If your baby was also a terrible sleeper...

[newbie12345678]

...I'm talking waking every 1-2 hours through then night still at 9 months...

When did their sleep improve, and why? I feel like we've tried so many things - are they one day just going to sleep better of their own accord or is that wishful thinking? If so, when?

Would just be interesting to hear from other people whose babies were bad sleepers at this stage how long it lasted for them. And I mean...how long it was really bad for. I would happily wake 2 or 3 times a night for the next two years IF that was all it was going to be. At the moment we're up anywhere from 5-10 times a night.

Grateful for your experiences!

That age is terrible for sleeping often due to teething and development leaps plus a million other potential things. My first didn't sleep through til he was 2. He was still a rubbish sleeper at age 1. So that year between 1 and 2 things just basically slowly got better. Ds2 isn't the best sleeper either. People who haven't experienced it don't understand.

He snapped out of it at two and a half 😩

11 months improved massively from 9 months which had been every 2 hours or so

Years. Sorry.

He was almost 2.5 Years old! Nothing I did worked I'm sorry to say.

She's 12 now and I can't remember, but boy oh boy do I remember that sleep deprivation.

Working back, by the time she was five she was a champ in the sleep dept. I remember we went on a big group holiday and while the other kids were wired with excitement she was out like a light at the usual time and sleeping soundly.

I was the envy of the other parents <wry smile>

But exactly when I could expect a good chunk of sleep most nights, I can't recall...
The only helpful aspect of telling you this being that even this utterly diabolical phase will be behind you in the near future. Hold on in there.

I've had two pretty terrible sleepers - every 1-2 hours overnight and found it excruciating both times.

We didn't sleep train, but for both of ours it improved significantly by around 18 months, and sleeping through fairly reliably by 2 ish. I think looking back teething was a big part of it, as well as just wanting to be close. Going back to work at 12 months was hell-ish too, I remember 9-16 ish months being particularly tough. Sorry that might not be want you want to hear, but hang on in there!

It improved at 12 months from every 2hrs to 3-4hrs (just waking once or twice at night was amazing! ) . Then continued until 2yrs, where sleeping through meant waking at 4/5am! Now DC6 still gets up at 6, I suppose he's just an early bird ! It did get better by itself i just went with it. When I stopped putting myself under pressure to "improve" things i felt so much less stressed

Reliably sleeping through with no wake ups when he turned 2

But most of my friends' babies did it much earlier than this

She is 15 and still a horrible sleeper. She just no longer needs me to deal with it.

she never outgrew her sleep issues.

i was also a horrible sleeper as a baby. My parents told me i was just awful. I never outgrew it either, just learned independence.

Both of mine were utterly dire, think waking up to 8-10 times per night, I remember once looking that there was a clear stretch of pavement and then walking down it with my eyes closed I was that tired!

Honestly, you can do this and that, and I did alllllll the things, but the only answer for us at least was time. DS was less bad and started sleeping through regularly at around 18 months. Unfortunately DD was 3, but if it's any consolation they're 11 & 13 now and have been sleeping amazingly for years, this too shall pass!

When she started junior school so around 7... even then sleep wasn't fantastic. But at least I was only up once or twice a night instead of 10+ times.

She slept for four hours straight, for the first time, at 10 months. It wasn't reliable after that, but it improved a lot. Still not a great sleeper now, though, more than a decade later.

Whereas DC2, who was ff (DC1 was bf) slept like a dream from the early days.

DD1 slept well for the first few months. From 6 months to 3 years, woke roughly every other hour, screaming and thrashing, sometimes more frequently. Didn't sleep through until 4 years old when started school. Still needed lengthy settling every night for at least an hour until she was 12ish. The only thing which got us through was co-sleeping in various constellations. Turns out she is autistic.

DC2 slept like a dream from day 1. Wishing you all the best, OP.

DD is two and a half and still wakes up several times a night. She has never slept through the night.

DS on the other hand is five months, sleeps through the night, and will just go to sleep as soon as you put him in the cot with white noise.

Go figure 🤷‍♀️

Currently 2.5yrs and still terrible. Not as terrible as the first 18 months.

Bedtime is 8:30/9pm, (any earlier-he just lies there quietly but doesn't sleep). Wakes up around 12:30/1am, then another 4 times after that. Awake for the day between 5:45-6:30am bright-eyed and bushytailed. Definitely needs a nap, if he misses his nap or it's too short, nighttime sleep is even worse.

There have been medical reasons for it though when be was a baby: CMPA, silent reflux, breastfeeding+++, sleep apnea due to huge tonsils (due to have them removed although it has improved by itself).

As he gets older though, I am starting to wonder if there's something else. His development is great, does well at nursery, he's pretty switched on... but he is very particular about certain things and has some small 'stimming' habits that by themselves are aged appropriate. Or he could just be a highly strung child that needs little sleep.

Never had any issues with DS1. I'm grateful for that as I know it's not me being too 'soft'. Some babies are different, like being crap sleepers.

Nine months is such an awful time for sleep, not least because you're dealing with the 9 month sleep regression which can often be worse than the 4 month one.

Don't ask me when DC1's sleep improved but DC2 had much better sleep once we moved them to their own room.

Dd1 got a lot better after age 2. Dd 2 not until she cut all daytime sleep which was really not until she was 3. I still think she’s pretty low sleep needs at 4 and we have spells of her being up and down in the night, any illness, even a slight cold and she’ll be up in the night.

I'd say really bad until he was 2ish then slightly better until he was 3. Then finally slept through and by then I had a newborn

Out of sheer desperation when my son was 9 months old, I reached out to a sleep consultant.

It was the best thing I ever did!

Are you bf?
I did and looking at LOADS of research and speaking to/ reading loads of experiences on here and other forums, most bf babies are awful sleepers (most not all).

I stopped bf about 16 months and swapped for a bottle of formula instead of the usual night feed and that made a difference in that there were only 2 or 3 wales in the night.

I set up camp in mines bedroom from when they moved in around 7 months until they went into their toddler bed about 2 1/2 years old. Unfortunately mine still wake most nights now but only once each usually so mine have stayed terrible sleepers!

Neither of mine slept through til they were 3.

My eldest is now 7. She's still extremely low sleep needs. Sleeps through, but rarely asleep before 10 and wakes naturally around 6.

It's nothing you've done wrong. Hang in there xx

I was so sleep deprived I was hallucinating so I feel your pain! Mine had the hourly wake ups until about 2, then moved to being awake from midnight to 5am about 4x a week until 5.

From 5 has slept through most nights! They do struggle to fall asleep, it took up to 2 hours a night until I discovered melatonin gummies which reduces it to 30 minutes or so.

I tried speaking to the doctor when they were 4 about it but they weren't interested.

Neither of mine consistently slept through until they were 3. Sorry I know that probably seems like centuries away.

They're 11 and 14 now and getting them to wake up is hard work!!

At around 13 months when I decided to night wean I’m afraid. I had to go back to work and was barely coping with day to day stay at home mum stuff, with the lack of sleep.

Night weaning took 3 nights. And then she slept from 8pm until 6am. I regretted not doing it 6 months earlier because the sleep deprivation spoiled my maternity leave and I lost a years enjoyment of her older sister too.

it didn’t affect my breastfeeding journey. I continued to breastfeed until she self weaned at 30 months