Share my joy at proving the "rod for your own back brigade" wrong - my anti-sleep 17m ds is now SLEEPING THROUGH!

[PrettyUselessHousewife]

I just wanted to celebrate and hopefully give you lovely mumsnetters some hope that you may one day get some sleep!

I let my ds nap on me when he was tiny (and not-so-tiny). I breastfed him to sleep. I demand fed (sometimes for 12 out of every blimmin 24 hours). I coslept and fed every hour at night. Pick up put down made my ds hysterical within minutes and I wasn't up for controlled crying. I rarely had an uninterrupted evening and my DH and I have been out together in the evening ONCE since my ds was born.

But now a miracle has happened. Feeding to sleep stopped working and ds refused to lie down in our bed, so I was forced to leave him in the cot. He whinged for five minutes and then WENT TO SLEEP AND SLEPT THROUGH TILL 4AM! I thought it might be a fluke but he's done it a few nights in a row now, sometimes till 5AM (a bit too early but so much better than waking up three or four times for a feed).

Just wanted to let people know as I know it can be hard to keep doing what you're doing when you're desperate for an evening to yourself or a decent night's sleep and everyone is telling you to leave them to cry or go cold turkey on the night feeds.

I might consider trying for number two now...

How cool. I bet you feel like a new person. We had similar with dd and at 18mo we got the magic sleeping through, now trying to gently pursuade her she doesn't need someone to sit with her until she falls asleep . Though I must admit I did go cold turkey on night feeds at about 16 months...

My husband and I went down the cuddle/breastfeed-to-sleep route with our son as well - and much cuddling and breastfeeding there was through the night up to about 15 months, when ... he just stopped needing any of it. Since 20 months he has slept from 8-7 every night. I don't think we've been disturbed more than one or two nights since then, and always through a cold or something.
So gentle parenting didn't prove to be the 'rod for our own backs' that the books warned us of. It provided what he needed, when he needed it, and he gave it all up as soon as he no longer needed it.
I know these experiences are not unique so wonder why the books still so concerned to scare us of the possible consequences of the gentle and responsive parenting that has worked so well for so many?

miffin I think that they would sell less books, being with a non-sleeping child is hard work and the promise of an answer to solve it is hard to resist. When I was on my knees with dd waking constantly (before it occured to me that co-sleeping would be a good idea) I took comfort in the fact that every baby magazine every month has a front cover story on sleep. I figured that meant that I wasn't alone and there probably wasn't an easy answer.

I can't tell you how much better I felt when I got a bedside cot, changed my life.

Message withdrawn

Wonderful news! Thank you so much, I really needed to hear that.
My son is 12 months and not a terrible sleeper (wakes once most nights) but always feeds to sleep and I've been so worried it's the wrong thing. I was thinking it was selfish of me NOT to do CC to teach him to sleep....I'm pretty sure it's not for me though as even the thought of it makes me cry!
Thank you
xx