Half hourly waking for 10 months straight 😭

[Rockandrollwithit]

My DS2 is just turning ten months old. Every single night since he was born he has woken up every half hour.

Sometimes he settles himself, sometimes we settle him but it makes no difference - he's screaming again after 30 mins.

We've tried co sleeping and it makes no difference. Also used controlled crying (please do not judge) and it's the seem - he will eventually sleep and then awake after half an hour.

It's the same for daytime naps too. I'm going out of my mind as I'm just never getting a break from him.

Normally in the evening he will go down about 7pm. DH and I will alternate resettling him throughout the evening before giving up through exhaustion at about 11pm and bringing him into bed with us. Where he will only sleep lying physically on one of us so we pass him between us all night.

Please help!

Oh poor you, that sounds absolutely torturous. When he’s sleeping on you and your DH is he on his front or his back?

Have you seen a GP to rule out medical issues that could be causing him to wake up so frequently? I’m worried if it could be down to physical discomfort of some sort? Disclaimer- I’m a first time mum of a younger baby so not speaking from a point of experience.

I think you are amazing to have survived ten months of this.

He sleeps on his front, which he does in his cot as well now that he's older. He rolls, sits and stands so I'm happy to let him sleep however he wants to.

He does have a health condition (TOF/OA) and has had surgery. But this is all very well monitored and both his surgeon and paediatrician are confident that he isn't in any pain. I'm confident of that too as he stops crying the second he is picked up - when he has been in pain in the past it takes much longer than that. I know of other families with babies with the same condition who sleep so I'm pretty sure it's not got anything to do with it.

DS1 was a poor sleeper too so I didn't stress about it in the early days but I'm so fed up now. Feel like my life is ruled by DS2's sleep or lack thereof.

Sorry to hear about your DS’s health condition, I hope he is doing ok.

The only reason I asked about which position he sleeps in is I was wondering if he was having reflux or digestive issues that were causing him pain if he was on his back.

Nod judging you for trying controlled crying, I think you’re an absolute hero for getting through the last ten months. Sounds like you can be fairly confident that it’s not physical pain causing him to wake up.

How much sleep is he getting overall in a 24 hour period on average. Is it possible that he’s been overtired for quite some time and that this is impacting on his ability to settle between sleep cycles?

If his frequent wakings have become an ingrained habit rather than him waking for a physical need is it worth trying another form of sleep training to sort of ‘reset’ his sleep. I don’t know much about it as my DS is much younger but would something like ‘gradual retreat’ be worth a go?

Does he go down for naps and his first sleep of the evening fairly happily? What’s his personality like generally? Does he want to be held a lot during wake time? Sorry, lots of questions!