I am literally on the verge of skipping the country...

[youaremychocolatecake]

... And leaving the kids behind

My youngest is 11 months. He's EBF and BLW (eats LOADS of solids) I have been trying to wean him off the breast for about 5 months with zero success. He has no interest in any other milk from any other vessel (this is another issue!)

The sleep though (or lack of!) is absolutely killing me

My first son was a terrible sleeper, but no2 beats him hands down.

We started off well. He slept through from 2 weeks, I admit I was smug. Well karma got me, hard!

We got to 4 months and he started waking once a night, then twice, then 3 times. You get the picture?

Fast forward to today and here we are on his 8th wake up and it's not even midnight yet. I have to be up at 6.30 and am wondering if it's even worth going to sleep?!

He has dinner at around 6, some playtime, bath and is then breastfed to sleep. I have been practising the pull off technique in the no cry sleep solution book. Sometimes he allows me to lay him down drowsy and he drops off but mostly he just screams and I have to pick him up and start the whole thing again. It can take up to an hour to get him to settle all the while my poor 5 year old is twiddling his thumbs waiting for his bedtime routine to begin. Tonight the poor boy wasn't in bed until 9

I've tried letting him CIO twice. Once when he just wouldn't settle and I was at my wits end. It took about 30 minutes and was heartbreaking and the other night I tried again. Went out for 2 minutes, went back in. Settled, went back out for 4 minutes. After 3 minutes he launched himself out of his cot from it's lowest setting. Needless to say I won't be doing that again!

He is currently waking every 20-60 minutes all through the night and he wants to breastfeed basically. I try and settle him without and maybe every 3rd wake up he will but usually he perseveres. Usually it's just quicker (and quieter!) to feed him.

I'm tired, no... exhausted. I need help/advice. Whatever you can throw at me. Will this stop if I just refuse to feed at night? Due back to work next week and I fear for my health if I don't get to sleep. My house is a war zone, have no energy, rubbish-ness!!

OP, have a sympathy hug. It's rubbish and I know where you are coming from. I am currently cosleeping with my teething15 month old because I got so fed up with getting up at night.

A few ideas:

Is it genuine hunger (mine was, until recently), or is he using you as a substitute dummy? If it's comfort, you may be able to use an actual dummy or substitute a toy.
Is cosleeping worth a try? I stuck a mattress on the floor for DS and cuddled him to sleep. It avoid the whole "moving around" syndrome.
It sounds like he persists with the crying because you generally give in and feed him. You don't have to use CIO - there are gentler techniques - but you do need to be consistent. Hopefully someone will be along soon with more experience.
Can you enlist your partner or close family to do a night duty (even if it's only to midnight), so you can get some sleep?

When I got really desperate, I stuffed mine with weetabix and calpol, drank a brandy and handed the baby monitor to DH. It did get his head down and I got a couple of hours sleep.

Whatever you do OP, this too will pass.

Thank you for your support. I have been trying baby whisperer technique last couple of nights. No improvement so far x

Dd is one and its just awful at the moment so I feel your pain.
I went back to work last month and I have been constantly ill since then.
She goes to bed fine, goes to sleep on the bottle. However at some point in the night she is awake for 2-3 hours.
I will change and feed her, capol if teething and kiss and cuddle, but it cannot carry on as it is. I have a 5 year old too and it is waking him up.
Tonight after two hours I tried cc. I feel like I have failed but I can see no other way.
I did 5 mins, then 7, then 10. It worked. I am back to work monday so I will give it a try.