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Sleep

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Original poster

If you had a 2.5yo who still woke up several times a night....

19 replies

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:18

When did they start sleeping through?

My DS is 2y10m and still wakes several times a night. We've tried everything so no point giving advice as we're resigned to our fate now 😐. He cries a lot when he wakes and will only settle with either me or DH in the bed (took months of persevering to get him to settle for DH, it used to only be me. ). He has a kind of stress reaction if we're not there and will scratch himself to the point he'll bleed so not willing to push it. He's also OK with grandparents now but has never managed a night on his own and never come close to sleeping through.

I know he won't do it forever but I was wondering for similar children, what age this improved?

My dd was a pretty bad sleeper but did sleep through sometimes from about 18 months and it got loads better around the time she turned 3 but ds has never come close to sleeping through so it is a bit different. Keen to hear others experiences (and prepared to hear the good and bad!).

OP posts:

UndercoverCop · 13/05/2023 23:19

What type of bed is he in? DS didn't sleep through consistently until he was in a full size single. But in his cot or toddler bed. Within two weeks in his new 'big boy' bed just as he turned 3 he just started sleeping. I think he needed the space he's a fidgety sleeper

UndercoverCop · 13/05/2023 23:20

*not

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:23

@UndercoverCop he's been in a full sized single since he was about 10 months old as he could climb up the bars of the cot by then (was walking confidently the week he turned 9mo and was/ is a climber 😖). Never settled in the cot anyway, I hated that thing after spending so long picking it out and having 2 kids who did everything possible to avoid sleeping in it!

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Sundaefraise · 13/05/2023 23:24

I had one of these. In the end we got completely desperate, bought a cot bed that was the same height as our bed, took the side off and shoved it next to ours so that he was right by us and could be reassured in the night without anyone getting up and down and him getting very distressed. It was an absolute sanity saver. I should add that he is now a well adjusted and confident 13 year old.

The previous poster may also be right about him needing a full sized single bed.

Sometherusername · 13/05/2023 23:25

I can't answer your question as mine is only 2yrs 9months and still wakes but we now co-sleep (in a double floor bed in her room) so I don't really notice anymore. Maybe worth trying?

TokyoSushi · 13/05/2023 23:26

3.5, it was absolutely hideous. If it's any consolation, once she started sleeping through she pretty much never woke in the night again. Now at 10 is an absolute lazy bones and loves nothing more than a lie in! Brighter days are coming!

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:30

Thanks yeah we do cosleep most of the night but I have a chronic pain issue and it's really had a negative effect on me as he will only sleep on me, next to me is no good, he just cries and cries, can go on for hours. My dh has recently been sleeping in ds bed to try and help me get back to at least a reasonable level but after a few weeks he tried to slowly leave, just an hour at a time but we're back to square one.

Our bedroom is very small so there's no space for a sidecar bed - the bed is next to the door so it would block the door and there's no where else the bed would fit.

OP posts:

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:31

TokyoSushi · 13/05/2023 23:26

🙌 sounds amazing! This is what I'm hoping for!! Thank you, hope exists!

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Myyearmytime · 13/05/2023 23:39

Mine only started sleeping though when he could get up for wee.
Once he did that he was fine

ReddishBrown · 13/05/2023 23:41

4 and a half years old. Nearly 5. Sorry.

Theypickedhim · 13/05/2023 23:42

Search power of the sleep fairy

KylieKangaroo · 13/05/2023 23:43

I have the same with both of mine! My eldest started sleeping through around 4 but that was only because of night terrors otherwise it may have been 3. My youngest who is 2 I co sleep with in a king-size bed as she still wakes a few times a night. I wouldn't be able to sleep if she was physically on me all night though, that must be horrible and you must be exhausted!

TheShellBeach · 13/05/2023 23:44

Get the Ferber sleep training book.

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:46

@Myyearmytime ah you know I really hoped it would be this. I really thought it was at one point but he's been dry day and night for a few months and never has a wee in the night, I always offer but he's not interested and doesn't generally go until he's been up an hour or so.

OP posts:

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:48

ReddishBrown · 13/05/2023 23:41

4 and a half years old. Nearly 5. Sorry.

Ah sorry its been so long, I have been 5 years without a decent night's sleep myself and I guess it may have been longer for you so I have much sympathy!

Do they sleep more than a couple of hours at a time now or are you still up multiple times a night?

OP posts:

Original poster

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:51

KylieKangaroo · 13/05/2023 23:43

Thank you, that gives me hope!
And yes I am fed up of it but also resigned myself to my fate now, it's been very hard but I'm trying to be positive because at times its got to me, my whole lifestyle has been affected as I am just always so tired. Just need to survive the next year or two and I'm hoping life (at night) will be very different!

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AmyandPhilipfan · 13/05/2023 23:54

At 2.5 my daughter always woke up in the night crying and I would then take her to my bed. By 3 she'd stopped crying but I had a stair gate on her door and she'd come to the gate and shout for me. Between 3 and 4 we removed the gate and she started just wandering through to my room at some point in the night. Now, at nearly 6, she sleeps through slightly more nights than she wakes up.

BaffledOnceAgain · 13/05/2023 23:58

8.5 years old. Badly refluxy and sick in the night until he was 3. Couldn't sleep train in case we left him crying when he was actually ill so just embraced it. He had some sleep studies and still wakes a lot through the night at 13, without disturbing me, but manages very well.

ReddishBrown · 14/05/2023 07:31

Cakeandslippers · 13/05/2023 23:48

Ah sorry its been so long, I have been 5 years without a decent night's sleep myself and I guess it may have been longer for you so I have much sympathy!

Do they sleep more than a couple of hours at a time now or are you still up multiple times a night?

Show quote history

Well with the both of them, it was about 7 years in all. One is two years younger. They both sleep through now but I did have to kind of sleep train them both to stay in their bed in the end. I bribed them with a chocolate button for breakfast if they stayed in their bed. For both of them I did this around the age of 5 when I thought they were old enough to understand and not freak out. It took a few nights but really worked well. There were a few tears but nothing like if I’d have tried it when they were too young to understand. Then once they were staying in their own bed all night, they started sleeping through.

There is hope, it just might be a few years yet! Do what you need to get through these years and you can always try to change it when he’s older.

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