Seeking Any Moms Help

There is a book called the Happiest Baby on the Block and it works for older kids too

My daughter turned two in February, and it still doesn't take all of two hands to count the number of nights she's slept through. She's pretty easy to get back down - a quick comfort nurse, short lullabye, that's it, and it's usually been only once a night. I roll with it. I'm told by my La Leche League cohorts that babies typically sleep through after they get all their two year molars. 1 down, 3 to go!

It will *not* be forever. Good luck!

We bought our daughter a glow light that u can press the button and it wil go off in 15 min. that is what worked for her. We got it at Walmart. It kinda looks like flubber the disney movie with Robin Williams. I hpe you get some great advice.

My kids were a bit younger (1 year) and still nursing every 2 hours all night. With the first I truly let her "cry it out". I would nurse her at my bedtime (around 11). Then at 1 AM I simply walked into her room, patted her back, then went to sit on the top step and listened to her cry for 4 hours straight, for 4 nights in a row. I did occasionally peek in and caress her but I was told not to pick her up. That was all it took, after that she slept from 11 AM to about 5 AM. With my second I used the Ferber Method (http://www.amazon.com/Solve-Your-Childs-Sleep-Problems/dp...) where he advises to let her cry 5 minutes the first night, 10 minutes the second, 15 the third, etc. before going in. It took about 3 weeks to get her to sleep through the night but it felt a lot "nicer" to me. I felt mean doing it the "crying out" way but I must say it worked a lot faster. When they were older (3+) and in big beds they would come out occasionally and wake us up, but each time I would walk them back to their bed and sit for a few minutes or sing a song, and go back to mine. Some weeks it would seem like they did this every night, and then for weeks they would sleep until morning.
Good luck, sleep deprivation is one of the very worst things to deal with since it affects everything else you do.

One of my boys was a very bad sleeper. He didn't sleep through the night consistently until he was well over three. Unfortunatly the only thing that worked was him not napping. It really was a double edged sword because he really needed the nap, but we really needed our sleep too. Eventually she will grow out of it and you will get some sleep. Best of luck till then.

Try doctor sears sleep book. Could be hunger too.

http://askdrsears.com
the baby sleep book by Dr. Sears

Get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Weiss.

It is the best book on sleep. It tells you how many hours they need at each age, what times they should be going to bed & how much they should be napping. It also includes studies on the importance of sleep. And it gives you methods for getting them to sleep at any age from infant to adult.

I taught myself to sleep when I taught my 18 month old. Years late and we're still great sleepers. It is so worth the effort.

I would definitely recommend running your day around naps/bedtimes, it makes life much better to have a well rested child.

Try Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution." A lot of people find it helpful.

My son will be two on 4/1 and doesn't sleep all night either. I'm just curious but what does she do at night. My son has no problem going down but he has a hard time staying asleep and crying it out doesn't work w/ him he will just cry and scream. He is going to be evaluated for sensory processing disorder maybe our children just don't like to sleep. Have you asked your pediatrician for any ideas I mention these things all the time to him. Is she gassy at night and its waking her that could be caused by a food intolerance, maybe she hears everything and needs some white noise? It could be anything does she need you to pick her up and get her a drink, rock her, sleep w/ her those are behaviors but if she wants you there maybe cosleeping awhile is the way to go so you all get some sleep she won't do that forever. My oldest won't sleep unless his room is dark and my youngest needs a night light. Try things give them a week or so and if it doesn't work try something else keep trying until you find something that helps her sleep. My youngest likes to be swaddled still and he wakes if he comes undone which is our biggest problem so I go in and retuck him before I go to bed.

Depends of course on why she's waking and not going back to sleep. But whatever you do make sure you're consistent. My daughter was up a lot at that age too. I was very firm that she had to go back to her own bed to sleep, sometimes there were crying fits and long nights. But now she's 3 1/2 and sleeping thru the night. Be sure to set the rules (whatever they are in your house) - what's acceptable and not... if you're consistent with it then she'll know what's expected of her. Good luck and this too shall pass! :)

J.:
I feel your pain. My first son was 3 when he finally slept past 3:00 a.m. - He is now almost 7 and wakes between 6:00 and 6:30 (which I can definitely handle). I don't know how my hisband and I made those first 3 years but we did. Let me start by saying that you should assume you have a non-sleeper. I kept reading books and thinking we were doing something wrong. I actually felt better when I accepted the fact that my son's sleep habits wouldn't change for changing one or two things.

What finally worked for us after reading almost every book possible (including multiple Sears and Ferber books) was bribery. Yes, bribery. We took a basket and filled it with small toys and we called it his treasure chest. We told him when he woke up, if he had slept past a certain time (which we kept moving as he became better at sleeping a little later) he got a prize. He got very excited about the idea andlooked forward to the treasures. Sometimes we would show him the treasure chest the night before so he could look at them (but not touch them). He would then say "I'm going to get the blue racecar tomorrow." We would try to get him excited about it too.

Of course, the trick with this plan was finding toys which were cheap and ones he would like. I would go shopping at any and every store for the prizes and friends would show me a toy that cost $10 and I would say- I am giving him one a day. While it would probably be worth it, I'm trying to do this for under $1,000! We bought race cars and small dinosaurs and the like. The other problem with our plan is that our son didn't know how to read a clock yet. We had to come up with a way for him to know it was either time to sleep or time to wake up. Since he slept with his door closed, we decided to tell him if his door was open he could wake up. Obviously, this involved us waking up to open the door. We figured this was a small price to pay since we would have been getting up at that time anyway. it took about 3 months to move his wake up time solidly from 3:00 to after 5:00. We slowly phased out the treasure chest by not mentioning it and he eventually stopped asking for it. The change from 5:00 to 6:00 or 6:30 came slowly with time but getting to 5:00 seemed completely wonderful to us. We had some set backs like daylight savings (which has always been a challenge even until today) and when our second son was born but they resolved themselves without too much fanfare (no treasure chest needed!). It helped too when he started to read the clock.

Good luck to you!
Jen

It never ceases to amaze me how many of you young mothers expect your babies to sleep through the night, and most expect it at such early ages too !!!
Babies are NOT inclined to sleep through the night. In my day we solved it by taking the baby to bed with us. If they needed a feeding , latch them on, little sleep lost there yes?
I dont remember when they started sleeping through the night but I think I recall that if a two and half year old slept from ten to six that was considered fantastic.
When they did that we would move them from a baby crib in our room into a big crib in their own room.
We mostly started them at night in an infant crib beside our bed until they woke, then took them to bed with us.
All you can do sweetie, is to give them something to eat as late as you can...change them, story them, prayer them if you are a believer, hug and kiss them, then pray they sleep for at least six consecutive hours.
If you find yourself tired out in the daytime, rest when your child rests.
But do not worry, nothing seems amiss here..just a bit of maturing to wait for.
Tincture of time and this, too , shall pass.
Best wishes and God bless
Grandmother Lowell

J.,

I have 2 children, 5 and 21/2, neither of them were good sleepers and both had reflux. Sleep issues are stressful and very emotionally and physically exhausting for the whole family.

You did not give many specifics of the sleep problems so I am not sure what you have tried/what the extent of it is so forgive me if this is redundant...

First (although there are always exceptions) most kids do not sleep through the night at this age. Another thing to keep in mind: kids have sleep issues when going through milestones (learning to walk, talk, etc.)

I would speak with your pediatrician and rule out any medical reasons.

My other recommendation is to try a sleep consultant. The Jewish Children and Family Services group has this service as part of their Center for Early Relationship Support. This group is available to all religions and also provides sliding scale fees to make it affordable for all. I have used this and it was very helpful for me. (they can also do consults over the phone). Here is the website: http://www.jfcsboston.org/fcs/early_relationship.cfm

Finally, use your supports to get through this period: if you have family close by (or friends) have them help (watch her while you take a nap) etc. Do take out/easy dinners, let some of the house cleaning go etc. If you are the one who always gets up with her at night work out a system so that your husband can switch off with you.

Hang in there!

N.