I’m so tired! Advice please

[bluebells1234]

Hello.
My lovely baby was sleeping so well until his second jabs at 3 months. Since then (almost 2 months ago) he has slept so badly. He woke up 9 times last night crying and unable to settle himself back to sleep. He isn’t hungry, he just wants a cuddle. I feel terrible for saying this but when he wakes up 9 times in the night, giving cuddles until he falls back to sleep is really difficult. I worry I will fall asleep holding him which I am aware is unsafe. He naps during the day but not at regular times each day - if he’s tired, I usually give him some milk and he falls asleep in my arms. I’ve started putting him into his next to me for for his first nap (once he’s asleep) but this nap doesn’t last as long as if I held him to sleep. I express breast milk and don’t currently use any formula.
Advice welcome (/needed!). Any book recommendations too.
Thanks.

I used to give mine a bottle of formula last thing at night, to get them to sleep a bit longer.

Sleep training at 6 months was the best thing I ever did. It worked from the first night. I read Dr Ferber’s book, which was very useful.

My DS used to sleep for 2/3 hours and then need resettling every 45 mins for the rest of the night. The first night we did sleep training he slept for 5 hours, which for him was a miracle.

I was really worried about the crying but actually because he stayed asleep there was a lot less crying than on a normal night.

He’s 2.5 now and still sleeps like a dream, and I still look back and think how glad I am that I did it. We have friends who’s toddlers are still awake most of the night because they’ve never learnt to go to sleep in a room alone.

Getting some structure and routine to your day will probably help (you and baby).

This can be 'go with the flow' routine, doesn't need to be by the clock. For example, you can predict when baby will need their next nap (approximately) by doubling nap length. So if baby napped 30 mins, you know that they'll next need a nap about 60 min after waking, so start trying to get baby to sleep 45 mins after waking.

Also start thinking about how you get baby to sleep, if you're aiming towards baby going to sleep independently and if so how are you working towards that. Be consistent in your approach