[cdr25]

I have a one year old son who does not sleep through the night. as a matter of fact, he is up now and he's been up since 3:45am--mind you he went to sleep at 12am. He is also walking which keeps him pretty busy. I have tried several things to no avail. Everytime we see a schedule developing it changes. I am a first time mom and I welcome any advice or suggestions. I've read that as a child goes through their developmental stages their sleep patterns change--that is what I seem to be going through--Anyone else experiencing this?

[Jamie]

Is your son still taking any naps? If he is I would try to cut him back a little! Unfortunately my son stopped taking naps at 14 mo. and he did sleep through the night from 3 weeks on. He is a very active child and when I asked the doctor about his activity level his exact words were " He needs little sleep and will accomplish alot in his lifetime"! Personally I wanted to slap that doctor , but it is just the way my son is...sometimes I wish I could have just a little wee bit of the energy he does.

Good luck
Jamie

[bmoms1994]

I don't know if this will work. My nine year old daughter still needs music to get to sleep. My seven month old baby needs music to stay asleep. If we turn it off, she will wake up. Good luck to you.

[kat814]

I have a one year old girl that will not sleep through the night either I think it is because of her first mollar coming through but it has been for a while I can never get through a whole night without waking up and it is hard on me because I have to wake up at 6 to go to work she only takes 1-2 naps a day and they are usually around 11am and 3-4pm only for about 30 min. to an hour each do you think that is the problem?

[nancynic]

Hi,

As I read your post, I wonder if your son has any 'comfort habits' ... ways in which he gets comfort when he is not with you or another person.

Comfort habits (thumb-sucking and cuddlies) give a sense of security. Cuddlies include crib blankets, soft toys and even cloth diapers.

I'm also wondering if your son is woken by outside disturbances ... noises or other disturbances? or perhaps by internal disturbances like bad dreams.

What do you do when your son wakes up? Do you take him to bed with you, try to ease him back to sleep or 'let him cry it out'?

It's difficult to be patient when you both aren't getting enough sleep!

NancyNic

[pingaa3]

A friend recommended "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc. Weissbluth and I love it. My daughter has slept through the night since 2 1/2 months using the techniques in the book and with the help of rice cereal early on.

The doc recommends specific sleep schedules (not really rigid) for specific ages that he attributes to brain development at these ages. I'd never heard of him before but so far it works great!

Some suggestions early on are: having child awake for no more than two hours at a time (during first four months), making sure that your style of putting child to sleep is consistent each time (whether its to let them soothe themselves to sleep or that you put them down only after they are asleep fully), consistent routine before each nighttime sleep (bathe, feed, story/lullibye then sleep), consistent sleeping place and after four months no motion for sleep (limits swings, stoller/car rides etc), looking for cues when sleepy and recognizing that the child will at younger ages needs to sleep within two hours of waking, recognizing tiredness "cues" (rubbing eyes, drifting eye contact etc) before child is over tired and won't be able to sleep. Plus more that I haven't even experienced yet since my girl is only four months and has just moved into a new area.

I swear by this book. Try getting it from the library if you can (fee is best). When I consistently use the methods in the books my child is smiley and loveable to not just me who loves her no mattter what. When I mess up a day or fail to nap her correctly I regret it and pay with cranky and unhappy baby all day.

Let me know if you get it and it works for you.

I

[pingaa3]

oops that should have been free is best, clumsy typing fingers.

I

[nancynic]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your post - with the name of the book and some specific ideas from it ~

and I agree
best is free!

NancyNic