Sleep issues

[smerchant]

Hi,
I have a 10 months old boy and he was a good sleeper before i went on holidays. I went back home for couple of months and there he used to sleep with me on bed. His routine was not followed there since I was with my family and eveyrone wanted to play with him.
I came back 3 weeks ago and since then we are having serious sleep issues.
When i put him in cot he will start crying and will continue crying until he falls asleep or i pick him up and take him with me to watch tv or something. He usually sleeps around 8:30-9:00 at night and sleep till 7:30 in the morning. He sleeps thru night most of the time but 1-2 times a week he will get up in the middle of night (somehwere between 2- 4:30 am) and will start playing. He will stand up in the cot and after playing for a while he will start crying. If we dont give attention, crying gets worse and the starts screaming. I can bear with 1-2 broken nights in a week but the other issue is that that he wont nap in the day time. As soon as i take him to cot in day time for a nap he will start screaming and wont give up. He can go one for half an hour easily.
I really dread his sleep times and i dont want him to cry that much as this is not good for him. In his 8 month check GP suspects he might have hernia and i am waiting for ultrasound appointment. I hope GPs suspicison is wrong as i dont want him to go thru another operation (he had first op for pyloric stenosis when he was 4 weeks old). I read somewhere on mumsnet that excessive crying causes hernia.

I tried using baby whisperer pickup put down technique but it doesnt seem to work. I then tried giving him bottle at bed time so he sleeps while feeding ( i know this is wrong but i was desperate) but that also didnt work. He finishes bottle in his cot and then he is wide awake. Also bath at bed time makes him more active so i have stopped bathing him at bed time now.
I am out of options and honestly very exhausted. He doesnt let me work during the day. He wants me to play with him all the time. My house is in a mess and i dont even get time to have proper breakfast or lunch!!!

Can anyone please advise me what i can do to make his sleep times better and get some time for myself ( really need some me time).

anyone? any help?

I'm not going to be much help but just wanted to reply cos you must be at your wit's end. Are you doing this all alone? Can no one help out so that you can catch up on some sleep?

It's hard to give any advice as, although the problems could be caused by the change when you came back from your family, it could also be the suspected hernia, so I'd try to rule that out before going around the houses trying different sleep techniques. If he's in pain, it's no surprise he struggles to sleep. Hope your ultrasound happens soon!

Otherwise I guess all you can do is try the usual tricks - too many to list, but taking him out in the pram/car for naps maybe? Put him to bed earlier perhaps - 8.30/9pm seems v. late to me? The lack of daytime routine is bound to be making things much worse at night. And maybe don't let him watch tv with you, at least not in the evenings. It seems to be a magic fix I know, but it can be part of the problem, overstimulating them.

Sorry I have no better answers, but I've just been thrown up on by my ds cos he was crying so much trying to get to sleep, so I'm clearly no expert, but you do have tons of my sympathy!

PS: Just a thought, but if you called your thread something more specific, more people might look at it. I think people tend to browse for problems they're familiar with/going through, so you could try starting a different thread about 10mo's sleep going haywire or somesuch. There seem to be a few parents experiencing similar problems around at the mo...

Thanks pinkdelight. I will change the name of the thread. Maybe then someone can offer some advise.

Does he like any particular songs? maybe you could play some when you want him to settle in his cot, make abig deal of it at first, like its exciting to hear, It might take away the crying bit, then you could try a few little toys in his cot with him, so he can wind down by himself? or maybe reading him a quick book? but try to do the same thing everyday, to make it a routine, so he might understand that this part of the day usually involves having a rest? Just a little idea, I know it might be hard to find something that appeases him at the moment, but its worth trying a few things that might grab his attention, so he wont mind so much when you leave the room. I hope all goes well with the scan, and i hope this helps in any way.