10 month old sleep just gets worse! Help!

[yrose20118]

Hiya ladies,

Well our LOs sleep seems to be getting worse and worse.

He wakes up from anything from twice a night (rare and considered a good night) or seven times a night!!! There is no reason for it... he isn't teething, in pain or anything...

We are both shattered... me mainly as I do most of the nights as Hubby works and also because im pregnant with our 2nd baby

Please can anyone give me some good tips... I cant keep this up as im beyond shattered now

xxx

 

[Noelle610]

What's his daytime schedule like?

How does he fall asleep?

 

[beth_terri]

Would you try sleep training?

 

[yrose20118]

He wakes early, around 5:45/6 am and needs a nap by 9am... this lasts about an hour and a half or two hours at the most. Then another shorter nap of about 30/45 mins at around 2/3pm.

I must confess we rock him to sleep still...

xxx

 

[Ganton]

I think others will be able to help more with the sleep issues, but just wanted to say congrats on no.2. We were over in WTT together, but I'm only just moving to TTC and you've already moved on. Hopefully I'll be joining you soon!

 

[Noelle610]

He wakes early, around 5:45/6 am and needs a nap by 9am... this lasts about an hour and a half or two hours at the most. Then another shorter nap of about 30/45 mins at around 2/3pm.

I must confess we rock him to sleep still...

xxx

Well, the rocking to sleep is what is likely causing the night wakings. If he's rocked to sleep at bedtime, he will need to be rocked to sleep each time he inevitably wakes at night. We all wake at night, but adults just fluff their pillow or roll over and return to sleep.

This article explains:

https://www.troublesometots.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-sleeping-through-the-night-part-i/

But once your baby develops object permanence putting baby down while asleep will almost always blow up on you. Now your baby remembers that when they fell asleep you were there. When they move into light sleep where they used to simply fall asleep on their own, they wake themselves up fully. Because you were there, and now you aren’t. Worse, they’re generally pretty upset. In their own baby world they’re yelling at you saying, “Hey! Where did you go! What happened?”

Let’s put this in perspective. Imagine going to bed in your bedroom. A few hours later you wake up on your front lawn. Would you simply roll over and go back to sleep in the grass? Or would you stand up and start screaming? Would you demand loudly to be let back into the house so that you could sleep in your bed? Do you think you would be freaked out by the mysterious force that somehow carried you out to the lawn?

Your baby is reacting to the surprise of finding out that the circumstances they observed when falling to sleep is no longer the circumstance they are finding when they wake up. There are lots of different surprises that can result in a baby who wakes up all night long.


Putting baby down 100% asleep
Pacifier use – fell asleep in mouth, wake up not in mouth
Mobiles or other timed devices – on when fell asleep, off when wake up
Music used at bedtime but not played all night long
Mommy/Daddy stay in room till baby falls asleep but then sneak out

Now you and your baby are up all night. Even worse, their longest window of uninterrupted sleep probably occurs before you even go to bed so now you are literally up all night.

If that's the problem, what's the solution? You can either sleep train or wait it out. What it really boils down to is, what are you most comfortable with? Do you think your LO is getting enough sleep? Is he happy? Are you happy? What can you live with?

 

[yrose20118]

wow great answer, thanks hun

I am shattered... I think its time for both me and LO to get this sorted... especially as in extra exhausted being in my first trimester xxx

 

[Noelle610]

wow great answer, thanks hun

I am shattered... I think its time for both me and LO to get this sorted... especially as in extra exhausted being in my first trimester xxx

I am sure you are tired, I can only imagine!!!

PM me if you want some help with a plan - gentle or more structured.

 

[yrose20118]

oh thanks hun... im quite soft but willing to try structure so maybe a semi structured plan... not too extreme as i'll cry myself doing it!!!

xxx

 

[Noelle610]

oh thanks hun... im quite soft but willing to try structure so maybe a semi structured plan... not too extreme as i'll cry myself doing it!!!

xxx

LOL I know! I sometimes advocate CIO, but could never quite manage it myself

What about trying the "chair method".

Here's an outline:

https://www.parentingscience.com/infant-sleep-training.html

Extinction with parental presence
With this approach to infant sleep training, you put your baby to bed while he’s still awake, and you lie down with him until he falls asleep. However, you pay progressively less attention to him each night.

For instance, after a few days, you might touch the baby less often. A few days after that, you might look away more often, and sit up in bed rather than remain lying down. The next step is to sit at a chair alongside the bed, and the step after that is to move the chair a bit farther away. You can read or do some other silent activity while you keep up your vigil.

By making these gradual changes, the baby is weaned from extensive parental soothing rituals. After several days, you might try leaving the room for a few seconds, returning before the baby starts to cry. This may help the baby learn that you can be trusted to return after an absence (Skuladottir 2003). But you remain in the baby’s presence until he falls asleep.

When baby awakens in the middle of the night, you take the same approach. But baby becomes more adapted to the new program, you may try letting the baby wait for you for a minute or two before you return (Skuladottir 2003).

When method of infant sleep training was tried on sleep disturbed infants aged 8-12 months, infants slept longer and experienced fewer night wakings (Skuladottir 2003).

A somewhat similar approach, in which the parent stays in the same room with baby but sleeps in a different bed, has also reported successful results (Sadeh 1994). In both cases, parents can encourage babies to learn self-soothing techniques while avoiding the distress associated with leaving infants alone.