Just want to give hope! (1yo)

[okthen]

I posted as recently as two weeks ago complaining about my lovely ds's horrifying sleep.

He has been, all things considered, a crap sleeper- and I've no doubt we've some crap nights to come.

BUT I just wanted to offer some hope to others with babies who are 'sleep challenged'.

DS has just turned one, and for the past week he has slept through the night. Actually slept through, from 7pm til 5.30 at the earliest, and 7.30am at the (amazing) latest.

Things that may have helped are wrapping him up warmer (thanks mn for that tip!), and cutting out the early morning feed after which he used to go back to sleep. He doesn't get any milk now til he is up and about. We also did a bit of controlled crying a while ago to sort out his bedtimes. And we started leaving him for a few minutes if he woke in the night (unless properly upset). To my surprise he self-settled more often than not.

Who knows which, if any, of things helped. But I know I have scanned this board many a time in desperation, hoping to read actual evidence that it really does pass. And it does! Even if this magical spell ends, I cannot tell you how restorative a full week of sleep has been

Really hope this isn't smug. Believe me I have 'done my time'

Yay that is fantastic, hooray for DS and you. My bad sleeper seems to be gradually improving (hope I'm not jinxing that!). Warmer helped here too.

Thanks for posting this! Could I ask how warmly you wrap him? My DS is in more than the Grobag guidelines (short-sleeved vest, sleepsuit and 2.5 tog grobag for a 18 ish room) but I still think he's too cold.

mcchub that's what we used to use. We now have vest, merino sleepsuit, normal sleepsuit, gro bag and her tummy is still on the cool side in room at 17ish. She's 9mo so I'm marginally less worried about SIDS now and obviously still not hot anyway. I think she's just cold blooded like me!

Thanks glorious - it sounds like I need to get the big guns out! My DS is 8 months so SIDS paranoia has lessened here too, I just want him to flipping sleep now

He now wears a long sleeved vest, a fleece sleep suit and a 2.5 tog sleep sack. Cosy! The night we put him in that lot, was the night he started his current stretch of good sleep. If he was a lot younger I'd be more wary, but at 1yo I feel confident about it. As it gets colder we'll add socks and maybe even a cardie. And I bought a Jojo Maman Bebe sleep sack with sleeves (second hand on ebay). I'm sure their arms get chilly in winter in a normal sack- I always have my arms tucked under the duvet.

Thanks okthen ! I am easily led so have am now back from the shops with a pack of longsleeved vests and a fleece sleepsuit (merino looks lovely but will try the cheaper option first!) Fingers crossed...

Very sensible mcchub, I just got desperate and my merino thermals are lovely! Let us know how you get on tonight

How did it go with the super warm baby packaging?!

Oh you wise people - he slept for a seven hour stretch last night (7 until 2), quick feed, until 5am, messed around a bit, then until 7.30am! Thank you £7 Asda fleece sleepsuit.

Erm, I should also say that this was night 3 of controlled crying but seriously, he has woken up 5-6 times a night from birth until now. He is in a really good mood too - I think he needed the sleep as much as I did. We are also doing the "leave for a few minutes to see if he settles" - and most of the time he does now!

Crossing fingers again for tonight.

Woohoo! Well done minichub!

Well done. My 15month dd still wakes twice in night. She hates sleeping bags so has a duvet, but throws it off.

And can't do any sleep training as she shares a room with 4yo ds. She still has milk in night, how did you stop that? Do you offer water instead? When I just try and settle her without she screams blue murder!

chubby- wahoo for fleece and sleep training! Our ds is the same- he needs loads of sleep so is a happy boy when he has slept well.

schrodinger- yes we offered water for all night wakings and in place of early morning feed. Now he sleeps til a decent hour then has a big beaker of cow's milk when he wakes.

We have a 3yo (not sharing a room but directly adjoining) so can understand the difficulties of sleep training. I'm sure lots of second babies sleep worse (like ours) because we want to protect the older child's sleep.
However, a friend of mine advised me to just explain to older child that we were all going to help the baby to learn to sleep, and that he would probably be very noisy, but it was her job to show him how big children sleep, and just to ignore him and keep her eyes shut if he woke her.

She actually hasn't been too disturbed, and has been really good about keeping quiet if woken.

Of course it's harder if they share a room. Maybe pick a weekend when your older child can sleep at g'parents or similar for 1-2 nights, to crack the worst of it?