Was your child a bad sleeper?

[barneymcgroo]

If so, please complete the sentence:

'My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when...'

Please give me some hope - 13mo, is lovely, but doesn't go more than a couple of hours at night.

Thank you.

"Was your child a bad sleeper?"
Yes

"'My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when...'"
We:

1. realised he had reflux and CMPA, and got his symptoms under control

then

1. sleep trained

No luckily. But we had a good sleep routine which massively helps.

A good sleep routine?!
No mate, you got lucky.
(I don't think the OP was asking for replies from smug parents of good sleepers!)

Umm I'm no help my Darling Little Angel is nearly 22 and he is still a bad sleeper

@NameChange30 Don't think I got lucky, with twins you have to have a good sleep routine or you can literally be up all night. When they were tiny there were a couple of nights where I didn't actually get into bed, let alone go to sleep. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
But yes a good sleep routine was essential or we would never have slept!

Improved when DH started putting the baby to bed instead of me. She now wakes up only once which is an enormous improvement!

'My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when...

He turned 4.5 (years old not months!)after years of 2-3 hours a night only. We tried everything, reflux treatment, swaddling, pick up put down, cry it out, sleep consultant, co sleeping, not co sleeping. Then one night he just slept through.

He's still not brilliant at 10 but at least he will stay in his room and read or put his lava lamp back on to lull him back to sleep.

Sorry you are struggling.

Bellie99
You should have tried Hollow's magic sleep routine

Our terrible sleeper improved when we took her out of sleeping bags and gave her a duvet and pillow. She was 16/17 months. This coincided with the birth of her little brother who's now 5 months old and has been sleeping through for ages. I think some are good sleepers, some aren't and there's only so much you can do!

Sleep training and routine routine routine.

Thanks all. He's just started walking, though only a few steps, so am hoping there might be some improvement after that.

We do have a routine. And he goes to sleep fine, just wakes frequently. Hasn't ever slept through. And I'm too feeble to sleep train.

I shall continue on, optimistically hoping every night that maybe this'll be the night...

DC1 was a dreadful sleeper, didn't sleep through the night until he was 4.

I learned from my mistakes and was stricter with DC2, who was a better sleeper

I was super strict with DC3, an amazing sleeper.

Sleep training is the way to go, but I couldn't do it with my first, too much of a softie. Sleep deprivation soon hardened me up!

@Bellie99 thank you - good to know it did eventually change!

Yes he was dreadful. Awful. Up for hours. He was about age 4 (sorry) when it got better. We tried everything. He just didn't need much sleep.
We have a 6.5 year age gap due to this!!!

Yes terrible sleeper from 8months to around 4ish....

Sleeps like a dream now (almost 6)

You have my sympathies- it was sheer hell on earth at times and I never thought I'd see light at the end of the tunnel.

Developmental leaps/progress were the culprits for the worst sleep behaviour and we tried everything.

Mine was terrible and was up every hour on a good night, 20mins on a bad night. I was on the cusp of madness... It changed when I met Andrea Grace and sleep trained and stopped breast feeding at night. (7mths old).

DS2 was an awful sleeper and didn't sleep through until he turned two, which coincided exactly with him dropping daytime naps. He was great after that.
DS3 constantly wakes too (9 months). I feel your pain.

'My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when...'

It wasn’t a sudden improvement. He had reflux as a baby so things were bad for ages. It wasn’t until he was at school that he was sleeping through almost all nights. But while the first few years are still mostly a blur he did improve gradually between the ‘please stop torturing me I’ll tell you anything’ sleep deprivation and the ‘nobody should see this time of the morning unless they’re partying or working shifts’ until you reach ‘oh ok so you’re awake tonight but I’ve had a few nights since last time so maybe I can do this’

Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time. I know what it’s like and will never forget how hard it used to be. I can only say it will get better and you won’t believe how much better even one less wake up a night makes you feel.

Pinkground202 - what do you mean strict? What am I doing wrong? 😭

My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when I cracked and sleep-trained her at 18m.

I did rapid-return shush-pat. First couple of nights were zombie apocalypses - I was the zombie. But after that there was rapid progress. Took about 3w before I could kiss goodnight and leave the room. From then on my darling little angel became a genuinely good sleeper.

(Until about 3-4, when she started getting up early. Grow clock was very helpful with that.)

GRO CLOCK IS THE BEST £20 I EVER SPENT

Introduced when DS was 18 months and finally eliminated the dreaded 5am wakings (the only one we hadn't managed to crack)

My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when she got to about 18 months... I tell a lie, it might have been 17. Not long left!

It was just a matter of waiting it out, we tried everything except CIO. It was hell. You have my sympathies.

She is now five and sleeps through. There is hope!

My darling little angel was a terrible sleeper, but it all miraculously improved when she turned 18 months.

I didn't want to sleep train and it just happened naturally. Was a bit shit for 18 months though !

"... she fell asleep one night at 17 months". And then ever since that night slept for about 10 hours, with a couple of hours nap up to she turned 4! It was like she was making up for not sleeping! Nothing changed, she just started sleeping.

Dd2 was a great sleeper from birth, either sleeping all nightor waking up once or twice. She is nearly 2 and still wakes once in the night. There is no rhyme or reason to sleep