I am tearing my hair out

[cmcgrath]

Would someone please tell me what to do!!! My boy as beautiful as he is does not like to sleep in his cot at night. As soon as I pick him up when he is crying - often about an hour after putting him to bed - he falls straight back to sleep. I know he obviously wants me, but I sometimes put him on the couch and he sleeps better there. He is 13 months old. I then have him in bed with me, but he still carries on every hour sometimes, half hour, even if I am cuddling him. He stiffens his little body and screams - even if I get up and am holding him. At times I almost drop him and if I put him down it doesn't stop. What is going on? I was at my mums for 10 days, and though he woke and ended in my bed as usual, he didn't do the kicking and stiffening thing, or crying thing. Could it be the bed, bedroomS? Can someone help me. I try a bottle and he has a couple of sucks which settles him for about half an hour and then it is on again. I can handle him in bed if he just slept without the drama that goes with it. :no: I need some advice. CC is not an option. I left him cry for about a minute tonight and it was horendous.
c

[V8]

I can totally sympathise i have many issues with my DS who is 13 months old. He won't sleep in his cot, if we manage to put him in his cot, he wakes about an hour or two later and then he's in bed with us. I tried for a while back to not pick him up and just keep putting him back in his cot and patting him, i would just sit or stand near his cot till he fell asleep. I was doing that for 3 hours one morning cause he just didn't want to sleep. It did work, but i wasn't persistant enough and we went overseas and it all went back to him sleeping in our bed again. I'm not sure why he won't settle while he's in bed with you, i'm lucky this does settle DS and we get some sleep. I really am not sure. I'd also try a night-light near his cot, anything really. Goodluck, i hope you find something that works, and if so, let me know! ;)

[OneBabyBoy]

Hi, this is just a suggestion and probably not it at all but do you think it could be reflux related?
My baby has mild reflux so I have done some research and one of the things is that its worse when they lie flat and that could be why he is waking all the time and also why it stops when he is being held. Sometimes my baby will wake suddenly in the middle of the night and be screaming because of the reflux.
Have a look at the rflux/wind/colic section and if you think its that see your gp. good luck :hugs:

[tomtom]

Maybe he needs to go in a single bed. Someone I know put they're 18mth old in a single bed because she kept waking herself up in the cot. Now she sleeps beautifully. They got some side rails so she doesn't roll out, and extra padding on the floor. I know there's a big developmental difference ( between 13 and 18 mths) but maybe this might help.

[Milliner]

I have no advise for you I am sorry but if you find an answer please let me know because my nearly 1 year old does the same thing every night! We have had abot 3 full nights sleep in a year and we are all tired.

[cmcgrath]

Thanks for your advice about putting BB into a bed. Did your friend's child move a lot in their sleep? Last night BB did not stop, I am forever grabbing him for fear of him crawling over the mountain of pillows and onto the floor. He is continually crawling and moving in his sleep.

[Nickster]

Hi mate, you sound like you're having a rough time of it.

Have you considered co-sleeping at all? We started at 12 months of age with DD, side-car-ed the cot to our bed, and it made such a difference to everybody - although she still woke, we all got a much better quality of sleep.:yes:

You can still have a single bed wedged up against yours - maybe you can invest in a safety rail - Babyco have them for about $50, although they're probably much cheaper secondhand.

All I can say is 'give it a go' and if it doesn't work, at least you know you've tried.

[cmcgrath]

Hi Nickster, thanks for your response. BB has been in my bed for 6 months. Dad is on the couch cause bb moves around son much in his sleep. He is restless as can be? Any ideas why? At times, he crawls on top of me while we are both asleep and starts crying - even when I get up with him in my arms. I am watering down his bottle cause he still thinks he wants one at night. I am at my wits end and missing my husband!!!! BB has a dummy which he is very attached to - just to add to the reasons why he wakes at night.
CC

[aaronismine]

The way you describe how he straightens his back and screams seems more like a tummy pain/wind like OneBabyBoy said. My SIL put some books under the legs of one end of her sons cot and he always slept well.

I have had ds in a single bed since he was 18mths. Its up against the wall with one of those body pillows along the wall and then our bed is pushed up next to his. He moves around alot when he sleeps and before we put him in a single bed he rolled off our bed twice (onto cushions strategically placed on the floor) He still moves around a lot but can't go anywhere. I often get up to go to the loo and he's lying with his head at the foot of the bed and i turn him round.

[aaronismine]

BB has been in my bed for 6 months. Dad is on the couch cause bb moves around son much in his sleep.

My hubbie spent 10months on the fouton in the lounge room for the exact same reason! DS kept kicking him? lol. Thats when we put the single bed in so at least hubby could sleep in the same room!

[cmcgrath]

LOL It feels so good to know that I am not the only one with this drama "aaronismine" What could cause a baby wind pain? Am I feeding him something that I shouldn't?

[aaronismine]

cmcgrath you could take him to the docs or a paediatrician and they might recommend you change formula's. My nephew went onto a soy formula because of his reflux and it helped heaps.

My ds when he was younger, would cry more when he didn't eat enough, now he's just a really restless sleeper (vivid dreaming runs in the family, lol!)

Putting him into a single bed didn't cure the restless nights and at first he didn't spend much of the night in the single bed. It just meant there was more room for all three of us to sleep without crowding (or falling off ourselves) and i wasn't worried about him rolling off the side of the bed. He still likes to crawl into bed sometimes first thing in the morning for a cuddle and drift back off to sleep.