Sleep problems

[Christina]

Hi,
My seven month old son Cassius cries almost every night when I put him to sleep.
I thought that he whould have grown out of it by now but he hasn't. I think that I am doing something wrong and I feel terrible for letting him cry himself to sleep. If I pick him up I end up arguing with my partner because he thinks we shouldn't give in to his cries because he is going to be spoilt. Do you have any tips on how I can help him go to sleep without crying?

[mamafelix]

Hi Christina

A friend recommended a book "the no cry sleep solution" NOT controlled crying, meant to be good?
here's a link to the website: www.pantley.com/elizabeth/content/sleepbooksummary.htm

I don't think it's possible to spoil a baby...

[xkwzit]

Hi
I thought I'd let you know that our first did not like to go to sleep alone for the entire first year of her life. We would be happy when she dropped off during her last feed so that we didn't have to "put her to sleep". However, when she was about a year old, suddenly she was able to drop off by herself. It was like a light switch! We didn't try any specific technique, we just were doing what we'd always done; put her down awake, leave when she was calm (go straight back in because she'd cry as soon as she was left!), creep out again once her eyes were closed...

Our second baby is completely different, is quite happy to go to sleep alone in her cot (even during the day!) :)

They're all different and change all the time

[milkshake]

Hi there :)

Just want to let you know that you're not alone...

My baby boy is 9 months old in 2 more days, and has NEVER slept through the night at all! :eek: He also hates being put to sleep in his cot. We've tried everything. Right now he is asleep in his cot with some music on (nursery rhymes), but I had to rock him to sleep first! My problem is keeping him asleep right through the night..

I am sooooo desperate for sleep, :( ANY tips would be a great help for me aswell!

Well, bye for now, and I hope things get better for you :rolleyes:

[cait]

HI, I have just joined after reading some posts last week. I am having some problems with my son Zachary who is 6 months. He was sleeping through the night until about two months ago and is now up at least twice a night. The child nurse is encouraging me to try controlled crying as I always feed him to sleep and have recently been taking him into our bed. I am not really keen on leaving him to cry and was wondering if anyone has a different approach that has worked?? I am at my wits end from lack of sleep and then going to work and end up doing whatevery works the best....breastfeed to sleep in our bed. I know this is not working in the long term and am getting desperate for help. I have seen a lady named Tizzie mentioned. Can anyone tell me more about her and how to contact her??
Thanks for listening to the rant of a sleep deprived mum!! :(

[Miss_Vicki]

I found when my little younger think she was about 1-2 she dicided she didnt like the dark , but took me a while why she was cryin when i put her to bed, wasnt somethin that happen alot but then i got some baby lulabyes cd's an put them on an a night light , its helped alot an she still some times likes her lulabye cd on , they say music to sleep can effect your dreams or something , but she dreams an sleep talks no matter what :p :p

[michele]

Hi Cait,

If you take a look at this months BubHub news letter Tizzie has written an article. Her contact details are www.saveoursleep.com.au I have used her and she is amazing. Tizzie will get you sleeping. You are welcome to P.M me. from Michele.

[Gemma]

Hi all,

I don't know if our first year of sleeping stories will help but I'll blab anyhow.

Grace didn't sleep at all for the first six week unless she was on my chest on the couch. CHN wanted me to do control crying on her at 3wks, she lost trust in me which took 2wks to regain. At five wks I decided to try bathing her in a dark room and then feed her in the dark room and put her down...she then would stay in her newborn cot during the night waking for feeds but going back to her cot after each feed instead of on my chest (this was for last feed of day, before I went to bed, which was about midnight). I continued this for 8wks and then she worked out dark = night = sleep.

Eventually she dropped feeds and slept a 10hr night (I was so happy)

At 7mths she started waking 3-4 times every night, CHN said she was becomming more aware of her environment and it should pass. It did not pass. In the end I was giving her 1/2 - 1 bottle at about 2-3am so she would go back to sleep for me. I kept doing this for 3mths then she decided after that 2-3am feed she didn't want to go back to the cot...no I want mummies bed! So from 9mths to 12 mths we have had her in the bed with us from 2-3am...and we don't get much sleep with her with us.

At 12mths my Dr told me to completly stop that extra feed as she was getting too much milk...and I thought how in hell am I supposed to get her to sleep now??? We ended up with her with us from 2am but it would take 1-1&1/2hrs for her to settle in our bed...not happy Jan!

At 13mths she was really sick and threw her sleep routines out the window. When she was a bit better she didn't want to go to bed any earlier than 10:30-11:30 at night which was fine with us as we don't go to bed till 11:30/midnight most nights.

When she went to bed late she slept through!!! And it hit me....When she was 0-6mths old she would go to bed at 10:30pm even later as it fit in with our family routines, but at 7mths she started daycare and at 9mths she started crawling so she was tired earlier and as such when to bed at 7:30-8:30pm, and that is when the broken sleep in the night started!!

So she now goes down late and sleeps through. Both my husband and I are saine and all is happy.

HTH someone. The other things that would throw out the sleep was teething, being sick, not eating enough during the day, so waking early, being too hot (she is a hot sleeper), but they were transient things.

The other problem we had, at 9mths she started wanting to be rocked to sleep by me, not dad, every sleep time (day or night). I wasn't able to resolve this issue until about a month ago. She loves to take cushions off our couch and lie on them if she is tired, or watching TV. She would also fight me for my pillow when we co-slept. So I got her her own cot pillow (for going to sleep only). She will lie on it to settle herself and once asleep I take it out. She will take 5-15 mins to settle and since I started with the pillow she hasn't been rocked once!!!

Good luck everyone.