13 month old DS waking approx 4 times per night - either breastfed or rocked to sleep. Which to tackle first or both together?

[wombatinwaiting]

DS will wake anything between 3 and 8 times a night (and has always been this way). Whenever we put him back to sleep, it is either through walking/rocking or breastfeeding. We want to start some sleep training and I like the look of Dr Jay Gordon method but not sure how to tackle this. If I gradually wean him off the boob, then he will need rocking back to sleep, I think. Do we need to start getting him off to sleep by himself, rather than rocking before we tackle the night-weaning? The only time he breastfeeds is just before bed (when he doesn't fall asleep on the boob) and during the night. It seems he'll go about 4 hours without a breastfeed and if he wakes in between we can usually get him back to sleep by cuddling / rocking. Naps are a bit sporadic - generally 30 mins in the morning and 30-60 mins in the afternoon, but he normally wakes 20 mins into his afternoon nap and needs rocking back to sleep.

I believe we need to get his sleeping sorted sooner rather than later as his waking patterns aren't changing (despite hoping like heck they will!) and I need to get back to work soon and can't see how I will function properly.

Your experiences and suggestions would be very welcome - thank you in advance!

Hi there, I don't have any solutions I'm afraid, but am in exactly the same situation (i don't think this is uncommon, and I'm sure other people will come along with their solutions).

I have bought the No-cry sleep solution - which seems similar to that method (maybe more gentle - but my baby is only 7 months old!). That book does say that if you tackle naps first then it is easier to deal with night time sleep issues - of course the problem is the same, the baby can't put itself to sleep and needs to be fed/rocked - but it is probably easier to deal with it in the daytime.

Thanks for the info on tackling naps first squirrel - it makes a lot of sense. I think I need to have a good look at that book! Keep me posted on how you get on - good luck.