Settling back to sleep at night

[WotsitMum]

My 15 month old goes down with a bottle and a cuddle, goes to sleep within 5 minutes by 7pm most nights and is no problem to place down into his cot. Ive tried putting him in his cot awake but he screams and screams, i dont mind the cuddle to sleep then placing him in, prefer that to having to listen to him scream.

Between 2am-4am he wakes up screaming, ive tried controlled crying, ive tried sitting with him and gently rocking him/stroking him and not picking him up, ive tried rocking him back to sleep in my arms in his bedroom. The only way i can get him back to sleep is him getting into my bed cuddling and having his face against mine, ive tried just having him led next to me so no contact but he will snuggle up to me and put his face on mine, its the only way he settles back to sleep, after that i try put him back to his own cot but he wakes every time. Its driving me mad, im so sleep deprived and tired, im 4 months pregnant and uncomftable as it is at night and i need to break this habit and have him sleep in his own cot before the baby comes or it will be hell. He dosent want dad at night, just me, tried having dad settle him but he just wants me and will not go to sleep untill his face is against mine.

Please someone help! Thank you in advance from a sleep deprived mama

Hi Mumma, You can try beginning to offer his bottle a little bit earlier before placing him in his cot. This will slowly help break the association that having a bottle right before bed is the only way he knows how to fall asleep. You might only increase the space between bottle and bed by 2-3 mins each night as he adjusts to it. It sounds like you are trying a few different things to get him to sleep independantly, however, trying something different all the time can be confusing. Feel free to contact me if you would like more help! :) qualified sleep specialist

Lots of people will be along with more practical advice but I wanted to say don’t panic too much about what he’s doing now being the same as when the baby arrives.

At 15 months, my son went through a phase of lots of night wakings and needing to be cuddled back to sleep and transferred when previously a little back rub would have sufficed. I think it’s a common time for separation anxiety. I was 6 months pregnant and he’d only settle for me.

It lasted about a month or 6 weeks if I remember correctly but by the time the baby was born, my partner was doing all the bedtimes and he was sleeping through until 7:30am which is was a complete revelation!

It’s so tough when you’re tired but hopefully it’s just a phase for you too 💐