My two year old has made a lot of progress in his sleep in the past few months, with some really terribly bad nights along the way. He's an irregular child, spirited but not high needs.
Back in about May, I was hitting rock bottom with his constant waking and nursing all night long. I really wanted to continue nursing on demand for as long as he needed, but he was so rough and aggressive with me that I reached a point of desperation. We were doing a family bed (DH, DS, and myself) and after several months of attempts and acts of desperation, (I actually freaked out and went and slept by myself in another room for almost a month!), we moved DS to a twin mattress close to the foot of our bed and he started having a lot of good nights.
On his good nights, he will now often sleep from 7:30 or 8 pm and not wake at all until about 3 am. Hooray! Progress! However, the hours between 3 and 6 or 6:30 can be really bad where I am going to his bed to nurse him, trying to go back to my bed, having to get up 15 or 20 minutes later, repeat several times until I'm delirious and hardly able to contain my frustration and about to scream because my nipples are so irritated.
I keep a sippy cup of water within his reach so he can drink it if he's thirsty. I have tried snacks, which sort of keep him busy for a few minutes at a time but do not really allow us to get him back into a nice sleep for the remainder of the morning. I'm not sure what else to do, or if there is anything else that would even help.
Anyone else have a toddler that does this? I know there is no way 7 hours is enough night time sleep for him. He is the kind of child who has an extremely active brain. He's often reciting the alphabet or counting in these early hours. Anyone have ideas for us?
Back in about May, I was hitting rock bottom with his constant waking and nursing all night long. I really wanted to continue nursing on demand for as long as he needed, but he was so rough and aggressive with me that I reached a point of desperation. We were doing a family bed (DH, DS, and myself) and after several months of attempts and acts of desperation, (I actually freaked out and went and slept by myself in another room for almost a month!), we moved DS to a twin mattress close to the foot of our bed and he started having a lot of good nights.
On his good nights, he will now often sleep from 7:30 or 8 pm and not wake at all until about 3 am. Hooray! Progress! However, the hours between 3 and 6 or 6:30 can be really bad where I am going to his bed to nurse him, trying to go back to my bed, having to get up 15 or 20 minutes later, repeat several times until I'm delirious and hardly able to contain my frustration and about to scream because my nipples are so irritated.
I keep a sippy cup of water within his reach so he can drink it if he's thirsty. I have tried snacks, which sort of keep him busy for a few minutes at a time but do not really allow us to get him back into a nice sleep for the remainder of the morning. I'm not sure what else to do, or if there is anything else that would even help.
Anyone else have a toddler that does this? I know there is no way 7 hours is enough night time sleep for him. He is the kind of child who has an extremely active brain. He's often reciting the alphabet or counting in these early hours. Anyone have ideas for us?
