16 Months WON'T SLEEP Through the Night! PLEASE HELP.

This sounds exactly like my son. Evan just turned 2 and has been the same way. He got a little better after we found out he had some food allergies 2 of them didn't present w/ the typical hives he was getting what seemed to be cold after cold and eczema was flaring up real bad and it turned out to be a dairy allergy. Is he only waking once? If so that's not so bad some kids don't sleep all night until 3 or 4 so for now just tend to him if he is crying he must need you for something. Maybe he is having some type of discomfort, gassy, teething I know my son was terrible w/ his canine teeth and his molars, bad dreams, who knows it won't last forever. Good luck.

Is your son still taking a nap during the day? If so, you could try skipping the nap, and putting him down earlier at night - he may be ready to go by 6:30 or 7PM. 8PM seems late for a child this age, but you know him best. I got a lot of help from "healthy sleep habits, health child" by marc weissbluth. Your son may also be in the early stages of his 18 month growth spurt - these changes often result in sleep disturbances that can be exacerbated in a child that's not been a great sleeper. Good luck - nothing worse than sleep deprived parents, I know your pain.

Does he still take two naps a day? If so, try eliminating one of his naps. At that age, my daughter did a similar thing and we modified her schedule so that her typical sleep cycle went like this: Wake for the day at 5:00 a.m., (we eliminated her 10:00 a.m. nap by keeping her up 10 minutes later each day until the nap time was gone), sleep/nap at 12:00 or 12:30 p.m. until approximately 2:30 or 3:00 and back down for bed for the night at 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. Most the literature I've read, and things I've heard from other moms, indicates that sleep begets sleep. If he's already not taking two naps, try putting him to bed ten minutes earlier each night until it's 7:00 or 7:30. This could make a big difference too. This worked really well for us. We also have a musical mobile in my daughter's bed and told her that if she wakes up, she should turn it on and listen to her music until mommy & daddy come to get her in the morning, sometimes she would do that and fall back asleep herself if she got up. Othertimes, I would have to go in her room, say as unenthusiastically as possible that it was not time to get up yet, it's still night night time and lay her back down & cover her up. She would fuss or fight it, but maybe 8 times out 10, always put herself back to sleep. I say it really matter of factly too - no cuddles, no real big to do, lay her down, pat her back, turn on her songs and go back to bed. She got the hint.

Good luck!

Good luck!

Sounds like my little guy who is the same age - although he used to sleep well so I think it's teething now? I'm afraid I don't have any advice, but you definitely have my sympathy!

Hi B. - I feel your pain... we've been through it with both of ours. The younger one, just now 12 months, just barely started sleeping through the night a couple of weeks ago (most of the time that is).

First, hang in there and know that he will figure it out eventually! You say you've let him cry it out - do you revisit that strategy now & then? I tried letting my daughter cry it out months ago and it totally failed. But I didn't give up on it and tried it again. It's no fun, but we got to a point where it worked. Sometimes I'd go in to her room, verbally comfort her, even pick her up for a cuddle (and/or nurse her) and put her back down telling her it's nighttime & I love her, and leave. She would often still cry, but at least I knew that I had responded to her. She would cry, then fall back to sleep within 10-20 mins, sometimes less... For as challenging as sleep has been with her, I am suprised how quickly she managed to start sleeping on her own.

I hope this is a little helpful anyways :) Keep trying different things and be patient - it's so hard! Do whatever works best for you & your family. And try different strategies again if they don't work the first time. You never know how your baby might respond to something the next time. Good luck!

Despite what the books tell you, not every baby is meant to sleep through the night. Many babes continue waking up at times. You are not alone, and there's nothing wrong with him! You'll probably be less stressed if you accept that maybe this is how it will be for this phase in life. Try reading Dr. Sears "Nighttime Parenting", it helped me a lot with this!

I am sooo sorry that you are so sleep deprived!!! It must make the rest of your day even more difficult!! I hope that whatever advise you can get will help. You mentioned that your son gets colds and it gets him off track! I found that when my four year old was little that when she got sick I would put two books under one end of her crib to "prop" her up. This seemed to help with the "cold" part of it. But I also found that she was a light sleeper so I put a sound machine ($15 @ Walmart) and it works great!!! She still uses it and it is portable... vacations, sleepovers at Grandma's whatever!! Maybe he just needs some constant noise. I hope this helps... nothing worse than a sleep deprived mom... Good luck!!

Try the Dr. Sears Nighttime parenting book. Just remember that there are a lot of opinions and the cry it out method is only one of them. He may be hungry!!!

At 16 months I don't think it's really all that strange for him to be up, especially when he gets a cold. My baby at that age woke nearly every night, and my strategy was to just go to her as fast as possible and hold her tight and rock her in a rocking chair back to sleep. Sometimes 5 mins. Sometimes one hour. Whatever it took, that was the fastest way to get everyone in the house back to sleep. I just accepted that around 2:00 - 3:00 every night that was part of MY routine. Easier than begrudging it! (I did find the CIO and bringing her into my bed and laying on ground next to her didn't work either!) Also, offering some water, quick snack, helped us too. But no lights on, no playing.