11 month old wakes every 1-2 hours

[Seraphina77]

Hi everyone. This is my first post on here and not sure where else to turn.

I am desperate for sleep.

My 11 month old has always slept terribly (unless being held/on my chest when tiny)
. He is breastfed and has always fed to sleep. He wakes up every hour most nights. Sometimes 20mins after he is put down, he is awake. Sometimes he is awake for over an hour in the night.

Up until a few weeks ago he was still being fed to sleep at every wake just because it was the easiest thing to do. But for the past few weeks I have only fed him once in the night (around 1am) and every other wake up me or my husband rock/sing him back to sleep.

We have a great bedtime routine, 6.30pm every night he has his bath and then into pjs, feed and usually asleep in cot by 7pm. However every night is just exhausting. The longest he has ever slept for is 3 hours in a row.

He is also an awful napper. 45mins-1hr at most twice a day. Sometimes 20mins.

He will not take a bottle or a dummy. We have tried to encourage a comforter but he isnt interested.

I am not interested in controlled crying. Are there any other mums who have been in this situation who can offer advice? I feel like I might go crazy if I don't have some sleep soon.

Thanks for listening

Have you tried pick up put down or gradual retreat? Tbh im probably not the best to advise as my son no longer sleeps through, but does only wake twice for MIL generally and settles himself. Your son needs to break the feeding to sleep, so a pattern of gradual retreat can be started. This may look something as follows:
Feed until sleepy, pop nipple out, continue to hold until practically asleep, place in cot. If crying escalates, pick up and repeat.
Step 2 when baby is happy would include feeding them cuddling to sleep.
Step 3 feeding then cuddle, then when sleepy into cot etc.
The key is move onto the next step only when baby is secure in previous step. As I say, this may not be the best as my son still can wake 2 hourly at times, but has slept through the night and now only wakes for feeds (on average 2). Good luck.

At 11 months I'd try moving to 1 nap