I just want him to sleep thru the night !

[krystalgypsy]

My baby is 15 months old now...just started to walk. Im having a bit of a delema. We consider ourselves natural parents as we give homoepathic medicine, still breast feed and we co-sleep. We have recently bought him a new bed which sits beside ours, so its just like one big bed for all of us. He loves his new bed but he still wakes up in the night. I feed him back to sleep and this was great for a while...but now im feeling tired from broken sleep and sometimes it feels as if he is feeding constantly from about 3am on. Im really becoming frustrated now as i still want to sleep with him next to us...but i want him to sleep all night thru. Both my husband and myself are waking up tired every morning and its starting to take its toll in a big way.

How and when do you decide to stop co sleeping? and how do you get them not to be so 'boobie' dependant? Im hoping that someone may have some suggestions of which i could try.

[the_queen]

I don't have any suggestions, just wanted to give you some hugs :hugs: you sound stressed. Will he take EBM in a bottle? I suggest that because perhaps you and hubby need a weekend to yourselves, or even just a night. Can grandma or godparents or someone take him for one night, just so you can get 12 hours of unbroken sleep?

hugs to you mate :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

[krystalgypsy]

Thanks for the hugs !! He wont take a bottle at all. I would like to start to wean him now.

[neeky]

when he goes to bed do you go to bed?
our health nurse told us just to wake our son up for a top up feed a couple hours after he's gone to sleep to help him sleep thru, and see if that helps then slowly just stop doing it. so he started having more feeds in the daytime so he'd be fuller overnight.
but we were bottle feeding so i dunno if any of that is any help to you.
good luck:fingerscrossed:

[meme]

it just gets so tiring sometimes , i found with my dd2 that i reached a point where i just didn't want to feed her at night anymore.
so i just weaned her off the night feeds, but kept feedign her during the day. she was in my bed and there were some tears, but i felt she could understand when i told her no more * boo* until morning. i would say it's sleep time and if she wanta to feed i would ask her if she was thirsty and offer her water, or if she wanted a cuddle she could as i was right there.

i got less sleep for a little while until she adjusted. but it was nice to not feed at night anymore.

i hope you find some extra zzzz's:thumbsup:

[Funkychicken]

Just wanted to send you some :hugs: and a few :sleeping: . Our first DS was a bit like this but we weren't co-sleeping by then. I got Dh to go to him at 3am for a few nights with some water in a sipper cup. He didn't think much of that but after 3 nights he stopped waking. DD self-weaned so no worries there and I ahve to say it was really nice to wake up with her in the mornings after we had all had a full nights sleep. Current DS bub? Well, we are not near that stage yet, so have no idea what will happen!

[krystalgypsy]

Thanks for your advice guys !! I will try the 'top up' a few hrs after he goes to bed. He is only having one sleep per day usually around 11am and he sleeps sometimes 2 hrs...but usually 1/2 - 1hr. Im frightened to put him to bed again in the afternoon because he doesnt go to bed at night if he sleeps in the afternoon. By that time i want my space and REALLY want him in bed. They say that you should make sure they have at least 2 sleeps during the day if they are not sleeping all night thru. He goes to bed a 6pm...is this too early? maybe this is why he is waking earlier.

Maybe i should get him into 2 sleeps per day...then put him to bed later and then top him up before i go to sleep. He is understanding almost everything now....so if i tell him no more boobie til the morning he will understand now.

Thanks for your advice...i will let you know how i go. :hugs:

[tanni_83]

I truely think that for a 15mth old 6pm is a bit too early. I suggest letting him have another sleep at about 3 and then maybe letting him stay up a bit and make bed time about 7 or 8. My dd is 15mths and she doesnt go to bed till 10 most nights...tiring, but she sleeps longer in the mornings most the time so i dont mind. Plus im an owl lol

HTH Tanni :hugs:

[MamaSage]

Have a look at Elizabeth Pantleys' book, "The No Cry Sleep Solution" for toddlers. It has some gentle methods to try and get older babies to sleep unassisted.

[Mum&bubs]

Hey honey dont have any advice as my 16 month old DD is the same. The only thing we have tried is giving her a bottle at night as well as breastmilk. This usually fills her up a bit more. :hugs: Hope we both can have a full nights sleep soon!

[MamaSage]

Maybe try sleeping with your husband between you and the babe. That way he can settle him when he wakes, and he will not be able to smell you. Some friends of mine have an 18 month old and have had some success with this arrangement.

[miss_moe]

Just wanted to pop in and tell you of my current experience. Maybe a bit long winded

Background.
Up until last week DD (who is 15months next week) had gone to sleep either rocked (up until 9months) or laying with us on our bed, then transfered asleep to her cot, which is next to our bed. Since having 1 bf/ night the situation was that she would wake around 1am - we brought her into our bed then she'd wake again around 4am when I would bf, then back to sleep till morning.

I :o decided. Yes I admit it was me :o :o and not her. So disclaimer .... a parent led approach. I decided she no longer needed a bf a night and she could wait until morning - for us is any time from 5.30-6.30am.

She is also just transitioned to 1 sleep/ day - for about 1.4hours from 11.30am. Meaning bedtime is currently about 6-6.30pm.

To start with we do the same pre-bed routine. Day sleep: read for 20min in lounge room, lullaby then bed. Night: dinner, bath, massage, lullaby, bf, bed.

Though instead of laying on our bed I now put her in her cot which is next to the bed and I lay on our bed next to her. I use the same ques ie Lay down, its time to sleep. And she falls asleep in cot. First time did take an hour but now is between 10-20mins. Now during the night I use the same cues, if she wakes right up and stands I lay her down, lullaby and tell her its time to sleep. Sometimes she just needs the cues or shhhhh.
So this started last monday and now she is no longer waking at 1am. Though will either stir and need cues at 4.30am or need me to lay her down and hold her hands and may be awake for awhile before going back to sleep.

So in answer to your qu from my personal experience only

How and when do you decide to stop co sleeping? Don't know. We don't co-sleep in same bed anymore but still sleep in same room.

How do you get them not to be so 'boobie' dependant? For me this was my decision not to feed at night time anymore and instead use bed time 'cues' rituals whatever you want to call them.

Anyway best of luck