1 am hell again...please help!

[barnsey11]

Hi
I actually am in the middle of our usual 1am hell and seriously need some help.
Its controversial i know but think i need some sleep training advice for our son.
He is 14months and wakes around 1am every night and screams for up to 2 hours!
Weve done the in out settling, crying a bit longer each night persistently and now just exhausted and loosing the will to live.
Can anyone rec anything or a good place to start on sleep training advice, book etc. Have looked online but am sceptical about paying for a site to find out.
Thanks

I'd suggest contacting www.cry-sis.org.uk/ for advice. They should have ideas to help with the screaming and the sleeplessness.

If you dig around on their website, you should find their advice on helping older babies sleep - but you can call too.

Also - your HV might be able to help if you find her approachable.

Ah thank you, will have a look.
X

Good luck - it will eventually get better.
DS was a terrible sleeper for about 2 years. Now he is 3 and settles beautifully and resettles during the night with minimal help.

I got all the books - No Cry Sleep Solution helped for DS, who was an easy baby and great sleeper, but useless for DD who is a nightmare sleeper. Am now on Richard Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. In his book, he mentions that if your toddler/older baby is regularly awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, the problem could be that you are putting them to bed too early in the evening, or they are napping too much in the day (for example, if he is still having 2 naps, he may be ready to drop one). The idea is that toddlers only need so many hours of sleep in 24 hours, and if you make them stay in bed for more hours than they need sleep, they will stay awake for part of it, possibly screaming. He then has suggestions on how you can slowly shift their schedules in evenings/mornings or nap times, or sleep training if that is what you want to do. Other book that is useful is Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - very detailed and helpful about sleep patterns at different ages (although more hard-core in terms of sleep training methods - wasn't one for me). I found sending DH to settle baby instead of me helped, if I went in, baby just wanted me there to cuddle and play all night.