10 month sleep regression? I'm creating a monster?

[Daniellen7456]

Hello all,

Hoping to get some advice on my 10 month old. A few things have changed recently and his sleep has been horrible.

1. We got a new nanny as I work part time - had a different nanny before since he was 3 months part time as well
2. He had a fever on Wednesday that subsided within 24 hours
3. He is now full on crawling, standing up and cruising

Previous to last Wednesday my son would sleep through from 6:45-6 about 95% of the time in his cot. Last Wednesday when he woke up he was sick with a fever (38.9) so I decided to let him sleep in the bed with me as he nursed periodically through the night. Since then he wakes up every night and will not settle unless he's in bed with me. I'm not nursing him in the night anymore but he won't sleep in his cot. He wakes up every night around 12 and stands and screams and shakes the side of his cot till we bring him into bed. Have I encouraged this? And how do I break this? I let him cry for a bit (please don't judge just a very tired momma) to see if he would self settle but he didn't and is so tired in the night that he falls over in his cot and once hit his head. I'm honestly struggling with the lack of sleep and wondering if I'm heading down a slippery post. I was only trying to help him when he was sick. I can't believe just one night and now I seem to be down a rabbit hole. Any advice is much appreciated.

My suggestion is just to go with it. Put dc down in his bed at bedtime, if he wakes, bring him in with you.

I promise it will help all of you sleep, and it will end once he’s back to sleeping through. It’s pretty normal when they get ill and end up cosleeping for a few nights.

I feel you did the right thing. He needed you and you were there for him. It will happen again next time he’s poorly. So even if you try to let him cry it out, all your efforts might be undone when he gets poorly again.

It’s good for him to feel secure, so it will be better in the long run to do what feels right and keep him close when he needs it. Attachment parenting is great for developing secure babies. That said, my friend did cry it out and hers are super secure. Couldn’t be happier! I guess each child is different so go with the flow.

No judgement on trying to let him settle. You need to do what’s right for you. Sometimes we have to acknowledge that we have to be healthy and get sufficient sleep in order to be present for our kids.

I don’t have any helpful suggestions, just to sympathise as I’m in the same boat! DD is 10 months and was ill about 2 weeks ago (suspected ear infection) and her sleep has been very hit and miss since. She still has a nap in the morning and will actually sleep through the night when she goes but it’s taking an hour plus to get her to sleep at night and to nap in the afternoons. It used to take about 10 minutes!! I’m not sure if it’s because of the co-sleeping when she was ill or coincidence and she’d have done this anyway.

I hope things improve for you and your DS soon!

@Snorkello thank you so much for the reassurance did you go through something similar. Wondering how long it will take for him to start sleeping through. He seems to be getting worse and more needy even though I can tell he is feeling better

@tinytoucan do you think it was just the illness or maybe a regression too? I think it's more than just DS being ill for a night. Also are you now needing to rock DD to sleep? DS seems to need a lot more help and isn't able to really self settle the way he did just 2 weeks ago

@Daniellen7456 I think it might be a regression, I wondered if she was teething but no other signs. I think the I’ll Ed’s was probably coincidental as in all other ways she’s completely back to her usual self. Yes to the rocking- she used to be so good at self settling after a little cuddle but now I have to rock for ages, she will actually push on me if I’m not going fast enough! I’m hoping things will settle down, my eldest went through a stage of being more needy at bedtime but he was older than this. It did pass in the end so I’m just waiting for that!

I’ll Ed’s was supposed to be illness!

Hi OP

Yes, had the same with all of mine. Ds3 is the same age, so going through it now! He was poorly last month and had been sleeping well. Then up through the night lots for a couple of weeks. Back in with us, then has started to sleep through again. I take the good with the bad

My others did this too, and sleep really well now. Remember it’s not forever. It will pass, and you’ll miss those needy snuggles one day x