Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

end of my tether, 17 months of awful sleep. help

5 replies

PrunellaDeVille · 01/05/2014 15:17

DS is 17 months old and has never been a good sleeper, i however am really very fond of sleeping and really miss it.

He has his ups and downs - there have been times i thought i'd cracked it but within days there'd be new patterns of restlessness emerging.
I'm constantly wondering what i've done wrong for him to be like this.

In the early days he was a big fan of BF and i fed on demand. He never took to being in his own bed (i suspect now he was never warm enough - a major wriggler who'd break out of any swaddle/complain at any cover - he's now in a grobag though) so we largely co slept. Until 10 months he'd wake and feed 3 - 7 times a night until i night weaned and would only offer water, then he only woke about 3/4 times a night.

When he was about 1 year old i started to wean him off BF during the day (first thing and last thing feeds only) and he went on drinking strike, although i BF twice a day he was only barely wetting one nappy a day - very worrying. I tried him on a carton of formula after he refused any other liquids and for two beautiful nights he slept through until about 5. then he started waking earlier and earlier and demanding his morning milk. I was so delighted he would drink something that i over compensated to the extent that for the last 3 months (not BF any more) he's been on about 3-4 x 9 fl oz bottles a day ( i think that's alot for his age?).

He's now back to waking about every 2 hours through the night. He'll resettle easily in the evening but from about 2 am onwards he demands milk and nothing else will do, and he fights and rants and raves.
I'm trying to be firm with him and not give milk until 6am but it's tough and i have given in when he's been unwell which has not helped.
I've considered doing some form of controlled crying but he absolutely will not lie down without being put down (and then won't stay there unless he falls asleep)

sorry this has got so long

is there anyone out there who can suggest where to go from here? i'm so tired Sad

oh and he's never been very good at naps either, he always did maximum half hour naps until recently when i started him earlier in the morning now he does 1 hour in the morning and 30-45 mins in the afternoon quite reliably.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Birgitz · 01/05/2014 15:24

I found that seeing a cranial osteopath made a big difference to my DD. It may well have just been a co-incidence that her sleeping improved so much at that point, but it's probably worth a shot!

PrunellaDeVille · 01/05/2014 16:05

I have found myself in the dark hours listing that amongst the options or at least to look into it as i know next to nothing about it. Worth a consideration, thanks

OP posts:
carolinementzer · 02/05/2014 21:40

I agree Cranio sacral therapy can be wonderful.
At 15 months my DD was a terrible sleeper and breastfeeding addict, horrid teether and hated being on her own.

It's was so bad I've set up a blog to help other mums and blog about techniques we used (at 3.5yrs she's and excellent sleeper now).
Here's the link to the cranio sacral post and night breastfeeding post- if you're interested.

mydaughterwontsleep.com/2013/11/27/something-all-mothers-should-know/
mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/02/06/is-breast-best-when-it-comes-to-sleep-apparently-not/

good luck, it does get better!!

fertilizemyeggsbenedict · 06/05/2014 20:47

Very interested to read the link about craniosacral therapy. I'd vaguely heard of it back when DS was newborn. He's 16 months now and woken up anything up to 6 times a night since birth and will only accept boob to go back to sleep. He was born with ventouse assistance after a very long and stressful labour after I was induced due to being past my due date. I probably could have done it without ventouse even after all that, if he hadn't been 9lb11oz Shock Shock Shock

Might look in to cranio if things don't improve naturally. I don't mind nursing (we co-sleep anyway) but my fear is that eventually I will stop breastfeeding, and then what if he still wakes up just as much?

mawbroon · 06/05/2014 22:38

DS1 was a dreadful sleeper. He didn't regularly sleep through the night until he was 5yo. Believe me, I tried everything.

I discovered just before he turned 6yo that he was tongue tied which has caused him a long list of health problems, including I am fairly sure, the sleep issues.

Has he ever been checked by someone who knows what they are doing? how did feeding go?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread