Teething and sleep (or lack of it..)

[HabitualLurker]

I'm nearing the end of my tether with my 15 mo and really not sure what to do. Any advice or experience appreciated..

He's never been a good sleeper, and don't think he's ever slept through he night. He's always feeds to sleep, or will allow himself to be rocked or patted by his Dad or Grandparents (never by me though), though this always involves quite a lot of protesting on his part. Between about 7-11 months sleep was sort of ok. He would usually wake twice, but after a quick feed he'd let himself be put back in the cot, would roll over and go back to sleep.

For the last 3 months it's been horrendous. He was quite ill at about 12 months with fever/vomiting/general grot for about 10 days, and then again about 3 weeks ago. Teething has also ramped up, with molars coming in (he's got mild nappy rash for the first time ever). He now wakes up every 2 hours or so, and the second wake up is usually for at least 2 hours. Last week he surpassed himself and was awake from 1am to 6 fucking am. Then woke up again after a brief 40 minute kip. I was on my knees the following day (I'm back at work full time now).

I really don't know how to deal with this. His Dad seems to be of the opinion that as long as he's teething we just have to suck it up. But none of us are getting enough sleep, and I'm worried for my son as well as the two of us. He's only getting 7-8 hours of sleep a day - surely that can't be anything like enough for a toddler?

I'd like to try some kind of sleep training, but whatever we do I know it will involve some hardcore crying. He gets pretty angry and upset if we try to put him in his cot still awake - even if we stand then patting him and trying to soothe him.

I really don't know what to do.. in all honesty this year has been the worst of my life so far. I didn't realise it was possible to feel quite this shit.

I read that you should never attempt sleep training when LO is teething or ill. Makes sense. DS is also 15mo and has just had an awful time with his forgotten tooth (the 4th bottom) that finally came through and I can see molars under the gum at top and bottom. So his sleep is basly affected right now too. We're using pain relief. Something to eat after bath and then ibuprofen (as can't give on an empty stomach). Then on first wake up, usually somewhere around midnight or 1am, he gets paracetamol and milk. Any subsequent wake-ups then it's a matter of calculating when/if he can have more pain relief.

We always use it sparingly but sometimes he just NEEDS it. He was going absolutely mental with the pain for a couple of nights before we implemented the pre-bed ibuprofen. With it, he was waking once mostly, and has slept through the past 2 nights (so now contemplating not giving it tomorrow night iyswim).

If he's trying then sleep training won't work, are you giving him any pain relief in the night? Sometimes find having a nice cold bottle of milk in the fridge ready for DS helps when he's teething. Mostly it seems to be a case of waiting it out though :(

DS has also had a bad few days with it, and it's exhausting, but hopefully won't last long.

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I didn't know you could safely alternate ibuprofen and paracetamol until I spoke to the pharmacist. It was an awakening.

Damn autocorrect, teething not trying, and I've no idea what the last part was

Thanks all, I don't spare the Calpol and Calprofen and give them as much as I can. Also offered milk, which he wasn't much interested in.

Last night he went to sleep at 19:00. Then awake between 22:00 and 22:50, then again 23:20 to 23:50, them again 01:20 to some time past 3, not sure when exactly. Then awake again around 6, but he went back to sleep for around 40 minutes til he woke for the day at 7.

Is there anything else I can do? He can only have had about 7 hours sleep. I'm not even going to bother working out how much I had. This has been going on for months now.

Another l've noticed about DS is the fact that he's now very quick to sit or stand up. Almost like a roll over and stand in one smooth and swift motion. Of course he dislikes this immensely when it's too dark or he's just too disoriented to get back down again. I try to ignore the "grizzle" type crying to see if he'll just settle. It has varying success. The full on proper crying involves him standing about 9 times out of 10. No idea how to prevent this, other than gaffer tape .

The only other thing I can suggest is to strap him into his buggy and rock him to sleep there. That is our last resort solution for DD and it would solve the standing up problem. But then DD naps in her buggy so is used to sleeping there, might not work the same for your DS.

Teething is hell, sorry.