dd, 1 in July waking up hourly from about 2.00am, am going mad from lack of sleep

[fizzbuzz]

DD was ill about 7 weeks ago. Ever since then sleep all over the place.

She has improved in that she will settle and go to sleep, but still being like an hourly alarm clock.

Nothing has worked, cc upset me too much, gradual retreat hasn't worked either. me ad dp are taking it in turns to sleep in her room which helps a bit, but not enough.

Taking her in with us doesn't work either, she is much much worse when we do this.

Both of us working and both completely knackered. Now getting beyond a joke...

Hi,

Poor you. Sounds like exactly what happened to us when our DD was nine months old. And it is dreadful, you poor things.
DD was waking every hour and a half from the moment she went down until when we finally gave up and got up in the mornings.
We got to the point where we realised that she was exhausted because she was waking up so much and overall not getting enough sleep, and we did controlled crying, and I know you said it upset you too much, and I was gutted about it too, but once we got through the week and a half it took for her to learn, it was so much better. She slept more soundly and for three or four hour intervals. At 16 months she is now a good sleeper, and DP and I (we both work too) are alot less zombified.
The other thing we did, which helped, was closed her door fully so it was quieter.

The only other thing I wonder is if you are BF or feeding DD to sleep, because half the trick I think is about them learning to get themself back to sleep - if they go to bed awake, they learn to do this at bedtime and then through out the night too.

Good luck, it will get better.

No, she doesn't need feeding to sleep, she can settle herself.

Did cc, it went on for 3 hours, until she fell asleep sat up with head on soft toy Layed her down and we had another 2 hours, at which point I couldn't do it anymore.

Half the problem is, she sits up as soon as she wakes up, and won't go lie down until we put her back. Couldn't dd cc because of this, as she was sat up most of time. Hv recommended we stop

i am just over from another thread but just to say I completely sympathise with this - in fact reading you makes me fele that I am not getting such a bad deal with my baby, though I feel nearly crazy wiht sleep deprivation. but at least he isn't waking quite so often as yours. It makes you so desperate though, doesn't it? I hate the optimism almost above all - that each night I think 'Well, perhaps this night will be OK' and then for some reason I am almost surprised to be woken and to look atmy watch and find it's only midnight or 1am and the baby is awake...What you write about controlled crying not working because the baby sits up is really interesting - what do other parents do about this? I can't even contemplate Cc because of this - and other reasons like the neighrbours in my balsa wood block of flats - but my 10 months old son just stands up as soon as he wakes and since 4 or 5 mnths can't be sssshed to sleep in the cot either because he turns over all the time and tries to crawl/stand, etc. So he has to be ssshhed to sleep on the bed, with me there, and then when he's completely asleep I can put him in the cot. It's simply futile to leave him to 'settle'.

Anyaway I will be watching this thread and I hope your situation improves soon. Best of LUCk...

Just to add my note of sympathy and understanding. My lo is 1 in July as well. We have found gradual withdrawl / retreat fairly succesful but have come to a problem similar to yours. Some nights he wakes at about 4am then is up hourly until about 7am other times he wakes up at about 2am and is up hourly (if he actually goes back to sleep that is). I was feeling so hopeful about GW/GR but don't know where to go from here. Hope someone can help as I'm due to go back to work soon and was hoping for a better nights sleep!

Hi my son is 18mths and was still waking every hour or two. Used to sleep from 7.30 til about midnight then up hourly but got worse 2 mths ago and woke hrly from bedtime. We tried cc, which was awful, made himself sick etc, in bed with us, nothing worked and finally doc has given us medicine to help him sleep. I felt awful about this as he is such a good child during day and lack of sleep was not affecting him but we both work and were shattered so have gone down this route but not full dose as I don't want to make him drowsy in day. He is not sleeping through but I can put him to bed awake at lunch time and bed time and he is only awake for about two mins when he does wake and I don't always have to go to him. Has been on med for two wks and reduced amount each night so has 2mls now so almost off it. This was a last resort but works and we are all better for it so the guilt of using med has eased slightly cos he now has a happier mummy and daddy!!! Def worth a try.