13 month old waking up every night at 8:30 and won’t sleep again unless he’s touching you.

[DearOtis]

Hi all, hoping someone can shed some light and advice on what to do next. My little one was poorly about a month ago and sleep really suffered so we ended up Co-sleeping.

We are now a month into him going to sleep on his own at 7pm, will put himself to sleep no problem. But then he is up every night at 8:30, he wakes up screaming and hyperventilating until he is in bed with you. We’ve tried settling in his cot, sitting next to his cot, sleeping on us and putting back down and some attempt at ST but he screams for over an hour and gets so worked up and has not been successful.

i actually don’t mind the co sleeping but it is unsustainable for me or my husband to go to sleep at 8:30 on work days, everything else in our life will become neglected.

help please!

My younger DS was like this, we got through til 930/10 pm so one of us did go to bed with him. He was so much happier with someone beside him and it made the whole house less stressful.
He went down for naps fine, settled at 7 pm fine, I guess he had some kind of witching hour later and he couldn't rest.
We didn't solve it, except that the time he woke got later giving us more of an evening and eventually he stopped. For quite a while though, a little toddler would climb into bed beside me at some point in the early hours, I think he just didn't want to be alone.
(He's fine now - grumpy teen!)

Sounds tricky! One suggestion would be a mattress on the floor in his room, one of you could snooze with him for however long it took from 8.30, then sneak out to do the bits you absolutely need to do for the evening (clearing up dinner etc) and then depending how long before he wakes and wants you back, either go to bed in your bed or take it in turns to go in with him. Hopefully it won't last long! Good luck

Thank you both, yes I’m certainly going to try a floor bed this weekend. He really hates the cot and sleeps wonderfully when he’s touching one of us. I’m happy to co sleep but like you say there are some jobs I certainly need the evenings for when working full time.