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Someone please please help me!

8 replies

Johnson10 · 20/12/2021 19:37

My son is 17 months. He’s always been a reasonable sleeper. We’ve had phases or bad sleep thats only lasted weeks. He slept through the night from about 6 months. He’s never been great at daytime naps though.
His nighttime sleep was spot until we went on holiday in September 🤦🏻‍♀️
He slept in his travel cot in the same room as us for 10 nights. He did become unwell during the holiday & was vomited in his bed.
We came home, put him in his cot in his own room as per usual & he slept perfectly fine for about 3/4 nights upon return. Then it happened ….
Since the end of September, he has started to wake 2-3 times during the night crying. He stands up in his cot & screams the place down. I’ve tried leaving him for a while to settle himself back down but he becomes so upset he’s inconsolable & then it can over an hour to settle him back. It got so bad that when he wont settle quickly one of us is lying on his bedroom floor to sleep. One of us being in the room or him coming in to our room is the only thing that will settle him.
We really tried to preserve & not give in by bringing him into our room. We just go in settle him till he starts nodding back off then leave the room. But he can do this 2-3 times every night. He then wakes roughly at 6am. We’ve had maybe 3 full nights sleep since this started. I’m a nurse & I really need some sleep as I’m often going to work with 4-5hrs sleep & I'm scared I will make a mistake due to exhaustion. He can sometimes be difficult to put down at bedtime also, but he’s always been like this. Most of the time we will sit with him till he falls asleep or he will stand in his cot screaming.
Anyone experienced this ? Any tips? Any positivity ? Any help would be grateful appreciated as I genuinely feel like I’m going to have a breakdown!

OP posts:
physicskate · 20/12/2021 22:14

We got my dd a trundle bed for this very reason. She's pretty much always had a single mattress for me to lie on...

I'm sorry that's probably not terribly helpful, but it will help you get some sleep.

Thethingswedidanddidntdo · 20/12/2021 22:18

Hi OP my kids never slept through at that age. They woke frequently for boob. I co slept, could you? It's the only thing that kept me sane!

mountainshadow · 20/12/2021 22:50

I’m so sorry. That sounds really tough, especially with your work. My DD1 didn’t sleep though the night until 2.5 and I was really struggling. We hired a (virtual) sleep consultant for my DD2 and did a version of gradual retreat over a month which was challenging but the best money I’ve ever spent. Several years later she is still an amazing sleeper. Really feel for you and I know it’s not easy to decide what’s for the best when you’re not getting enough sleep in the first place.

Johnson10 · 21/12/2021 06:26

Hi, we’ve tried co-sleeping but it didn’t work. He moves about so much during the night. And either me or my husband were hanging off the edge of the bed. We currently don’t have a spare room for the other one to sleep in either.
I’ve tried all the tricks we’ve got from free advice online. A sleep consultant just isn’t something we could afford right now.
If he had always been an unsettled sleeper I would understand a bit more but he was generally ok until September. He did occasionally have bad nights - but don’t we all.

OP posts:
Mammma91 · 21/12/2021 06:43

Hi OP, my DS done this at around 18 months - although not on holiday but he was sick in his cot at home. We had excessive screaming for weeks almost every hour or so during the night. It wasn’t until i spoke to a friend who suggested giving him a juice cup (very diluted water and squash) to bed with him at night. I hadn’t considered that when he was sick beforehand his mouth had went dry and he gagged and threw up because he was poorly. Now he links being thirsty during the night with throwing up and gets upset. So now he goes to bed with his cup (its the closed straw one - leakproof!), this might be the issue and may be worth a try? For the first few days i still re-settled him but now if he wakes, he has a drink and falls back asleep on his own. Very rarely he wakes through the night now at 2.5 and if he does its a night terror. I hope you manage to get to the bottom of it - broken sleep is killer. I was a half functioning person and unbelievably cranky for weeks and weeks!

Johnson10 · 21/12/2021 14:52

@Mammma91 Thanks for the tip. Do you just leave his cup in the cot with him so he can access it if needed?
He probably is thirsty at times as he almost always sleeps with his mouth open. We do offer him a drink of water when he wakes, more often then not he pushes it away.

OP posts:
Mammma91 · 21/12/2021 15:08

@Johnson10 , yeah i give him his juice cup before he goes up to bed and its in his cot until morning. He has a comforter too (a scruffy blanket he takes everywhere!) which helps resettle him too. Juice is almost always the answer for us - i hope you get to the bottom of it and get a full nights sleep soon!

TinyDancer275 · 25/12/2021 18:46

Hi @Mammma91 what kind of cup is it exactly that you have? I think I will try get one for my little one!!

@Johnson10 that sounds so so hard!! I'm going through the same thing kind of. My little one been awake every night 4 hours on average for a year and I just feel so desperate 😪
Don't know what to do, tried everything.
I can't function normally, my relationship with my other daughter seems just ruined ( not really but it hurts so much to see how much life has changed since we had our second one).

Guess i just want to say you're not alone in this xx

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