Quick advice - what to do with sick child?

[Desperate2012]

Advice sought! At Easter we caved and did CC to get DS (9mos) sleeping in his own room. For the last week he's only woken for a reason (nappy or feed) but is now sick. His fever or 2 days has broken, but his rash is still bugging him. Ferber says to avoid disrupting their sleep routines as much as possible... But the last two nights he's ended up with me in my bed. What should I do tonight? Tough it out in his room (I can put a bed in there)? Or give in and bring him in to me and accept we will screw him up just as he's figuring out the boundaries? I've had no luck putting him down for naps since the fever - he's napping on me now. That's probably not helping!! Sooooo confusing and hard!!

I think all sleep goes out the window with a sick child and it's a bit cruel to sleep train while they're ill - they don't understand why you're 'rejecting them' when they feel crap and need comfort. Sleep training shouldn't be done when a child is sick.

I'd let him get over the illness completely, try and keep to the new routine if you can, but don't let him get upset by it. Once he's better, go back to the routine and if you need to do a little more sleep training, so be it. Chances are he'll respond far quicker as he's used to it.

By the way, you don't need to do CC - I've always found Ferber's methods a bit full-on. What about gradual withdrawal? It doesn't work for everyone as it can wind the child up, but worth a go?

As above really, sleep training with a sick child is bloody hard work, and tbh I would just give in and let LO sleep where they want until they're recovered.

We ended up with 7YO in with us last night as she was unwell, but rather that than sit up all night with her and none of us get any sleep.

Good luck xx

Thanks guys.

GW no good, got wound up, didn't understand why we were there etc. Ferber was easy, v little crying in the end and far less distressing than other methods. I think he gets a bad wrap, I read his book rather than just doing what friends said and he's very understanding and human.

To clarify, I wouldn't be sleep training while the little one is sick (that's done- he now only wakes up when he has a real need- so waking up now is due to a need eg sickness) just staying as close to routine as possible and not sure how best to go about it. Ferber's advice on sickness is to comfort your child as much as possible but to stick to routine as well, and I'm just trying to figure out where to juggle these two competing aspects.

I did cc with my dd, but I would say stop with the sleep training and if it means taking them into your bed to get some sleep do it.

I've found that with sickness routines go out the window

Give in and comfort til totally better. I had to retrain my ds a tiny bit after every illness. Just the way it is. But it's just a quick reminder next time.

I agree that you can try and stick to the routine if your son is agreeable, but don't employ traditional methods such as CIO while he is sick. Everything ive ever read (not Ferber though!) advises that illness, teething etc are times when you should avoid sleep training as its more likely to be unsuccessful.

As fevrier says, once he's better, it should only be a gentle reminder to get him back into a routine.

If he's not agreeable, don't enforce the routine (is what I'm trying to say but not v clearly)! I'm a huge fan of routine and my daughter responds brilliantly to it but when she's sick I just go with the flow and do whatever is necessary. Admittedly we've never had her in our bed but that's more her decision than ours.

When she's better, she automatically reverts back to her routine.