[rachelg3931]

Hi,

I was hoping you might have some advice on settling our 10 month old as we are really struggling.

For the first 8 or so months he was terrific - having two naps during the day of 1.5 - 2 hours duration and he was sleeping most of the night.

About 5 weeks ago we went away on holiday and he had a very disrupted routine. I thought I would be able to establish a good routine again once we got home but I can now not get him to sleep in his cot at all - day or night.

He will have maybe one or two very short naps a day that last about 20-40mins. He will then wake up screaming and even if I try to re-settle him for over an hour he will just cry and scream until I pick him up.

He seems to only want to sleep with my husband or I in our bed or he will sleep in the car or pram.

He will also often only fall asleep if I breastfeed him in bed.

I know he is exhausted and so are we!

Any suggestions? We would really love to get him having some decent naps in his cot and to be able to settle him in his cot at night.

Thanks!

[Beancat]

Hi

I am not sure if I will be much help, but I can certainly sympathise with you. Our DD is 10mo too. About a month ago she started similar behavour. She has decided she doesn't need her morning sleep everyday now, so if she is not tired I dont put her down and put her down about 12ish after an 11.30 lunch and she will have a big sleep of about 2.5 hours.

Re night she started waking about 2 hours after going down. Like you we tried everything, but she wouldnt settle. There was nothing wrong with her, no teething, not ill, hungry or wet. One night she was up from 9pm until 8am. When she was up and out of bed she was fine, she just wanted to play, but as soon as we put her in the cot she would scream the house down.

After trying everything we ignored her and she eventually went to sleep after about an hour. The next night it only took 20 minutes and the third about 5. Now she has completely stopped this nonsense. Most people on EB wont agree with this method, but it worked and she is sleeping better during the day as a result of sleeping properly at night.

This post has been edited by Beancat: 20/11/2012, 07:24 PM

[CherryAmes]

9mths to 12mths was the hardest time for my baby. We ended up co-sleeping as she was waking up to 9 times a night! After we started co-sleeping, things improved. I believe now it was a time of separation anxiety. By 12mths she was back in her cot, and sleeping through by 14mths.

[Jenflea]

At around the same age, I gave up on getting her to sleep in the cot and napped with her in our bed, it was lovely. Lasted a few months then at about 17 or so months, she started sleeping through the night properly(at least 6 or 7 hours in one big block) and napped during the day in her cot self settling.

I'd ride out the storm the best way you can for now, oh and possibly drop to one longer nap in the middle of the day maybe.