My 14 month old son still does not sleep through the night. Any advice light of letting him "scream it out".

Answer 1

Here's how I did it with my daughter.

Put him to bed every night at the same time and the same way. Put him in bed say goodnight and leave, if he cries wait five minutes then go pat him on the back (do not pick him up). Say goodnight go back out, if he cries wait ten minutes, go back in pat him on the back (don't pick him up). Say goodnight go back out, if he cries wait fifteen minutes.... and so on. If he wakes up again in the night after this process of getting him to sleep then pat him on the back every fifteen minutes until he fall asleep again. I patted my daughters back until she was calm then waited fifteen minutes from when she started to cry again. This is a very hard process and it will take several days, I think I did it with my daughter for about eight days. You will not get much sleep and you will feel like giving in every time. But the pay off is great. My daughter is now 16 months, I put her in her crib at 8:00 every night and she goes right to sleep and doesn't wake up until 7:30 or so in the morning.

Good luck and don't give in, its for your son's benefit as much as your own.

Answer 2

What are you doing now? How well is it working for everyone?

A lot of parents have found a solution for a particular problem...then get tired of that particular solution and want a different one. Almost always, trying something different only makes the whole thing worse!!

It is *normal* for some children to continue to wake up at night after they are a year old. In fact, my 22 year old son doesn't sleep through the night either!! (The difference being that he also doesn't wake me up whenever he wakes up!)

Where does your son sleep? If he's in your bed, you could try putting him in another room. If you're not so close to him, he may sleep better (but not necessarily). If he's in a different room from you, try taking him into your bed. He may still not sleep more, but at least you can care for him when he wakes up without jumping out of bed and going to him.

Make sure his sleep environment is comfortable: Is he too warm? Too cold? (Change his sleepwear or move his bed to another part of the room.) Is there a loose spring in his bed that may be bothering him? Is there too much light in the room? (Darken it *completely*!!) Is he hungry or thirsty? (Nurse him once or twice more during the daytime.)

What are you doing to help him get back to sleep? That may give you a hint of why he is waking up... If he needs you to rock him or sing to him, he may need more attention during the day. Young toddlers sometimes get so busy when they're awake that they don't get the cuddling (or nursing) that they need, so they make up for it at night. Giving him more of *whatever* at 3 pm may mean he needs it less at 3 am!

Answer 3

My son (4th child) just turned 1 and he hates sleep. Kicks, screams, bites, pinches - it's terrible. He won't nap on a regular schedule or go to sleep at night and then wakes up about 3-4 times a night. No one sleeps. We're trying the security toy, heartbeat sound, patting the back, not picking him up, crying it out scenario. We even have his daycare working with us and she's struggling. Sorry I don't have any advice, just letting you know you're not alone.

Answer 4

Is the problem actually going to bed and falling asleep or is it waking in the middle of the night?

Most of the time these are 2 seperate situations and the advice for one would be totally different than the advice for the other.

Answer 5

does he wake up about the same time every night

if so then wake him up about 15 min before he usually wakes up just enough he knows you are there and comforting him
keep doing it 15-20 min earlier changing every 2-3 days until wake up time is close to bed time

It is usually a habit formed by children who get up to eat at night when they are babies this worked for both my kids
It took about 2 weeks for both but it was better then months of getting up and no crying

Answer 6

Does he use a pacifier? My daughter did. We discovered after we started weaning her from it that on the nights she fell asleep without it she did not wake up at night, and she did wake up on the nights she went to sleep with it. We realized that when she went to sleep with it she knew it was supposed to be there. She was then waking up and looking for it in bed. When she couldn't find it she would get mad and cry until one of us found it for her.

Answer 7

make a routine for him and stick to it. what works for us is

bath time
dry off/cuddletime
get pjs on
turn down the lights and read a story and cuddle
then bed time.

he will cry for alittle while but when he gets used to it you won't have to worry anymore. that's the only way he will learn. if you hold him and rock him to sleep you'll be doing it till he's 4. believe me. my friend went through that!

Answer 8

We've had to do that with my 19 month old a lot. You may try giving him a favorite blanket or toy or andthing that he may see as a security item. My son has a bear/Security blanket.

Answer 9

One of the things that I do is either I would sing to him or you can put some soft music or CD and that will ususally work, try it out I hope this is helpful to you.

Answer 10

Have you tried running the vacuum? I've heard numerous times how the sound is soothing to children, and my child never awoke when I ran the vacuum.