My son has been practicing walking now for about 2 months. He goes down at 930 and wakes up at 12am, 4am, 7 am ant then 9 am. E-v-e-r-y single night. How many months did it take for your baby to resume his/her normal sleeping habits during the transition? I just want to sleep before our next son comes (DD is on the 11th)! I know every baby is different but a little hope would be great. Thanks.
*Addition- He sleeps in our bedroom.
There is no other option. The other room HAS to be an office. We just moved very far away from my finacees job so I could stay at home with the two babies and the rent is half of what we were paying before. We can't move because we cant afford a bigger place. I also want to add that my son was sleeping through the night until he started taking steps and since I had read that learning to walk causes sleep disturbances. I simply posted this to see how long other mothers had this problem with sleep disturbances since I have no friends with children this is my only way to communicate with other moms. His sleeping and schedule are A LOT better now that I am moving his bed time up earlier than they used to be when I let him do whatever he wanted. Thanks for your input.
My little girl is 13 months and learning to walk too. We finally decided that we were not going to go get her at night. The first night dad went in and told her it was ngiht-night and laid her back down. The second night we didn't go in at all. By the 4th night she was back to sleeping through the night and we are ALL much happier. This isn't for everyone, but once we were desperate enough it worked for us.
I have never heard that babies all of a sudden wake up in the night when they start walking...? First of all, he should be going to bed earlier. Little ones need their sleep! Also - get him on a routine during the day and make sure he is eating meals...that way he won't need to wake up at night. Also - he really shouldn't be sleeping in your room at that age...you should have a bedroom for you and your husband! When the new baby comes, she will be in there as well, and that is definitely not a habit you want to start - two kids in there with you at all times! And especially if the NB wakes the 1 year old! My 14 week old baby sleeps more than your son - and I'm sure he needs his rest if he is going to have energy to walk with! If I were you, I would put him in his own room, ignore him when he wakes up if he is just making noises...if he starts crying, then just go in there after 5 minutes, console him, then put him right back to bed....then the next time wait 10 minutes, then 15, and so on....he will get the picture. It's night time, not snack time, play time, or any other time.
Kimberley's answer got me wondering, so I looked up some of your other posts.
It *seems* to me that you are letting your son rule the roost. I don't know what 'attachment' parenting is (other than a quick look-up), and whether that is having any affect, but it seems that parents that raise their kids the old-fashioned way without a strict philosophy behind it have kids that sleep better and are better adjusted to a schedule. Put him down at 8 while he's still awake in his own room. If he doesn't like it - tough. If he wakes up - let him cry. I know this sounds heartless, but a 13 month old boy does not need consolation or food 3 times a night. Most newborns don't even wake that much. He's waking because he's in the habit of waking and he knows he'll get attention when he does. Kids stop waking up when you stop responding to it, at least, all the kids I've known (and I've known a lot).
I know you like the philosophy with which you have chosen to raise your child (otherwise, why would you do it?), but if you don't change SOMETHING soon, you are shortly going to be saddled with two screaming kids that cry all night and won't let you sleep at all. NOBODY can be A. effective parent under such duress. Maybe you should consider looking at some other options.
What do you do when he wakes up? Pick him up? Feed him? Whatever it is that you are doing is most likely encouraging him to wake up. When my daughter started walking she did not start waking in the middle of the night so in my experience the two are not related. Since we started trying to get our daughter to sleep through the night at 4 months of age (she will be 2 yo in a couple of weeks) we would not pick her up or feed her if she woke in the middle of the night. The exception being when she was sick - then we would often take her out of the crib and rock her if she had bad congestion, fever, etc. Otherwise we would just rub her back, not say anything, give her back her binkie if she lost it and let her drift back to sleep. We never had her cry it out - we would go in whenever she fussed to let her know we were there and love her and then rub her back or sometimes my DH would lay on the floor until she went back to sleep. At 4 months old it took about 3 days for her to sleep through the night. When we traveled over seas when she was 16 months old her schedule got really messed up but again it only took 2-4 nights for her to get back on schedule. Since you are in the room with your son you may have to let him cry a bit and just count to 30 or 60 before getting up, rubbing his back to let him know you are there and then go back to bed. He will learn how to settle on his own and will stop waking up when there is no reward (food, extra attention, getting into bed with mom and dad) worth waking up for. Good luck and congratulations on your next little one!
Hi there, I see this was posted ages ago now so it will all be a distant memory I'm sure but I wanted to respond because I was so shocked by the unsupportive tone of alot of these answers. As mum's we should all be supporting eachother in what is often a very challenging role..and there us no right or wrong way. Attachment parenting didn't Totally work for us but neither did fully parent led where u pay absolutely no attention to the emotional needs and individuality of every child..I think there is a middle ground somewhere and what works for one parent of child doesn't work for another. It seems like u got it sorted in the end anyway so well done you and hope both your kids are thriving :)
C., you keep asking essentially the same questions. seriously, are you reading and/or taking any of the advice you're being given? what's going on with you has nothing to do with the fact that your kid is learning how to walk. your schedule is totally off from his natural sleep patterns. go back and read the answers to all of your other posts, the answer to your current one is in there. that, or start reading some of the books that have been suggested.
