8month old has never slept through.

[lorna3586]

my son has never slept through, he doesnt know how to get himself back to sleep without being breastfed or bottle.most nights he ends up in the bed with me as he wakes about 5 times a night. i really want to do the pick up put down method but dont really feel confident that its not really traumatising my son as he just screams for hours when i try the method and seems really destressed. has anyone got any tips i=on doing the pick up put down method? any sucess stories?

Tell me about it. Our GP kept telling me it was Colic until ds was admitted to hosiptal because he had blood in his stools.

It was only when I spoke to the paed that he agreed that ds had reflux and even then the senior register said that he didn't need meds because he was thriving. FGS the child was suffering. He had CMP intolerance and they didn't agree with me until he was 13mnths old that he had a problem with milk. They eventually back down when I moved him to soya and they said it was lactose (unfortunately I didn't know any better).

Fast forward 2years and dd is the same. Once again GP wasn't going to do anything about reflux till I spoke to paed while she was in hospital at 6weeks and with the milk intolerance it was me that discovered that it was CMP and not lactose intolerance.

It has all be less of a battle with dd because she my second so doctors take me more seriously. Feel sorry for 1st timers.

Needless to say, I ignore GPs and HVs now and do my own research and if I need meds I go to A&E and see a paed.

wrinkly tum, I'm the same as you, DD1 (2.5) was an amzing sleeper, slept through from 6 weeks, no issues at all, she just did it, DD2 (7 months) refuses to sleep, she co sleeps if I'm too tired to put her back, she sleeps for 3 hours during the day and we can't keep her awake cause she just falls asleep whereever she is so obviously she needs it but she goes to bed at 7 and wakes between 11-2 then ever 2 hours after that.........am currently going slightly mad with sleep deprivation

ok i had a look at babywhisperer website and read about pupd aparently there are different ways for different ages, its says when baby gets to 8 months they soothe better in cot so not to pick up unless the crys sound distressed. I just put ds down for a nap this way and it was so easy this time i didnt have to pick him up at all he didnt once sound distressed it was just a sort of monotone winge the whole time. Everytime he tried to stand up id say time to sleep now and lie him down and he fell asleep in no time. Alot better than actually picking up and putting down. Aparently you do that with 4 to 6 month olds. Basically you dont pat you just lie them down when they stand or sit up and say something like time to sleep now in a soothing tone then place your hand on there back or tum but no patting not too much shhhing either. I cant believe how much it work so much less stressful as how i was doing it before. Thanks for the web ad cads.

Have you tried Gina Ford?

isn't she the puppy trainer?

no havnt heard of gina ford whos she?

I use the resettle ans shush a lot and find it the best way, the child knows you are around but don't depend on you to get them to sleep, i watch the child and as soon as they start to nod off i stop any touching or shushing so that, tho you are near you are not doing anything, thus they are falling asleep alone so when they wake they can resettle, each night i would move further from the cot so you settle and exit only to enter to resettle say 'sleep time' and exit. It can change a wakeful child into a sleeping thru child in less than a week, in an older child in a bed or a cot climber, return them to bed and exit doing this as often as needed, often a lot of returns the first night and very few after a week.

Tho be aware if you stop doing these plans and revert back to past behaviour it will be incredably hard the next time round.

matnanplus, what do you do if it is a two year old and they don't 'nod off' for hours because they have the ability to stay awake?

It's a pleasure lorna.

Good luck

Its a miracle!!! I took ds up for his bath at half 8(a little later than normal, i had a friend round) took him in his room, put him down he tried to climb up so i layed him back down and said night night and he just layed there he didnt try and stand up again, he didnt cry he just rolled around abit to get comfortable and fell asleep all by himself. He didnt even need me to do anything. I couldnt believe it, I was litterally in his room about 2 minutes. Its such a contrast from last night when i was picking him up and putting him down, it just made his crying worse...so glad that you gave me that web address cads it really helped, as it said on the website that your not actually ment to keep picking an 8month old baby up thats for younger babies!!!If i hadnt read about the different ways of doing pupd for different ages i may never have cracked it. So a big thank you to everyone all your posts have really really helped me. I just wish id done this ages ago, to think all these nights ive had ds in the bed with me feeding all night long when it could have been avoided so easily. So amazing how quickly babies learn and take to new routines.

And long may it continue! :)
Hope this is the start of a new chapter.

My Son had never slept through at that age and used to wake up 5 or more times a night too. I know how exhusting it can be.

I decided that, even if it did work, controlled crying or sleep training was something that I personally didn't want to do.

I read Elain Pantley's The No Cry Sleep Solution. It is a fantastic book with lots of very good, kind practical advice and I really recommend it.

There are allot of things you can try. You don't have to resort to controlled crying if you feel its to destressing for both of you.

I have actually ended up co-sleeping half the night with my DS and am very happy with it as it has changed my views on co-sleeping and I have found it to be very beneficial and lovely. He goes to sleep at 7.30pm and sleeps through until the small hours when he wakes and comes into bed with us then sleeps through until morning. Co-sleeping is definatley a life-style choice that isn't for everyone but is something that definately appeals to the natural instincts of mothers and babies alike.

Good luck whatever you decide. And just to make you feel better, I personally know a mother of twins who has treated her babies the same from birth. One slept through from 6 weeks the other wakes up all night. So it's nothing you've done wrong!

Sorry to come into this late, but I thought I'd share my thoughts as my DS was a terrible sleeper at first and woke up 5 or 6 times a night and wouldn't sleep in the day unless he was in our arms. I did the Baby Whisperer and it really worked. He is now 2.5, never wakes up in the night, sleeps until 10am if we let him (from 7.30) and is really, really happy. I started with daytime naps and the PUPD took a few days but I was determined. I did it over 60 times the first day or two. You have to be consistent. I also did the dream feed so he did not need to eat at night. If he asked for milk,he got it because I knew he really was hungry, but that only happened about once a month and now never. After we cracked the day time naps, he settled at night. But I was also really strict and consistent about the bedtime ritual and I think that helped too. It does work and the best thing is seeing how much happier your baby will be when s/he slleps well. Good luck.

Hi, I've found if you put your lo to bed early (ie between 630 and 730pm) they will generally sleep through til 630-7am. I have tried putting a poor sleeper to bed at 830/9pm in an attempt to get them to sleep beyond their usual 445am and it failed miserably. Put the same child to bed at 7pm and she slept right through til 730 am almost!!! Her previous bedtime was between 830 and 930 at age 4. Her brother always slept 7pm to 7am almost on the dot (despite my best intentions he was a typical GF baby!!!)

Hope that helps :)

Lorna - how did it go tonight? Had to use some babywhisperer methods on ds tonight, worked a treat.

Its going brilliantly cads, he knows now that when he goes in his cot its bedtime. He woke up loads of times ladt night but it only took me about 2mins a time to get heim back to sleep so i didnt mind too much. Tonight he was really easy to get to sleep aswell i think its going really well and hopefully soon he will be sleeping through!!! I cant wait to get a full nights sleep...its been 8months, its about time.

CADS, I try leaving dummies in the cot but they slip out through the sides. I've left a whole bag of them on the table next to his cot last couple of days & he's sorted himself out which is good I suppose. Woke at 6 this morning, presumably grabbed a dummy (actually there were 7 dummies in his cot later!) and went back to sleep until 9. Yay! Enjoyed my lie-in and read a book for a change instead of rushing to do chores (I'm 10wks pregnant, so can justify the rest!).

Why do I feel I'm making a rod for my own back though? I worry that's he's got a dummy for several hours a night now & surely that can't be good? Must ask my pediatrician father whilst he's here!

Lorna - That's fantastic hope it continues.

accessorizequeen - Yes, we used 8 too and they would all landed up under the cot. I use to go in before I went to bed and put them back in (mainly on his pillow against the headboard. "several hours a night" do you mean during the night or before bed, ds usually spits it out once he has fallen into a deep sleep and then puts it back in if he stirs, so I'm not too concerned. Last night get went from 9pm-5am without one, I know because he was in bed with me and his dummy was under my pillow. Please let me know what your dad says. I always intended to take it away when he was a baby but never got around to it (too chicken) and now i'm not bothered anymore.

Lorna, you must be so relieved, you don't realise how sleep deprived you are until you get some of it!

CADS, dad said 'who cares?' about dummy at night, though he frowns on them during the day (ds rarely has one now). I tried new tactic tonight and said ' there are dummies by your bed, but you should only have one if you're upset' so he didn't have one when I turned the light off. But went in now and had to pull it out. No matter how deep the sleep, it never seems to come out! Think the concept was a too hard to grasp for 2.5 yr old, really. Most people seem to say 3 is the earliest you can reason about dummies & get rid of them. I wish I'd done it before he hit 1 and grew attached. I just hate them really, but they have saved my bacon so many times when he won't stop climbing out of the pushchair, having fit in supermarket, go in his car seat etc. That doesn't happen now, I reason with him instead these days. so perhaps I'll just let it go and find something else to worry about!