Tips on helping 14 month old sleep through the night/not wake up hysterical?

Teenie_D

brians_daughter wrote: »

I know he will eventually sleep through and stop waking screaming but after 14 months of disturbed sleep and hearing all the mums at toddler group saying their kids sleep 12 hours straight i am beginning to feel somewhat a failure as a mother.

Advice welcome

Any advice?

Hi don't think I can offer any more advise than everyone else has given-we had the same with our little one but the difference was at that age she was in plaster waist to ankles (due to DDH) so we let her off as it was a good enough excuse lol :D.
Our DD was never a great sleeper until she was about 18 months (the plaster was off my then too) and then she got into a brilliant sleeping routine (until recently but's that's in a different thread lol!) after that. It is so tiring and frustrating I really feel for you but you will get there.

What I did want to say though was don't ever feel like you are a failure-this happens to most parents and through experience I found that all those parents who had wonderful babies who slept through the night would slip up months down the line and tell us what a nightmare they had been having at nights with them! :rolleyes:

Good luick and I really hope you find the solution soon x

skintchick

Teenie_D wrote: »

Hi don't think I can offer any more advise than everyone else has given-we had the same with our little one but the difference was at that age she was in plaster waist to ankles (due to DDH) so we let her off as it was a good enough excuse lol :D.
Our DD was never a great sleeper until she was about 18 months (the plaster was off my then too) and then she got into a brilliant sleeping routine (until recently but's that's in a different thread lol!) after that. It is so tiring and frustrating I really feel for you but you will get there.

What I did want to say though was don't ever feel like you are a failure-this happens to most parents and through experience I found that all those parents who had wonderful babies who slept through the night would slip up months down the line and tell us what a nightmare they had been having at nights with them! :rolleyes:

Good luick and I really hope you find the solution soon x

I'd agree with this. I think we are so conditioned in this culture to believe that a 'good' baby is one that sleeps for 10plus hours a night wihtout waking, that people actually lie about their baby.

Studies have shown most children wake at least once a night for 18 months, so these parents must be lying as otherwise who has all the wakers?

It's why I'm honest with people and tell them my DD wakes frequently at night. It's not an issue for me especially, and I certainly don;t think she is not a good baby because of it - she's an excellent baby and very happy and friendly.

I can;t help with your problem though as my DD is just under 6 months and so I don;t have any experience of what you are going through. It sounds awful though, for all of you.

mrsS_2

my DD woke every night, at least 5 times a night until the week after her second birthday when we put her in a bed- and slept through without waking from that day forwards.

she had always been fine about going to bed, but always woke up screaming. we had tried everything we could think of!

we think the bed worked because she used to wriggle a lot and kept waking herself up pressing her head on the sides of the cot. As I was working full time I really wish that I had put her in the bed sooner. (I dont know what the official rules are now by the way-dont want to go against health visitor advice, just saying what worked for me- Ds was in a bed at 18 months as he used to climb out of cot and crash land on the floor from a great height- seemed safest option at the time)

also both mine had their 2 year molars by 18 months, so could he be teething?

Diane1961_2

One of my children didn't sleep through until she was dry at night, so my conclusion was that she would wake herself up weeing.
Lots of night terrors in our house, but none so young.
I would suggest consistency, whatever you decide to do. Go with the idea that this will stop at some point in the not too distant future but don't reward behaviours just be steady. Trying to work out what is causing it might mean that you chop and change what you are doing and how you are responding, which is confusing. Check all the obvious - hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, nappy, teeth and keep breathing.
Good luck! I can't do it anymore, and don't know how I did it all those years ago, when my grandchildren come round and don't sleep through for just one night it completely throws me.

Dilfred

lots of fresh air during the day and a cooler room? I know someone suggested hotter, but worth considering the opposite.
When I was young, I was permenantly overheating, I still do now (look up brown cells and ignore the weight sides of things, just what they do) the key symptoms are a very warm to the touch back no matter what the environment. My OH uses my back like a hot water bottle in bed.
Also music / noise I agree with. We used nursery rhymns and stories to put to sleep, but same principle works for waking up.
We were worried that our lil one would not be able to sleep without the noise when older, but to be honest, does it matter if they sleep with noise on? as long as not loud? I have tinnitus and sleep with noise on now sometimes when it's bad and i'm considerably older lol

Also great advice about not blaming yourself, it's so easy to do that and think you are failing, but YOU ARE NOT, you are great. Remember that.