help! single parent at wits end wit DS of 10 months who has become very clingy & refuses to sleep!

[claireD25]

Hi,
My DS is 10 months old and over the last 2 months it has become such a task to try get him to sleep. I started him off in a routine from day 1 where he was bathed, fed and put to bed by 6.30 every night. Now he has decided he doesnt like sleeping and every single night is an absolute nightmare

Wwhen I do eventually get DS to dose off (at like 9.30 or 10pm) he wakes up as soon as I lay him in his cot! Then i'm left to face a battle of him screaming for anything up to an hour or two until I take him out of the cot and have to start trying to get him back to sleep all over again! I'm at my wits end! As a single parent I haven't got anyone on hand when I need a much needed rest

PS, DS is extremely clingy and I cant so much as leave the couch to go to the kitchen without him screaming at me to pick him up! any tips on this! Feel like i'm going out of my mind!

many thanks x

Could it be separation anxiety? I can't remember what age they get this.

My DS was a bit like this and what I had to do was get him ready for bed and put him in his cot to go to sleep. Then he would get straight up and try and stand up etc, but I left the room anyway and sat outside the door with a book . I went in 5 mins later, settled him down, then kept repeating this, gradually extending the time I was out of the room to 15 minutes. It's a widely used technique - is it controlled crying? Not sure, but it did work for me.
I won't lie - the first few nights were hard work and I think I was up there for an hour the first night, but within 3 days I had cracked it.

It will help with the clingyness too, as he will get used to being apart from you, but knowing that you are coming back IYSWIM.

Hi have you tried doing pick up, out down (Baby Whisperer technique) with your DS to get him back into settling to sleep himself? It does take a bit of persistence and a lot of crying for a few days while your baby gets used to it, but as you are there with the baby to help him and he is not alone (which might help if separation anxiety is the problem). I hope things improve soon as sleep issues are really hard going and particularly so when there is only you around to sort them out. Good luck.

You could try him in a sling facing you at bedtime, i sometimes use one to get my 10m DD to nap then when conked slip her into cot. (connecta with sleep hood i use - froggies the legs and very useful) I suspect there is a temporary reason ?teething or separation anxiety. is his bedtime too early? maybe he is not yet tired. my dd goes at 8.15 and up 6.30 or therabouts with 3h ish in day