starting to dread night times

[bobbiball]

My 20 wk old breastfed ds will sleep from 8 to 11.30pm, then i feed him, put him down and he wakes up and howls.... I know you should put them down awake but i try to wind him and rouse him he stays fast asleep however soon as his head touches the cot he wakes then he will wake every hour or at a push 2 hours.

I think he is too young for controlled crying, i end up rocking singing etc. I can't get my head around self soothing.... how does it work?!!!!

I know the feeling about dreading night times.

Don't know quite what to suggest but my DS did this about this age. Have you tried putting him down (whispers) on his side, well-supported by rolled-up towels. That way the transition from the BFing position to lying in bed isn't too bad.

You're not waking him to feed him are you?

I used to do that - stay up 'til 11.30 to feed, then wake up again at 1.30, 3.30 etc. If you just left him, you could go to sleep at 8.30/9o'clock so that when he woke up you weren't so knackered. Yes, he might wake at midnight, 1am whatever, but he's doing that anyway.

this is what i used to do with ds2.

lay down on the bed and feed him. allow him to feed for as long as he wanted and let him come off by himself. don't wind him, it would just wake him up.
then, lie there for at least 5 minutes. it takes a baby around 5-10 mins to go into a really deep sleep, so moving them before that will often result in them waking.
so lie around for a while, simultaneously hugging a blanket/pillow/old top.
when you move, roll away slowly, and replace your body with the rolled up blanket/pillow/top so that baby still feels that there is something there which is warm and smells of mummy.

then stay nearby ready to pat and shhhhh if he stirs.

Hi and thanks. I will try him on his side and no, I never wake him up to feed.

I plan on going to bed and being tucked up by 9pm to give me a head start tonight!

Good luck.

And remember, This Will Pass, This Will Pass, This Will Pass.

I am no sleep expert but I always fed dd to sleep until she was a quite a bit older than 20 weeks. I also put her on her side with towels . Your ds is definitely too young for controlled crying.

Your ds shouldn't really need winding if he is bf so i would skip that unless he is quite windy.

Thanks, feel a bit more hopeful for tonight now