Thanks Arimeh's Eden! I've wondered about the teething but she doesn't seem to be in pain or uncomfortable just wakeful. She's just woken up from her first nap for the day, only 40 minutes!!
You poor thing, sleep deprivation is the worst. Not sure if this is helpful to you or not, as my situation was slightly different, but my bub got addicted to sucking himself to sleep on the dummy. At about 5 months he was waking every 40 minutes between 2 and 6 to have it put back in so we decided to get rid of it. This is quite similar to the feed to sleep association I think, cos they wake up and want the same aid to get back to sleep again. I read The no-cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley and used some of the techniques in there to wean him off it- but essentially just stopped using it to settle him to sleep and used every other method- rocking, singing, patting etc. There was definitely lots of crying so this is not a no cry solution, but I was with him the whole time helping him through it- which IMO is very different to closing the door and letting him cry on his own. We had a couple of very difficult settles but it was not nearly as bad as I expected and within 3 days he had forgotten about it and was self-settling, Since then we have had a few ups and downs with sleeping but he has just got better and better at self-settling. Could you stop feeding to sleep but start rocking, and then gradually go to putting in cot and patting, and then just putting in cot? That's basically what we did- small changes so he gets used to it slowly. I think this is a more gentle way to do it (although there is bound to be some protesting) From my understanding these sleep centres are supposed to respect your wishes so if you want help without CIO then maybe they can still make suggestions?? Not sure though. If you google Elizabeth Pantley and "Pantley pull off" then there is quite a lot of info on the net.
Good luck, I really hope things improve for you.
hi tilda, big to you. i have to admit that my almost 1 year old is still waking every 1-2 hours overnight but i have chosen to avoid the CIO or CC because i can't handle it & i don't think my DS is suited to it either so i understand where you're coming from.
imo (and this based on my v. limited exp so far!), that if you prefer to use gentle methods, then trying to break something like the feeding to sleep association can be really tough until your baby is ready. i tried occasionally with my DS but he just didn't seem ready until very recently & then within a few days had stopped feeding to sleep & lets me put him down awake & then i pat him or the mattress until he is almost asleep. that said, the pantley pull off method does seem to be a good one & pinky mckay also offers some gentle ways to break the association.
i wonder what would happen if you used the sleeping bag day & night?
i have to say as well though, that sleep went a bit all over the place here (yeah, i know - even worse than his normal 1-2hrly wake ups!) between 6-7 months & then he did settle a bit once he started crawling just after the 7mo mark, so maybe your DD is going through some developmental changes?
sorry not much help but you're definitely not failing your DD at all
Thanks for your replies girls!!
Lyra Stardust - that is soooooo good to hear you were able to break the suck to sleep association so quickly!! Maybe I should give it a go with Elizabeth Pantley's method. I'm finding it a bit of a psychological barrier because I'm worried about making things worse. But I guess they can't get worse! I was pretty firm about not giving her a dummy but all that's happened is I've become the dummy LOL!
Sloane - it really is tough if they're not ready. It seems if they want it they want it. And I think you're right I think something happens around 6 months developmentally where their sleep cycles change a bit or something.
Tilda - You're NOT doing every thing wrong! Man, I hate it so much with so-called experts make mums feel that way. What do they know? They've never even met your baby!
Anyway, sorry.
My DS was the same at that age. It's a developmental thing. The BEST thing to do is probably exactly what you're doing - ie, whatever works best to get you and your baby the maximum possible rest. One other thing you could consider is bringing your baby to bed earlier. It won't make things worse. Sometimes babies just need that constant reassurance and the best thign to do is to give it to them. it does not set them up with life-long sleep 'problems' or bad habits or anythign like that. I co-slept msot of the time between 8-18 months out of sheer necessity. I only wish I'd started sooner rather than doing the up-down thing all night long. With DS antying going on developmentally or physically (illness or teething for eg) will upset his sleep and leave him needing mum or dad for comfort. It's just the way he is and nothing can change that.
DS is in his own bed now. He sleeps there just fine most of the time. yeah, he still wakes some nights. And if he's sick he ends up in bed with me. It's no big deal. It won't ruin him, it's just what he needs. Some kids don't need that. It's ok. You've just got to do whatever your child needs you to do.
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to you. i have to admit that my almost 1 year old is still waking every 1-2 hours overnight but i have chosen to avoid the CIO or CC because i can't handle it & i don't think my DS is suited to it either so i understand where you're coming from.
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