Hi All,
My DS has been a terrible sleeper since birth. He has only slept through the night a handful of times. Just a bit of background: we co-slept for one year during which he used me as a human dummy and I got very little sleep. I was due to start a new job and thought enough is enough and decided to stop breastfeeding and move him into his own room. We dealt with breastfeeding first, which although was a complete nightmare at the time happened in the end (I had started to resent breastfeeding and was becoming a grumpy mummy ). We then made the transition to his own room and cot. Although he was still waking up approx 5 times it meant I got some real sleep in between.
When he was 18 months old he decided to tease us with a few random ?sleep-throughs? and then went to back to night wakings. Having followed LucidLadys thread about her experience following a visit to a sleep consultant I decided to night wean. Although tough it seemed to reduce wakings to approx 2 but meant I?d be forever stroking him and would sometimes end up asleep on the floor in his room. However, a recent family bereavement resulted in much upheaval in his schedule and as a result we started feeding at night again and bringing him into our bed. He obviously clocked onto this and started to wake more?.5 times +argh !!!
Things are back to normal from a routine point of view (naps are usually between 1.5 and 2 hours taken at midday)however we still have night wakings (we have stopped bringing him into our bed as we were finding that as soon as we?d go to him he?d put his arms out for his to pick him up and laughed when we took him through into our room ? little git !!!)
Over the last few days we have been putting him to bed a little earlier, in bed by 7.45 and have found that he slept until 5.50 the first night, 5.00 the second night and 4.20 the third night. The first night my husband took him downstairs to start the day ? he was screaming and head banging so we knew there was no way he?d go back to sleep. The following two nights my DH tried to put him back to sleep by laying him down and stroking his back however as soon as he?d leave the room he?d stand up again and start banding his head on the cot. Having tried for over an hour my DH admitted defeat and gave him a 8oz bottle of milk which he drank and slept until 7 !!
So my questions are:
What should we do when he bangs his head against the cot ? ignore or let him continue?!
It appears as though if we don?t give him a bottle at dawn he?ll continue to cry and bang his head so should we re-introduce it in the hope that he?ll drink it and sleep until 7 again? (Both me and my DH work full time so a 5am start everyday would be very difficult! I also have an underactive thyroid so feel rough at the best of times !)
If we reintroduce the milk will this encourage further night wakings?
Should we just toughen up and do controlled crying? I?m not adverse to this as have tried a gentler version in the past when night weaning however am concerned about the head banging.
He has a consistent bedtime routine and self settles at night.
Please advise as I really don?t know what to do?.