Reluctantly planning to nightwean - Jay Gordon plan?

[allisonrose]

My almost 16 month old has been sleeping especially terrible lately. He's never been a great sleep but about 5-7 weeks ago, he started waking up every hour on the hour for the majority of the night. He also has been very, very attached to the boobs. Sometimes I end up nursing him to sleep multiple times at each waking because he gets upset when I pop him off.

I am hoping that nightweaning might get everyone some more sleep around here. Would be interested in some BTDT advice. Thinking about using Jay Gordon's plan but I strongly suspect it's going to be a tough process no matter what....

[Maluhia]

Have you cleared your little one to have no teeth coming in, ear infections, new foods in the diet causing intolerance issues? I think those things really get in the way of successful nightweaning.

[MommyDOK]

My first dd slept through the night at 15 months...it went reasonably well w/ her sleeping w/ dh and me in the other room. I came in when she fussed, but that only happened a handful of times and she was done....

Then my second dd came along. I thought it would be easy and tried it at 15 months. NO LUCK at all....I waited a month or so and NO LUCK. She wouldn't even sleep w/ dh. Then waited another month and seriously tried Jay Gordon. His sleep plan may work very easily for some toddlers, but for others, it really looks like cry it out. I even consulted w/ a therapist and he suggested I not let her cry at night, even if it is in that window that he describes for more than just a few minutes. If it doesn't work, he said to try it again in a month or so. FINALLY, she slept thorugh the night at 24 months.

I know it's hard and his plan looks really attractive, but don't get too upset if it doesn't work. Some toddlers just need to wake up more.

Oh, and once she slept through the night, she was a Dr. Sears' dream child...went to sleep in a few minutes and gives me no grief at bedtime. It was worth the wait!

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by Maluhia

Have you cleared your little one to have no teeth coming in, ear infections, new foods in the diet causing intolerance issues? I think those things really get in the way of successful nightweaning.

I totally agree--my DD's molars and incisors were coming in at that age, and that would have made nightweaning really tough on everyone. Once they were all in and she was out of pain, nightweaning went really easily.

[allisonrose]

Unfortunately we are teething central around here. His upper molars just cut through - the outer edges, not the entire teeth yet. His lower molars have moved into position and have the potential to break through soon.

I know it's not ideal timing but I am so incredibly exhausted. I feel like a lousy mom wanting to sit on the couch all day and getting annoyed at my toddler for normal toddler-stuff. My son doesn't want my hubby AT ALL at night. Plus my hubby has a 40 minute commute to work down a very boring, but dangerous road. He really needs to be able to be alert. It is causing a lot of strain on our marriage. Especially when you add in that my hubby isn't 100% on board with AP in the first place.

But the worst thing, ironically, was that my son had two decent nights' sleep this weekend. Sure it wasn't 5-6 hours of sleep in a row but it was at least 2 or 3 and no struggling to get him back to sleep so I actually woke up feeling a bit like me again. It makes lousy nights even harder knowing that decent nights are possible.

[allisonrose]

Oh, I have tried Hylands, Tylenol and Motrin (on separate occasions) to alleviate pain with no noticeable difference in sleep.