I am determined to start sleep management tonight!!! Support needed please

[missingthemountains]

DS2 is 16mths and still waking every 2 hours (often more) and will only settle back down after a breastfeed. I know he will go to sleep ok without feeding so I am determined that the whole breastfeeding thing is stopping tonight and he must get used to sleeping through.

But..... if he has been used to food all through the night is he going to be genuinely hungry by 4am ish? despite all this feeding he is always desperate for breakfast by 6am. I know that I find it hard to go back to sleep when hungry so how can I expect him to?

I anticipate that he will wake first about 11pm so reckon he will have cried/shouted etc and eventually given in to sleep again by about 2am but what do i do when he wakes again? do i make him go cold turkey? offer something else? am feeling quite nervous about it all.....

sorry meant to clarify that when initially going to bed he will settle without feeding

If you have been feeding him every time he wakes until now, could you try a bit more of a graded approach? Eg don't feed him until 2am the first couple of nights, then 4am the next?

Or have a look at this

which I found v helpful.

He's probably not hungry, just in a pattern of waking and feeding/suckling as that is what he knows. We did sleep training, setlling DD in cot without awake, when she used to fall asleep on the breast. No mistaking it was hard, I still give her a feed but after dinner and before bath. No more breastfeeds at night though. The thing is to be consistent, whatever method you use - (lots of theories out there), that goes for naps too and when he wakes in the night, and have support of DP/DH. Make sure he has a good full tummy at night with plenty of protein and carbs and he really should not be hungry. Good luck!

Hi MissingtheMountains

After ANOTHER night of 2-3 hrly wakeups punctuated with a 3.30 - 5.15am suckling fest, my dh and I have agreed today - pretty much at seemingly the same moment as you - that 15months is enough sleeplessness. So we're doing the same as you - feeling the same as you - want to go through this together!?

TinierClanger's link was great (thanks!) - as it pretty much macthes the plan we'd plotted together this morning.

Good luck MissMountains - I'm watching this thread with great interest and empathy!!
Choc

oh gosh I may need to join this threads. My ds can sleep properly but hasn't for ages and is now waking up to 4 times a night for a bf. eek.

Oh dear.
Anyone around to talk through last night's adventure?

ooo sorry i was away - how did it go chocolate days?

unfortunately i had to abandon it
DH has MS and is coming down with another attack - we have no family to help out so if he's ill i have nobody to look after kids next day when i need to catch up on sleep. really rather p'ed off as i was in the right mind to do it

(and missing all the mountains - used to do lots of hillwalking etc before had kids and DH got poorly - stuck in domestic-ville at the moment -s hould get better in a few years when kids are older)

bitshy - did you try to sort it last night?

Well the first night was DREADFUL! Last night was better (she was less angry and 'only' awake for 50mins). Keeps waking with painful farts though - not sure what to make of that.

well, we had a mircale on friday when ds slept from 7.45 til 5.45 then 6 til 7.45ish. Not done that for ages!!! Last night was back to 2-3-4 (can't remember) wakeups but he has come down with the most streamy yukky cold, sooooo...

We seem to have shifted the need for comfort from my boos to dh'd arms - not sure if that is much progress!! Though now took max of 25mins to settle rather than 2.5hrs!

chocolatedays -sounds like progress to me! quickly book yourself into a hotel for a undisturbed night's sleep!

Kinda better again... she slept for 5 hours solid then woke and was calmed by dh ...asleep in 30 mins BUT woke screaming 5 mins later - we think with teething pain as she was beside herself - 2hrs later (doh) she slept for almost 4 more hours.
Two steps forward, one step back!! (btw it was a typo - I don't call 'em boos, just in case you were wondering!)

sorry to barge into this thread, wanted to say hi to chocolatedays, how is it going? I am on here looking for sleep management tips already How's your management going? What are you doing?