18 month old - sleep regression or just bad sleeping??

[potas]

Hi
My child has never been a great sleeper but we have had periods of him sleeping 12 hours for weeks at a time. His teeth always upset him a lot and he has his canines coming in at the moment. For the last month he has been waking up once a night for about an hour - occassionally up to 4 hours !
We have tried various things to get him to sleep. Nothing really works apart from sitting by the cot with a hand on him - for an hour! or my husband lies down on a duvet with my son and the fall asleep together - essentially co-seeping. I cant co-sleep because I am a very restless sleeper and sleep walk and feel its to dangerous. There seems no reason for him waking - painkillers, extra blankets, different nap times in the day make no difference. He will sometimes drink a bottle of milk in the night but it doesnt seem to help so I dont think he is waking up because he is hungry.
Having read a few older posts on here I am hoping maybe he is having a sleep regression and will snap out of it as quickly as it started but I am concerned now my husband has started co-sleeping with him that we wont be able to break that habit. Argh
Any advice on things to try would be gratefully appreciated.
He wakes up at the same time every night so I was thinking I might try waking him up an hour before this and giving some milk in the hope it will make him sleep through that time - wondering if its just becoming a habit.
Thanks

Watching with interest. My 18 month old does the same. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes 3 hours that he's awake for. Always wakes up around 2am. He too was always a terrible sleeper but this is new lows of sleeping!

I nearly cried last night. DP is out at work a lot so I'm on my own for 95% of the day.

I co sleep too so that hasn't made it any better :(

Its so frustrating isnt it. And then when you're exhausted its even harder to cope with :-(

Mine wakes up at least every hour from 2am, what is it about 2am?! Tried putting heater on in her room last night thinking maybe she got cold around then but no! Sorry, no help but I feel your pain!

I came on to start a new topic and came across this thread. I am having exactly the same problem. Ds (16 months) was a great heavy sleeper. Went to bed at 7 pm and woke at 4.30-5am. I was a bit tired because of the early waking but was so happy he slept through; dd is 4 and is only just sleeping through. He started teething very badly a couple of weeks ago and had high fever too and was so poorly I just took him in bed with me. I always have done this when he's been unwell and he's happily go e back in his own room when he is well. He now is waking up all bloody night. I go in sooth, dummy in and stay till he's settled. Sometimes 2 mins sometimes an hour. But feels like as soon as I get settled back in my bed he starts off again. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and exhausted. Last night I gave up at 2 and brought him into bed and he sighed a luxurious sigh and went straight off into deep sleep! Co sleeping would be fine if I wasn't about to be up all night with a new born and how on earth do you get them to ever settle in their own rooms once they've got used to being in your bed. I have ordered Ewan sleep sheep for new baby but will try him with ds first; maybe it will help. I have ordered an amber necklace but what I really really want is an on/off switch for him!

My 18mo is doing exactly the same after months of perfectly sleeping through. He wakes up and is inconsolable with arms up wanting lifted out. He cries and cries. I end up on the floor beside his cot (now have backpain as a result of this) or in the spare bed with him wriggling around and poking me in the eye. He then wakes at 6am for the day. How does he do it?

I'm so glad I've read this. My Ds is 19months, always been an awful sleeper, we've had a few weeks here and there of decent sleep but on the whole he just doesn't seem to be a fan leelteloo mine sounds very similar to yours re: the love of co-sleeping and the need for an on off switch!
At the moment he is probably teething (does it ever bloody stop!?) and in some kind of regression. He can take a good hour to go to sleep at night despite our attempts at a good bedtime routine. Tonight we tried not picking him up when he cried but stayed with him to try and get him to fall asleep on his own....cue major hysteria and a very dirty nappy
He normally then wakes around 11:30, has a cuddle and goes back down and then is up around 3-4am. If I'm super tired we co-sleep and if I'm feeling in the mood for a fight its milk and lots of cuddles before he wins anyway and ends up in my bed.
We're trying for number 2 and I'm so worried that if he keeps sleeping with us we'll have world war 3 and a newborn to contend with in the not too distant future! Any ideas or advice very much appreciated

Oh! I'm so glad I read this too. Ds1 has always been a terrible sleeper but had been sleeping through for the last few months. Then about a month ago he started waking again, crying and inconsolable and wanting to be lifted out of the cot.

one of us ends up taking him into the spare room and co sleeping which I do not want to be a long term solution. He can be up for hours sometimes and then up for the day at half 6.

I have no solutions but am selfishly glad it's not just me going through it!

I've given up again tonight and am in spare room with my ds snoozing sweetly beside me. I however cannot sleep due to being so massive and having stitch like pain in my bump which will not stop no matter which way I lie. Hope you are all getting more zzzzz than me. Also I agree that while we may not be able to offer each other any solutions, it is really good not to feel like the only one.

Oh leelteloo you poor thing-that's exactly what I'm dreading!
I don't know what happened last night but my delightful little insomniac actually slept through!! Whether it was sheer exhaustion from getting so upset at the start if the night or fluke I don't know. We will definitely be trying it again tonight though! He woke up at 7am all smiles and cuteness. Am going to get DH to be bad cop as I can't handle it...

My DS was

My DS was only awake for 30 mins last night at 3am. Still feel like death but a tony bit less so

i woke my son up at 11pm, an hour before he usually wakes - gave him a dream feed, and he slept till 6am!!! Probably won't work tonight but one night was nice :-)

Wow potas that's impressive, I think if tonight goes badly I may just try that!