My one year old will not sleep!

[Bethandfreddie]

Hi all,

My DS barely sleeps, and always has been a pretty rubbish sleeper. He fights it so much, he screams and screams when putting him to bed, and not much helps to soothe him.

We decided to put him in his big boy bed to see if that would make any difference, and it has not. I end up in bed with him because he will only sleep with one of us in the bed with him, and even then he still wakes and screams.

I've been advised by my MIL to just leave him to cry but it doesn't sit right with me to let him scream and cry, as well as the fact we live in apartments with young children and babies underneath ours.

Any advice?

Also, just a side note, he barely eats, I offer him three meals and snacks but he only will eat him breakfast, then has the tiniest bit of tea and won't eat any snacks that he usually loves, I just don't understand what's going on!

Many thanks!

Take him to the GP. What's he eating instead of food? Milk? Or filling himself up on water/juice?

Nope, he has a bottle in morning and before night but other than that nothing else. He takes little sips of his water throughout the day. I will get him in with the GP.

My 1yr old is also the worlds worst sleeper and when he all of a sudden won't eat it's usually because he's teething. Could that be why he's screaming at waking up? So sorry I totally understand sleep deprivation when little one fights sleep like it's evil

How old is he in months? There’s a big difference between 12, 18 and 23 months

For real! Can tell he's tired but refuses, absolute nightmare!

He's 14 months

Definitely. And trying to rock him to sleep and he just keeps trying to twist in my arms or scratching at his face and ears to keep himself awake even though he's blatantly knackered 🤣 glad I'm 1 and done as I don't think I could do it again 😆

Still quite little then! I’m pretty sure my DS was still being fed to sleep and then transferred to the cot at that age 😂

I think you need to first find a way that settles him without it being a battle. I don’t know what that is. It probably involves testing out an earlier/later bedtime.

Think about your whole evening routine, is he getting enough of a wind down before bed? Is he getting enough time to spend with you? Enough closeness/cuddles aside from what he gets when you lye with him for sleep?

Once it doesn’t feel like a fight it will be easier to find steps that you can do to help him sleep more independently.

Or you could sleep train 🤷‍♀️tbh it would probably involve less crying/distress long term than your current situation.