Argh my baby doesnt like sleeping at night!!

M_A_R_I_E

I agree with all the other posters about using controlled crying. A baby does not know how to sleep without being taught - milk, kisses , cuddles etc do not teach them to sleep.

It is hard at first but it very quickly get easier.
My 16 month old sleeps for 12 hours every night and has does since she was 10 weeks old without a murmer in the night time.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Oh and for the poster who said that 10 year old do not still sleep in their perents bed - my nephew did til he was 11. Even then he did not know how to go sleep on his own because he's never been taught - he's always been cuddled and fell sleep in his mother's arm.

karenx

Thanks for all the advice! Think I will just have to try the leaving him to sleep himself route.
Not at the moment though as he is really unwell with the cold since yesterday afternoon and also has the runs. So his sleeping was really bad last night and just cried majority of them time untill he fell asleep but then woke up about 30mins later.
Will wait till he is over his snotty nose

Thanks everyone

skintchick

HEre's some science about cry it out and qwhy it is harmful to babies:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/handout2.asp
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/pinky_mckay.html

I feel your pain Karten, but apparently there is an 8-month sleep regression! http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

I second cosleeping. We do it and it is so much easier when they are like this. You cna put him back in his cot when he is sleeping better (which he WILL), and it's fine to put him in his cot until, say 2am, then pull him in with you.

The priority is to get some sleep, all of you, and babies DO learn to settle themselves without CIO/CC, it just takes longer. Depends whether you want to be child-centre or parent-centred, but from your comments I think you prefer a gentler way of parenting.

Feel free to PM me.

foreversomeday

Sorry, I think it's a load of rubbish that babies "have to learn" how to sleep by themselves. Yes, babies and small children prefer to sleep next to their parents (and tell me this - do you prefer to sleep alone, or with your spouse?) - it's a protective mechanism from the days before we had houses etc to protect us. Human babies are very vulnerable, and of course we know that we have evolved and they are safe in their cot, but they don't, they are just guided by instinct at that age.

My son has slept in bed with me since he was born and at about a year he started to sleep away from me (still in the bed/in a bedside cot) but from the period when I put him to bed to when I go to bed myself he would wake every few hours. This period is increasing all the time and he is now happy to sleep alone for 5 or 6 hours, so I am starting to think about moving him into a bed of his own. He is 17 months old. I know this method does not appeal to everyone and it is certainly not as quick as Controlled Crying etc but I feel it's a gentler, more natural progression.

skintchick

I've been thinking, maybe the sitting up means he is having a developmental growth spurt, like he is about to crawl or cruise or walk or whatever, so his little head is working overtime and wakes him up to practice his new/emerging skill.

In which case, do whatever it takes to get sleep, and it will soon pass!

But I do feel your pain. My LO wakes at least once after going to bed before we go up, usually wakes when we go to bed, then wakes 2-3 times in the night before waking somewhere between 5 and 7am for breakfast. This is an improvement on SEVEN night wakings (between our bedtime and morning) though!

It does get better. Slowly.

retro_bluebell

foreversomeday wrote: »

Sorry, I think it's a load of rubbish that babies "have to learn" how to sleep by themselves. Yes, babies and small children prefer to sleep next to their parents (and tell me this - do you prefer to sleep alone, or with your spouse?) - it's a protective mechanism from the days before we had houses etc to protect us. Human babies are very vulnerable, and of course we know that we have evolved and they are safe in their cot, but they don't, they are just guided by instinct at that age.

My son has slept in bed with me since he was born and at about a year he started to sleep away from me (still in the bed/in a bedside cot) but from the period when I put him to bed to when I go to bed myself he would wake every few hours. This period is increasing all the time and he is now happy to sleep alone for 5 or 6 hours, so I am starting to think about moving him into a bed of his own. He is 17 months old. I know this method does not appeal to everyone and it is certainly not as quick as Controlled Crying etc but I feel it's a gentler, more natural progression.

Totally agree with your sentiments, I think what a lot of babies do is natural and we are all conditioned in a way to think they should be sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and we are failures if they dont.

My daughter slept in our bed 'til she was 9 months old then she moved into her cot then into her own room, she was moved when I felt she was ready for it...apart from when she had a severe viral infection and had just come home from hospital and a blip when she needed a nightlight we havent had any problems... to OP, shes 4 now and sleeps in her own bed every night and is content to amuse herself when she wakes up so I dont think it follows that if you comfort your baby at this young age that they will never get out of your bed...you have to go with your instincts and take all advice (including the ones against controlled crying) and do your own thing, as they arent babies for long

got-it-spend-it

go_cat wrote: »

When my son was around 7 months old, I realised I was actually disturbing his sleep by waking him for his dream feed, as soon as I stopped that he slept so much better, it worked out in a babys sleep pattern I was waking him just as he got into his deepest sleep and it made him restless for the rest of the night

Also like other posters have said never under estimate the power of teething

Good Luck x

We found this too, although our son was only about ten weeks when we dropped the dream feed. We were waking him at 10ish for a DF, then he was waking again at 1am then 4am. We dropped the DF and he stopped waking at 1am too. I think we were interrupting his sleep pattern.

retro_bluebell wrote: »

Totally agree with your sentiments, I think what a lot of babies do is natural and we are all conditioned in a way to think they should be sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and we are failures if they dont.

My daughter slept in our bed 'til she was 9 months old then she moved into her cot then into her own room, she was moved when I felt she was ready for it...apart from when she had a severe viral infection and had just come home from hospital and a blip when she needed a nightlight we havent had any problems... to OP, shes 4 now and sleeps in her own bed every night and is content to amuse herself when she wakes up so I dont think it follows that if you comfort your baby at this young age that they will never get out of your bed...you have to go with your instincts and take all advice (including the ones against controlled crying) and do your on thing, they arent babies for long

I totally agree. I'm very lucky that my LO has always been a good sleeper, but I still let him come into my bed in the morning, because he's my baby, I love cuddles with him and it won't be long before he doesn't want to cuddle me anymore .

nm123_2

I don't have kids... but... A friend of mine is a new mum and I have to say, I think she is too quick to rush in to pick her baby up whenever she makes the slightest murmur, and then gets stressed/confused when the baby won't go down.

As I say, I'm not a mum, and can't imagine what it must be like to hear your baby cry, but surely there is a balance between controlled crying and over-pandering? (not saying that's what you do OP, just speaking more in hypothetical terms)

TUS

As a Dad I have ALWAYS shared the duty of getting up in the night - and I work 12 hour shifts. Your partner is going to HAVE to get involved, it's what he's signed up to. Otherwise it will run you into the ground.

With regards to your baby, just make sure all his needs have been met - fed, burped, clean nappy on & dry, correct temp in his room (use a room thermometer). I think 7 months is too young to be trying the cry it out technique, especially in the middle of the night.

You definitely need to start making sure he has ALL day time naps in his cot, as he would at night. Use the cry it out technique then.

My son is 11 months and we had similar issues on and off. It seems to come & go ... and in retrospect was probably related to teething. I'm sure you'd wake up crying if you had sharp teeth forcing through your gums but didn't understand what the pain is. Try some teething solutions - whatever works.

One final tip ... give him a drop or two of infacol if he wakes ... it may help settle him. It was a godsend for us at times ... although he does now have a bit of a sweet tooth! ;-)

Stick in there, it IS a phase and it WILL pass. Good luck.