Nearly 2 years old and I am wondering, will we ever get an unbroken night?

[dingledangle]

My son is nearly two and he still wakes up 2 or 3 times each night. I have posted already today as he has started taking his nappy off at night (but that is another story).

I think he is now waking out of habit and to be honest my DH and I are just shattered.

I think we should try CC. I know this provokes mixed emotions on MN.

However, if I go in to see him and adjust covers he goes straight back to sleep. I am wondering now if we do not respond straight away and wait 5 mins and then go in and the next time wait 10 mins and so on.

Have others tried this. My fear is that the longer we do not tackle this the harder it will be when he is older. We keep saying maybe he is teething, cold, unwell etc and would not do it if we felt this was a problem. But my feeling is he is just wanting us in there and it is reassurance.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I completely agree with you. It sounds like he is happy, but unable to go back to sleep without the reassurance of knowing that you are there. You need to tackle this NOW as much for him as for your own sanity. Leaving him a few extra minutes each time is a good way to start. He will eventually get to the point where he will fall asleep again while waiting. I agree that CC is a contentious issue, but personally, I wouldn't think any less of you for leaving a nearly 2 year old to it!

Thanks Ruthchan. We did try it last night and he woke three times. The first time he settled himself. The second and third time we left it longer. Although we still got up three times at least the first time I did not go in to his room. I hope he will get the message. I think he will be better for going back on his own as he is quite tired during the day as a consequence of broken sleep.

Any other advice suggestions would be gratefully received.

We took a lot of advice before attempting CC, but are more than chuffed with the results. Some nights we would go in there and pick G up, sit in the rocking chair to try and comfort her only to realise that she was more frustrated with that than us letting her learn how to sleep herself, no matter how loudly she attempted to do it (she would point to the bed and want to be asleep). So we did lay down technique until she realised what we wanted her to do, waited a minute then left the room. After a few days we cut out the waiting. By the third night she didn't get up and we walked straight out. When she has a v bad night we revert to lay-down technique again and no talking. We've given her the knowledge by letting her learn herself and she's much better now and sleeps through almost every night. There are the odd nights when she cries a little, but we make sure that we never pick her up, just go in and comfort with a hand on the back until she settles again. We also keep whispering to a minimum and repeat the same thing over and over to reinforce the fact that this isn't a game, it's bedtime.

I hope this helps. x

Have only used CC once with both DDs, each time it has been awful, but effective. The idea from the Toddler Taming book is that you do +2 minute intervals though - eg 5 min, 7 min, 9 min etc (and comfort however you like in between, but put back to bed as soon as calm, or calmish, with a firm night night or whatever). Both times we've used it (at about 2 years old for DD1, and just now at 8 months old for DD2) we've only had to get to the 9 min bit, then the next time they've gone to sleep (so less than 30 mins crying overall). Which I don't think is too cruel compared to the alternative (as we've only used it as a last ditch attempt when faced with hours of crying and not sleeping).

If your gut instinct is that now is the time to tackle this - then it probably is. But now you've started you have to be consistent! Good luck, it will work, and within a few nights, if you do it right.

Ds isn't too bad at sleeping, however he is 5 and a half and we have probably only had 2 or 3 nights unbroken sleep in his whole life. From speaking to friends I would say that most children continue to wake.

toddler taiming,,,the book, its great, can i ask how are you initally gettin him to sleep???? when he first goes to bed??

ds was 4 before he slept thru! Sorry . I look back and wish I hadnt been so het up about it. Just go with the flow and it will come

We did the CC routine with my my DD1, and it worked within 3 nights, but I haven't tried it with my DS because he is asthmatic and I panic, but he is also nearly 2 and wakes every night, sometimes more than once. The other night he was really screaming, when I went into his room he was sound asleep. When I go in I give him a drink and he goes straight back down, but he is awake again 3/4 hours later. My DH says I should just ignore him (easy for him, because that's what he does, but he's away most of time!).

thanks. We have been trying CC and was awful for two nights and then last night he slept through. DC was definitely desperate to get us to go in calling individual names 'mummy' ;daddy' etc and then when mummy or daddy went in he asked for the other person so I know he is messing about a bit. Just want to be clear with him that bedtime is for sleep.

We will see what tonight brings.

Hi there,

I'm working for Channel 4 and we are looking for families who are having difficulty getting their unders 4s to sleep to take part in a new series.

The families would get the opportunity to work with a top child sleep expert on a one-to-one basis. The expert believes that they can deal with most sleep issues within a 4 week period, and that sleepless nights will be a thing of the past.

If you want to know more please contact me/respond to this post or see our ad in the media requests forum

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/media_nonmember_requests/923567-Are-you-a-sleep-deprived-Parent-A-new-Channel-4

I have permission to put this post up by Mumsnet HQ.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Nastasia
x