SOS - help Save our Sleep pls!!!
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Forum Name: Toddler Times
Forum Description: Is bubs growing up and getting into everything? How do you train them to use the potty? When do you start feeding solids? Share your tips and advice here!
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Topic: SOS - help Save our Sleep pls!!!
Posted By: myfullhouse
Subject: SOS - help Save our Sleep pls!!!
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 1:17pm
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Jack has never been a very good sleeper, probably only slept through a dozen or so times but i resigned myself to this. I can cope with waking a few times a night and resettling quickly.
But he won't even resettle at the moment. Last night went like this: 6.30pm Bath 7pm Ready for bed, drink of milk, drunk too fast, throw up all over me  . DH out so clean myself and Jack up.
7.30pm asleep after clean up etc 11pm-ish Jack wakes, DH resettles him, Jack sleeps for about 5mins, Jack wakes, DH resettles him, Jack sleeps for about 5mins, Jack wakes Give Jack pamol, bring him into our bed which usually works. Jack fidgets, moves, tosses, turns 12.30-ish give up and take Jack back to his room, try rocking him to sleep, doesn't work, put him in his cot, pat, shhh, sing 1.15am Jack finally asleep 1.30am -ish - Jack is awake AGAIN, back in our bed 2am DH and Jack go and sleep in the spare bed 6.30am - my alarm goes off as I am working today
I can't work out what is wrong. This has happened before, it happens for a few nights in a row then we get some good nights then back to the bad ones. I assume it is not his 2yo molars that are bottering him because the pamol made no difference. I assume it isn't separation anxiety as having him in our bed isn't working at the moment either. He can't be hot as we took off his merino sleeping bag and that didn't help I don't want to use CIO or CC as personally (no offense to anyone who does) I think that only treats the symptoms not the cause and is really saying "don't call out to me and ask me for help as I am not going to come" Has anyone else experienced this? What was the cause? How can I find out the cause? What do we do?? We needs some decent sleep!! ------------- Lindsey 
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Replies:
Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 2:05pm
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Firstly you need to make a plan and stick with it. Start tonight. You are all going to be sleep deprived and it will probably take a few nights but I think you can get there in the end. You just need to break some bad habits.
I would stop bringing him into your bed with you at night. Does he have a toy or a muzzie that he can snuggle into when he goes to bed? What time does he have dinner, do you give him dinner before or after his bath? I found that giving Cooper his bath after dinner made for a bad nights sleep, so we swapped it around and it made such a huge difference. I think your DH going in and resettling him is really good. What happens when you do it? How long does it take for him to resettle? How long do you wait before you go into him? Have you tried to see if he can resettle himself? I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Pantley's No cry sleep solution, maybe see if you can get that out of the library. Check out her website in the mean time, she has some very handy tips to help your little people sleep. http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/books/0071444912.php - Elizabeth Pantley Lots of questions, but if you can answer them honestly you may find a solution or even the cause of what is causing him to wake so often. Good luck ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3) 
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 2:40pm
Totally agree. Whatever you decide to do/change will take time to work. I can't help much with solutions though as we used CC crying and now when he wakes its always for a reason and we figure it out very quickly, fix it and hes back into his cot and off to sleep |
.Mel wrote:Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 3:11pm
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I am opposed to CC and CIO up to a point but I think that at his age he should know better and its a lot different to CC or CIO with a baby under 12 months. Spencer started nuisance waking after an illness and once I was sure he was ok, went and checked his bum etc then I just left him to it, took 45 mins the first night, then 5 mins the 2nd and then he was back to sleeping through again.
If you really don't want to do that though you could try withdrawal, so you sit next to his cot till he falls asleep, if he wakes up and doesn't resettle you go and sit next to his cot again. (but don't interact with him). Then over the next few days/weeks move your chair further and further away until you aren't in the room anymore. I honestly don't think that with a child who is 15 months you can teach them to sleep without some crying though because they are intelligent enough to try it on and any change to their routine is always going to upset them a little but you just have to reassure yourself that it's in their best interests to have a good nights sleep. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: Jay_R
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 3:55pm
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My standard response to unusual sleep disturbances - are his ears ok? Is the problem 99% of the time when Joshua is like this during the night.
Hope you have a better night tonight 
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Posted By: finnigan
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 7:21pm
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"Your kid may have a serious, mind-blowingly awful sleep regression at around 18 months. It's not your fault, and it will pass" from www.askmoxie.com
Our son went through this, we used to go in settle him, give him his dummy/bottle/muzzy whatever worked, it was a long 2 months but he got over it and now sleeps better than he ever did :) |
Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 17 October 2008 at 8:25pm
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Thank Mel, I had forgotten about the No Cry Sleep Solution. I read it earlier in the year but will try and get it from the library again. I also like Pinky McKays "Sleeping Like a baby" but lent my copy to my boss who is due in Jan
We don't always go straight into him, it depends on his cry. Sometimes he will resettle himself and sometimes not. Usually resettling hm only take about 15mins max. It usually takes DH a bit less time than me. I honestly don't think he is "trying it on", I do think something is wrong but I am not sure which. DH even commented that his crying sounded strange, almost like he had had a nightmare or a fright. Last night though he didn't cry except initially on waking. He just couldn't seem to get into a deep sleep, just sort of dozed, it is kind of hard to explain. We do have a routine that we stick to at night and as a general rule we have no probs with it. We have tried a soft toy, I slept with it up my nightie for a few nights and had it between Jack and I when I used to bf but he has never really taken to it. Never took to a dummy either. Not sure about his ears as he seems so happy in general but will keep that in mind. Often how his nap goes is a reflection on nighttime. The last few days he has only slept 45mins and wouldn't resettle. DH said today that Jack slept an hour then he sresettled him and he slept another hour (I think DH did too!!) so hopefully we have a good night. Just wish I knew what the cause of it all is as I have run out of ideas. ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 18 October 2008 at 8:38pm
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well last night Jack woke at about 9.45pm, DH settled him quickly but he woke about 10mins later. I then settled him quickly and we didn't hear anything else from him till 7am!!
Tonight he has now woken twice already but we have resettled him quickly. Tonight though I think it is his teeth as he had very rosey cheeks this afternoon. Will have to see how the rest of the night goes! ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 18 October 2008 at 8:40pm
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Thats great Linzy, maybe the other couple of nights were the teeth moving up??? Fingers crossed that you get another good night. ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3)
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Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 18 October 2008 at 9:15pm
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sounds like he could be teeth related. When Ellas molars were coming up (3 at the same time) she was really,really unsettled during the night and pamol didn't help her either (which normally works well for us for teething). We were a very tired household for around a week- luckily it did pass, but those molars must really hurt them ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 19 October 2008 at 1:54pm
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Thanks Mum2Ella, I was thinking it wasn't his teeth because Pamol didn't work but at least it's not just us. DH ended up taking Jack into the spare bed again last night and we all slept pretty well, Jack seems to be a bit better when it's just DH ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 19 October 2008 at 8:17pm
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Glad you had a better night last night. When the moars were coming through I was so worried about her, that I ended up taking her to the doc just in case it was her ears, but as soon as the doc looked in her mouth she knew all the crying was due to teething- her mouth was so lumpy, so I suspect she must have had a few teeth moving around. The doc did say if it was really bad teething and pamol didn't work, it was Ok to top her up with some nurofen a hr later- it seemed to help a little bit. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: jaycee
Date Posted: 19 October 2008 at 9:13pm
I would suggest nurofen too - pamol doesn't seem to get close to stopping teething pain when those big nasty back teeth come through AND nurofen lasts much longer than pamol  . Amy has been working on her second molars for a while now (they take AGES to arrive for some kids) and nurofen helps a lot.-------------   
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 19 October 2008 at 9:56pm
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Thanks ladies, only have pamol so will have to pop out and get some Nurofen ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 20 October 2008 at 9:44am
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How much Pamol are you giving him? Maybe it's not enough?? ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3)
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 21 October 2008 at 12:51pm
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I have a prescription paracetomol and it is 5ml for his weight. I found some Ibuprofen (sp??) in the cupboard last night in case I need it. However our last 2 nights have been much better, last night was 1 wake up before we went to bed and 1 wake up during the night but we settled him very quickly. Next time we have a bad night will try the ibuprofen and see what happens. ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 03 November 2008 at 8:48am
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Thanks again ladies for the recommendation of using ibuprofen! We have been using it when Jack wakes and won't resettle and it has worked a treat. And last week his first 2yo molar cut. So 1 down , 3 to go! ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: jaycee
Date Posted: 03 November 2008 at 9:25am
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Yay for ibuprofen - glad that it helped and you are all getting more sleep. Congrats on the new bump too - you must be VERY happy that you are getting more sleep as you are probably quite tired! -------------
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