My 8 month old began to sleep through the night in mid-January. Then...he got sick. Fever and cough which he has mostly recovered from but, of course, the cough lingers. He now wakes up once a night...mostly around 4 but anywhere from 2 to 5. The 5 really kills me because I wake up to go to work around 6. I nurse him when he wakes up at night because I know it's the quickest way to get him back to sleep and he won't wake up my 2 year old. I wouldn't be opposed to letting him "work it out" but I feel sorry for him because crying makes him cough worse. I am so tired. My kids go to bed by 7:30 at the latest and by the time I clean up dinner and make the next day's lunches, it's 8:30...I need to pump and get in the shower by 9:30 but by then I can barely keep my eyes open! What should I do??
Been there more times than I can count and my 2 year old is doing it now. I am ok with CIO but he can not be sick. And sorry for saying this because I know alot of people may get mad but maybe consider a little bit (I said little, very little) of Benadryl when he is better. Are you comfortable with him in your bed and not scared that you will roll over on him??? If so, nurse him in your bed.
My 7 month old has never slept through the night. Not even once. He stays up til 8 or 9. He sleeps in a pack and play in my room. When he wakes up between 2 and 5 I feed him and leave him right in the middle of my bed. It works for us. I would never CIO
Try to resolve the cough, see if there is something he is still responding to , give him a drink of water, add a humidifier. Wear him out more thru the day, put him to bed later. If you have tried all of that, and still nothing..... be firm ! Make him stay in his own bed and yes you are tired now but if he knows that you are going to continue to get up with him, he will keep doing it ! My Peds Dr is a firm believer in kids "playing " their parents, so I always take his advice, and if the kids wake up in our house we let them work it out themselves, unless they are sick of course.
Unfortunately, when they're sick, there's not much hope. Coughs are the worst. I can remember trying to function at work after lost nights of sleep with sick kids when they were younger.
I'd say if he's not coughing anymore, you can think about CIO to get things back on track. But he's not feeling his usual self, so the best you can do now is just comfort him when he wakes.
It sounds like the illness threw off his sleep patterns - coupled with getting older.
Have you considered letting them play while you're cleaning-up from dinner and preparing your lunches? That way, they could go to bed later, you'd still get the same amount accomplished, and you could reset his clock.
Neither of my kids are good sleepers, and because I'm such a light sleeper, it's always been easier to just bring them in bed with me than to let them cry it out and disrupt the whole house. I know it's not ideal, but as a working Mom with a hectic schedule, sometimes you do what you need to survive.
Good luck.
