Do sleep problems ever just sort themselves out?

[popeye123]

..ah the $64,000 question! I know I'm probably being niave and clutching at straws but I'm hoping that my current "grin and bear it" strategy isn't a complete waste of time.

Having a bit of a wobbly day today so need to off load if you don't mind....

I have a 8mth old DD. I've always adopted a very relaxed approach to our daily routine mainly because I made a decision early on that I have to go out to clubs etc to save my sanity otherwise I'd be by myself for hours on end. As a result, DD has little daytime routine and now I feel a bit guilty and thinking I've mad a rod for my own back. She has regular feed times but naps are a bit hit and miss and while she will sleep in the car or buggy, naps in her cot are short and a bit of a struggle.
Nightimes were OKish - or at least I felt I could cope until about 5mths when she started waking every 2 hours, things have improved slightly now she's on solids (from 6mths) but still she wakes 2-3 times a night and now she's more active during the day, I'm shattered!
There's no problem getting her to sleep although mostly she falls asleep on the breast but I still hear her stir and settle herself back again in the night. When she does wake I feed her back to sleep again - all wrong I know, but it works! She's still breastfeed, no formula - just because I find it easier - day and night! (and she's got some teeth already.)

Do not want to try CC as this is my fault not hers. Also too tired (and hate to admit it, lazy) for No Cry Sleep Solution. I've tried the odd tactic here and there; getting her to go to sleep by herself, offer her water, white noise, change nappy, change feeding patterns and naps during the day but nothing seems to have made any difference. Have just been going with it hoping things will get better..........

Other than that, she's a gorgeous little girl, very sociable and happy and at least benefiting from our frequent outings in that way. I suppose no baby is perfect?
I just feel that I'm making everything up as I go along (no Mum to ask) and while sometimes I look at DD and think I'm doing really well othertimes I feel a bit caotic.

So, back to original question - if I do nothing....will things calm down? If not - are there any quick tips which might help without too many tears or effort?

I know I'm asking alot, I suppose I feel I need permission in a way to not try too hard and to not do anything drastic - there's alot of unintentinal pressure out there, I think some people think I'm mad to put up with it.
Am I being niaive and lazy or is my motherly instinct telling me this is what babies do and things will get better....?

Sorry for the rant!

dd had a wonderful daytime routine but started doing this at night about this age. they go through phases. i never bothered with cc or anything. not much use sorry but you have my sympathy

good luck

Yes, I never went down any of the documented routes - my number 1 priority was always to get back to sleep myself as quickly as poss, this often meant doing all those thing you're not meant to - hetting them into bed with me etc.

It does end. They're both really good sleepers now.

Hmmmm, ds was a horrendous sleeper until 9 months old, waking up every 1-2 hours and could take up to 2 hours to settle. Then he suddenly started sleeping through... virtually overnight.
I don't know if it was something we did, we had been trying absolutely everything and were 3 weeks into a craneo treatment as well. Or maybe it was because that same afternoon he was refusing to stay in the buggy and he screamed for an hour but I did not pick him up... so when he woke up that night he decided it was not worth the effort to cry. I don't know... I just hope it does not reverse.

According to my MIL sticking it out is the best approach, that's what she did with her two.

Good luck.

Lets hope they do sort themselves out,

I was thinking the samte this morning,

Both of my dd's are bad sleepers, dd1 (2.7) still does'nt sleep through, wakes asking for a drink, wont stay in her own bed. DD2 (6 months) wakes evry 2 hours and is wide awake at 5am.

almost 3 years without a nights sleep, when will it end?

my youngest is nearly 10 months and in the last couple of months decided sleep is for wimps.i am a wimp and need sleep!i am rubbish at routine ,sorry im no help but just to let you know in same boat!maybe its an age thing?

My DD (8 months in about a week) slept beautifully until 4.5-ish months and now wakes every hour or so all night. Daytime naps make no difference. She's also still almost exclusively breastfed. (So much easier at night - I've always fed her to sleep).

I've been trying really hard with solids from 6 months but she hasn't wanted to know. Now she's got 4 teeth and she's showing interest in biting and chewing and taking a few things. I was hoping it might help her sleep better. Just like I thought the extra energy she used when she started crawling would help. It didn't.

I really hope it sorts itself out eventually because there's no way EVER I'm going to use CC. I've been trying a couple of ideas from NCSS, if they are effective I'll let you know.

Hi Moljam!

At your dd's age, my ds was waking up to 5-6 times a night - then very soon after, it just stopped - and now he sleeps through about half the time, otherwise wakes once or twice.

There is a wonderful little book called "my child won't sleep" by two authors, one of whom is called Naomi Richman. It must be around 18 years old, but it saved my sanity and my marriage when my firstborn was little. I have no idea if it is still in print - I lent my copy to my neighbour, who found it so useful, she is hanging on to it.

Basically, what I learned is that sleep problems generally have little to do with hunger, thirst, etc, and a lot to do with whether children have learned how to fall asleep without the need for external "soothing" - for example sucking, stroking, rocking etc.
I speak as someone who was woken every 2 hours every night for 2 years. I will do a search and see if the book is still in print - (my mum bought it for me and i am eternally grateful to her).
Of course my boys are teenagers now, and it is impossible to wake them up.

It is by Jo Douglas and Naomi Richman. A little paper back book published by penguin. They also wrote another one called "coping with small children". Absolutely brilliant - ought to be given to every pregnant woman on the NHS. As should Steve Biddulph's "Raising Boys" to all parents of sons. I don't have shares in these books, honest, its just that I WISH I had read them before I had my children.

popeye- i couldn't have written your post myself, even down to the 'no mum to ask' bit. i'm trying to do ncss, but not very thoroughly, and would never do cc. so i'm afraid i can't help much, but there is a ncss thread out there somewhere that a bunch of us share our woes on.

My dd is 2.4 & never slept through the night till
she was 19mnths.
We did no 'sleep training' no controlled crying (too ghastly for her & us) Suddenly at 19mnths, from co-sleeping with us from birth she started sleeping through the night

She's in her own room, in her cot & 9 times out of 10 sleeps there all night on her own. We decided that she was a baby & if she wanted/needed to be with us then so be it. Moved her into own room at 14mnths bur still came in with us after being asleep for bout an hour. & I was breast fed her to sleep too, which I now don't have to do cos she goes to sleep quite happily on her own