Sleep help!

[SuzySunshine]

So R is now almost 13 months and STILL not sleeping through the night. On a good night he wakes up once, most nights he wakes up twice.

I've tried letting him cry it out - he literally screams like someone is killing him so of course I go down to check and then he still won't go back to sleep. I was blaming it on his teeth, which he is still getting, but I'm not sure that is it. I usually give him a dose of tylenol when he wakes up because even if his teeth aren't hurting he's got to have a headache after all of that screaming. I've stopped giving him milk at night, he gets 2-4oz of water in a bottle with the thought being that he'd learn he wasn't getting any more calories at night so he'd give up. Not. so. much!

I would love any suggestions, I'm a sleep person - I really need at least a 6 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep. I don't know what to do. I wonder if some of it isn't hunger and some of it isn't separation anxiety though he doesn't usually fuss when I drop him off at the gym or other childcare situations. I've tried to get him to attach to something and we put the same blanket/toys in his crib at all times but he doesn't seem interested ???? And he doesn't take his pacifier any longer so if the sucking of the bottle is what is helping him go back to sleep the pacifier is out.

HELP!

[diggitydot]

Things that helped our three stooges:

-Homeopathic teething tablets while they're cutting new teeth. Total miracle worker.
-"White noise" noise machine (DS automatically wakes up just from it being turned off).
-Ditching the baby monitor or turning the volume WAY down. Helped me sleep better and allowed our kids to learn to self-soothe better. Once they were loud enough for me to hear, they obviously needed a hand. Each kid is different, though. This won't work for everyone, but did help us. And greatly improved my sanity.

Hang in there. I'm someone who absolutely needs my sleep, too. I've always told DH that it's a good thing DS is the youngest because he'd have been an only child if we'd had him first.

[SuzySunshine]

I'll have to look into the tablets. We already use a sound machine and we don't use a monitor. His room is directly under ours, I can hear him through the vents.

ETA: and I now see this is the 3RD thread on sleep help I've posted for him - oy vey!

[TigerLily]

My daughter went through some sleeping problems around that age as well. One thing that helped her was a sleep sack. I had no idea what was happening, but the first night I put her in one she slept all night. I think she was just cold, or liked the feeling of being covered, because she would just kick a regular blanket right off.
I am not a supporter of CIO, but there was a stretch a few months ago where she was waking up once every night again and one night I just let her cry. I felt bad, but I had NEVER been so tired, so I needed to stay in bed for her safety and my sanity. After that night, she just stopped. I think she had just gotten in the habit of waking up each night and needed to be broken of it!
Hang in there! I hope you get some rest soon!

[SuzySunshine]

Sleep sack - check! Even a thick one for the MN winter

I swear we've tried everything with this kid, can you tell?

I've thought several times about the CIO, I think I just need to put my ear plugs in one night and see what happens.

This topic can be controversial, but we liked Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" book. For me, it felt like a comfortable balance between CIO and attachment parenting. I also liked that it was based on research - although I know that doesn't always make for sound advice. It just gave me a little more confidence in training them to self-soothe, and the methods worked for our kids. (There also is a section on medical problems that interfere with sleep, BTW.)

[SuzySunshine]

Thanks Deb, at this point I'm willing to read anything - my library has it so I'll get it this morning.

[Michele]

What about music instead of the white noise? Kai has to have his Gaga or he won't sleep. Maybe hearing a voice or melody will help him fall back to sleep when he wakes.

Maybe try giving him Motrin before bed for the teeth?

What does he want in the middle of the night? You? A bottle? If it's the bottle, could you try feeding him closer to bedtime to fill him up more? Or a snack right before sleep to hold him?

Of course none of mine sleep through the night every night...and usually the boys are up at least once each...so take my suggestions as mere guesses.

[Michele]

Oh and it may not be possible, but could you try getting to sleep earlier yourself? It doesn't solve R's problem, but it might help you have more energy and brain power to figure out what else could work? My brain stops when I don't get enough sleep. If I don't get enough, I'm an uber bad mommy....so since mine don't sleep well, I go to bed earlier. Of course then sometimes I don't see Russ before bed...but we are usually up before him in the morning.

[scrub-jay]

Homeopathic teething tablets while they're cutting new teeth. Total miracle worker.

If you are referring to Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets, I would avoid them for now. Apparently they have been determined to have unsafe levels of Belladonna (a plant toxin) in them and are currently being recalled. See below articles:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsro.../ucm230761.htm
http://www.hylands.com/news/hylands-teething-recall.php

[Pollyanna]

I agree Deb, we are all about Ferberizing. Used the method with all of our kiddos and it worked great. Good luck Cheri, and I hope you can catch a nap today.

[alison]

You will sleep! It's always a work in progress.
We let dd cry it out. She rarely wakes up in the middle of the night. We didn't get to this point, consistently, and every night until about 12 months. There are times when dd will wake up at 2am and scream for 10 minutes straight. I don't go in, because I know there's nothing I can do for her. She doesn't need a bottle. My feeling is that she may have had a nightmare, but what can I do for her that she isn't capable of doing on her own? And she does eventually fall back asleep. That might sound heartless, but unless she cries for an hour and it's uncontrollable or doesn't sound right, we don't go in.

[alison]

Oh, and even if I were to go in, I wouldn't have a clue as to what to do! .

[diggitydot]

I'm not sure which teething tablets we used. Our youngest is now 8 y/o so we last used them a looooooong time ago. They were whatever was available in the frou-frou organic part of our local grocery store. I want to say they were put out by the same company that does the Little Tummies brand. Whatever they were, they were the ONLY thing to help DD2 when she was teething. That kid had a horrible time. Besides the grumpies and chewing on things like a pit bull, she always had a seriously upset tummy and diaper rashes during teething. It was awful for the poor kid.

[Momo]

Does he get too warm?
Do you keep a humidifier in his room?
I run humidifiers during the winter to keep nasal passages & throats from drying out... plus it helps to alleviate congestion.