Previously bad sleepers, now better?

[milosmum]

Just looking for a few stories of hope really!

My DS is not a good sleeper he was terrible until 6 months then we had 6 good months but since he turned a year old its been awful again. Many causes I suspect - dropping a nap, lots of colds, ear infections and new teeth too! Anyway I am sitting here tonight an hour after I put him to bed still waiting for him to go to sleep and was looking for stories of hope that he will eventually get better!

I struggle to imagine him ever being a good sleeper and me doing with him all the things that older toddlers/ children seem to do like fall asleep in the car and just get swapped into bed, going into his room at night to pull the covers back over and tuck him, I can't even imagine ever playing the tooth fairy when he is asleep at night!

Sorry bit of a rambling thread but I'm tired and feel sad that the sleep struggles just seem to continue and need you ladies to give me some positive stories and hope for the years ahead!

Thanks x

 

[Dragonfly]

William was a bad sleeper, on my boob every 20 mins for months! my boobs felt like they would fall off and he went on a long time with that. He was high needs and had a bad birth. So we bed shared, breastfeed all that. He is 4 now, goes to sleep on his own, wakes maybe at 6am and goes back to sleep till 9. Not a bother now. No bother going to bed either or staying there. It took him a bit longer than most but that was his pace. Oh and he wants his own bed which we are waiting on arriving. Alex is a better sleeper, done all the normal waking, he sleeps better than William still and both rarely wake. Only for me getting up for pees all night would stir them. Its only hard for a short time but pays off big time

 

[hattiehippo]

Tom was a really bad sleeper right up to 2 1/2. Even from 2 he was up at least 1x a night sometimes 2 or 3 or awake for hours.

We had a great 6 months from 2 1/2 to 3 where he STTN pretty much every night. It's gone downhill again a bit from 3 because he has terrible nightmares and night terrors and also doesn't like being in his bed on his own. He wakes up 3 or 4 nights a week now and comes into our bed for a bit, before going back into his an hour or so later.

There is hope - he is a whole lot better at sleeping than at 16 months when he was up for 2 or 3 hours every night but it's still not STTN all the time.

 

[Natsku]

Maria was a terrible terrible sleeper, waking constantly, but has improved a lot lately. Although she is usually up for a few hours in the night its before I go to bed so I can handle it and then once she falls back asleep again she sleeps the rest of the night. And we've been away from home the last few nights and she hasn't done the being up for hours thing

 

[tokyo_c]

My daughter finally started sleeping better at the start of this year (21 months) when I night weaned her and moved her into her own bed (she was in a tiny cot/co-sleeping before). I know it doesn't have an effect for some people but it really was the turning point for us.

 

[menageriemom]

Mine was a fairly poor sleeper until 6 months, and mostly good from then on, but we've gone through 1-6 week long periods of time where she was getting up multiple times per night, screaming when I put her down, etc. Since we stopped the before bed nursing about a month ago, she has slept 100% through the night consistently for the first time ever. It's been great! But I don't expect it to last forever - I know they are still prone to changing their sleeping habits constantly.

 

[pinkpolkadot]

I was going to say us but having a bad night tonight, DH is currently upstairs rocking LO!

Aside from that, LO was never great but she is much better lately, goes to sleep on her her own with no fuss the majority of the time and sleeps through, occasionally wakes once briefly. The last several days she has even given us a lie in (9am this morning!!!!!) but she is poorly so maybe that's the reason for the lie in!

Like you I never would have imagined her going to sleep on her own, falling asleep while eating lunch in her high chair haha or giving us a lie in all of which she has now done!

 

[Banshee]

Ds1 was not a good sleeper. We used to feed to sleep and then creep around the house like mice trying not to wake him. Sometimes he would sleep through and sometimes we'd be up several times a night for hours with him, there was no logic to it.
When he was about 18 months we had some building work done and they were working underneath his bedroom for weeks. I thought he'd never sleep as the builders were drilling, hammering, playing music, shouting to one another right under him but he slept really well while they were there and night times got better as well - strange.
Most of the time now he sleeps really well. When he moved to his toddler bed we could go in and move him back into his bed/adjust covers if he looked like he was going to fall out. He's like a different child than a year ago (touch wood).

 

[aliss]

Really really awful until 18 months. He's now almost 3 and gives me 12 hours straight at night (climbs into his own bed with excitement) and still gives me a 2 hour nap (minimum) daily. I'm soooo grateful for his awesome sleep now.

(I need it b/c my baby is up 10x a night LOL)

 

[PugMama22]

Owen was a really bad sleeper as a baby until 6 months. Now at 16 months he sleeps through the night about 2 times a week, the other nights he wants milk so I usually bring him a bottle or sippy of milk and he goes right back to sleep. Lately hes been sick with ear infection, bad cough, and hes cutting molars so its been a little more tough. I noticed though that if I stick to a strict sleep routine and get his belly full before naps and bedtime he does much better.

 

[louandivy]

Ivy has always been a terrible sleeper, we co-slept until she was 18 months. At around 20-22 months she started self-settling and sleeping through BUT then we made a big move from Bristol to Brighton and her sleeping got crap again, but recently she has started sleeping 6.30-6.30 straight through. This is with pretty much no sleep training or effort whatsoever. (Oh and she is 2 and a 1/2 now).

 

[aliss]

I have no regret not sleep training and waiting until 2 years with my first. Once it's over with, it's over with. I find not thinking about it helps me through it with #2 (and it did with #1). They ALL get there, if you are willing to wait. I know some don't want to do that, but I really think it benefited him to wait. He had severe acid reflux and always hated to sleep (associated with pain), but now he loves to sleep.

 

[eddjanuary10]

Ihsan had never sttn until after his 3rd Birthday a few weeks ago, he has always been a bad sleeper and a minimal sleeper. Even as a new born Ihsan was not interested in sleeping , he would take short sporadic naps 20 mins here and there. Until 2 years he was waking up to 10 times through the night and was constantly bf'ing until then. He started taking daily 1.5-2hour afternoon naps after his 2nd birthday so I suppose it balanced out in the end as many of my Mummy friends toddlers were just starting to drop an afternoon nap & mine was just starting to enjoy his! His sleeping got gradually better from 2 years, he still wakes some nights but only very briefly. We done no sleep training, it wasn't for us but routine and consistency has always been important even although there have been times when he has abandoned his routine for a week or 2 it's always fell back into place. We co-sleep, Ihsan has no trouble self settling at night now despite my health visitor always telling me he would never learn and to put him in his own room! xx

 

[moomoo]

2 1/2 for DS, the turning point was when we could bribe him

 

[milosmum]

Thanks ladies good to know we are not alone and will hopefully get there one day! We have already done some sleep training (he was waking up to ten times a night from about 4-6 months) and he is much better but still not gods gift to sleeping. We stick to a good routine and just keep hoping he will settle down again and get more sleep. Last week one night he did 11.5hours straight for the first time in months and he was such a well rested joy to be with the next day rather than always being a little tired and grumpy! As you all know its just a bit tiring when they don't sleep so its nice to hear some positive stories for the future! I just keep thinking that once he is a teenager I will probably have to drag him out of his bed in the morning!
Now someone get me some caffeine xxx

 

[pillarbox_red]

Im hoping it gets better! My LO was an amazing sleeper from newborn - 6/7 months. From then to a year he was very hit and miss, he'd go through good phases, horrific phases and so-so phases, but since he turned a year its gone slowly downhill, and worse when he dropped his 2nd nap.

Its been 6 weeks now since he slept through. Some nights are better than others, but we rarely get past 2am without him waking and having to bring him in my bed as he won't settle in the cot, and more often than not he will spend a good hour or two awake just playing, rolling around, talking even though its completely dark and im ignoring him trying to sleep!

 

[hellohefalump]

Madeleine finally slept through the night for the first time when she was nearly two! She's now a great sleeper, she is nearly six though...

 

[milosmum]

Im hoping it gets better! My LO was an amazing sleeper from newborn - 6/7 months. From then to a year he was very hit and miss, he'd go through good phases, horrific phases and so-so phases, but since he turned a year its gone slowly downhill, and worse when he dropped his 2nd nap.

Its been 6 weeks now since he slept through. Some nights are better than others, but we rarely get past 2am without him waking and having to bring him in my bed as he won't settle in the cot, and more often than not he will spend a good hour or two awake just playing, rolling around, talking even though its completely dark and im ignoring him trying to sleep!

Oh dear sounds exhausting - I hope your wee man setltles down soon (and mine too!)

 

[cutie4evr01]

My bad sleeper is better now, but still doesn't sleep like other kids. We did sleep training, so she could fall asleep on her own from about 6-7 months old, but she still had about 2 feeds overnight at that age, and was still waking for one early morning BF (around 2-3 am) at about 11 months old. From age 1 on, I stopped feeding at night, so she sometimes didn't wake at night, but has never slept a 12-hr night. Even now at over 3 years old she sleeps all night, but only a 9-10 hour night. She goes in her room with lights off by 7 each night, but she either stays up chatting to herself in bed for a few hours before falling asleep or wakes up at 4/5am, or sometimes both. But it's definitely WAY better than it used to be as I can leave her in her room at 7 pm and she will fall asleep whenever she is ready, and she's old enough to understand her clock, so if she wakes early in the morning she knows she has to stay in her room until 6 am.

Makes me so grateful that DD2 is and always has been a great sleeper.