Any success stories about dreadful sleepers in first year who suddenly sort themselves out......please?

[popsycalindisguise]

To use a 'suzywong-ism', I have surrendered myself to the fact that ds2 doesn't sleep. I have asked loads of times in breastfeeding and sleep topics for help and things were starting to pick up then ds2 went into hospital for a week and now it is worse than ever. I have just accepted it now and feel strangely calmer about it.

To my great shock, he will be 1 year old a week today and last night (a particularly bad night, I have to say...) he woke 7 times before 1:30am at which point i brought him into bed and dozed for the rest of the night.

So - has anyone had an incredible non-sleepy baby who somehow sorted themselves out? Looking for positive stories.......

?

DS's now 21 months, and we're getting there. Now mostly wakes just once a night and usually he's fine after a reassuring pat on the back.

Pupd very gently seems to have got us there. We were unbelievably soft about it, but we stuck to our guns and banned him coming in with us/ going to sleep in our arms, etc, etc. Never left him to cry and were always there for him, but we made him stay in his cot and slowly slowly he's realised it's okay and quite nice really. It's like he's got more confident and is happy to sort himself. Not sure if that's just him getting older or the things we've done. But softly softly I'd say - honestly it's worth the wait..!

Ds is a great sleeper now, though it takes ages to get him to sleep (he's 2 1/2). He was the classic no sleeping baby. By an amazing coincidence, also bf. You could go into his room and dance the can can, and he'd stay asleep.

Dd who is 8 months is another story. She is her brother reincarnated, and we're tearing our hair out.

Ds got better around 13/14 month, when I stopped bf. Hmmm.

To be honest, I am a grumpy, tired mummy much of the time and I think I need to sort this out.

OK-not there yet...but ds is 6 months and was a wake to feed every hr kind of baby resulting in co-sleeping (for him) and no-sleeping (for me-terrified dh who is a heavy sleeper would crush him/he would suffocate under the blankets etc etc) ) until 5 months. Against my instincts dh said we should move him to his own room resulting in a week or 2 of hellish wakeing up-
however-now down to only one wake up b/t 10pm and 5 am-what worked was making him go down awake for naps and bedtime (put him to bed earlier so he didnt fall asleep on the breast. ) Stayed with patted sang lullabies etc til sleeping. Bit of crying but not much. Carried on feeding at night wake ups as it was quickest way to get him back to sleep-went from 3 or 4 to 1 in about 2 weeks and despite a cold and teething I hear him wake up and settle himself. He is bottle fed during day (nursery) and bf am and 7 and 10 pm and overnight. i plan to carry on mixed feeding until 9 months and then cold turkey-will get dh to take week off and go in with bottle of water.
I think acceptance/giving in/going with the flow for a couple of weeks can be a really good thing as it lets you get a bit of rest/recovery to get with the program again when you and ds are recuperated.

just thought I'd give an example of the other end of the stick so to speak.

my dd was a brilliant sleeper intil about the age of 3.5 ,then turned into a nightmare .Up atleast twice every night.So be assured all good sleepers at a young age don't stay that way.
BTW she's 14 now and slleps like a dream

Popsycalindisguise,
How long since your ds2 was in hospital? Only ask because my ds2 was appalling on the sleep front after he came out of hospital, too - no wonder with all those nurses thudding over to his bed all night, sticking needles in his arm! Took quite a while for him to get over all that. But he's now just turned 6 and sleeps like the dead - has done for years now. HTH

Tipex your ds sounds just like mine with the early evening waking thing - totally unpredictable and won't go back to sleep w/out the boob! We have gone out for the evening a couple of times and left him with my mum, thinking that she would give him a bottle when he woke and he would just go back to sleep.... no chance! We would come back and he would be wide awake - he was fine, not upset, but tired and with no intention of going back to sleep w/out mummy...

Popsycal mine is nearly 11mths now and still bf loads at night - I have just resigned myself to the fact that this is just what ds is like, we are not up for cc so we just have to cope and co-sleep until he grows out of it. Things never seem to be as much of a problem when you just accept that is the way things are

I feel beter since I have surrendered myself to it :)

might give it another crack over the easter hols though

Mine!
There is hope , really, I would never have believed it and used to seeth with jealousy when mums around me spoke about how boring young babies were as all they did was sleep all day Ds only ever slept in 20/40 minute bursts until then.
Ds got to 13.5 months, started to walk and get into everything and all of a sudden slept like an angel - his afternoon nap is about 2.5/3 hours and then he wakes up for the morning at about 9am I know it is unlikely that it will last but have been so grateful. (he is 21 months almost)

omg meggmoo - i live in hope:)

I was convinced I had the worst sleeper ever! On a bad night she would be up anything up to 20 times! I co slept with her from the start as it was the only way either of us could get any sleep at all. and even then it was in half hour spurts.
Then Istarted putting her in her cot asleep, and then when she woke I would just pat her back and shush her...she learnt to drift off again. Next I stopped taking her into bed with me until after 5am...if she woke up I would just hold her hand through the bars...now she will drif toff to sleep if put her in her cot awake as long as I sit with her for a few minutes, and sleeps from 8pm til 5am ish...and then again (after bf) til 7.So yes...it does get better even with the worst sleepers! I was so sleep deprived I put clinique spot treatment gel in my eye instead of eye drops and spent the afternoon in casualty with retinal burning! LOL

She's 19 months now btw

I soent the first 8 months of our DS life sitting on a chair downstairs with him propped up against my lap as he just wouldn't shut up any other way. He would sleep about 2-3 hours of the night and cry and grouch/feed for the rest. At 8 months we got sick of it moved his cot out and left him to it for a few days... Bliss.
Now 2yr and at 7pm he gathers teddy and blankies and expects someone to escort him up the stairs to bed (although he will go himself if you let him) 3 teddy kisses later and thats it till 6am or so.

My DS is 3 (4 in May) and it is only in the past month that he has started sleeping all the way through the night. I was at my wits end and found that what worked for us was that I stopped staying in the room with him when he went to sleep. I told him I was just in my room tidying up at first he was a bit tearful but I just continued doing it and after a few days he was quite happy with me sitting in my room reading. He now sleeps through the night, every night.

Tipex, I feel for you! Apart from on here I never hear about 'bad' sleepers... All I here about is babies who sleep through from the day they come home from hospital blah blah I don't want to know!!

reached crisis point this morning when I lay awake at 3am with ds2 face down lying horizontally over me, alternating between feeding and flicking my nipple then pointing and saying what sounds like 'booba'

he spent most of the night doing that

what the hell is going on