15 months n/w every 2 hours

[Bubblegumbod]

Help!  My ds is 15 months old and has only slept through the night twice.  Last week when his dad was away he slept from 7-7.30 pm through to around 5am but then got up.  Since dh has returned, ds has taken to 2 hourly night wakings.

His routine is as follows:

5.30 am - awake, downstairs
6.30 am - 9oz cows milk & breakfast
8-8.30am - nap for 55mins - 1.25hr
9.30am - awake, playing or out with me
12pm - lunch with water/juice
2pm ish - nap for 1hr - 1.5hrs
3-3.30 - awake, playing
5-5.30 - dinner water/juice
6.30-6.45 - bath, 9oz cows milk
7-7.15 - bed

I am still imtermittantly bf him.  Usually he wants it before he goes for his morning nap and sometimes has 1 mid afternoon.

He's waking from around 2-3 hours after going to bed, then up and down every 2-2.5 hours.  Up for good around 5.30am

When he wakes we first get sleepy moaning, which we ignore and only go in once we hear him stand up and start shouting for mum.  Sometimes he's still half asleep, so I just lay him back down and tell him it's sleep time.  More often than not as soon as I move away from the cot he cries again and stands up, so i repeat the process as before, but omit the 'it's sleep time' phrase.  I can be doing this for anything from 10 mins to 1.5hrs.  Sometimes he arches his back and gets really stroppy.  Other times he goes into his moaning phase.  He seems to be quite happy as long as I stay by the cot, but I need my bed too. 
I have tried pupd, pat/sshh, going in every 5 mins, rocking him off, bf him to sleep.
He has been teething, but that tooth has now cut through.  Surely if it was teething it would bother him daytime too?  He is really mummified at the moment and has some SA.  He also began toddling properly the day his daddy came home, which was the day he started 2 hourly wakings.
He has no prop...unless you count me!

He was beginning to be a good sleeper until we stayed at mil's house overnight when he was 13wks old.  He's never slept properly since except for 2 nights.

All help and advice will be very greatfully received.

Sharon x

[momofclaire]

Hi Sharon, and welcome to the BW boards.
I am going to pop your post over to the Toddler Sleep forum.

Myia

[Bubblegumbod]

Thanks Myia

I wasn't sure if I'd posted in the right place or not.  Hopefully someone can help me before I lose my sanity.

Sharon x

[andibig]

Hi sharon
Welcome to the BW boards
OK the first thing I notice is he is awake very early and downstairs.I'd really try and keep him in his room (not necessarily asleep) until the time you think is OK for him to be up.The problem with taking him downtairs so early is that it just reinforces the early waking.

We tend not to use PU/PD or sh/pat at this age but WI/WO (walk in/walk out) or something called gradual removal.i'll give you some links for them.

I'd also move his bedtime earlier as he has been awake since 5.30 so that he is not getting overtired.I used to have an early waker until DD was 11/12 mths so i'll give you our routine that we had then as she was on one nap by 15 mths .

Lastly walking (or starting to walk) can impact on night sleep as well.its another one of those lovely milestones which can throw their sleep out for a while.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=80750.msg696517#msg696517
The above is a link for WI/WO etc

HTH
ANdrea

[andibig]

Finally managed to find DDs routine for when she was about 13 months before she dropped to one nap.
you'll notice she was waking later than your LO but this routine was the same when she was waking at 5.30 (and that inc nap times)

6.30-wake and milk(5-6oz)
7.30-breakfast
9.30-10.30-nap
10.30-water or juice
11.30-12.00-lunch
1.00 milk (5-6oz)
2-3.30-nap
5pm-dinner (may have snack b4)
6.30-milk (6oz)
7pm-bed

HTH

[Bubblegumbod]

Andrea

Thank you so much for that.  I'll go read up on it.  Trouble is that as soon as I even take 2 steps away from his cot he screams and stands up.  Will wi/wo mean he gets even more stressed?

I did put him to bed 60 mins earlier tonight, tho he took 30 mins to actually drop off.  I'll try keep him in his room, but with DH asleep upstairs and dd asleep next door, he might be too noisy and get them up too.  We'll give it a whirl.

Thanks so much again.

Sharon x

PS thanks also for the schedule, which appeared whilst I was typing!

[Bubblegumbod]

That was a much better night.

Asleep at 7pm, woke at 00.33 crying, so gave a drink and cough/cold meds as he's all runny nosed again. Settled him back down and he only got up twice.  He laid in his cot whilst I stood in the middle of the room with my back to him.  It took ages for him to drop off though.  I didn't get back to be till 1.30.  He then slept till 5.45.  He was really noisy, so i had to take him down.

Breakfast etc 30 mins earlier than your routine, but nap is just coming up at 9.30.

Lets see what today brings!

Sharon x

[andibig]

Fingers crossed honey for you .

[Bubblegumbod]

Well, last night wasn't too bad at all.  He went down after following your schedule, by 7.15pm, but bounced back up at 8.30.  DH settled him within 10 mins, so I went to bed expecting a dodgy night.  Next thing I know, it's 2.30am and still no sign of him waking, so I went back to sleep.  DS woke at 5am, demanding mummy, so off i went.  I did feed him then to try get him back off, but only succeeded in keeping him in his room till 5.35 when we got up.

Today, have followed schedule again and he was shattered and asleep by 6.50pm, falling asleep on his milk, but wriggling enough to know I'd put him in his cot.  Hopefully we'll have another fullish night.  All I have to do is work on this early waking.

When you suggested keeping him in his room, did you mean in his cot, playing?

Sharon x

[andibig]

Sharon
wow sound like he is doing better already.
The early wakings will take a little longer to fix, they unfortunately don't go away straight away.
What we do with DD (and have done) is we have a set time when we get her up.We normally get her from her room around 7.30 (never thought i'd say that!!!).if she wakes earlier then she stays in her room till we get her.sometimes she may go back to sleep or some days she'll play with her toys or books etc.
Basically what you want to acheive is for him to stay in his room until you think it is an acceptable time to get up for the day.Because we started fairly early with sasha she is quite happy to stay in her room without needing mummy or daddy.
some people keep a sml box of toys at the foot of their  kids bed so if their LO wakes they can entertain themselves.
HTH

[Bubblegumbod]

Arghhh I spoke too soon.  Last night was dreadful.

Asleep by 6.50, but then woke very suddenly and loudly at midnight-ish.  Attempted to get him down several times, but he got more and more distressed, so DH intervened around 12.35 and took ds downstairs.  I know, I know bad move, I keep telling him that, but he seems to think that he settles better downstairs.  Anyway, ds was put back to bed around 1.20 but woke straight away and started to cry again.  I was so shattered, I though I'll leave him and see what happens.  I think it took him about 15 mins to calm and settle, only to bounce back again at 4am.  This time I fed him, both sides, partly as he was streaming with a runny nose and it was the only way I could settle him.  He then slept till 5.50 when he got up for good.

I found poor dh asleep on the sofa still!

I've kept him in the routine today, though he screamed the place down when I tried to get him down at 9.30 for a nap.  It took till 10.15 to get him settled and asleep.  He then had 1.5hrs and then 45 mins from 2.30-3.15.  He went down by 7.10.  So far, he's not woken, but I bet it's about midnight if he's going to, bless!

I'll get some toys out for him, but last time i did this he threw them all on the floor and called for me to get them, getting louder and louder.

Hey, it can only get better...can't it?

Sharon x

[andibig]

Aww Sharon

When Sasha had the most awful NWs (17-19 mths) we had a lot of regressions with her.basically we thought we had it sorted,relaxed and then the nws would start again.
My hunch is this is happening to your LO (ruling out illness) and this is the time to be consistent.Ok DH slipped up a bit by taking him downstairs-well you know it happens ,we are all human.
Other than that I'd  rule out teething just in case.
Have you got any toys you can attach to his cot.DD still has a light show which she'll press the buttons on.just a thought.

[Bubblegumbod]

I see what you mean about consistency, and I did speak to dh who agrees, thankfully!  Mind you he does think I'm cruel <g>  We've got some board books and possibly the lightshow, which is a good idea.  I don't think teeth is an issue.  I rub his gums before he goes to bed but he doesn't appear to wake because of that.

Last night was iffy too.  Asleep by 7.15 but up at 11.45 and I spent 1.5hrs on and off doing wi/wo.  He then went till 4am but managed to get him down in relatively short time till he got up at 5.40.

He seems to go down in the daytime for his naps much better than at night-time, but hopefully he'll soon get it.

Tonight, I went in/out 3 times before he settled which was better.  Let's see what tonight brings.

Sharon x

[Bubblegumbod]

Ok, Think we're getting somewhere!

Cody went down at 7pm after me going in only about 3 times.  He then slept till 2am.  I settled him in 5 mins, but after 10 mins he disturbed again.  After a further 10 mins of wi/wo he settled but only till 3.30!  I again did wi/wo probably 3 times and he slept till 6.25.  I know it doesn't sound that good, especially with the 2-3.30 short sleep, but he's never slept past 5-5.30 for the past 3 months, so at least that's a positive.

I'm beginning to feel like I may just get my life back.  Maybe I can even leave him to go out for the night.  Sounds strange, but he's been such a horror to get down, that we only go out to eat early evening and usually take him so we can get back for bed/bath routine.  We've never stayed away from him, not that I've really wanted to as I've only just stopped feeding him, but the option has come up for a night away in December, and if he's sleeping reliably, I may just go!

Trouble is, with some fairly decent sleep, I feel abd look much worse than I normally do. 

Sharon x

[andibig]

Thats great news sharon
remember baby steps.bear in mind originally he was waking a lot more at night so I think you have the right to feel positive about his sleep.

enjoy your night out in Dec .you know even if his sleep isn't any better (although Cody WILL be sleeping like a dream by then) i'd go anyway.let the person who is babysitting know how you settle him.usually DD slept better when i was away