14 month old troubles is this normal ??

[Mummystheword88]

My son is 14 months old and all he seems to be doing is moaning and crying and just wants to be held all the time. He's had chest issues since October as he's had a lung infection and a terrible cough which he has still got and has inhalers and granules in his food for treatment . He also doesn't sleep through he wakes around 3-6 times in the night crying either for milk or to just nurse him , he can't self sooth yet either , I've never tried the controlled crying because of his chest as it makes the cough worse, I've got a daughter who's 4 and she was completely different and they have both been cared for the same way , just at the end now don't no what else to do I am a walking zombie and my son just isn't a enjoyable baby he's so hard work. I love him to pieces but just fed up now ?? Any tips or advice would be appreciated as I talk about him to friend and family and they all tell me it's not normal the way he is , I've also had a lot of time off work since returning from maternity due to him being ill and me having post natal depression..

14 months is a bit late to introduce a comforter, but it is not unheard of.

Babies and young children generally do not have the emotional brain development to self settle until school age and generally need something as a comforter to help them sooth and settle to sleep. Helping him accept something with which he can autonomously sooth himself would be beneficial.

Your son is evidently sucky (since he likes being nursed to sleep) and so a dummy would be ideal for him. I think it is probably far to late to introduce this through.

So how about some form of comforter toy, special blanket, pillow case that smells of mummy? The benefit of him being older is that you can explain - 'This is for you to use to help you get back to sleep without Mummy'.

As I've said though, you are late to establish a comforter so he might not accept it. In which case, unless you consider sleep training methods you are better developing some coping strategies.