I need help with baby sleep problems!?!?

Question

I am 7mon. pregnant and I have a 11mon. old. Its hard enough to get to sleep and stay to sleep but i can't keep him out of my bed. We put him to sleep everynight but as soon as he hits his bed he is right awake again. I try to put him in his bed several times a night but after 15 or 20 times and hours of fighting this i'm so exhausted i just can't stand it and i let him stay in bed with us just so i can get some sleep. No matter what time he goes to bed he is ready to play at 5:30am everyday.He still is not sleeping througfh the night even in our bed. i have tried letting him cry it out but that really makes me sad and he could go for hours. Also he will not sleep in his crib for naps... If he even taks one!!! IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE HELP!!!!! I can for see a bigger problem soon with the new baby coming.
~HELP PLEASE~

Answer 1

Well, I know it's extremely hard and seems very cruel...but you should really let him cry. If you know that all of his needs have been met, and it's time for him to go to bed then he will learn eventually to fall asleep in his crib. Trust me, it doesn't take a long time for this to happen. He has learned that he gets his way if he is crying. You are right that this needs to stop now before the new baby comes. I don't know if you put music on for him, but this helped both of my boys fall asleep. You might want to try that. Good luck, it really is the best way to get him to learn to fall asleep when you put him to bed.

Answer 2

When my son was a baby I let him sleep with me until he was almost 3...I had no idea what I was in for when I got pregnant with my middle child...but, what I did to get him out of my bed was to set up a "special mat" on my side of the bed for my son to sleep on and every few nights I moved it farther and farther away from me and closer to his bed...it was a struggle...I hated to see my little one cry, but if I hadn't broke him of sleeping with me I would have been the one crying...because I was totally nuts dealing with two kids...good way to get him tired enough to sleep is to not let him take a nap at all if it's after 2 or 3 p.m. and stand firm...you're the Mom...it's gonna be okay...I promise...just don't let any more babies sleep with you...even if you want them to...it's not worth it...after the situation with my son neither of my younger two children slept with me...it was too tough watching what my son went through and I didn't want to do that to the younger ones...I have 3...11,7 & 4 yrs old and not a one suffered from not sleeping with me...they need to learn that independence...good luck!

Answer 3

Okay, first, he's throwing the fits, because it gets him what he wants. I know it's heartbreaking to let them cry it out, but you might just HAVE to. I developed my own, cry-it-out technique that I used with my two boys. I don't know if it helped them, but it helped me cope with it.

1) put him in bed, reassure him that you love him, you'll see him first thing in the morning, give him a big big hug, as kiss and lay him down, leave the room
2) at first, wait 5 minutes. (in a few days you an choose to wait a bit longer, but I wouldn't wait over 10) if he's still crying, you go back and repeat step one.
3)continue to repeat step one, until he falls asleep. If you give in, like he expects you to, it will not work. Within a week or two, both my boys were falling to sleep within the first 5 minutes.

If this fails to work for you, you still need to get him out of your bed. Before I did the cry-it-out thing, for my oldest. I can remember sitting in the floor, next to his crib,holding his little hand, and singing him to sleep. You don't want the co-sleeping to get carried away. My little brother slept in my mom's room until he was 11! He would not could not, sleep in his own room. When he had friends stay the night, he waited until they fell asleep, and then went and slept in he mother's bedroom floor. (Weird, I know.) The only time I allow my children to sleep in my bed is when they're sick, when they don't feel good. They need extra loving then, so I don't feel too bad about it. Good luck, and I hope it works for you too. You're just going to have to stand your ground on this one. Toddlers are stubborn, you're going to have to get hardheaded with him.

Answer 4

where's dad in this??? when you get tired you should be able to say "tag, you're it". that's teamwork.

if you do it together, then he will eventually get the picture. also, at 11 months it will not hurt him to cry about it. it will be hard and when he cries, still go in to check on him so he knows you are there, but don't pick him up. just sit in his room until he falls asleep, then move closer and closer to the door each time until he gets used to sleeping in his room alone.

as for the naps....i can't help you there. my guy will sleep in his crib at night without any problems, but he hates napping in his crib. he prefers being held or in his swing for a nap.

take care.