Naps are pretty decent, and he will only take one a day. We have a bedtime routine and a decent bedtime hour, sometimes as early as 6:30pm. It seems that no matter when I lay him down to sleep, he still wakes 1-2 times a night crying. A typical night would mean a midnight wakeup (and feed) and possibly a 4am wakeup with another feed. With each feed he downs the bottle, and then usually settles back down in a few minutes and goes back to sleep. Lately though, he has had some instances where he is up for nearly two hours in his crib following the night feed, crying and/or babbling.
I totally feel as though we are regressing here.
I am no stranger to the sleepless nights, though. I had to lay the law down with his brother at 14 months, but that was because T3 was waking every 2 hours and would want to play or be rocked for almost 2 hours before he went back to sleep. After 4 nights of “tough love” when he was 14 months, I have had a fantastic sleeping kid ever since. And I had planned to do the same with GG last month, but things just went sour.
I thought I was doing everything right from the beginning. He never liked to be rocked to sleep. He was always put down in his own crib awake and then he’d have no problem settling himself down. He always falls asleep on his own, with no help from me, which made me think he wouldn’t be a night waker since he’d be good in the self-soothing department. His room even has black-out curtains and a white noise machine to keep distractions at a minimum.
I have tried letting him cry when he wakes in the middle of the night, but that kid can outlast me. I am talking upwards of two hours. He’s also one of those gets-so-worked-up-he-pukes kinda kids. And if you leave him alone for that long he usually ingests part of the wooden crib railing. It looks like a puppy chewed on the crib all night. I need to get some of those chewy crib rail covers.
I have thought about getting rid of night feedings, but he still isn’t the best solid eater during the day, and I feel like he needs the calories. He only has seven teeth, so he’s not so good at chewing. Also, it looks like ALL of his other teeth are trying to break through – including the molars.
I think he’s perfectly capable of sleeping through the night, but I just don’t know what I can do to help him.
One things for sure – I am sooooo ready to have uninterrupted sleep again in my life. I just HAVE to do something!
14 responses so far ↓
1 Holly // Jun 17, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Ugh, I can so relate. My son at 21 months still has sleep issues. He is much better than he used to be, though. He’d wake up in the night and want to breastfeed for an hour — sometimes twice in one night!
What about those baby Ensure drinks to give your son more calories during the day? Would that help?
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2 mamawise // Jun 17, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I am willing to try anything. I will pick up some Ensure drinks tomorrow, and see if he will drink them. Thanks!
3 MomBabe // Jun 17, 2008 at 6:34 pm
ooh, that’s ME! My kids have never slept well at night. Partly because they have terrible ear problems, but still, I had to work on that.
My suggestion is to keep waking and feeding him, just do it a bit less. So if he’s used to getting 9 oz, only give him 7 oz for two or three days. Then move it to 6, then 5… Eventually, he’ll be down to just 1 oz, then a 1/2 oz, and hopefully, NOTHING.
My other mistake was getting them up out of the crib. Ugh. I finally just threw a pillow in there, and would prop the babe on the pillow, stick the bottle in their mouth, and walk away.
And I bought headphones.
but seriously, giving a little less milk for feedings worked.
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4 amy // Jun 17, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Girl I am so sorry that you are going through this! My youngest didn’t sleep through the night until she was 14 months old and it about killed me because the other 3 were all perfect sleeping angels at 8 weeks! But she still wakes up with night terrors 2-3 times a week and she is almost 4!!! I am so with you on needing just a night of uninterrupted sleep!
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5 jae // Jun 18, 2008 at 9:10 am
I worked with a child development specialist this last year and my son (who turned THREE in March) has done the same thing periodically his entire life. She said it’s probably a growth spurt going on — a brain one, that is. Every single time it happened, he was progressing in his speech or some other area as well. Not every time, but usually. Then, when that spurt is over he’s back to his old sleeping habits. It’s weird, but that’s how it seems to be working out here.
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6 Kim // Jun 18, 2008 at 10:38 am
Wanna hang out in the middle of the night because I am up too.. It blows.. I am praying that you get a solid night sleep too.. but I am praying for me too..
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7 ohmommy // Jun 18, 2008 at 10:43 am
Ugh! We should have an early morning 3am playdate with yours and mine.
At least we could do something productive!
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8 Tara R. // Jun 18, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I’m so sorry this is becoming such an ordeal… maybe you can get a kitchen pass from the Hubs and just stay at a hotel or a friend’s house for the night to get a good night’s sleep.
When they are older and going to school, you will get pay back when you get to wake them up early to get ready for school.
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9 LaskiGal // Jun 18, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Oh, I so feel for you! We’ve had to do the tough love. When we go in when he wakes during the night, we don’t speak to him. We will put our hand on his back/tummy and turn on his music soother. As soon as he calms down or falls asleep, we leave. He still wakes up, but it is a 10-minute interruption, so not too bad.
Oh, and we started loading him on (not stuffing him, at least not stuffing him MUCH) with cereal about 20 minutes before bed. It doesn’t necessarily put him to sleep, but it does seem to curb his appetite during the night. We went from a half dozen feedings (in the very beginning) to three and now, NONE!
Good luck. And I don’t know if it is possible, but try for cat naps as often as you can get ‘em.
Take care–YOU!
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10 Secret Agent Mama // Jun 19, 2008 at 8:43 am
I started giving David more protein at night, for dinner, and it seemed to help. Also, we broke down and got him a big-boy bed. The kind with the rail (an actual twin sized bed with a real mattress). Turns out the kid didn’t like the hard crib mattress.
I feel your pain, sweetie, I do!
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11 Miss // Jun 20, 2008 at 2:09 am
From my experience, this is a phase. That too shall pass… it sucks but you’ll get through it.
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12 Michele // Jun 22, 2008 at 6:47 pm
My older daughter never had issues but my younger one goes through spells. We are just coming off of one where she would cry all through the night. I found out her ear was infected. I thought it was teething. She is very sensitive to being wet so even the nighttime diapers don’t do it. I have to change her sometimes during the night. She is also an early bird. She has been taking longer naps lately and I think it is because she does not sleep well at night. My daughter is 22 months. Hopefully onec he can get more food during the day he will be less likely to wake at night. I don’t know how old your son is but they have cereal bars and other things that are soft that don’t require teeth necessarily. He will get it then you can finally get a good night’s rest. I like your blog. I am a 30 year old stay at home mom and I almost went into physical therapy and opted for child development instead. I know it must be extra tough working and raising children.
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13 Elizabeth...mommy...etc // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:07 pm
i went thru a stage with tulip like this around 8-10 mos and it was torture! but 15 mos of little to no sleep…i think i might shrivel up. you’re a strong mama!
my suggestion might not be super popular but i’ve heard it works. instaed of giving him milk in a bottle make it water. far less exciting and he might be so disinterested that he will stop waking for it. my mom either did this or knew someone who did…can’t remember…and it weaned the night feedings quite well.
make sure he’s getting plenty of food during the day…yobaby smoothies can go right in a sippy also (i mix it w/ tulip’s regular milk so it goes further)…extra calories there. your little guy is not going to starve himself by not getting his milk through the night…he absolutely will compensate for it during the day. normal, healthy kids, especially this age, really will not starve themselves. i also liked what babemama said about decreasing the amt…i think that is a great idea also.
but whatever you decide to do, be consistent and focused. sometimes tough love, like you mentioned, comes in other forms and giving less milk or just water might be the ticket. be strong though…prepare yourself for a possible fight at midnight. but once he’s broken of his waking habits he’ll be happier, you’ll be happier…and SO well rested!
GOOD LUCK…and keep us updated. i’m a new reader and i’ll definitely be back.
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14 Just when things start looking up… // Nov 18, 2008 at 10:54 pm
[...] amazing and wonderful thing, especially if you have read about my frustration with his sleep habits here and here. I admit that I now have a secret weapon which works like a charm, but I’m not going [...]
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