Sleeping through the night help!

I recommend ditching the dummy. With my first we used a dummy which was necessary as he was a really sucky baby. But by about 5 months old it was doing my head in. I was getting up to him more times in the night than when he was a newborn - all to put the dummy in. We decided to go cold turkey. The first day we didn't give it to him for his first daytime sleep. Instead we gave him a lovely super soft toy which 'replaced' the dummy. We also used the verbal reassurance method by telling him it was sleepy time etc etc. I was prepared for hell, but it was surprisingly fine. The first sleep we let him cry for a bit and had decided to go back in and settle after 10 minutes. He cried for 7 minutes! The next sleep that day he cried for 3 minutes, the night time sleep he cried for 4 minutes and that was the end of it. By no means am I suggesting it will be that easy for everyone, but I had prepared myself for a week of sleepless nights and crying and we did it when DH and I were both able to support each other and share the load. Getting rid of the dummy was the best thing ever. His night waking stopped and he started sleeping from 7pm - 6/7am. Bliss. He also found his thumb in that time which helped.

TheBabe wrote: Same here!! I think its crazy when parents walk around half-dead with exhaustion because they think catering to their baby is the best thing to do. Its never the best choice when you can't cope.

Assuming they cant cope that is....

Hmmm Im gona be controversial and say I don't really agree with the statements above about babies all sleeping through by a certain age unless they have props... It makes it all sound so simple, and maybe it is for some people and that's great but it hasn't been that way for us.

My DS used to sleep through from ages 2-4 months ish. Since then he has been waking once or twice a night.

He knows how to self settle, I put him in bed awake. He has a dummy, but he can sleep with or without it, and he knows how to put it back in himself and I've seen him do it. So when he wakes, it's not because he wants a dummy.

I have tried every trick under the sun that I have read on here, I have addressed temperature, made sure he's self settling, I turn him on his side and pat him on the back to settle I don't pick him up unless he's screaming and actually truly upset about something eg teeth. I have done verbal reassurance, he eventually goes to sleep but it hasn't stopped the night waking. I have left him to cry. I have fed him and not fed him, dream fed him- he wakes earlier when I do that. Every article I have read it, every trick I have tried it believe me. He has a very good, predictable routine and usually goes down easily unless something is bothering him.

And he sometimes sleeps through, maybe once a week. And sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he wakes once, sometimes he wakes twice... if he's unwell like last night he wakes more. There's no predictability or pattern to it.

I am a very tired Mummy and I don't think I have bought it on myself by pandering to my baby's needs, I have been pretty firm about trying to remain in charge of it. I might be wandering around in a tired haze but it's not because I haven't tried to change that or be firm, Ive spent hours up doing verbal reassurance, not feeding and listening to trying etc etc.

I honestly think he will sleep through when he is ready to, as I know he knows how, he sometimes does it. He's a baby. He sometimes likes a bit of comfort in the night. Because half the articles you read say if your baby is doing x x and x, and you're not doing x x and x, then your baby will sleep through.. but what if they actually just don't want to? I don't always sleep through the night without waking.

Sorry if this is controversial I was caught in a tired moment but I just wanted to say that and stick up for the Mums like me who have tried a lot of things and spent a lot of time and effort worrying about and working on this

Edited by wiggly_jiggly

hear hear wiggly_jiggly. DS sometimes sleeps through, sometimes wakes once, sometimes twice, and every night this week has had a night feed then refused to resettle for 3+ hours while he holds a raging party in his cot. Last week he slept through each night 6 - 7. He self settles, can leave or take his dummy, and as he has and can sleep through for 11+ hours in the same routine, bedclothes etc i have to assume it is just how he's feeling at the time rather then anything i do or don't do. Weirdly, he slept through/best when he was sick and then teething. Now he feels better he appears to be celebrating in the night.

My DD was/is a crappy sleeper. As a baby she had terrible reflux, and woke in the night most nights, not always for food, and would scream and grizzle, some nights I would give her a bottle and some nights I didn't, I just did what ever worked.

She still isn't a *great* sleeper and its not uncommon for me to be up a few times a night to settle her(whether that be to find her dummy, or just tuck her back in and pat her back for a bit.

She is 2 in August.

My son however was a fab sleeper and still is! I did the same things with them, but DD is just so different.

Edited by Sheza

DS 16 months still doesn't sleep through the night either, but I must admit I have not really tried CIO as it breaks my heart, and I figure if it makes me feel that way it isn't right. Plus when I have left him to cry for longer than 10 minutes or so, he has worked himself into such a state he has spewed. No way he will sleep then.

I have however, tried EVERYTHING else under the sun. He has no props (no dummy etc) and USED to be able to self settle. He USED to wake once or maybe twice, and we were getting there with just a quick cuddle and back to sleep. I could have lived with that.

Then he got five ear infections in a row, followed nicely by a urinary tract infection. So self settling went out the window (we had to sit in his room), sleeping day and night went out the window, even ended up with him coming into our bed and feeding at night which he hadn't done since 1 year old.

Now we are trying to work on getting him to feel secure enough to go to sleep on his own and stay in his own bed. It is a long slow process, and sometimes I do get angry/annoyed that he just won't sleep. But it is what it is