15 month old sleeping through the night

DD is 21 months old and has been sleeping through the night for about 2 months now. Prior to her very casual night weaning, she was waking about 2 hours after going to bed and about 2x in the night. She would also wake up at 4:30am, want to nurse and then...GET UP! Now she goes to bed around 8:30/9pm and gets up at 6am like clockwork. I don't know if she would have night weaning had I not encouraged her to do so (by talking to her about it- in my first trimester- I had a really tough time waking in the night to nurse her on my very sore breasts...) but I really feel like she was ready to night wean (especially since we had no regression). I think the talking to her about it and not forcing the issue (I planned on doing Dr. Gordon's 10 night plan but she ended up night weaning before I even started it!) really helped her to decide if she was ready and thankfully- she was! I certainly know I was ready...it's going to be so much harder to nurse a newborn and night nurse again in a few months but I'll take the little bit of time I have anyway!

Ok - here's hope for you.

From 8 to 13 months DS was waking every 2-3 hours for anywhere between 30 minutes to sometimes 2.5 hours. That was with nursing, rocking, singing, you name it. I was stretched so thin and was so exhausted that I am surprised I didn't up and leave DH with DS. DH was so exhausted that he had some near accidents driving to work.

DS was already in his own room - one of the rare babies who slept better alone . This was helpful as I noticed whenever we did co-sleep (on trips) he slept more restlessly because he wanted his (.)(.) for comfort sucking. He no longer needed the nighttime feedings - he'd pop off within 30 seconds or he would just comfort suck - so I felt comfortable with weaning that(those) session(s).

The big ticket was having a more structured nap schedule. If he went for too long before napping, he'd nap less, be more tired, slept bad at night, wake up tired, can't nap... the cycle never ended. So I dedicated my LIFE around DS's naps and he's been sleeping though since 13 months.

When he was on a 2 nap schedule, he would wake around 7:00am, nap 10am for 1-1.5 hours, nap again 1:30-2:00pm for 1-1.5 hours, bedtime at 6:30-7:00pm.

Now he's taking 1 nap: wake up at 6:30am, nap 11:30-12pm for 2-3 hours, bedtime at 7:30-8pm.

He's sleeping SO beautifully even I am surprised (I haven't forgotten the sheer [email protected] we went through). When he's not sleeping then I know there's something wrong. My friends all roll their eyes at my "sacrificing my life" to his schedule but I don't mind missing out on lunches and playdates if it means my son has the sleep he needs. He obviously needs it.

So there is hope! Just keep trying different things. A friend of mine ended up doing Ferber on her son at 15 months. Took 10 days but now he's sleeping through too.

"Just keep trying different things. A friend of mine ended up doing Ferber on her son at 15 months. Took 10 days but now he's sleeping through too."

Are you suggesting Ferber JavaBean!?! 10 minutes of Ferber -- let alone 10 days of it -- is a cruel thing to do, whatever the results!

Simon wakes up still at 14 months but it doesn't bother me. If he's going to nurse for a long time, I'll have a book with a nightlight so that I don't get bored. He hasn't been nursing for too long lately, but he has a tiny belly and a brain that needs lots of fat and nourishment to continue developing. I wouldn't push nightweaning if the baby is waking up hungry. I actually wouldn't push it unless I was sleep deprived because of it.

Good luck.

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Oh, how sad. That makes me sad. I would NEVER suggest that to anyone. 10 days of crying.

Oh no, no, I'm not advocating Ferber. I was saying try different things like a more structured nap schedule, perhaps sleeping alone vs cosleeping, nighttime weaning if you know for sure your DC doesn't need it. Those were what I did and it worked for me. I only mentioned Ferber because that was something that worked for a friend.

There were nights where I had to let DS cry. I HAD to. I was so frustrated and tired and angry. DS obviously didn't like crying (neither did we) but it was better for all of us if I let him cry than if I went in there in the state I was in. It got to a point where I understood Shaken Baby Syndrome. And it was scary. I never want to go there again. I remember hearing in my head a line from a documentary I saw on SBS: "Crying, even excessive crying, won't kill a baby. But shaking it in anger, no matter how unintentional or 'gentle' the shaking is, will."

My friend is one of the most earthly, loving, pro-attachment parenting person I know. She's the only person I know IRL who's still nursing (her DS is 21 months). She was racked with guilt for having to resort to Ferber but she felt she was at That Point.

Anyway, I hope I didn't start a debate for even mentioning Ferber. I think she did a very modified form of Ferber - cry for 10 minutes, pat for 5 and she never went longer than 10 minutes for each crying session. She said that Christopther would cry up until she walked back in his room then he'd stop and lay back down. She said he just wanted her to look at him sleep.

We also just absolutely hit the wall at about 12 months - so sleep-deprived that neither of us could function. You've all BTDT, right? And "cry it out" just wasn't an option for us, no matter how tired we were.

I finally bought No Cry Sleep Solution to see if someone had any help for us. I felt mostly encouraged by the book that we were doing a lot of things right (regular nap time, early bed time, consistent bedtime ritual.) One thing we changed was not nursing our daughter to sleep. (We use formula, BTW, but I think this applies either way.) We have a cuddly feeding on the couch, and before she falls asleep, we move into the glider into her room and rock to sleep there. She did not like this at first, but over time, I think this has really made a difference with her being able to go back to sleep in the middle of the night without nursing - she is now often able to resettle herself without help from one of us. We do still get up with her once a night to nurse because she's hungry, but 1x a night is a piece of cake compared to the 3 or 4 times we were doing (and sometimes we were awake for an hour at a time!) Lately, she's started waking at 11:30 pm, having her bottle, and then sleeping through until 6:30 or 7. Heaven. I feel like a human being again.

I also know that this is bound to change! We're still waiting for first year molars.

Best wishes to all sleep-deprived mamas...

I can count on one hand the number of times My 24 month old DS has slept through the night