Parents of crappy sleepers tribe...

[timneh_mom]

Please tell me I'm not alone!! Please? My son is almost 22 months and has been a horrible sleeper from the beginning. He's also really active. He refuses to sleep in the crib, but he is so restless at night, that nobody wants to sleep with him!! But, if we didn't cosleep, nobody would get ANY sleep. It seems like it's a temperament thing that will get better as he gets older, but it sure is hard... doesn't help that I'm pregnant too...

[AmyLaz]

Liz, when I saw your thread, I knew this tribe was for me
I don't have any great advice, because either one or both of my kids seems to always be going through some sort of sleep-related "phase." We have had some spurts where they were both sleeping well, but right now they both wake up during the night (at different times, of course), and come to our room. DD is pretty still when she's asleep, but DS can be quite restless like your little guy - and always has been. We've gone back to playing music in their rooms while we put them to bed, which does seem to help DS settle down. I use a deep relaxation nature sounds cd for him, and a classical guitar lullaby cd for DD. While that does help them settle into their beds for the evening so DH and I can have some together time, they still wake up during the night and come to our room right now. So all I can say is that I'm with ya' in your woes, mama

[Jessy1019]

Sign me up!

My daughter was a crappy sleeper until she turned 3 or so . . . then she finally started sleeping through the night more often than not. It was really just something that took time (and patience) and that she grew into on her own. She went through an exceptionally bad phase between 17-20 months where she was waking every hour or so during the night . . . moving to a "big girl" bed seemed to help at that point, but she still woke multiple times a night after that.

My son is only 7 months old, so I don't expect much from him (though it seems like everyone I know IRL has babies that sleep through from about 4 or 5 months on). He wakes after the first 3 hour block of sleep, then typically after two hours and then every hour until we get up. I consider this decent sleeping, but when I tell people, they're horrified. So who knows? I'm sure that, like his sister, it will come in time.

[Dimples_2005]

Count me in . . . I have not slept more than 2 hours at a time for nearly a year. My boy slept through the night starting at 5 weeks, then stopped at 4 months. The universe is balanced for my ignorant boasting about what a great sleeper I had. :

I actually found myself thinking, maybe someday he can find a nice girl when he grows up who'd be willing to induce lactation and take over . . . . I mean, he won't be nursing to sleep when he's like 28, right??? :yawning:

[ndunn]

Originally Posted by Dimples_2005

My boy slept through the night starting at 5 weeks, then stopped at 4 months. The universe is balanced for my ignorant boasting about what a great sleeper I had. :

Me too!

We were so rested until around 4 months and then BANG. We have occasional ok nights but mostly if we co-sleep dd is up every hour. Putting her in a basinette next to our bed really has helped her sleep longer, although I love co-sleeping SO much so I'm so dissapointed.

[maryteresa]

My DS is up every couple of hours. He is 19 mos old. We just recently stopped nursing at night, which has helped a bit. We also have him stay in his own bed now. He was soooo restless in our bed that none of us were sleeping. It was so bad. He started climbing over me to get out of bed while he was still asleep. Now one of us is up a couple of times a night to get him back to sleep. It is exhausting. I'm glad to hear there are others. My oldest was a good sleeper, so I didn't expect this. I just keep telling myself he will sleep through the night in his own time, and try to stay relaxed about it. It isn't always easy though.

[timneh_mom]

Are the 5 of us really alone in the world? Or is everyone else napping and trying to catch up on sleep?

[Mommy2Jackson]

I think I could belong here as well .

My ds is 15 months and been a terrible sleeper but we are finally getting a little more sleep. He sleeps with us, sleeps the best this way and as long as I am right next to him when he wakes up and can latch on and nurse. If I am not there he thinks the world is ending lol.

He is also very active and always has been. He does have bad reflux and food intolerance issues so sometimes I use to think that's why he never slept well, but I think it has to do with him being so active.

The hard part for him is usually getting him to sleep.....sometimes it can take hours. Glad to know I am not alone .

[timneh_mom]

My son woke me up every hour last night, just by thrashing and kicking the bed. I was so mad...

[AmyLaz]

Hugs, Liz I hope you got a nap today.
My DS had a lowgrade fever yesterday, so he went to bed early in his own bed, then came downstairs around 10:30 while we were watching tv. He slept with me, and DH headed upstairs to sleep (the "guest" bedroom has turned into Daddy's bedroom ) We slept well until he wet the bed (2 or 3am I think, but who can remember!). Got him changed (fortunately the accident was contained to the waterproof pad I have him sleep on) and we went back to bed. Then, dd came in around 5:30 I think. She was content to lay on the air mattress next to my bed until about 6am - then she started nudging me to get up. I told her to go upstairs and get her dad

[Peony]

DD started sleeping through the night shortly after her third B-Day, and falling asleep without nursing. It was a VERY long road to get there. She was still waking up at least 3 times a night to nurse at age 2, 3 times was a good night. We've always co-slept, it was the only way to get any sleep at all, she still needs us right next to her at night. DD just doesn't need much sleep, 10 hours a day is a great amount for her, and has been for a couple years now. : It's not uncommon for me to go to sleep with her at night, and wake up when she does, and I'm still tired! Summer is always the hardest, she'll go to sleep between 10-11pm and wake up at 6-7am. Winter is easier because she sometimes will go to sleep at 9pm. She stopped taking naps at 2, even then they weren't every day. I've definately had to change my perceptions with dd, she will do things in her own time, it's just hanging on until then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about what kind of a sleeper #2 will be...

[timneh_mom]

Are there really only this few of us out there?? Actually I hope there are, I hope that crappy sleeping kids are something of an anomaly... gives me hope for our second one!

[AmyLaz]

Originally Posted by timneh_mom

Are there really only this few of us out there?? Actually I hope there are, I hope that crappy sleeping kids are something of an anomaly... gives me hope for our second one!

Nah - there are more out there - they're just too sleep deprived to be able to find us right now

[jaidymama]

I didn't come here to oversimplify your sleep deprivation, I totally understand how difficult that makes life. However, I wanted to chime in to suggest (if you haven't already) that you try getting your child tested for food allergies. There is a lot of information linking sleep problems with allergies. If you're not into getting the testing done, then consider doing an elimination diet to see if you can pinpoint foods that are the root of the sleeplessness.

Also consider other homeopathic or herbal remedies that could help induce sleep. Sometimes nutrition plays a role in this as well... There are lots of solutions out there to help your sleep situations. Good luck in your quest to find more sleep!

Remember--healthy children do sleep well... so if you're child/baby isn't getting enough sleep it could be detrimental to his/her health as well as yours. Best wishes to you all!... sorry for sticking my nose in... I'm on a quest to spread the word about allergies. Thanks for letting me post here.

[AmyLaz]

You make an excellent point, Jaidy. I will begin research on that. On the natural remedy front, do you have any experience with melatonin supplements for children to help sleep?

[jaidymama]

Thanks! I have a friend who had taken melatonin to help her sleep... and I'm pretty sure that she gave a size appropriate dose to her dd 2yo. I would consult a professional about the dosage, because I'm not sure how much that would be.

My son has foods he's super gassy with, and he also has had food allergies... his best friend had severe allergy reaction in that she wouldn't selep more than 45 min in one stretch (and that was not the norm).

GOod luck!

[timneh_mom]

I am happy to report, that my crappy sleeper is actually getting better. (well I'm not holding my breath, but he seems to be!) We gently started getting him into his own bed, and he wasn't happy with the idea at first, but nobody was rested and we couldn't take it anymore. We still help him get settled, he gets cuddles and nursies, and we always go in to help him in the night if he needs it. I have read about kids who just don't cosleep well, they actually sleep better in their own space, and I think that's my DS. He actually seems to be more rested now that he's got his own spot. If he wakes up early and I take him in bed with me, sometimes I get OK sleep and other times, he's kicking and thrashing like he always did before.

However, DH and I are still not sleeping the best!! We are so used to being interrupted that our brains are still hypervigilant at night! And being pregnant doesn't help, the baby often wakes up if I'm awake and kicks me for a while as I'm trying to sleep.

[cutic]

OK, I just found this thread. I guess, my dd has always refused sleep. She stopped napping at around 18 months but then she slept 12 hours at night. Of course, doesn't mean she slept through the night. Until probably 5 months ago, that is when she was 27 months old she would wake up a couple of times before I even was ready to sleep. So if she went to sleep at 8 pm, she would be up 3 times before I joined her. After I laid down with her for the night she would have a 2-3 hour stretch of sleep and then would again wake up every 2, 1.5 hours. I think her sleep became now more mature and she sleeps better. She usually nurses to sleep, goes down between 8 and 9 depending on the day and will wake up two times during her 11 hours of sleep which is a huge improvement for me.

[Mama8]

I just stumbled very wearily across this thread. I have a whole housefull of crappy sleepers. My children are all pretty much night owls. They would be wonderfully happy to go to sleep at 2:00 am every night. Tonight I lucked out and the last child went to sleep a half an hour ago, and what am I doing? Posting to MDC :

[timneh_mom]

Mama8... we tried to let DS stay up til he was pretty much ready to crash, and we wore out long before he did...