15 months and bad sleep habits

[Koli]

Any tips on how I can help my 15 month son self settle and wake less for me through the night?

For various reasons I think we’ve got some poor sleep associations. If I put him in his cot awake he gets really upset and eventually settles if I sit on the floor with my hand on his back.

The real problem comes through the night. He’s up between 11-1am for a bottle of cows milk. He’ll then sleep for an hour or 2 and is up again. Surely he cannot need another feed he settles a little if I pick him up and then screams when he’s back in the cot.

I try leaving and going back to resettle him in the cot but after 1-2 hours I’ve had enough. The last 2 nights I gave him another bottle and he fell back asleep. Not sure if it’s hunger or soothing?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

We're having the same thing but tbh I've accepted it now - completely normal for them at this age. I rock him to sleep, get him into his own bed and then cosleep with him later on. Can you get a mattress on the floor next to him?

Could be hunger/thirst and wanting comfort!

Hello, a dad here! I joined to ask this very question @Koli so thank you for saving me the trouble.

Our 15 month old son has gone from a baby who was quite easy to settle at night to a baby who has been giving us major trauma at bedtime for about a week or so now. We used to be able to put him in his cot, and he’d self settle, albeit one of my wife and I would have to sit in the room while he did.

But now? Oh my God. Since he has gone down to one nap, he won’t settle in his cot, won’t sit to be read a story and won’t let us cuddle him or sing to him. He just cries and fights us until he finally gives in. The last two nights, he has woken up at 0345 (didn’t go back, had to do a 2 nap day yesterday) and 0415 this morning (went back after I cuddled him until 0500, then from 0530-0645 after showing him some TV-I know). It is driving us to distraction and we don’t know what’s happened to him.

His day nap is generally good, he has 2 hours a lot of days and is much less fighty going down for that. His awake windows are between 5-6 hours, which I know is a lot, but a sleep consultant who helped us when he was a baby said that he could stay awake for longer than most babies, and that solved an earlier problem.

So you’re not alone. You have our solidarity. I just wish I had some answers.

Tom