Sleeping like a hare - what to do?!

[elk4baby]

My DS is 7.5 months and he's an EXTREMELY light sleeper. We never made a point of being quiet around him, but after a while we had to start 'guarding' his sleep , as he was such a bad sleeper. Even when he was only a few weeks old and slept while nursing, he'd be startled awake if I as much as turned a page in the book I was reading (not in his ear or anything, just a slight noise).

Now, when he wakes at night and I'm trying to put him back to sleep, he wakes if my DH moves in bed (we're in the same room); and it's not like our covers are made of crinkle paper! His little head just pops up to look over the cot rail. He's like a jack in the box with even the slightest sound triggering him.

I really don't want him to grow up to be such a light sleeper.
And it's hard on me as well... I hate my husband moving and am afraid to breathe, I'm nearly ready to kill our cat when she meows (and she's a siamese!).

Right now I'm fighting a cold and last night I spent an hour trying to get DS back to sleep because I sneazed; I pinched my nose to make it as quite as possible, but there was still a slight sound (and this was in the middle of the night - I must have woken up from feeling the need to sneaze, because I'm so afraid of waking the baby).

This is driving me insane and it's probably something I did in the past. I must have somehow trained him to be a light sleeper .
How do I correct this now? He's still young enough right? Or have I screwed him for life now?!

Could he go in his own room now, or are you short on space? I'm sure it's nothing that you've done in "training" him to be a light sleeper, and OF COURSE you haven't screwed him for life!! Some children just sleep lightly, as some adults do.

I was going to suggest moving to his own room also, is this a possibility?

My DS is a very light sleeper also (though maybe not at a book page turning!) and what seems to help during the day is putting white noise on when he sleeps. It drowns out the other noises in the house, like DD tearing around the place.

Might be worth a try, it doesn't have to be the nasty sound of a vacuum/static either, we have a nice cd of waves lapping which seems to do the trick.

Unfortunately, we're quite tight on space... and only starting to look for a bigger place, so it's a long way off still...

Is there any way that I can get him used to noises?
My MIL suggested we just quit being quiet around him and ignore him if he wakes and cries . I don't feel right about this and would rather be a bit gentler with it.

Well without wishing to condone the practices of she qho shall not be named, if you can help him become good at self settling then it won't matter if he wakes a lot.

This is the route I would be taking.

hobbgoblin, he's actually ok settling himself most of the time. Well, unless me just standing next to his cot doesn't count as self-settling. I don't touch, or shush him or anything, just standing there.. occasiontally, I have to put his pillow back down, as he sometimes grabs it and starts waving it about not knowing how to put it down himself.

Ok, could you just let him get back off to sleep then? I think I'm confused now as to where the problem lies!

... mind you, this standing, not touching him thing only works at initial falling asleep. In the middle of the night, I need to hold his bum down (he's taken to crawling recently), or put my hand on his back (he sleeps on his front), kiss him on the cheeck or stroke his hair.. or even give him a dummy if it gets desperate (he spits it out after a few minutes and goes to sleep).
But the settling is less of a problem than his actual sleep really...

What actually happens if you don't respond? Does he wail?

hobbgoblin, sorry I wasn't more clear about this...
he definitely knows how to fall asleep, he does fall sleep... but when he's off, his sleep is sooo light that the slightest thing wakes him.
Last night, for example, during the hour that I spent trying to get him back to sleep - it basically looked like this:

• DS falls asleep, three minutes later mum is trying to lay down, he pops up and starts looking around, crawling and waving his bum in the air
• mum gets up, srokes his hair, stands next to him... he's off
• few minutes later, mum tries to lay down, he pops up again

mind you, if I didn't get back up to him and stroke him to lay back down, he'd start moving about, waving his pillow and eventually crying

I don't have to keep stroking him... most of the time, I just lay him down and he tosses for a while and falls asleep - so, technically, he's falling asleep on his own. I've seen him wake up at night, op his head up, look around and if there's no sound or movement, he's back down and off to dreamland again.

I think you need to try not doing anything. Pretend to be oblivious. Pretend to be asleep yourself!

If he cries, after 2 mins go and say goodnight. Walk away. Do again if he does not settle within another 2 mins and so on but don't do any more than say goodnight and walk away. Might be labour intensive for a few nights but after that he will probably just go back to sleep and after that he may just stop waking altogether. Honestly. I speak from experience.

Well, x post, you are almost doing this already so I'd say reduce your input to virtually zilch and see what happens in that case.

I'll try doing nothing. It doesn't seem like I'm doing much right now though . And because I've seen him fall asleep by himself (again doing nothing - just staying still and quiet), I know he's perfectly capable.

Do babies start to sleep more deeply with age?! Or is this light sleeping here to stay?

Has anyone had any success getting a baby used to noise when sleeping?