Wise women (and men) of Mumsnet help me sort DC2 out

[Hodel]

I'm at a loss with DS's sleeping (2nd DC). He is almost 6months and his sleeping took a turn for the worst at the usual 4 month mark, but has been deteriorating ever since. He now wakes up ten+ times in the night. It is driving me bonkers. He is the lightest of sleepers even in the daytime and sometimes exists on only one 20 minute nap all day. He has been co-sleeping since birth and at first he was brilliant - started sleeping through at ~3 months (7-8 hour stretches). Now he is awake sometimes 10 minutes after falling asleep and this repeats over and over in the night until I'm threatening to send him out the foxes! Good thing he is so deliciously cute.

We are going to move him to a cot in DD's room this week to see if it helps. DD was the opposite in that for the first three months she had colic and was impossible to get to sleep, then suddenly at 3 months she started sleeping through and did so ever since. I'm not sure we learnt any lessons from that so hoping to get some good advice here. Any suggestions welcome.

Oh poor you! Both my DDs were poor sleepers and very light sleepers - I'm afraid until after I did controlled crying with them. I hated doing it but we were all much happier afterwards - with DD1 I did the hardcore leaving her for increasing times - this was at 5.5 months after I decided she had to lose the dummy as she was waking 20+ times a night to have it replaced. DD2 at over a year - can't quite remember how old though - she was waking for milk or wanting to go downstairs for an hour or 2. I think with DD2 it was def a case of needing to learn to self settle - every time she came to a lighter phase of sleep she woke up completely and her instinct was that she must get out of her cot. With her, I just cuddled her on a chair in her room and comforted her but refused to go out of the room or to provide a bottle of milk, and after just a couple of nights she was sleeping through.

Both have gone from being woken up by too loud breathing to sleeping through me putting clothes etc away in the evening.
Controlled crying is def something you have to be totally ready for though as it is very tough and makes you feel incredibly guilty but if you are at the end of your tether it might be worth thinking about.
Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thanks WLmum.. It's crossed my mind but I'm really not sure I would be able to do controlled crying as I'm too much of a softie. If it got to that I'd probably have to leave the house!! I know there is a gentler version - sooth but don't pick up or thereabouts. I realise we have to try something. Thus far it's been easier just keeping him latched throughout the night as it saves a lot of hassle. But it's not resolving itself and if he needs to learn to put himself back to sleep it isn't helping. Why can't babies just have a sleep switch?! I can handle waking every 3 hours or so, but at these point even 1 hour is a long stretch! Surely that is not right.

It sounds like the lack of naps is taking it's toll - E's probably very overtired so night sleep has gone to pot too. Is it quite noisy in the day? Can you get him in the for naps at home in a dark room with white noise to block out background noise, same at night time too? It might take a while but worth trying to get him down at 9, 12 and 3 (ish) by Any Means Necessary (out for a walk with a black out cover on the pushchair or rocking etc if at home) for naps and an early bedtime of 6.30pm. Try for a week to help him catch up on sleep...?

Also can you put him in a cot in your room? Because if he keeps waking loads it'll be even worse having to go to another room (been there). If the cot isn't quite near your bed then less likely to disturb. We did this then moved DS to his own room as stretches k sleep got longer as we felt we were disturbing him. We got him self settlor sporadically at 7 months (I'd settle him in the cot by patting his bum - he was a side then a tummy sleeper).

Also have you started solids? Take a look at what you're feeding him. In our case, green veg made him windy at night as did onions/leeks etc. Dairy is another culprit and bread. Worth giving a small teaspoon of weak peppermint tea in water after tea.
And finally, is he teething?!