[NewMom0208]

Hello,

This is the begining of my saga

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...393&highlight=

Today at 13 months the situation has not changed much, He sleeps bery well from 9PM to 12:00 midnight, from there is waking up 2-3 times and tossing and turning several times, with mouns and 1 shot screams.

Paticularly bad from 2-4 AM.
I know there is a sleeping forum, but last time I got most of my answers here. (I guess as single parent we are most affected by sleeping issues)

What else can it be, he is with me all 7 nights so I haven't had a full night sleep in more than... well, since he was born with the exception of the 5 weeks where he slept from 9-5 around 3 months old.

He has a two hour nap during the day. He has no problem falling sleep at 9:00PM. What in heaven could it be?

 

[meemee]

you then dont want to hear from me.

my dd didnt sleep thru the night till she was 3 1/2. but from around 18 months she would wake up once at 2 am and once at 4 or 5 i think. around 2 or 2 1/2 she dropped the 4 am feed.

could he be having night terrors? check and see what is going on with his immediate surroundings. what clothes is he wearing? footed pjs? my dd always got nigth terrors when seh wore footed pjs. any change in diet. or bedtime routine.

i have no idea of suggestions.

 

[JustAnotherBrick]

you probably won't like my response either - but waking up two-three times a night at 13 months... i would have been in heaven

i had a particularly bad sleeper! i often thought i was going insane.

that said, DS just recently (around a month now) started "sleeping thr the night" actually it's been from around 8-9pm to 4 am. He usually goes back to sleep after a nurse at 4am to 7-8 am. Sometimes he's awake for the day at 4 am (sucks) but previously he was waking up every hour/two hours... so this has been a wonderful change.

maybe he is teething? or he is going through developmental milestones - i know that can interfere with sleep sometimes... i guess my best advice is to ride it out. maybe other mommies will have better suggestions.

oh i have some advice -- if you can, have a friend or family member watch ur babe while you take a NAP!!! on weekends or just to sleep in on saturdays. that was a lifesaver for me while DS went through periods of very little sleep.

 

[NewMom0208]

sigh...Yeah, I guess I have to ride it out. Naps are good, but I need some night time sleep. Part of my problem is that I am oversensitive to any noise he does. So even is he just humphs, by the time I realize and become aware, I am up on my two feet!!!

I even tried sleeping on another room, same thing...He continues to sleep, but every toss and turn wakes me up and/or keeps me up.

When I get to point of total exhaustion is when I only wake up when he actually wakes up.

His dad offered to take him overnight on Friday nights, but I have refused the offer until he lets me see the place, which he wouldn't do because is too messy...I need to talk to him, if the place is too messy for me to see, them my ds shouldn't spend any time there, day or night.

That would be great, if he gets the little guy one night a week....I can already imagine it... zzzzz

 

[LoveOhm]

I have been meaning to respond to this post for a few days but we have been sick and time keeps escaping me. An ongoing lack of sleep for yourself can lead to depression, make it more challenging to interact and play with your son and much more challenging to discipline. A lack of sleep for your son can contribute to him being less balanced in his physical movements, it also affects appetite, attention span and behavior. All that said, I think it's obvious that I believe you need to protect your sleep as well as your sons!

An important note is that young children's sleep changes and evolves so you need flexibility in your approach as well as the ability to reflect on how to best meet their needs as your child's developmental changes take place. As a solo mama when I decided to get serious about sleep it CHANGED my life as well as my daughter's for the better. Co-sleeping does not solve all sleep challenges for many co-sleeping simply change the location of these problems so I don't consider that a works for all solution. We have co-slept since her birth and that has not changed the need for better sleep, I had to be pro-active and make "sleep" a priority for both of us.

My favorite books on sleep are The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers as well as Sleepless in America. Neither of these books offer any sort of sleep training or one fits all solution instead they both offer an abundance of possible solutions and examples and you can create a plan of action that you feel will work best for you and your child. The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers is great if you can be serious and can be disciplined and be consistent yourself. I love the authors Eight Sleep Tips For Every Child which are listed on her website.

I do believe you need to find the solutions that will work best with your son and yourself, but I will also share what worked for us. With my daughter who is two years old we adapted the following:

Establish a consistent daily rhythm/schedule for eating and sleeping each day.

Set a consistent wake time that we adhere to seven days a week, even if it means I wake dd up. Once I consistently woke dd up with her set wake time, the naps and bedtimes naturally fell into place. *And her bedtime that she fell into was/is much earlier than I used to put her to bed. *

Cut out TV & get outside each day! We are not TV free but very little TV and not in the evenings generally speaking…..

Create a Cozy Sleep Setting ~ For my dd who is very sensitive that means WHITE NOISE pretty loud all night in a pitch black bedroom & with a satin pillow case!!!

All of these have made a huge change in our sleep and while I am still happy co-sleeping we will also be night weaning soon! Also each time she is going thru a growth spurt or is hurt from teething it affects sleep so I have to be flexible. In reading the book for toddlers and preschoolers I also know there will be other times the future when dd's development can/will affect sleep.

Good Luck!

 

[LoveOhm]

One more thought....

If you feel the books I listed are too lengthy and not a quick fix that you need for your own health safety, the Sleep Easy Solution offer more positive than not. I do not personally support CIO and while they don't suggest CIO to me one step in their plan in a modified version of such.... You can take the rest of their suggestions and steps and instead of doing a modified CIO on that step stay with your child and sooth them until they go to sleep. My friend did this (choose one soothing method) and consistently soothed her child by patting her back to sleep and it works! Both the mom and son sleep well, they both enjoy the time mommy pats the child to sleep and they followed the other steps in the Sleep Easy Solution so they have in come into a sleep rhythm that works for both of them.