Waiting it out....

[Willothewhip]

I am a big fan of the Kellymom website and often turn to it for advice re bf. However, I am starting to lose faith... DD is almost 16 months and has never once STTN. She is currently waking approx 6/7 times. I am co-sleeping and bf. According to Kellymom it should all sort itself out naturally and she'll sleep through when she's developmentally ready. Am I mad to believe this? Please could I have some success stories which will reassure me. I'm exhausted and feeling very low about it.

If she is waking that often I would put money on there being an underlying medical issue (eg intolerances, reflux etc).

Thanks hotcross I should have mentioned that she has a diagnosed cow's milk protein allergy which is partly why I'm still bf.

We've recently had her first molars through too, which was painful for us both and I thought once they were through things would improve. They have, but only a bit.

do you think she might sleep better in a cot? You could be waking her up...although is so lovely to co-sleep :o)

OK well maybe there is a side effect of the allergy? Do you keep a food diary?

well both mine did sleep through when ready. But DD had grown out of her reflux at 6 months but we still had a very bad spell of night waking between 16-18months.

I would think you've still got some allergy issues going on. is she also soya free to as they can be allergic to soya if CMP allergy.

Oh didn't add when they slept through, they where both sleeping through by 2 1/2 years. DD was waking once in the after 18 months. DS woke for a feed at 10pm for ages so probably was as bad as I got a full Brock of sleep much earlier. He just kept it up for ages, I knew he'd drop it on his own eventually so I want bothered about pushing him to stop it.

Thanks so much for the responses.

hotcross and MigGril I do have her on soya. I introduced it quite late (13 months) and it didn't seem to have any side effects but perhaps I should look at this again. Good idea to keep a food diary and I'll also experiment with dropping the soya for a bit to see if things improve.

claremoss I have been wondering about whether I am waking her up. Again, this is something I'll definitely try. She does seem to be quite a light sleeper and anything that can impact it (e.g. a bunged up nose) does.

Thanks also for the positive story MigGril. It's good to know that it can be done and also that you experienced a regression around this point (DD's sleep has not always been this bad, so this gives me hope!). I would very happily put up with one or two wakings for the next year or so. It's the never ending hourly/bi-hourly awakenings I'm finding so tough. Out of interest, did you cosleep with your LOs or were they in a cot?

I bf and co-slept. At 16 months ds was waking anywhere up to 8 times a night. He slept through for the first time at 18 months (was night weaned by then, but still co-sleeping). At 2 he was sleeping through regularly still co sleeping. At 2.2 now he mostly sleeps alone, and wakes briefly a couple of times a week.

I appreciate it's not the path that everyone wants to take, but I'm glad we did things that way we did. It wasn't always easy, but he has learned to sleep alone, sleep through, self-settle etc slowly in his own time, and when he was developmentally ready to do so. I plan on taking the same approach with ds2.

hugs..It does happen. has just happened for a friend - dd self night weaned but still coslept at around 2 .5. is now slowly weaning. they're all different.

don't underestimate those teeth! awful sleep destroyers. my mum effectively wio for me - I was about 2.5 when I weaned and sttn.

have you seen the isis online website? infant sleep resource. very reassuring about sleep and it's perfectly normal not to sttn till older.

Also, before artificial light we all had two sleeps at night, with a period of being awake in the middle of the night, tending to fires, working, procreating. ..

Thanks OnTheRun and littleowl. It's very reassuring to hear that it does come together in the end. I hadn't read the ISIS site before. It's interesting that forcing babies to STTN before they're developmentally ready puts other circadian patterns out of sequence.

Since I first posted, I've stopped feeding DD soya on the advice I received here. Wow. We had instantly better nights: down from the nightmare 6/7 wakings to a very manageable 2. Clearly we have a soya allergy too... What a relief to know what it is, though. Thank you so much to those who took the time to post. DD and I are both much better for more sleep.

That's great!

I hindsight I suspect we've had mild allergies. not sure what to though. either that or tt wasn't snipped enough. he used to get terrible tummy aches which I'd spend ages massaging it out in the night. been ok for a few months now, since confident walking and gravity pulling everything down.

long may your sleep continue!