I have a 13 month year old and i cant get him to sleep through the night! Any suggestions?

Question

he wakes up at least 3 or 4 times a nite and im really not gettin any sleep at all! He has never slept through the nite!

Answer 1

Gosh sweetie, he should be sleeping through the night by now. I have two boys and the only advice I can give you, is what I have done. Make sure he isn't napping to close to bedtime, he will need to burn energy and get tired before a long nights sleep. Make sure he has a full belly when putting him down for the night. Now this is the hard part, it's going to tough, but the number one cause of him not sleeping through the night is habit.... he crys and you come tend to him. Gatta ignore him, listen to his cry and know the difference between a come and get me cry and a cry for help. After a few night of letting him cry himself back to sleep, this should all stop. I had to do this with my first son when I took his binky away, it was hard, but it worked. It's going to be hard mom, but you can get through this.

PS, No bottles in the middle of the night, it is the number one cause of tooth decay. Plus he is more likely to get wet and uncomfortable.

Answer 2

Some babies just do this forever. You may be doomed. Especially as he's so old, it's habit for him to wake up now.

However, there are a couple of things that worked for my sister. (She did these when her baby was just a few weeks old, though.) She was very, very careful to keep baby awake ALL DAY one day. No naps whatsoever. Baby was angry, baby was tired, baby cried and screamed through part of the day... but baby slept through the night. A few days of that a baby had a new habit. She could do the last feeding at about 10 pm and baby would sleep till 5 or 6 am.

Also, you might make SURE there is no caffeine or sugar getting to baby after 5 pm. (Or any other stimulants.) I also understand that a warm bath and a very soothing bedtime ritual might help.

Of course, I don't know what you've tried, so I hope this isn't redundant!

Answer 3

Sorry to depress you further! My son did not sleep through the night until he was about 3! (best contraception ever!!!) It now turns out that he has ADHD!

I tried everything! Keeping him up. Not letting him sleep during the day. Giving him fatter night-time nappies (so he was not wet). Just going in and telling him to go to sleep - no cuddles or attention. Making sure he had his teddy close by. Full bedtime routine (bath, story, sleep). - and all at the same time before people think I did one thing and gave up! Nothing worked until he decided he was going to sleep through!

Have a word with your Health Visitor to see if they have any new ideas that you have not tried yet

Warning!
The first time he sleeps through the night, you will be sure he is dead!!! It will take you a while to get used to it!

Do you have a partner so that he can take his turn? We used to take it in turns to get up. That way, each of us got a good night's sleep! If you don't, ask someone to have him a couple of afternoons a week so you can at least have about 3 hours' uninterrupted sleep to help recharge your batteries! Or put him in nursery (for the same reason)! Although it did not help with my son, I know it has helped with other children.

You do not say if you work. I hope not, if you are getting no sleep! But if you are, find out if there is someone from the Nursery who can come round one afternoon each weekend for you to catch up on sleep. Okay, so it will cost you, but it will be worth every penny!

I hope one of the ideas you get on Answers works - happy ZZZZZing!

Answer 4

I have a 13 month old son and I have the odd few nights where he is up about every hour so I can sympathise with you.

I only let me son have one sleep throughout the day and I try to keep this to the morning. The less he sleeps the more tired he will be come bedtime. My son gets a bath around 7pm, followed by a warm bottle of milk and is in bed no problem by 7.30pm and cuddles into his teddy bears.

I recently bought him a night-light for his room as I thought this would help if he woke during the night and found that it does.

I know when my sons went through the phase of waking up constantly and would try anything to see what worked. So my advice to you would be to try everything and see what works for your son as every child is different.

Good luck!x!

Answer 5

The main thing is that he is able to fall asleep on his own, then if he wakes up, he will just go back to sleep. Does he fall asleep on his own when you first put him to bed, or does he need rocking/feeding/cuddling etc to sleep? If he cannot fall asleep on his own , you need to get him to do this first. what do you do when he wakes up - do you feed him? If you give him milk, you could try giving him water instead so he's not waking up in order to get milk. make sure he's got a full tummy before bed, limit his daytime naps, and don't be afraid to let him cry. if you go for the crying method, you must be consistent. consistency is the most important thing so he knows where he stands. you can't let him cry for the first night, then give in to him the next. if he is crying, go into his room after 5 mins to settle him down and firmly tell him to go to sleep. then leave it another 10 mins and do the same again, then another 15 mins, then 20 mins. if you do it this way, it should take only 3 or 4 nights, a week at the most, to get it sorted.
I used a good book called "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr Richard Ferber. It talks a lot about what your child associates with going to sleep, and is really useful.

Answer 6

Here are golden rules, though may be difficult for first few days. I implemented these and am now much enjoying with my 2 yr old baby.

Rule#1 : Make sure baby is dry and well fed throughout the night.
Rule#2 : Whenever baby wakes up during night, DO NOT talk to him.
Rule#3 : Do not swicth on lights when he wakes up in night.
Rule#4 : Do not make any eye contact with him, even if youhave to change nappy etc.
Rule#5 : Never ever lift him up to soothe him during night unless he is unwell.

Bottom line is, the baby should understand that once it is dark, it is long sleep time. And babies learn fast. In first few days, everything will settle and you live happily ever after.

Answer 7

I have had two children and both didn't have day naps after they where able to sit up ! They where kept busy all the time
sitting on the kitchen floor playing with pots and pans,making a racket with a wooden spoon,or being carried in a sling while doing
housework.
At 7 pm it was bath time mum or dad got in the bath and played with them
while they couldn't sit alone .That routine they kept up through all
their school years,of course times changed over the years but the routine stayed the same !
Both slept through the night all their baby -and childhood !
They are 15 years apart in age and well adjusted people ! Good luck !

Answer 8

When my daughter was that age I had the same problem with her till I changed her formula. She was not getting enough protein and as soon as I handled that; she slept like an angel the night through!
Other possible difficulties are to do with their sleep schedule during the day; I pretty much followed her sleep/eat habits and ensured that she was dry, and didn't have any wind in the tummy - that was a big problem early on.
And, I found that sometimes, she just wanted a cuddle! (another point that was significant was that if I was over-tired and grumpy or there was something wrong at home, it did have an effect on her too....like they can sense your tone and react to it.)

Answer 9

Yes - let him cry it out. It will kill you, but after a little while he will go back to sleep on his own and eventually sleep through the night. Crying does not hurt him. It does, however, hurt you emotionally. Remember, when he starts crying it is YOU that is having an emotional response. He will be just fine.

Read "Baby Wise". It is a great book about sleep patterns, etc. The person who wrote it was a little more regimented than I chose to be. However, I used the principles of the book and our little guy started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old.

Hope you get everything sorted out soon and can get some rest! It is hard to go without sleep!

Answer 10

I have a 12 month old baby who is just sleeping through............how I did it....I stopped breast feeding 2 weeks ago and the first night without she took 2 hours to settle (stay calm and just keep returning at longer intervals, singing twinkle twinkle, quick cuddle then leave the room) she then only woke once in the night (quick cuddle, twinkle twinkle then back to bed). Once you have set a good bedtime routine ie 6pm bath and quiet play, 6.30pm pjs and a book or quiet song, 6.45pm into bed then leave the room returning at 5min-15min intervals until settled It will get easier. You need to be consistent and calm (hard but stick at it) . If bed time is 6.45-7pm then last nap of the day should end by 3pm (my daughter naps 9-10ish the again 1-2.30/3ish). Try and stick with the routine until your baby is sleeping well and is happy to go into his bed, then you can start giggling it about to suit your social life but you will get more sleep, I promise.