Is 18 weeks too young for PU/PD?

[EmmaLL25]

Son has been BF to sleep since born, not intentional just happened.

Will sleep anything from 2-4hrs them wake every 1-2. Feeds for 15/20 min back asleep. I wait half an hour to put in cot so sound asleep. Goes to sleep about half 7, up half 6/7 (aside from all the wakings!)

We recently went through phase of waking every 45 mins, but that's gradually improving.

Naps are hard - resort to sling or pram and even then there can be a battle - not always. Usually has 3 or 4 naps totalling 4 hrs, the longest I can get him to nap whichever way is 90min. I suspect he's not napping long enough and I'm working on this.

Bedtime routine, bath, PJs, story, feed, cot.

Last night though he woke up every time I tried to put him in cot - this went on from 8pm till 1am. He'd wake as I put him down (despite waiting 30min). I tried pat/sshh which sometimes works if he stirs a little. At 1am I gave up and brought him in bed (which we were also doing during the 45min wakings).

Do I need to bite the bullet and get him to go into cot drowsy? I have been trying to only feed him to almost asleep and not conked out with hope of gradually breaking the bf to sleep habit. Last night was ridiculous though.

I'm worried he's too young though. PU/PD seems kinder than CC, but I don't know!

Help!

Just replied to another post called 4 month sleep, or something like that (!), but I had the same problem. Don't know how to cross post so I'll type it out again.

All the reading I did had the same message; start a predictable bedtime routine & don't let them fall asleep bf. Babies cycle in/out of deep/light sleep & when they enter the light sleep phase they semi wake up. When they do so & realise that they're in a different place to where they fell asleep ie. in their cot not your arms, they fully wake & need their normal sleep cue (bf) to sleep again. So they need to learn to fall asleep without bf & to self settle.

My ds is 23 wks old & it took about 1 month to work. I bf then put him down when he was at that sleepy floppy stage. He obviously became more awake but I put my hands on his tummy & sshhed like mad. Or lent into the cot & put my face right next to his. If he really cried I picked him up, but with a grumbly cry I just hugged in the cot. He actually didn't cry much just cooed, fidgeted etc. It took an hour initially for him to fall asleep this way, & the same during night waking. So it's really hard work & you need patience, but getting him to fall asleep in his cot is key. This took about a month, with improvement each night. I know CIO & cc are faster but I couldn't do that.

Last night I took him up for his bath at 18:45 & by 19:30 he was fast asleep. He didn't wake till 3am (cos he'd wedged hisself horizontally across the cot & was screaming!!). He'd semiwoke at 11pm but I sshhued & rubbed his tummy & he was sound asleep again within 5 mins.

He was THE WORST sleeper ever before this, & daytime naps are still hit or miss, but he's only little still. Don't know how long this good sleeping will last (till the next growth spurt/teething phase) but I'm enjoying it for now!

Thanks Jackanory, think this is what we need to try. Not looking forward to it!

Did you feed during night? My son will feed every couple hours given chance. Do you think I should continue or only try feed every second waking say?

During day he feeds every couple hours, not as well as he used to though - he gets distracted easily - even just looking sofa with no tv/radio on!

He's 5 months old so I'm still doing night feeds. I started this whole process when he was just over 4 months old. He was waking up every 1-2 hrs & so I still fed him, just made sure he was awake when I put him back down. Sshhuing for an hr at 3am wasn't fun! Especially when he woke up an hr later & we went through the whole thing all over again.

Gradually he slept for longer periods & now only wakes once or twice a night; I feed him when he wakes for about 20 mins then put him down awake & he goes to sleep within about 5-15 mins. I don't put him down & leave him, but just resting my hand on his tummy is now enough.

Going to try night weaning at 7-8 months before I go back to work; not looking forward to that! Going to force dh out of bed to help though!

He still feeds every 2-3 hrs in the day & they're very short feeds; he gets very distracted too!

First attempt was awful. First ten minutes he was doing sleepy moans and noises and I thought it could work. But then he just got worked up and was crying /screaming. I kept picking him up to calm him then putting him back down. Got to stage where he was barely in cot and taking ages to settle.

I stopped after 45 minutes. Maybe that's not long enough but I know his sleepy cries and upset cries and we were only getting upset with no lull to even try settling him.

My OH upset its not worked, he's been reading it can take 3hrs to work but I can't do that.

Think we might need to leave it a few weeks and try again.