temporary placement of the cat with family.

HTH.

I have one like that.

She's now 6.5 years old but since the start no matter how much, or how little we did she has never, ever slept. Without a nap in the day she was still running in full power until 2 or 3am at the age of 1.5, awake after an hour and a half, running around, back to sleep on and off and like a wild thing by 6am. It was years of hell.
The only thing that has ever worked has been melatonin, but not until she was older. They're is absolutley no doubt she has a sleep disorder, she just doesn't get tired, my nephew had the same problem until he was about 11 with intermittent spells of melatonin.

Definitely try all the nap changes first. My other child was a dream sleeper and was not napping that long at that age. If that fails I'd imagine nursery will tire her out quite a bit. I luckily could afford a babysitter for 4 hours in the daytime to look after the children, it meant I could sleep. Maybe do that every other weekend if you can to catch up for a bit.

Oh yes,we used to do the same,your post reminded me.