[gopalakrishna]

I am just so tired of being frustrated with him over sleep! I feel guilty when I am frustrated because it is not his fault and sometimes I am short with him after one of our failed attempts to sleep and he looks at me like he is wondering what he did wrong

That makes me soooo sad, but I feel like I just can't help myself sometimes!

I do think he is one of those kids who is never going to need a lot of sleep and I am ok with that now, but sometimes he ACTS sooooo tired and I try and try to help him to fall asleep but he just won't/can't. We cosleep so we sleep together on a mattress on the floor, so I lay next to him while he falls asleep. He is 17 mo now so that does work most of the time, he doesn't even want me to rock him anymore. But many times it takes 45 to an hour for him to fall asleep and then he only sleeps for 45-hour and I loose my patience sometimes waiting for him to sleep. I find myslef wishing I had a crib set up so I could leave him there!

I suppose soon he won't need me to lie next to him and he will more consistantly need less nap time.(He is still sometimes taking 2 naps) He is a total grump when he is tired, so I feel bad keeping him up but then when I take him upstairs he perks up again. Then I feel like an idiot bringing him out again! It just does a number on my mommy confidence and I just feel like I am failing at this sometimes. Sigh....any advice?

 

[Rico'sAlice]

Does he need total darkness? I always just have a little light on and bring a book up with me so then I don't mind having to stay in bed for however long it takes to nurse DS to sleep. Or if he minds the light but doesn't need silence you could have a book on tape playing, or soft music that you enjoy. Something to make it a nice rest time for you.

 

[ecoteat]

My dd was a terrible sleeper (much better now!). We struggled with it for many months, and drove ourselves completely crazy--and at the same time nothing we did made any difference at all. The only thing that improved our sleep situation was when we finally just let go and accepted it. Make the most of it. For a long time dd would only nap on my lap, which annoyed me for a long time, but when I realized that meant I got to sit still and relax for an hour or 2 I started to look forward to that quiet time with my laptop or a book. I even got pretty good at knitting with a sleeping toddler on my lap! Now she doesn't need my lap to nap anymore, and I kind of miss it!

 

[Code Name Mama]

omg your post really resonates with me right now - I just spent 1.5 hrs getting my 16 month old to sleep (which is a little more than usual, but it's normally at least 30-45 min.). The only difference is that my son still nurses to sleep, and he switches back and forth, back and forth, twiddling the other nipple the whole time.
I was so frustrated tonight that after an hour, I had to get up. So dh walked with ds who cried the whole time.

Every time he falls asleep, without fail, he wakes up in 45 minutes. I've actually timed this and you can almost set your watch to his sleep cycle. It's like he goes through the whole cycle and when he gets back to stage 1, he is sleeping too lightly and can't stay asleep without me back in there nursing him down. So every night I sneak out for about 45 minutes, then go back in for 10-15. Sneak out, back in, ad nauseum.

I don't know what to do. I do not want to night wean him, and honestly I don't know if that would work - it's his sleep cycle and his ease of waking. I have always had sleep problems, so I feel like it might just be genetic.

Anyway, I don't want to steal your thread, I just wanted to give you big hugs and tell you that on really rough nights (like tonight), I try to remember - this too shall pass. (but why does it have to be SO hard sometimes in the interim?!)

 

[Rico'sAlice]

MahnaMahna-
RE: ongoing frequent nightwakings past the infant stage- Obviously sometimes this is just going to happen do to teething or illness, but there are things to help. I'm not sure if you've considered a fan/white noise machine etc. But we recently started using a humidifier and DS's nightwakings cut in half immediately.
Also, do you potty/EC at all? When DS sleeps that poorly he's either wet or needs to pee. I also have to make sure that he's just the right temperature. And make sure that there are no blankets or anything covering him, if he wakes up and his feet are covered he throws such a fit. Obviously the specifics are different for each child though.
Also, are you wearing a nursing bra/tank when you put DS to sleep? For me that is a must to keep DS from the switching sides/twiddling thing. Knowing that he must wait for me to fasten one side and open the other greatly decreases the rate of side switching.

 

[blue butterfly]

sleep was a major issue with dd2, about 2 months ago i checked out the book "no cry sleep solution for toddlers" and we no longer dread bedtime. there are many different solutions in the book for different types of toddler personalities. i highly recommend giving it a read

http://www.amazon.com/No-Cry-Sleep-S.../dp/0071444912