I Need Sleep I Have Forgotten What a "Full Nights" Sleep Is!!!!!!

HOnest to goodness, the first thing I'd say is that your children will do nothing but benefit from you putting YOU number one on your priority list...which will include removing your three year old from too many extra activities that feed into "your" time.

Try to establish a routine so that at least everyone knows what to expect.

My first son didn't sleep through the night until he was over a year old.

Do you have any close friends you can child swap with so you can do nothign but get some rest? Do you have family members you can rely on? Is dad involved so that he can help out?

One thing someone said to me once that has really stuck with me is that you have to treat yourself as a bank... if you continue to make withdrawals (giving of yourself) without making any deposits -- you just become a shell of a building b/c no true bank can survive that way..... we can't either. :)

Take care of yourself girl! Hang in there.

We read the book baby wise and it worked great for us. When our five month old wakes up we give him 15-20 minutes to try to sooth himself back asleep. If that doesn't work we will give him a pacifier. He rarely wakes up. To get him to eat his baby food we make his cereal with the Gerber baby juice and he loves it. He also eats basically 4 times a day with food. Breakfast in morning is cereal, lunch is a vegtable, dinner is half veggie and half a fruit. Then right before bed we give him a few ounces of cereal in a bottle called a nubby. We only use it at night to give him a few ounces as I am to tired to get the high chair, etc ready. I know a lot of people may disagree with what we do, but it works for us. He is a big boy so I have to do something. Good Luck!

Oh I feel for you. I've been single since I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter. I had a newborn and a two year old by myself. I also work full time. I know it's no consolation now, but you will get through this. I had over a year where I didn't get much sleep at all.

do your best to stick to a schedule. go to bed as EARLY as you can, when my kids were younger, if they were in bed by 7, i'd get in bed too. I was so low on sleep for so long.

((hugs)).

You just have to remember that at this age... he doesn't need the bottles at night. It's simply a habit for him to wake up, and the bottle gets him back to sleep. The trick... is to get him to get used to getting himself to sleep without the bottle. Then when he wakes up at night, he'll know how to soothe himself back to sleep. So be sure to give him his last bottle before he goes to sleep.. and then just rock him to sleep. At night, when he wakes up... just go in there an rock him, don't give him a bottle. The first few nights are going to be tough... until he gets used to it. Then when he does well with that, you can start laying him down fully awake. We just let our son cry it out at this point (he usually only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes max)... but that doesn't work for everyone.

I'm sure someone else will have some different advice... so just try them all until you find what works for you!

Good Luck!

I used the Baby Wise method on my "colicky" 2 month old (this was over 8 years ago) and the "colic" magically disappeared and she began sleeping through the night--I mean REALLY sleeping, not this midnight to 6 a.m. deal--8 pm til 8 am. And a short morning nap as well as a 2 hour nap mid-day. A lot of people disagree with the Baby Wise tactics, and I have to admit I didn't follow the book to the letter (we didn't learn sign language)but I stuck to the principal of keeping to a parent-directed feeding, play & sleep schedule and stopped using "props" to induce sleep. Anytime you get desparate and use a "prop" like a 2 a.m. feeding for a baby that should be well past the need to feed during the night, you are asking for trouble. Could be your baby won't accept the food b/c he's just not that hungry. If he doesn't get any feedings during the night (and he doesn't need them, so don't feel like a terrible mom!)he may just learn to love that food. He'll associate it with a happy tummy! Just remember to give him a little nursing or bottle for his morning feeding before you give him cereal b/c he'll be ravenous & he will not be thrilled with the baby food...start with rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula and make it very runny. You'll do well to get a tablespoon down him when you first start. He will get the hang of it, trust me. Hang in there--we've all been there & we know how hard it is. Don't feel bad if you need help--I don't think any of us are "Superwoman" as much as we'd like to think we are. Oh, and happy Mother's Day to you and everyone else out there reading this post!

I read that putting a baby to sleep earlier (rather than later, which seems the logical thing) will help the baby to sleep through the night. Worth a try. My son is 17 months and sleeps from 6:30 pm until 6:30 am and that has been his schedule for a long time.
Please no scolding from the other Moms- my son would sleep through the night if we put him on his stomach. He was strong and able to move himself and had no toys to suffocate on or get tangled in. I know it's an unpopular view, but it worked and I remained a sane person.

Hi, T.. I remember those sleepless nights all too well. I am a mother of 21 month old twin boys. They were sleeping thru the nite around 6-7 weeks! A friend recommended a book called "Becoming Baby Wise". Some do not agree with this method, but I had a baby on my boob literally ALL NITE and was willing to try anything, especially since I had twins. With my daughter (now 11) I just lay her down and let her cry. The baby wise method is pretty close to that. On night 3 of not getting up, the boys slept on thru and no problems since. Now, the baby food thing, remember to try one thing at a time and it may take 7,8,9 times before your baby decides he likes it. Keep it simple, bananas, sweet potatoes. My boys ditched baby food altogether by 12 months. Good luck! I am in Euless too if you need anything.