Should I set up my tent in the garden and have DS sleep there?

[PavlovtheCat]

I could set up the baby monitor so we could hear him, and nip out once a night to feed him .

Seriously though, DS is now 8 months old, has never been a great sleeper and wakes around 3-4 times a night. He has been teething for a couple of weeks, and this has meant waking around 4-6 or more times a night. His first tooth broke and it eased again, back to 3-4 times a night. He is bf, and is eating solids.

We have just been camping, stayed for 3 nights. And his sleep went like this:

7pm up and eating his tea.
8pm crawling around and 'playing' with cousins, happy as anything
9pm milk and sleep in his travel cot by 9:30pm.
9pm-god knows what time deep sleep, not disturbed by DD chattering away, or us coming to bed, or the lights being turned on or off, not even to change positions.
god knows what time - wakes for a feed, clearly only hungry and wants to be asleep. Back to sleep immediately and dream feeds.
sometime in the morning - it is light, he wakes, feeds, goes back to sleep with us in bed. Probably around 6am as this is normal awake time.
7-7:30am - awake, but still sleepy. only awake as DD woke him! One morning, he slept after we all got up!

WTF! no routine with either eating or putting to bed, and slept so peacefully I just lie there watching him when I went to bed myself, and so did DH.

Since being back. First night - 8:30pm-5am?-7am, then last night 8pm-midnight then back to normal, although dozed til nearer 7am than 6am.

Any ideas how to get him back to how he was when we were on holiday? apart from living outside?

come on ladies with you sage advice. Or else, I might have to give the tent a try

the garden it is then. Not sure where he will go when the weather turns cold, but he will be fine for now

Wow! There's something in that. Why don't you and him both sleep in the tent?? Do you think it's all the fresh air or the playing till later/ flexibility? I'm dreading our holiday with our 11 mo (similar, wakes 3 - 6 times per night), but maybe it'll be great after all! Caravan though, not tent.

You know I have absolutely no idea at all. He slept well last time too, but not this well. I never thought I would say that I went camping and came back feeling more refreshed than when i went grin]

I guess its the fresh air and even more exercise? I also wonder if it is to do with how much bf I did. I did not feed him as much in the day, which at home I try not to do but often give in as its easier when he bugs me for food, wants carrying, but we were often driving when he would normally want food, or someone would hold him/feed him yoghurt instead. He ate more food, drank less milk. I wonder if that had anything to do with it, i realised that this morning when he was tired and i automatically put him on the boob for a feed to sleep as its easier than trying to get him to sleep. When away I just did not seem to need to do that.

Good luck when away, even in a caravan you will be getting lots more fresh air, possibly eating outside a lot. DS ate pretty much all his meals outside apart from the odd one or two.

. Yes, yes, sell your house and buy a yurt!

Babies are strange! Are there any different factors you can pinpoint and recreate in the house? eg a) the lower temperature b) lots of outside time and exercise in the day c) later bedtime d) sleeping closer to you?

Not sure about the food/milk thing - if anything, less milk in the day usually means more feeds at night IME.

oh i would love a yurt. DH and I will live in a yurt while we build our own house in a few years!

definitely more fresh air. Although we get out and in fresh air for at least an hour most days. I wonder if it was the constant new environment wore his little brain out? his naps corresponded roughly with that at home, but for much longer. However, he is now asleep in the bedroom with DH, and has been asleep for over an hour now, which is quite long for him. It has been a lower temp while camping, but as I was worried he was cold he was more swaddled. He has always liked to be sort of 'restricted' so to be speak when asleep, wrapped up well, and last night it was hot so he had no sleeping bag, just a blanket, and he slept better when i put him in the sleeping bag this morning. He likes to sleep on me for that reason, likes his legs curled up around something, me, a pillow, so this morning i stuffed a pillow against his arms/legs for his nap.

he sleeps close to me now, we thought that was an issue when we put him in his cot just a way from the bed, as he didn't like his moses basket so was in with us a lot. We moved the cot to right by our bed so he is literally right next to us, it helped a little, from 5 wakings to 3-4

I knew this was your thread! I do find dd sleeps better when she eats more food, so that might be the key. And agree with the fresh air thing.

Building your own house sounds like a great plan, Pavlov's Cat. At least your DS will sleep well, even if the yurt drives the rest of you crazy.

It sounds like you are doing all you can - this phase will pass eventually. Honest.

In the meantime, maybe you should arrange a few more weekends away in the tent?!

phase? an 8 month one.

juicylips i do like to be predictable

well he had his tea a bit later, and I took him and DD to the park for as long as I could, as well as the supermarket (different one to normal in case its the new experiences wearing him out ), jigged him and made him laugh for as long as my arms would cope, and now he is nursing, but all the time he is feeding, his feet are wiggling in anticipation of being off again. I suspect sleep to arrive after 8pm. Not sure what the night holds, he slept for almost 2 hours this morning, which is better than normal, and half hour this afternoon which is worse than normal...

wake up at 11pm and again in the night not sure when, but starting to get a bit light, so perhaps 5am? then awake for dozing/feeding at 6:30am.

Things that were different to normal/reminiscent of camping - longer naps, outdoors in a different environment, and more food later/closer to tea time. Or it could just be the two teeth are now through properly so in less pain.

Lets see how it goes tonight!

Sounds good, Pavlov! FWIW, my DS took something like 18 to sleep through consistently - coincidentally or not, it happened when all his molars had come through.

I posted a thread very similar a little while ago, was considering getting DD, 4 months, to sleep in the garden - she slept so well while we were away, I thought fresh air, plus being really well wrapped up, might have had something to do with it...however since then, even though I spent hours walking round the park, and put her in a sleeping bag at night, we have only had minor success with the good sleep continuing, just have come to the concluion that they sleep well, or badly, for no rhyme or reason, and only leave us guessing and examining everything and reading books and puzzling over it etc to keep us on our toes!
We are going to france for two weeks in september, so if she sleeps through then, the yurt it is!
Good luck with your DS, hope you get more sleep soon...

How about pitching a tent in the bedroom?