[Mary Minnoch]

So, my little darling ds is now 13 months, and has yet to sleep more than a few hours at one stretch, and then only if he is really ill.

I have tried the no-cry sleep solution to no avail.

I refuse to allow him to CIO. I nurse him through the night. Usually I take him out of his crib and we sleep together in his single bed after about 3:00 AM, when it is just easier to get through the wee hours together than to bed-hop.

He has recently been sick with tonsilitis and has been waking every twenty minutes to two hours. Even when I have just put him down for the night, he is up in 20 minutes. I don't even get a chance to unwind and watch a show or take a walk.

I guess I am just looking for a few supportive words to get me through this spell until I get on my feet again. I feel like a walking zombie right now, and DH is no help. Just asks "how was your sleep last night?" As IF I actually slept in the past month.

 

[natashaccat]

I'm right there with ya! When my dd was younger I didn't mind frequent wakings so much because dd would gently nurse and then drift back to sleep but these days she has developed this annoying habit of nursing herself awake and then needs to be patted or rubbed back to sleep.

Some nights I have to resort to getting out of bed taking her out of our bed and transfering her to her own bed (with another 20 min back rub) to get her back to sleep. Then, more often than not she'll wake up an hour later pissed off because she's alone.

Actually what has kept me from going insane is the support of my dh. We do shift work to avoid daycare so she's usually content to fall asleep for him as long as she's been nursed and I'm not in the bed with them.

Perhaps it's time for your dh to play a bigger role in baby's bedtime routine. Like you could nurse ds prior to bedtime (in living room or somewhere else than his sleeping room) and then pass him off to your dh to do the rest (leave house for a walk so that you can't come to the rescue). It'll likely be ugly at first, baby's don't like changes but so worth it for both of them to learn this new skill...

 

[Eman'smom]

Oh I can so relate, ds never slept longer than a 2 hour stretch until he was 15 months old, and 2 hours was a long stretch that we were so thankful for.

We were both walking zombies, people would tell me I'd get used to it but never did.

I'm with making dh more involved in the nighttime rountine it really helps.