Help me decide what to do, too tired to think.

[Izpie]

Ok, so my nearly 11 month old dd2 has always been a rubbish sleeper and is either rocked or bf to sleep, the last week however has been hell with wakings almost every hour. I am a broken woman. I feed her around 2.30 and around 4.30, all other wakings I either shhh/pat or pick up & hold, sometimes these work quickly, sometimes there's crying (both of us). She is on about week 5 of a cough and although there is some night coughing it's not what wakes her for most wakings. She has had a new tooth but that appeared a few days ago now. Calpol/neurofen make no difference.

So I want to sleep train and to move her out of our room into her sisrer's room. Unable to decide how to go about it. Am thinking either I move her and continue to rock/feed for a week or so until she's got used to the new environment- although another week of this may well destroy what little sanity I have left (work 3 long & stressful days a week). Or I move and sleep train at the same time (will bring dd1 in with us so she is not too disturbed).

Any thoughts or other suggestions much appreciated.

Should add that have tried having her in my bed but that also makes no difference to the wakings.

Poor you - I remember feeling desperate around this time... I stopped the night b feeds at 12 months and it was less awful than I thought it would be.

Can't really advise but just say huge sympathy, been there and know how you feel. It will end!

(also front teeth cutting led to hourly wakes for a fortnight and then was back to normal)..,

I would move her I think and maybe carry on with the rocking etc for a couple of nights and then start to withdraw from here. What sort of sleep training did you have in mind? I found this book Really great www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0340939583 has practical tips on how to overcome the types of problems you describe.

Do you have anyone to take turns with you? Good luck!

RottenRow, this is what I posted on a different but rather similar thread:

"redandyellow, this is my experience with my 9-month DS. I just started "doing something" about his constant waking and wanting boob at night (4-5-6 times a night!) last Friday. I stopped feeding him at night. Just stopped. The improvement was vast and fast. For the past two nights he only woke up twice, and last night the first wake up was due to an alarm going off in his room at midnight (he was playing with the alarm clock in the day and must have accidentally tuned it on). I know that twice a night is still not sleeping through 7 to 7, but for me it is heaven and I am hoping that the wake-ups will eventually go down to nothing.

Now, you say that your DS will just not settle without a feed. I know all babies are different, but this was out situation too. I tried to settle him without a feed many times before by shushing/patting/cuddling/signing/rocking/standing on my head etc. Nothing like this ever worked. DS would just get more and more hysterical, sit up, crawl all over the cot and cry. But when I stopped feeding him last Friday I also reduced all night-time interaction to almost nothing. All I did was stay in the room and gently putting DS back down when he was sitting up. I must have done it about 200 times over the course of the first night. HOWEVER - this way he 1) settled without a feed in an 1 hour and 20 min max whereas before it regularly took me 2 hours of screaming to settle him even with a feed, 2) he only woke up 3 times this first night, and 3) the total amount of screaming was no more than we usually experience. He was totally fine in the morning and is still fine. Eats loads better in the day too.

Give it a try if you fancy it. Your DS may surprise you. Mine certainly surprised me. I never thought he would give up his beloved boob at night so easily."

I would also probably try to "sleep train" your DD where he is now and then move her to his sister's room.

Sorry to be harping on about my experience on all the threads. It's just I am so chuffed. I've had no sleep for nine months, and for the past 3.5 months no sleep longer than 2 hours at a time. I am soooo happy to be getting longer stretched now.

ooops, sorry. I mean to address this post to OP, Izpie!

Just posted a thread almost the same asking for help!
Patron Will try your technique tonight.
Izpie full sympathy from me, hope it gets better soon!

Ooops, after three night of only two wake-ups, DS decided to be up 5 times this night and be very difficult about going back to sleep. [hconfused]

Thanks for all the replies & sympathy- although it's nice to know I'm not alone it's rubbish that anyone has to go through this (repeats mantra "It's just a phase, it's just a phase..." ad nauseum)
Cheers for the book recommendation RottenRow, will look it up, Sleep training will probably involve staying in the room making reassuring noises and some touching but not picking her up.
Patron sorry to hear you've had a bad night again, hopefully just a brief step back and ds will be back on track again.
DD Is still coughing a bit so not going to start sleep training yet, may move her in with her sister tomorrow, just not sure I can hear getting up and heading down the corridor 5 or 6 times a night.