10 Month Old with Sleep ISSUES!

For my busy daughter who we found did the same thing at that age (she is now 15 months old and has been sleeping thru the night since about your sons age) we had to have white noise in her room to help lull her back to sleep...1st we added a cd player with a lullaby cd (we all happen to love Jewels new one for babies, it is beautiful) that alone helped but wasn't quite enough so we added a fan as well & she has slept thru the night ever since...the hardest part for me was to leave her in her bed, I always wanted to pick her up & comfort her & to keep her quiet so that the rest of our family could sleep, but once I told myself she was fine & was just checking to see if I was still in the house we both did better, so now if she ever wakes up I just go in her room & pat her bottom for a minute or rub her back to assure her I'm there but I never pick her up...she understands that as soon as I turn on her music & fan it is time for bed, we even use them during her daytime naps...I know every child is different, I wish you luck & a restful night in your future soon.

He should be able to sleep through the night. Check with your doctor. Does he have gas or reflux when he wakes up? Wet diaper? Try reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth. I borrowed a copy from library,

My son went through this between 8 months and 12 months old. He was a wonderful sleeper before then.

My advice is not to nurse him or rock him right before bed. It seems to get them into the habit of not being able to self soothe. If you do this at an earlier time, your other two kids might still be awake. As for the night wakings, you may have to let him cry a little for a few nights and see how it goes. He might eventually get into a pattern of being able to self soothe.

It was exhausting when I went through this and didn't have any other kids at the time. Good luck!

We used Dr. Weissbluth's book, too! My suggestion if you do end up letting him cry it out is to try a white noise machine (about $20 at Bed Bath & Beyond) or a humidifier in the rooms of your other kids to help muffle the sound of the crying. We still run humidifiers in our kids' rooms in the winter partially for this reason, and it works great! Good luck . . . sleep issues are the worst!

Hi there. I have some ideas for you that should work.

So - if is sleeping ok for naps, repeat the same version of putting him down when he wakes. So if you sing, or read a book, etc, do the SAME thing when he wakes so he knows it is time to go to sleep.
Also, leave him in his crib, but it does not mean you have to let him scream it out.
I used to put a stool/chair next to my daughter's crib, so when she woke in the night, I would lay down my upper body next to her, and rub her belly and talk to her softly. Sometimes I would fall asleep too!
But once she realized - no more food, no more getting out of her crib, she stopped waking.
I did this when taking her into our bed and feeding her stopped working - then I knew it was a - how to put herself back to sleep issue.
The first couple of nights it took about 90 minutes of me laying there. The third night 15 min. The next night - peace and quiet!

The only other thought I have is - how much sleep is he getting during the day? Too much day sleep might mean he is not tired enough to sleep through the night. Too little sleep might mean he is overtired and cannot sustain sleep.
Keep to a SET nap schedule, that helps.
Good luck!

Hi K.,

I'm sorry you're having these sleeping difficulties. Try these (maybe you already have?)--they have helped us. These, along w/ other great solutions can be found in the book, "The No Cry Sleep Solution". It doesn't sound like hunger:

1)Is he in irritating sleepwear?
2)Too hot? Cold?
3)White noise
4)Darkened room
5)A lovey
6)Encourage sucking fingers
7)A medical cause

It's possible he just misses you at night, but if co-sleeping isn't helping, I'm not sure...definitely try doing all you can to make his sleeping environment comfortable and see if that makes a difference, but it's always important to rule out a medical cause first.

Good luck!

K.,

Try the book "Sleeping thru the Night" by Jodi Mindell.

Good luck,
L. M

I understand you're tired and want to sleep, but I personally don't see anything wrong with a 10 month old waking up throughout the night. I've been there...I have a 3 year old son who has never been a good sleeper...AND we've co-slept since his birth. He would still wake during the night for whatever reason.

Your son is still small...perhaps he's getting teeth and that's irritating him. Maybe he wants his pacifier...maybe he's hungry? Perhaps his diaper bothers him...do you use baby powder at change times? That helps keep them dry (especially at night) and also helps to prevent diaper rash. It could be a number of reasons why he's waking up. Bad dream maybe?

I wouldn't worry too much...cuddle him closer at night, keep a pacifier near if he takes one...and if he wakes, soothe him back to sleep with a nice mom hug. My son likes to be cuddled close and he sleeps in the crook of my arm.

I know all children are different, but again, I see nothing wrong with a 10 month old waking. Some children just aren't sound sleepers when they're infants..and there's nothing wrong with that.

Good luck with everything and know you're not alone, plenty of other moms have babies that don't sleep through the night. :)

http://www.daniellewrites.webs.com

Hi there,
My sanity saver with any and all sleep issues I've encountered as a mom of 7 were solved by very closely adhering to the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He does use the cry it out method (for which he gives the best defense/explanation I have ever seen); however, if your only objection to this is that it will wake the others, I can tell you, from my experience, that after 2-3 nights of it, you will all be sleeping again. To me, it was always worth a few nights of interrupted sleep to get things on track. Good luck.

Hi!! First off, I'm completely agains ANY Cry it Out methods. They are very stressful for the entire family.

My oldest son only started sleeping through the night at 3 years old. He stopped nursing at night at 18 months, so it was not a night-weaning issue ( he still nursed during the day) My son would wake up at about every hour to nurse. I had to night-wean him at 18 months because I got pregnant and my poor boobs couldn't handle the extreme night nursing he demanded.

My daughter started sleeping through the night on her own at 2 years old. she night-weaned herself (still nurses during the day). I didn't have to do ANYTHING with her.

why did I say all that? because every baby is different.
it's totally normal for a 10 month old baby to wake up lots. Or to sleep through the night, or anything in between. He could be teething, he could be missing you, it could be a number of things. babies are babies, they don't need to learn to self-soothe, They need to know that mommy and/or daddy are there when they need you.

Try Dr Sear's website www.askdrsears.com and www.kellymom.com there is some great gentle advice.

it WILL get better with time! My family has always co-slept, and co-sleeping has helped my husband and I get more sleep.

So many of us have been in your shoes. So, you are absolutely right that your child can make it through the night in terms of hunger - our pedi told us that children make up during the day once they stop feeding at night, and that was when our son was 6 months old. You are not getting any sleep, but neither is your baby! He needs it. He needs to learn to self-soothe, starting now. Taking him into your bed leads to problems down the road, in my opinion - but in your case, it's not working anyway.

Our son did well with a white noise machine - we use one of those dust filters to get a double-use out of the purchase, but you can use anything. When he was little, he had a teddy bear that made a heartbeat sound - supposed to simulate the mother's heartbeat. Your son might be a little past that by now though. If he doesn't have a nightlight, you could use one, but I don't think that's what's going on.

We did not pick our son up (on our pedi's advice) nor did we feed him. We patted his back, said "Time for sleep" and just one or two other soothing phrases (you pick what works for you but just repeat those few things endlessly). We went in less and less frequently (10 minutes, then 15, then 25, etc.). Yes, it's a hassle, yes he cried, and no we didn't get much sleep for a few days. BUT no one was getting sleep up until that point anyway. We didn't feel it was cruel to have him cry it out because we weren't leaving him in there for hours with no attention - we just gave him the confidence to settle himself down, and he knew we loved him even if he wasn't getting what he wanted. (A good thing for him to internalize for his later years too!) Bottom line, he needs to learn to calm himself down and put himself to sleep - he can do this even though right now he doesn't seem to.

I would suggest that you choose a method you and your husband are comfortable with, and just DO it. Stay consistent no matter what. Maybe you could do this over the school vacation so your 5 year old isn't exhausted during school. Or have the 2 older kids stay with Grandma? Whatever works. But you cannot continue the way you are - it's not fair to the 10 month old even more than it's not fair to you and your husband. He can't grow, learn or have a decent relationship with his siblings if he is sleep-deprived.

Good luck - I know this is not easy but you will be glad you did it.

And by the way, I absolutely disagree with the suggestion to put baby powder in the diaper! Ask your pedi but ours told us it causes huge problems with yeast infections, and you do NOT need one more irritation in your child's life!