Hi guys,
This is my first post (after months of reading other people's threads and not really finding any answers that matched my problem.)
My son is 16 months old and by 10 months was sleeping through the night. I'd breastfeed him to sleep at 6.30-7pm and he'd sleep through until 6-6.30am. I was still exhausted after the 10 months of terrible sleep, but his sleeping through was amazing!
The problems started up when the clocks went back. He started waking at 4 in the morning and wouldn't go back to sleep. Initially from the age of 6 months we started controlled crying with him. Always going to check on him and never left him crying for longer that 20 minutes. We'd go in and pat and shush him until he calmed.
The controlled crying obviously stopped when he started sleeping through the night because it wasn't needed anymore. Since the clocks went back and he's been waking at 4 we treated the 4am wake up as a night wake up and tried the leaving him to cry for 3 minutes, then going in to soothe him, then leaving for 6 minutes, going in to soothe, etc. But it has not been working this time around, he won't go back to sleep. I've moved bedtime to 7-7.30 in the hopes of him waking later, but he now wakes at 10-11pm, I settle him back to sleep which sometimes takes up to half an hour, but then still wakes up for the day at 4-4.30.
We have been doing research and a few days ago read an Australian study about reasons why controlled crying wasn't recommended and my partner and I both agreed with it so we have stopped the controlled crying and when he wakes we just go to his room and pat and shush him until he falls back to sleep (which at 4am he never does!)
Does anyone have any recommendations as to how to get him back to sleep without leaving him to cry? Or why he's started being a bad sleeper again? Is 16 months a sleep regression age?
Thanks in advance!
A very sleep deprived mother :(