Sleep help desperately needed

[nancybotwin]

DS (13 months) has never been a great sleeper and over the past 2 weeks it's gotten even worse.

He will wake up around 4:40. I go to him and nurse him. When I put him back down he will stay down for 20 min and then he cries again. At that point if I nurse he will sleep on me (he is still tired) but if I put him back down he just cries.

I've let him cry but he doesn't go back to sleep.

Am I doomed to be up at 4:40 the rest of my life??? Q

[lilac05]

What time does he go to bed? How much does he nap during the day?

I find my boys both sleep longer in the morning if they had good naps during the day and went to bed early. Have you recently tried to drop a nap?

[Deleted]

Are you open to full on CIO? I did it with my dd and I didn't go in anytime before 7am (she was a bit older). I guess I would have gone in if she cried for more than 20 minutes straight but she never did. Is he maybe cold? Sleeping with you he's all nice and warm so maybe when you lay him down he's cold?

[pierogigirl]

Short answer: maybe

I have 2 early risers. 5:00- 5:15 is their normal wake up time. Occasionally one or both will try to wake up before 5. 6:00 is late and very, very rare. They are 3 and 5 years old.

ETA:  I'm sorry and it is hard.  I have found that it does get easier and that I am more of an early bird myself, now.  I'm probably so tired that I just don't notice it as much and I also go to bed pretty early (usually by 10, but often earlier).

[greycat]

DS is like this. Most days he is up by 5a (this week he slept until 6a several days and it was heavenly). The amount / quality of naps and nighttime sleep doesn't really seem to change this. We had to do a little CIO around 18-19 mo to get him to 5a consistently.

Hugs! I'm an early riser myself and it isn't easy.

ETA- my kid doesn't like cosleeping but would happily sleep on me while I sat in the glide.

[Deleted]

Molars are a bitch if you're doing that right now. I'd give advil at that wake up if it's even maybe teeth.

[gibbinator]

Can you try bedsharing at the 4:30 wake-up (side lying nursing him to sleep) and kick your dh out? Then when he's done nursing you don't have to move him.

I sympathize though, ds1 used to think 5am was the perfect time to be up for the day, from about 8-15 months. And he's doing it again at 2.5yrs.

[formerlyllizzyb]

We had the exact same issue. I weaned at 15.5 months and the wake ups finally stretched to 5:45-6:15 by 17 months.
ETA: we tried everything to get rid of that wake up. Nothing worked except weaning and time.

[Deleted]

bedshare? have DH go instead of you?

[nancybotwin]

Thank you everyone.

We are open to full CIO but he will cry for 45 min-hour with no signs of going back to sleep.

At this point I've just been getting comfy in the glider and letting him be. I don't think he wants to be up yet - he's exhausted. I'll try Advil just in case.

He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7, and he still does two naps.

Sigh. Maybe this is just my new life.

[spk926]

Nov 29, 2014 21:34:44 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

Thank you everyone.

We are open to full CIO but he will cry for 45 min-hour with no signs of going back to sleep. The first few nights of CIO a baby very well could cry that long. I promise you though if you read the book and follow "the plan" he won't cry for an hour+ every night.

At this point I've just been getting comfy in the glider and letting him be. I don't think he wants to be up yet - he's exhausted. I'll try Advil just in case.

He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7, and he still does two naps. At 13 months he might be ready to drop to one nap a day. Some babies are and some aren't at that age but it's worth a shot.

Sigh. Maybe this is just my new life.

[formerlyllizzyb]

Nov 29, 2014 21:34:44 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

Thank you everyone.

We are open to full CIO but he will cry for 45 min-hour with no signs of going back to sleep.

At this point I've just been getting comfy in the glider and letting him be. I don't think he wants to be up yet - he's exhausted. I'll try Advil just in case.

He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7, and he still does two naps.

Sigh. Maybe this is just my new life.

This sounds exactly like us.

I forgot to to add that we also switched him to one nap right when I weaned at 15.5 months. I think that helped too.