Starting sleep training tonight - wish me luck!

[sleepychunky]

DH is on night shifts for the next 3 nights so I'm going it alone, but prefer it that way as DH hates to hear DS cry and would rush to him after a second. DS2 is 9½ months but has never slept through the night, and I've decided enough is enough. DS1 was sleeping 12 hours a night by 7 months and although I know they're not the same child, DS2 definitely eats and drinks enough in the day not to need feeding at night.
Just deciding exactly how to approach it - it's not the going to bed bit which is the problem, but the waking up in the night. It starts any time from midnight onwards and he will fuss, fret and whinge until I feed him. Trying to decide whether to offer water instead of milk, or just try PUPD or something similar. Any suggestions? What is a good approach for his age? I really can't remember what I did with DS1, but I do remember it didn't take very long, whatever it was!

Good luck you! - I realise you're probably going through it as I type, but just wanted to wish you the luck you're after.
I haven't any tips, but am going to be watching closely as my DS (1yr in a week)sounds exactly the same.
Goes off to sleep in a dream (all though, with me sitting next to cot, but it only takes about 5 mins to drop off.)
He's only ever gone through the night on rare occasions, but it's definately got worse lately & always results in a 4am wake up without wanting to go back to sleep.
In relation to the feeding, I stopped feeding him in the night at about your DS's age. (when I stopped BF). I did give water, but only 2 nights & he then didn't seem interested at all. He eats V well in the day.
I just keep putting the sleep training off though as both DH & I are both crap & give in to the crying etc afterabout 30 secs!

OP, there is a big sleep regression around 9 months, which makes sleep training much, much harder than at other times? If you wait till the developmental spurt is past, you'll have much better chances of success. More info here, here and here.

Woobie, there is one around 12/13 months too: here and here

How did you get on? We're going for it with our dd (7 months) next weekend. She's currently having a dream feed then at least one feed in the night, sometimes two. She doesn't feed properly so is clearly not hungry, but is so difficult to settle without a feed.

What technique did you go for? Like you we've been wondering whether to offer water, do PUPD etc.

Be great to read an update. Hope it went well! If it didn't then I'm sure things will improve over the next couple of nights, with a bit of persistence.

Hi there, time for an update. Well he went to bed no problem but at 11.30 started fussing. I went in and changed his nappy, also gave him Calpol as I think he's teething again. I then offered some water but he didn't want any, so I knew he wasn't thirsty and it was just the habit of having milk. So I put him back in the cot and left him. He was whinging but not crying for about half an hour, and there were frequent bits when he was completely quiet. I didn't go into him then as the quiet bits were more frequent than the noisy bits. After half an hour or so he upped the level a bit and I went back in, gave him his dummy back and just rested my hand gently on his back (he sleeps on his tummy/side). I stayed like that for a minute or so (during which time he completely quietened down) and then left (at which point he started making noises again). I then left him for 5 minutes and went back, doing the same thing. The next time I left it 8 minutes before going back in. We carried on like that until 1.30ish, with a maximum 8 minutes of being left alone at which point he went to sleep properly. I finally got to sleep then and woke up again at 5.45 when he started making noises again. I couldn't decide whether to feed him then (it wasn't his hungry noises) or to see if I could get him to resettle. Thought I might as well go for it and see if he would resettle and he did until 6.55 when I woke him up as DS1 was awake then.
So, not too bad in the end as I didn't give in and feed him at all overnight, which is a big step forward from 2 feeds in the night as well as the one just before bed and the one as soon as he gets up. I'm pretty shattered now though as I only got about 4 hours sleep, but will persevere again tonight and hope it takes less than 2 hours for him to settle back to sleep.
I'm really glad because there was no point when he was actually screaming and in tears, so I don't think I traumatised him by leaving him to whinge and grumble for a few minutes each time.
Will see how tonight goes and just hope he's a quick learner like his big brother

Well done you! That's great progress not to have fed for a whole night. Keep us posted...

How was last night? Am watching with interest...

Well last night was very different - there was nothing from him at all until 4.15, which was great. Then he started off the same as the night before, so I changed nappy, offered water etc. but he wasn't interested so I put him back in the cot.
He was crying a lot more than the night before (proper crying I mean, not just the grumbling) and after an hour I gave in and fed him - partly because he's at nursery all day today and so won't get the regular naps he does at home, and I didn't want him to be completely overtired and miserable from being awake since 4.15. He then went back to sleep again until 7.
So I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not by feeding him - maybe I should have left him to cry until he went back to sleep, but that may well have been just a few minutes before I would have had to get him up.
We'll see how it goes tonight - he'll be very tired from nursery. I'm away from home overnight tomorrow night so DH is going to have to deal with it and I hope he's got the same resolve as me, although based on past experience he hasn't. So it might be a case of DS either cracking it tonight and sleeping through until the morning, or me having to start all over again on Wednesday night.
We shall see...