Your DS sounds very much like mine, who is 14 months. He does almost the exact same things. I have always just put it down to him waking slightly in the night like we all do, but being unable to put himself back to sleep without nursing, and therefore has to root around and cry out for me. I may be wrong of course (and he does have tummy troubles too which complicates things). Could the same be true in your son's case?
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Is there any indication that he might have a food sensitivity (dairy is fairly notorious)? Almost all the children we know who have food issues have had sleep issues/restlessness...Just throwing that out there---or it could just be *normal* for him
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Hope you get some helpful suggestions!
Hope you get some helpful suggestions!
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17 mos. Teething molars. Big, huge, nasty teeth all the way in the back with a whole lot of points that come up and then there's still gum that needs to get out of the way and man do they hurt. A lot. Even if you can't see them yet, they're coming. And if one or two have come in already, remember, there are more. Four in all.
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Ouch.
Maybe not relevant to your situation, but maybe it is. With each of mine, when the molars started nudging to get out, sleep got ... disturbed. All in the general area of 14 to 18 months. When we dealt with the teething, sleep was much less disturbing.
Something to consider, maybe ...
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Ouch.
Maybe not relevant to your situation, but maybe it is. With each of mine, when the molars started nudging to get out, sleep got ... disturbed. All in the general area of 14 to 18 months. When we dealt with the teething, sleep was much less disturbing.
Something to consider, maybe ...
thanks everyone!
merpk: how did you deal with teething? we've tried tylenol and hylands teething tablets. neither have had an effect on the sleep. any tips? i can't see any new teeth coming, but like you said, i know they're trying just because we're at that age.
in terms of food, he doesn't consume that much dairy. he does probably have a serving of cheese daily and yogurt a couple of times a week. no milk. i know a little can do alot, but he was this way before he started consuming dairy products. it's just worse now than we he was younger and couldn't sit up in bed asleep, for example.
all in all, it seems weird that his first segment of sleep can be so solid but the remainder of the night is so screwy. we've put him in his crib thinking that when we come to bed it's just too much for him (space loss, heat, noise, movement). the problem is i'm a little too lax and i bring him to bed upon the firstnightwaking and never return him to the crib. we love having him with us and i'll admit, i fall back asleep. you'd think that the knowledge of the fact that he'll wake me in 45 minutes would be enough to get me to put him back in his crib to see if it helps, but....
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it's hard at 3am to get out of a warm bed, as you all know!
thanks again!
merpk: how did you deal with teething? we've tried tylenol and hylands teething tablets. neither have had an effect on the sleep. any tips? i can't see any new teeth coming, but like you said, i know they're trying just because we're at that age.
in terms of food, he doesn't consume that much dairy. he does probably have a serving of cheese daily and yogurt a couple of times a week. no milk. i know a little can do alot, but he was this way before he started consuming dairy products. it's just worse now than we he was younger and couldn't sit up in bed asleep, for example.
all in all, it seems weird that his first segment of sleep can be so solid but the remainder of the night is so screwy. we've put him in his crib thinking that when we come to bed it's just too much for him (space loss, heat, noise, movement). the problem is i'm a little too lax and i bring him to bed upon the firstnightwaking and never return him to the crib. we love having him with us and i'll admit, i fall back asleep. you'd think that the knowledge of the fact that he'll wake me in 45 minutes would be enough to get me to put him back in his crib to see if it helps, but....
thanks again!
In my search for help with my DS 8 month's sleep situation one consultant ( www.adept.co.za/~erica ) said among other things that big chunk of solid sleep followed by frequent waking the rest of the night is classic over-tired child sleeping pattern - they are so wacked out that they just go into a dead sleep but as soon as they are past that exhaustion then the typical over-tired-so-sleep-badly thing kicks in for the rest of the night - making a cycle of the whole issue. My thought is that could also be why he is half-waking when he wakes - too tired to wake properly, too scratchy to stay all the way asleep. IF this is relevant to your child ( and it may not be, it's just a thought) then maybe could help to address the daytime naps and see if that isn't maybe the key link in the cycle to change things.
Whatever happens I wish you lots and lots of luck. I know what its like to keep searching for answers and solutions - we are still at it too (and that's not my boy's pattern by the way), which is why I am reading all these threads...
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Whatever happens I wish you lots and lots of luck. I know what its like to keep searching for answers and solutions - we are still at it too (and that's not my boy's pattern by the way), which is why I am reading all these threads...
i believe that he is used to nursing to sleep and back to sleep. i've thought about trying to "break" this association, but have never had the heart or the energy for it. truth be told though, i do wish that he could sleep longer stretches. and if he could just wake up (or slightly, whatever it is that he's actually doing) and root around and start nursing, i'd be fine with it. but he sits up which requires me to then sit up and lie him down to position him for nursing. it makes me think there's a little more to it.
i understand the nursing to sleep issue. what i can't wrap my brain around is the waking so frequently to begin with (especially after the solid couple of hours that tend to preceed it). why does he sleep so solid for awhile and then get funky on me? i'm not trying to sound stupid here, but i just wonder why it happens. i guess i have to chalk it up to "that's just him"? it makes me question my choices alot even though my heart tells me we're OK.
thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to read my post and to those who've responded
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i understand the nursing to sleep issue. what i can't wrap my brain around is the waking so frequently to begin with (especially after the solid couple of hours that tend to preceed it). why does he sleep so solid for awhile and then get funky on me? i'm not trying to sound stupid here, but i just wonder why it happens. i guess i have to chalk it up to "that's just him"? it makes me question my choices alot even though my heart tells me we're OK.
thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to read my post and to those who've responded
Hi! My son does the same thing. He is 19 mos old. A normal night he goes to bed by 7:00, wakes 2 to 3 hours later and I nurse him down. He then wakes almost hourly and he nurses back to sleep. My son also sits up when he wakes, so I have to lay him back down. If you find something to get your little one to sleep longer....please share!
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well, i'll definitely post success if i have any!
so far this week, we've battled bedtime - which is a new thing for us. usually, he goes to sleep pretty well nursing. since the beginning of the week, he's nursed until almost asleep, then he ends up opening his eyes, smiling, and biting the heck out of me. he then proceeds to get up and want to play. i've had conflict over how to handle this. dh agreed to go with the play notion, and they were upstairs until at least 10 doing what sounded like bowling! i'm here with ds alone tonight and he is currently playing alone in his play room (which is a large area within our office where he plays and also naps as there is a mattress for play/sleep in there) by the light of the computer. i got up, said biting hurts...no nursies when you bite mama. he's content to play alone apparently. he's only napped once today - early afternoon. i CANNOT figure this boy out. i can't find anything that affects his sleep. it's like this is his way that he is wired to go about and there is no changing it. i just keep reminding myself that time is short and i'll look back on even this with fondness!
take care all...please somebody give us an answer
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so far this week, we've battled bedtime - which is a new thing for us. usually, he goes to sleep pretty well nursing. since the beginning of the week, he's nursed until almost asleep, then he ends up opening his eyes, smiling, and biting the heck out of me. he then proceeds to get up and want to play. i've had conflict over how to handle this. dh agreed to go with the play notion, and they were upstairs until at least 10 doing what sounded like bowling! i'm here with ds alone tonight and he is currently playing alone in his play room (which is a large area within our office where he plays and also naps as there is a mattress for play/sleep in there) by the light of the computer. i got up, said biting hurts...no nursies when you bite mama. he's content to play alone apparently. he's only napped once today - early afternoon. i CANNOT figure this boy out. i can't find anything that affects his sleep. it's like this is his way that he is wired to go about and there is no changing it. i just keep reminding myself that time is short and i'll look back on even this with fondness!
take care all...please somebody give us an answer
well, if nothing else, it helps to hear others are in the same boat! i too have just tried to accept it but it's hard. i am truly committed to nursing until he's ready to wean and dh and i are both committed to cosleeping. we just want to do what's best for him and i feel like i'm doing something wrong by not being able to help him get his best sleep.
hang in there everybody!
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hang in there everybody!
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