Hello!

Our 15 mth old son is not sleeping! He’s never been a great sleeper & his sleep became more broken when we put him in a cot in his own room @ 4.5months. At the moment he goes to bed between 8pm – 9pm, wakes @ 11:30 for a bottle, then wakes at 1:30. We usually just bring him in with us, both working full time & needing sleep. But tonight he’s been awake since 1:30am. It’s becoming a bit of a routine to wake at this time & stay awake. He’s not upset & we’ve tried bottles, calm quiet rocking chairs in his room & even tried controlled crying but he got himself so worked up he vomited. I don’t know what else to do. Then he sleeps in of a morning & I’m late for work. Our tiredness & sleep deprivation has really been taking its toll on our work, lives & marriage. Can anyone offer any suggestions? This has been happening for about 6-7wks.

Posted by anon, 12/11/13

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  • It is such a hard age! also being working parents with an 18 month old that doesnt sleep i hear ya! we stick to the routine and celebrate the small wins! Bed time tonight was drama free and its been 1.5 hours without her waking. Take the wins! and one day maybe they will sleep through!


  • I had this happen a few weeks ago too at the same age. Possibly teething isn’t helping. Start the bed time routine earlier, try for bed by 7, give him a dream feed at 10 before he can wake up and see if that helps get him throigh


  • bath and lavender before bed, storytime, massage


  • Neither of my boys were great sleepers (still not fabulous, but better), so I understand the sleep deprivation. A white noise machine has helped a lot. Would you consider moving the cot into your room? Bub would still be in the cot, but would know you’re close by. That’s a very personal decision though. Mine didn’t adjust to cots at all, they slept better in a bed (double or queen) so that they could fidget without hitting wood and if needed I could lie down with them (that way they learnt to settle in bed rather than having to rock then back to sleep). You could always try a sleep school, but that was never going to work for me because I personally didn’t want to do the controlled crying thing. But do what works for you. Hang in there.


  • there are some good comments here


  • have you had any luck


  • Has any advice below helped?


  • i hope its worked out


  • ours did it because she wanted to get up and play. we put a radio in her room and that would sometimes work to turn on the radio and let her listen to some classical music


  • Hope it works out and some of the advice below helps.


  • How are you going with your bub now?


  • My friend in my mothers group attend a sleep school to help her bub sleep


  • Once they tend to go into a cot there is more room and often they feel insecure because of the extra space. thats why babies like to sleep with mum they feel her closeness and warmth. After 30 years experience as foster parents we would always make sure they were tucked in snuggly and tight. Consistency may be the key and reassurance from mum that its okay. When the child wakes just go in and reassure him/her that you are still around. You may have to do this quite a few times during the night before he/she settles but it should work eventually. Good luck.


  • Try putting some lavende oil, oragne blossom oil and ylang ylang in his bath there are also other great sleeping potions I call them you can use in aromatherapy books but this was my sons favourite. Johnsons also make a baby massage oil give him a massage with that before bed. I also played the music I listened to when I was pregnant in his room on low volume and a troubled sleeper became a 12 hour sleeping beauty. Most of my friends could not believe it especially when they heard ac/dc in his room and a bomb could not have woken him up. Good Luck.


  • night light / music
    we have lights with torches


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