Out of routine and going nuts..

Ok, so it has been a fairly out of routine 10 days. As much as I have tried to keep sleeps etc to the same times. my little man decided that he would start waking a few times a night, and WONT go to sleep without a bottle (and to be fair, I have been giving in to him, just for some sleep as I knew it would be rough til thewhole funeral drama etc was over) Then about wednesday, the old I won't sleep in this bed can I sleep with you mama started, then by thursday it was I'm not going to bed until you do (all of this witht the waking still) and now, home 2 nights its the old up every hour crying etc. I know he is out of whack, so I have set the nightlight back up, so when he wakes, he can see he is in his own room, but any suggestions as to how to get him back on track with sleeping?

Signed,
Going crazy from sleep deprivation in Blenhiem

Have you been away from home for a few days? It usually throws Ella out of routine for a week, or more sometimes.. so we don't go away much lol.

Sorry I don't have any advice but we just went with the flow and things sorted themselves out after a week or so.. oh yeah and he's only 11 months, I was still breastfeeding then so I just fed her if she woke up, then a few months later I'd give her the bottle if she asked for it.. whatever works I figure.. don't worry too much unless he's a little monkey like mine and gets up in the night and won't go back to sleep for a few hours sometimes

Hope he starts sleeping better soon!

Hope you get some zzzzz soon!

Ella was a pretty good sleeper until she got her first tooth @ 10 months, since then she goes through stages of sleeping well then when she gets a new tooth she'll wake up for a few weeks

Annie... he seems to be pushing you further and further away from routine (Hannah does the same thing until I realise) but at some point you just have to decide that enough is enough and resign yourself to a really sh*t 3 days and get tough again.

Then you finally get back into routine and they begin down the slippery slope again Gosh parenting is delightful isn't it?!?

At the moment Hannah has realised that if she gets out of bed and comes to my room then I will just let her sleep with me because I am too lazy to try and get her to stay in her own bed. At some point I'm going to have to get hard and deal with it but in the mean time it's mighty handy having her coming to me rather than having to go to her room

I can sympathise with the sleep deprivation, Liam has only just started sleeping thru the nite & he's 2 & 1/2! I tried everything from "control crying" to cutting out his daytime naps etc & nothing worked ,(not that I wanna scare u tho hehe) he's just a naturally bad sleeper & grew out of it wen the time was right. Hopefully your little darlings are just outa their routine & will get back on track soon. But Nikkis right, u gotta get a little tough so that sleeping with mummy doesnt become the new routine. Good luck

So much for "Operation take back the control" eh, Nikki?....

Gave him phenargan in desperation last night, after putting him to bed firmly at 9.30 for the last time. He slept through till 6.20, I gave him a bottle, and back to sleep til 9.30. YAY!!!
So far tonight, he has been in bed, asleep, I hope, for an hour...(no phenargan tonight)
I swear, it's been like having a new born again, but with smellier nappies..

Becca, you rock.
Sorry, another novel ahead....

Sleeping routines are reasonably easy to fix - but you have to put the hard yards in for a few nights to get there sometimes. We had a couple of rough nights when we came back from our Xmas holiday, however we stuck it out and all is well in sleepyland again.

We have a sleep routine so that Andrew knows that sleep is coming up (we also make sure he doesn't have juice or get too wound up in the hour before bed time). The routine starts with "Okay Andrew, time to get ready for bed time - let's get you into your pj's" (we do this close to the actual bed time so that he gets to know big sleep is coming). Then he has a bottle and cuddles (we're in the process of losing the bottle). And then he says goodnight to everyone else in the room - Dad, Big Brother etc, and we go to his room. - the sleep routine isn't such a huge thing at this age but we are setting ourselves up for when he is a little older.

In bed he gets tucked in and given Georgie Cow to cuddle. If he kicks his sheets off or stands up in the cot at this stage, I don't make a fuss - I figure it's easier to cover him up later when he's asleep anyway.

Now - if he starts crying, we wait five minutes before going back into the room. If we go in, we don't say anything, give him a little pat (in the cot) until he settles and then go out of the room again. If he starts crying again we wait for six or seven minutes and then repeat, extending the intervals of being away each time. (We haven't had to go in more than once anyway)

You can feel awful leaving your baby to cry - but remember - it's not hurting them, most kiddies need to learn how to put themselves to sleep and they won't grow up feeling neglected or unloved. There are more side effects involved in having sleep deprived parents and kiddies. Sleeping is better for your mental health than not sleeping.
Oh, and if you get a chance - read Nigel Latta's book 'Before your kids drive you crazy, read this!'. He's a NZ er and his book is both hilarious and wonderful with loads of tips on how to survive raising kiddies and end up with good ones. There is a link to an interview he did on CloseUp (TV1) in April too if you have broadband... http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/410965/703867

Stick in there! You'll get there - and until the routine sticks, you can complain to us about it and we'll send you cyber hugs and support

@ Annie (for your crack about my Operation!)

I'm going to implement an Operation (Take III or IV??? I can't remember now) again tonight. Unfortunately they are only a temporary measure until Hannah figures out she can weasel into my bed without me noticing. Anyway, you can take credit for inspiring me back into being a cruel emotionless mother

Poor poodle! I hope he is feeling better this morning.

Yep, after all of my know-it-all advice yesterday, Andrew was up and screaming through the night - but because he had his fourth meningitis immunisation shot yesterday. All better and happy in the world this morning - and he slept in to 9am.