Author Topic: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?  (Read 1716 times)

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Offline cdechery

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1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« on: April 22, 2017, 20:43:15 pm »
Our baby has just turned 1 year old, and for the past 4 months his night sleep worsened tremendously. We need help! :-[

When he was about 2.5mo he started to sleep all night. We were blessed. He slept at 8pm and woke at 6am, with a few surprise wakes here and there, and a couple of periods where he would wake at 5am etc. But other than that, his night sleep was solid and we relied on it.

It all worsened when my wife went back to work (after a 10month leave). His nights became very agitated. He started waking up a lot.

The thing with the stroller is that from a very early age, he absolutely hated when we tried to make him sleep on our shoulders and arms. He would fuss and fight and scream. When breastfeeding wasn't enough to get him sleepy, we had no alternative but to use the stroller. Hi didn't like the sling (i.e. swaddle) at first too. He later accepted it, but it was not always that it would work. The stroller became our main tool to put him to sleep - daily naps that is.

At night we never had any trouble getting him to sleep. He has a very good and solid routine. He sleeps at the same time everyday, and we keep the routine wherever we go. It never takes more than 30min to get him sleeping. But lately... he wakes up, screaming. Most of the time, a few taps on his back is enough to get him to sleep again, other times, we need to pick him up, and now, more often than not, a bottle (or two!) is necessary. And then there are episodes like last night... where he just won't sleep, no matter what we do. Last night it took us 2h30 to get him to finally sleep - only to wake up 1h30 later. We're exhausted.

We haven't tried any sleeping method with any level of perseverance yet. We only tried it on ocasion and the results were not that encouraging. When we put him on his cot awake, he immediately stands up and thinks we're playing. In the middle of the night, he won't settle and keeps chaning positions. It only works if we put him down asleep, or at least 90% asleep.

Any tips for how we can start a method, and which one?
« Last Edit: April 22, 2017, 20:59:31 pm by cdechery »

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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2017, 07:41:12 am »
Hello and welcome to BW forums

To me it sounds like your LO might be teething.  To go from sleeping well at night to having these multiple and long NWs (night wakings) could be routine and/or down to not having had some sleep training but at 1yo there can also be a huge amount of movement going on in the mouth to disturb sleep.
My own DS was an independent sleeper but even so he was in pain and had disturbed nights almost constantly from 1yo to 2yo - it was an exhausting year for me!
Have you tried some paracetamol or ibuprofen before BT or in the night to see if it helps?


Offline cdechery

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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2017, 12:07:57 pm »
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I don't think it is teething because there are absolutely no signs of any teeth. Also, if it was, wouldn't it bother him during the day? He's an angel during the day: smiles and play.

As for the sleep training, would you suggest that I'd try?

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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2017, 18:35:10 pm »
Teeth do move quite a lot before they actually start to cut, the cutting for my DS was the worst part but honestly just the movement (that I couldn't see) was also very disruptive to sleep.
Teething can also be far more bothersome at night than it is in the day. Partly because they are many more distractions in the day to take mind off pain and partly because laying down puts pressure on the gums which is also for a much longer period at night.

Sure, I am a big BW fan and believe it is in everyone's interests to sleep train :)  Do note though that for anything more "full on" than the gentlest of sleep training your LO does need to be in good health.  You can't sleep train away teething, it's part of development.
If you are sure your LO is not teething then yes go ahead.  We only use methods here where parents support their LOs with sleep training and do not use any form of CC or CIO (controlled crying or cry it out).

Have you any of the information on sleep training for older LOs?
Here is a place to start:
Toddler Specific Sleep Training Advice
(do let me know if any of the links don't work - we moved servers just a couple of days ago and may have one or two broken links or glitches)


Offline cdechery

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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2017, 20:29:21 pm »
We're pretty sure there no teething on sight. His doctor said so, and also my sister in law, who is an orthodontist.
Also, he doesn't seem to be in any kind of pain or distress when he wakes up. The only thing is that he fights sleep a lot, he shows all the signs that he's tired and drowsy, but will simply not fall asleep without our help. Usually takes about 10min, but it can easily go to 40min up to two hours or more.

Now that you mentioned it, I'm scared of when his teeth finally comes out. We will never sleep again.  :-\

Also, what do the acronyms mean? The topic that lists it is blocked to me somehow.

Thanks again,
Christian

Offline Shiv52

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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2017, 09:08:29 am »
Can you post what your day looks like?

Reading through it seems like youve obviously a huge prop issue and your LO doesn't know how to go to sleep without help both to get to sleep and to get back to sleep if he wakes. 

But your routine needs to be pretty good to tackle sleep issues so let's look st that first.





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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2017, 17:59:45 pm »
Also, what do the acronyms mean? The topic that lists it is blocked to me somehow.
this is a glitch since our move to the new server - it is now locked to me too. I'll raise it as needing fixing.


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Re: 1yo with a bad stroller sleep habit - how to fix it?
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2017, 18:44:50 pm »
here are the few we've used and a few you might need:
BW baby whisperer
LO little one
DS darling son
EASY eat activity sleep you
WU wake up (morning)
BT bed time
NW night waking
NF night feed
OT over tired
UT under tired
PUPD pick up put down