Right. I need help. No point in beating around the bush any longer.
Other people asking for help are upset their 6mo wakes up once or twice, I know this is horrible, but I'm bloody jealous of those posts.
We live in a less than ideal situation which means most the sleep training or help just can't work for us.
We live in a tiny one bedroom flat, there isn't enough room for a cot, DS stayed in a crib until he outgrew it and we've been co sleeping ever since. Which was great to start with, easier to comfort him and get him back to sleep quicker when he cried.
But things like putting him in his own room, cry it out, leaving him to settle himself just aren't options as he cannot be in bed alone in case he falls out, jumps off, or does a number of dangerous things.
This has also affected his naps and I have to be with him 100% of the time while he is napping or asleep to keep an eye on him, this has led to another less than ideal situation. Most babies use a blanket, a dummy or a teddy as a comforter to help themselves fall asleep, my DS uses my hair. This didn't seem an issue to start with, but it is one now. It means he will not fall asleep for anyone else and won't nap or go to sleep in the evening unless he is pulling my hair (it used to be soft strokes but is now literally pulling it out my head). I try not to let him but he cries and cries because he's tired and can't fall asleep without it.
We tried swapping his night time drink from milk to water but it has no effect and he'll still wake up to drink the water.
DH doesn't really notice when DS cries at night, but I'm a SAHM and DH gets up for work at 1:30am so I would ideally like to get this sorted myself.
An amazing night DS will wake up 3 times, an average night is more like 10!
When we've had a good night I try to recreate what happened the next day, same amount of naps, same food, same routine, same bedroom temperature, it makes no difference, he'll be up 10 times again like normal.
He wakes up and cries, he tries to pull my hair, he has some water, all while crying. After 10 minutes he'll turn round fall back asleep again. But within an hour we have to go through it all again.
It can't be good for him, it definitely doesn't feel good to me!
I'm now 15 weeks pregnant (we're working on getting a bigger place!) I am exhausted. I deal with whatever comes my way but if I could cut the wakings down a little bit it would be so great for all of us
He's still getting 2 naps so he shouldn't be overtired, he plays lots and walks, runs and climbs everything, so he should definitely be burning his energy. I don't know what else it can be.
Any help and guidance would be much appreciated.