I suppose the issue is both,I would do anything for him not to wake so often,the night I have described is kind of a good night!Earlier this week he woke every 2 hours.and the other issue is how to resettle him,to feed not to feed,to rock or not,to leave him alone and just sit by the cot,I just don't know which way to go and I feel I am very inconsistent which just confuses him.Its just hard to be consistent when i am so tired and just want some sleep!I just wish I had a step by step approach and did the same thing every night.
Oh, you poor thing - my DS was a terrible sleeper at that age. It's just mind-shattering being so sleep deprived and not seeing a way out. He's still not a brilliant sleeper (he's a night owl and 10:00pm is an early night for him), but at least he's not waking once he's down. We got to a point where he'd rarely be down before midnight, and usually it was later, and he'd wake every hour and a half or so. Sometimes he'd resettle quickly, other times it would take an hour. He was lucky to get 6 hours sleep in total a night, and that was heavily interrupted.
His problem was that he was rolling into the cot, waking himself fully, and freaking out. It got to a point where he would go ballistic even if I put him in his cot for a few minutes during the day, he'd developed a real aversion to it. So we put a double futon mattress on the floor, surrounded it with foam tiles, and his sleeping improved straight away. He still doesn't self settle (he's fed or rocked to sleep even now at 17 months), but he sleeps about 8-10 hours a night.
Not sure if this would help you or not. Have you read 'No Cry Sleep Solutions' by Elizabeth Pantley? It has lots of tips for different circumstances - it might help you find a way that works for your circumstances.
I may be doing the wrong thing here, but I found with all of mine, if I put them down with a bottle of water next to them, they would find it on waking and it would help soothe them back to sleep. They drink it to comfort themselves and off they go into la la land. It worked a treat for all three. From the time they could hold their own bottle fairly confidently they slept thru from 7:30-7. So it was a real life saver for me. Maybe give it a try?
IrishConn I completely understand you're frustration. DS still wakes frequently and really doesn't have any pattern. One night he might wake twice and the next he may wake 6 times. He also has some nights where he'll wake at 2am and cry until 4am - I've tried a lot of things to settle him in those moments but eventually he goes to sleep from exhaustion (I think).
With my DS I feed him if he wakes unless it's been less than 2 hours. So I usually feed him at about 10pm and 2 or 4am. Other wake ups I pick him up for a cuddle and he usually settles back to sleep - if the cuddle doesn't work I feed him.
I know it's so hard to know what to do. We tried a lot of things and decided that the cuddles worked best and failing that, the feed. Maybe try one thing and see how that goes for a few nights. You can always abandon the idea if it gets stressful.
I also had/have PND and know what it's like just getting through the day. Try to take care of yourself too
Hi BabyMama,Katkins and Suse,thanks all for your advice.Its just nice to hear there are other mothers out there having similar nights to me!I think I would just love if he was able to self settle but I don't know how to get him to do it.Do they just do it on their own I wonder?Also I was hoping to give up breastfeeding when hes a year but have no idea what to do to wean him.I get the feeling he could take or leave the breastfeeding but the one at 6am when he wakes he really wants it.I would love to try a whole night not feeding him but I suppose the prospect just terrifies me!I like the idea katkins of trying the water but hes just not old enough yet to hold him himself but its definantly something I would like to try later.I think he quite likes his cot I don;t think thats the problem.I took the toys out the last 2 nights seems to have stopped him playing at 3am!But the weird thing last night was that he was really crying nothing was working I took him out and brought him into our bed.All the other times I have done that hes hated being in our bed actually prefers his own cot but last night he feel asleep for 3 hours!Its just so all unpredictable but I suppose thats kids.I will look up the book at as well.I would just love a night where he woke once it would be a miracle.
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