My adorable 15 month old baby boy will NOT sleep through the night in his bed. He has been taking one nap a day for about 1.5-2 hours. We rock him to sleep at 8:30 and sometimes it can take up to 2 hours for him to fall asleep. He then wakes up within minutes of being in his bed. We will rock and then put him back in his bed. We can do this up to three times and the we give up and put him in our bed where is fine and sleeps through the night. How can I break this habit without having him cry it out?
I have an almost 14 month old DD who is the same way! All she has to do is see her crib and the screaming starts! I have tried CIO, but she will stand and cry for hours and hours and never give in.
Most nights she is in our bed - and her 4 year old sister!
UG!
Just wanted to say I can relate and it is no fun!
Have you tried a sound machine or music at night? Our child loves both of these things. Sometimes we will put some books for him to look at it. Then, we go back in later and take them away. Does he have an animal or some cuddly toy/blankey to sleep with?
I would try reading a lot to him before you go to bed. Talk about going to bed soon after dinner. Maybe cut back a little on the nap during the day, maybe that will help. If this doesn't help, you may want to get him checked out by the Dr. to make sure nothing else is going on.
Try giving him something to drink. That's all I can think of. Hope this helps.
I dont know what you could do that would keep him from crying.. Not that crying is a bad thing.. it only breaks our hearts.
You need to get a routine and stick with it even if he does get unhappy... He will not be traumatized by you making him go to his own bed and sleep..
Make it as enjoyable as possible.. a good bath, a book or two special teddy bear special blanket.
good luck
I have to say, I feel you girl. Been there, I think the biggest thing that helped my daughter was this big thick mattress pad that my Mom bought for her bed because she thought part of her sleeping problem was how hard her mattress was. She bought an expensive twin mattress foam topper and we cut it up to fit the baby bed (ugh... I hated cutting that expensive thing all to pieces), but it helped. She started sleeping better after that, we also before that did the cry method. The most horrible thing, yuck, I would leave the house and watch a dvd player in the car until my hubby would come get me. I couldn't do it other wise and it was my husbands brilliant idea, so he could stay and listen to her, fine! It didn't take any time at all. Anyway, it saved my sanity, my 20 month old sleeps through the night for the most part and we are both getting quality sleep. Anyway best of luck to you and hang in there.
I know that you are going to hate this, but I would really really suggest buying the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth. The pediatrician that wrote the book has some really sound advice. I constantly refer back to it for my 13 month old, and he has become a wonderful sleeper. He used to REALLY stink at it but is awesome now (12 hours at night and 4 to 5 hours of naps during the day--no soothing, just straight to bed--it was a lot of work on my part though). I think that the biggest thing is to be consistent with WHATEVER you choose to do, but when all else fails, go to the experts...Good luck!
I wonder about mattress pads for kids mattresses. My little guy sleeps on a regular mattress on the floor cause we moved a lot and didn't have a crib for the longest time. He's still breastfeeding so he doesn't sleep through the night, but it seems like the baby mattresses are loud and uncomfortable. Maybe try some extra padding so it feels more like the big bed? Not too much, but enough to be a little more comfy; and maybe give him something to sleep with that smells like you. Good luck!
