My 10 mo old will simply NOT sleep. Not for naps or even through the night. I've tried as many techniques as I can think of - crying it out doesn't work (he'll scream for hours and it only makes my blood pressure higher). My older son had no problems and now goes to sleep for naps and at bedtime without any difficulty- we just put him in the bed and say good night-that's it. But the younger one will not follow suit. I can get him to nap for 20-30 mins then he wakes up crying and screaming. At night he wakes up after maybe 4 hours, again crying. I know it's because he's exhausted but he almost always refuses to go back to sleep. I only give him water at night. I end up sleeping with him in the guest room so the rest of the house can sleep. But even then he's all over the place and fidgetting. The only difference I can see is that I breastfeed the second one for almost 5 months (my older son had issues with it). I'm still not getting any real rest and am 6 mos pregnant with #3. I'm awake almost 24 hours a day, trying to take care of the house and all the other duties along with the kids and am exhausted myself. We don't have any family here and don't trust anyone we've met with the kids so 'resting' during the day isn't an option and we can't seem to find anyone to help with the household duties. My husband helps out when he can but his job keeps him gone from 5 am till 6pm and occasionally during the evenings and weekends. We've tried changing his diet, making sure he eats enough during the day, we have a well established bedtime routine, I'm just without a clue anymore. Any advice, PLEASE!!
Try some of that gas medicine! That could possibly help !
Also nice warm bath's with the lavendar soap always helped mine! I am an outside person and my chidren seemed to get worn out with the outside air! Like going for a walk after there bath really tired them out !......try feeding him some oatmeal, maybe he is not getting enough food!
Good luck ~
I'm sorry for what you are going through right now. Sleepless babies are so difficult, and being a pregnant again...WOW! Have you tried staying with him until he is asleep and then pushing some pillows next to him and sneak out? What about co-sleeping? I don't think the breastfeeding has anything to do with, it's just he's a higher needs baby than your first one. I have nursed both of mine well into toddler hood, one was a horrible and another a great sleeper. It's just their personality. A good book I read was Health Sleep Habits, Happy Children by Dr. Weisenbluth. There were some suggestions that I just tossed out and didn't use, but his main points are you look for signs of sleepiness and routine routine routine.
Where are you located? I live in The Woodlands, and wouldn't mind coming over once or twice a week and just do some household chores (laundry, vacuuming, dusting, or even taking the kiddos to the park so you can rest). My husband has a couple of days off during the week so he could keep our kiddos. At any rate, good luck to you, and you are one amamzing mama!
We had the same problem with my now 5 year old daughter for years. The best advice I can give to anyone is to read Mary Kurcinka's Sleepless in America book. It was the only thing that really helped us. It helps identify why this is happening with your child and gives you different things you can do to help fix it. It was a lifesaver for us.
Put a loud fan in his bedroom.
Hi M.,
I feel for you and hope you find a way to get him to sleep better.Have you tried buying the bedtime bath,bedtime lotion? In my experience it works wonders to give the baby a warm bath with the Johnson's bedtime bath and bedtime lotion.Have you tried giving him a special stuffed animal or blanket to cuddle with? Have you tried playing soft lullaby music on a cd player in his room while he is trying to go to sleep? Those are just a few things I have done to try to get babies I cared for to sleep.They all seem to work well.I was a foster mom for 7 years and I have cared for lots of babies.By the way...you are so lucky to have 3 babies so close like that.My husband and I have tried for 10 years to have a baby-tried everything possible(fertility treatments,surgeries,etc.) with no success.We desperately want a baby and we'd love to be able to have children like you are(one after another) so count your blessings...you are very lucky.We hope we will be able to find someone to be a surrogate for us,or a baby to adopt at birth.If you know anyone that is expecting and considering adoption please keep us in mind.We are open to any race,either sex,children with special needs or disabilities.Thank you and good luck.
Hey M.,
I had the same problem with my daughter ( and first child, so I had NO idea what I was doing) She would only sleep for naps if I held and rocked her and nighttime was impossible. Do you think he might be teething? If so, you might try a little Tylenol, or teething tablets. I totally feel for you. We finally ended up letting our daughter sleep with us...not for everyone! Hope this helps!
Hi M.,
Trust me I KNOW your pain! And what your doing is probably not the issue. I think that for sure it is "personality". The interesting thing is that you say he is 10 months old.. so he'll be a year I guess in May? Or close? My daughter who is 5 yrs old, the youngest of 5 children is the ONLY child that has had difficulty with sleep. She never slept through a single night until she was 3 yrs old. We tried everything! I honestly think it is hereditary. I've always been a light sleeper, I dream all night long and I don't go to sleep easy.. it has to be pitch dark and extremely quiet or I lay there for hours.
Of all the things we have learned from our "non-sleeping" child, the best advice I can give you is the following:
#1 - TEAM WORK - No matter how much your husband works, if you are both trading off getting up during the nights.. you both get a little more sleep. Maybe try your night one night, his the next.
#2 - Consistency - Bed time for our youngest has to be CONSISTENT - She is a gemini.. and one thing about gemini's is that they LOVE routine. If we keep her up later than usual it will FOR sure be a horrible night.
#3 - I would skip naps. Make sure he is tired at night.. keep him awake as much as possible during the day then make sure he is nice and full and worn out (playing) when he hits the sack. When I abrubtly ended naps with our youngest, she actually started waking up less during the night.
#4 - Another thing.. this is debatable but worked for us on many nights. We knew she was not "needing" anything. She had a HARD time getting back to sleep when she awoke during the night and became dependant on us coming in and getting her back to sleep. So we started letting her cry. We'd comfort her and say.. it's ok.. now go night night and leave and let her cry for 10 or 15 minutes.. if she still cried, we'd go back in and say 2 words then leave again for 20 minutes. Eventually, she stopped crying and would fall back asleep. Keep in mind.. while it worked most nights.. it was still very much disturbing our sleep having to get up and comfort her at ALL!
Also, keep in mind that you are also "extra" tired right now .. especially having 2 little ones and being pregnant! That was the only time during my life I could sleep .. during pregnancy! I don't know how I would have made it had I been pregnant when our youngest was 10 months old.
My daughter is now 5 and still wakes having dreams or just crying for no reason in the middle of the night but usually only 2 or 3 times per week. Usually a comforting word or two is all it takes. But we are downstairs and she is upstairs so .. it's still a pain!
Good luck!
W.
My daughter did the same thing...I hardly slept for the first year of her life and she maybe slept in her crib a total of five times. It got to the point that I justput her in bed with me so that I could just nurse when she cried so that I could ty and get any rest possible. I am not suggesting that this is what you do, it is a very hard habit to break once started and many people frown upon it. Have you tried taking your baby outside during the day? Sometimes being outside would help us. If you feel up to it try taking a walk. I don't know if you have already tried this or not, but it still helps calm my daughter who is 2 1/2. I also have the name of our babysitter who we have used for the 2 years and her parents are the godparents of my daughter. If you would like her number to interview her just message me privately and I will give it to you and give you more info on her and her family. I hope this helps and just to let you know, my daughter sleeps through the night for the most part now, so it doesn't last forever...although I know you feel like it now.
I am sorry you are having to go through this. I remember what it is like to be exhausted. The other ladies have given some great advice. The next thing for me would be talking to a doctor.
I have not yet had the experience of raising my own children, but my niece slept in my room until she was 6 because my sister worked nights. When she ws little she would not sleep either and I tried walking and rocking and singing and everything I could think of. I finally asked my step-mother who has successfully raised 8 children and she told me that she would sit on the couch, put the baby on you shoulder as if you are about to burp them and hold the the back of the baby's head so that it will not bounce. Get into a position that is comfortable for you to rock. And rock as hard as you can back and forth. This causes the baby to close their eyes and eventually fall asleep. I know that it sound a little raw. But it doesn't hurt them at all and it works. I even asked the doctor and he said that as long as you hold them securely that there isn't a problem doing it. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any question and how it goes.
I am so sorry. Do you have a church home? Maybe some of your friends from church wouldn't mind helping out. Maybe your son has an earache or his tummy hurts. Maybe he's lactose intolerant. It's so hard to tell with babies, I know because they call tell you themselves. Have you talked to your Pedi about this? Something is wrong, as I'm sure you know because babies don't just scream like that for no reason, well at least not for this amount of time. Call your Pedi right away!
Hope things improve! You and ALL your children need your rest.
God bless,
Chris H.
Oh dear! You MUST get help. Call your local church. Ask for the youth dept. to round up some high school girls who can come to your house and relieve you of the children. Then you take a nap...everyday if you have to. Don't worry about the household stuff. Only do the necessary things (food and laundry). Hire a maid to clean for you. If you keep pushing yourself, you could go into preterm labor and believe me, you don't want that! I've got a story on premature birth. If you don't take care of yourself, you could become adrenal fatigued and if this happens you surely will not have energy for anything and you will have to get help one way or another. Take care of yourself. You are precious!
