Waking every 2 hours

[Forevertired124]

Please help.

My 11 month old is constantly waking every 2 hours at night, up until about 6 months he was a fantastic sleeper but since then things have been rough, he is breastfed and either fed or rocked to sleep, I implemented rocking so that my partner can put him down.

At night when he wakes he absolutely will not be rocked he thrashes and screams and it doesn’t work just makes him hysterical.

We had it down to a point where he was only waking twice and that was okay as we were getting decent stretches in between but more recently it’s been 2 hourly sometimes even hourly wakes at night.

I can’t cope much more I’m so sleep deprived and run down it’s really taking a toll on my mental health, I’m also due back to work soon.

I don’t want to CIO as he just gets hysterical and makes things worse I just don’t know what to do.

He goes to bed 7.30 pm no bath before bed as this does the opposite to calming him. Story,feed rocking and down.

He recently dropped to one nap middle of the day himself, the night time sleep issues were happening before this. He’s happy and content during the day with no crankiness.

I've checked all the obvious things teething, illness and nappy etc I just really need some help. He’s such a happy and content baby during the day but turns into a demon at night

When is his wake time in the morning and when and how long is his nap? It could be that a schedule change could improve his sleep.

He wakes 6am everyday without fail and goes to bed 7.30.

his mid day nap is from 12 till 1.30 . I suppose you’d class him as a low sleep needs baby as he does quiet well during the day and isn’t tired or cranky.

im reluctant to bring his bedtime forward much more as a - his dad works late and only gets to see if for a little bit in the evening and b - when I bring it forward he wakes earlier in the morning

I have two children. They both randomly went through phases of this at various ages . It's hard, exhausting and frustrating. Then it ends and you get some rest until the next phase.

I don't think you need to do anything other than comfort your child and get as much rest around them as you can. It will pass, babies and young children's sleep changes all the time. My 6yo still goes through odd phases of night waking now and then.

Okay, so he's getting around 10.5 hours at night and 1.5 in the day so his total sleep is on the low end of the normal range but not really unusually low. You could experiment with a slightly later bedtime to see if a little more sleep pressure helps.
Unfortunately though I'm not sure what else to suggest and I believe that generally waking every 2 hours is fairly normal for babies (unless accompanied by other red flags such as snoring and mouth breathing which could indicate a medical issue). Doesn't make it any easier to manage I know!

I might give the later bedtime a try, feels weird keeping a baby up till 8pm I just assumed the 7/7.30 range was the standard but maybe he needs a bit more awake time!

thanks for your advice ☺️

Thank you ! It’s just hard because I feel like I’m doing something wrong for him to not be “ sleep trained” at this age

OP, he's a tiny baby! Loads of babies aren't sleeping through the night at that age. Who is making you think otherwise? My second DC wasn't reliably sleeping through the night until 16 months and even then as I say there would be odd periods where it would go to pot for a bit randomly. He's almost 3 and sometimes he goes through periods of waking. Don't you wake in the night yourself sometimes? It's no different except they are tiny and don't understand what's happening and need us to help them through it, that's all. Don't feel bad, this is biologically normal behaviour. It's bloody exhausting but it's a normal part of being a parent and it will pass.

@LegoHouse274 it seems to be the question of the year every time we meet anyone out and about “ oh is he sleeping through the night” “ how’s his sleep” “ you should let me cry and he will learn”
I know CIO works for some but when he crys makes me feel ill I just don’t have the heart to do it .

I don’t mind him waking up it’s just the fact we’ve gone from having long stretches between wakes to hourly/ 2 hourly wakes it’s physically draining but I know I’m not the only one to go through it it just feels like I am at 3am haha

and because I breastfeed apparently everyone says I’ve made a rod for my own back and this is why he needs me to go back to sleep

My 10.5 month old is like this and house been since the 4 month sleep regression. I was so bloody exhausted I even wrote a post on here yesterday. Anyway last night I did a very soft modified version on Ferber. Basically put ds down awake after a cuddle and kiss and said you're safe and loved, time to go to sleep. Then I sat on the other side of the room so he could see that I hadn't left but it was time to sleep. He cried a little and I went back to him every few minutes to stoke his head and repeated what I said before I put him down. Anyway long story cut short he was asleep in 20 minutes and only woke once last night! This is the longest stretch he's done since 3 months! I don't like CIO either and can't bear the thought of my ds being left to cry so this seemed like a happy middle ground. Maybe you could try it?

Sorry excuse all of the spelling mistakes! Bloody predictive text 🤣

I've been at a baby class today and we've just been saying our babies are waking every 2 hours too!

No idea what the hell is going on but sympathy as it's bloody exhausting

@Lizbiz89 thank you for this I might give it a go tonight!
fingers crossed your little one keeps this up and you can get some well deserved rest!

@Sunshineclouds11 haha maybe there’s something in the air and all the babies are having a mad moment!

it’s definitely hard but reassuring to know I’m not the only one in the thick of it

@Forevertired124 is your little one walking yet? I only ask because maybe the sleep disturbance is caused by a development leap. Has he done anything new lately? I found when mine figured out something new, his sleep went to absolute shit, and he wasn't a good sleeper anyway 😅

@Forevertired124 My DS is the same only he is 15 months. He's slept most of every night in my arms until 2 nights ago but had started waking up loads (whilst we were still co sleeping) and so I decided to move him into a cot. He would previously only be in a cot first stretch of the night and from about 4am if he got restless (and I got tired of being chewed!! Plus he would then settle and go to sleep for a bit)

I've no answers other than it is tough. I've started putting him in the cot. I go to him when he wakes, cuddle him and feed him if he wants then put him down. First night he took it. Last night he cried so I had to do lots of comforting. It's much more tiring than co sleeping but hopefully we will get there

Am hoping to settle him into his cot and then work on getting longer stretches when he's comfortable with that.

Sorry that's no help at all!!! Just me dumping my own situation on you. But I'm so tired and broken I think I just splurged on you!!

Wishing you the best of luck xxx

Update! He was poorly for a few days which, I thought was the reason he wasn’t sleeping well brewing a cold and all that then last Friday night we ended up having only 2 wake ups and decent stretches in between! Happy mama..
for 3 days and we’re now back to every 2 hours 🙃 if I don’t laugh I might cry, trying to remember that the nights are long but the years are short but it’s very hard when you’re running off coffee and broken sleep.

feel like he teased me with what a decent nights sleep is like then reverted to his old ways, ah well at least he’s cute 😅😂