Click on the ‘Play’ button above to start video!
Hi! I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program. If you’d rather read than watch, I’ve transcribed the text of this video below.
This week’s question comes from a mother named Donna, and she’s wondering what to do with her two-year-old daughter! She asks:
“Our girl is two years old and two months. She goes to bed fine every night, but wakes up all through the night and runs to our room. It can be once or 10 times a night. All she wants is for me to tuck her back in and she goes right back to sleep, but she just does NOT stay there! I wonder what I can do… or is it just that she needs to know that I am there?”
Good question! This is a common problem with toddlers, especially when they are out of the crib and already in a bed. I doubt she even really thinks that through. It’s just that as soon as she wakes up in the night, she jumps out of bed and runs to your room. Then you march her back and you tuck her in and you go back to bed and it just keeps happening. The good news is it does not sound like you lay with her in order for her to sleep and it does not sound like she needs you to stay with her until she falls back to sleep at night. So it is just a habit she has, of running to you every time she wakes up and so when this is a case, there needs to be a consequence.
If you get mad or frustrated with her or even if you tell her sternly to stop coming to your room and you are giving her negative attention, it is still attention and she will keep doing it and doing it because really, why not? There is really no reason why they should not. You march them back and you put them in bed and that is the way the night goes so there really needs to be a consequence, a reason “why not” to come to you room in the night.
Depending on her verbal skills and her comprehension level, you could try giving her a reward. You could say, “If you sleep all night without waking up mommy and you can have a smarty.” or a sticker; some sort of little reward first thing in the morning.
I would put a clock in her room. I really love the clock because it gives a toddler a visual. Something that they can look at and know when is morning. Cover up the minutes so all she can see is the hour number and start talking about number eight meaning bedtime and number seven meaning morning time. Tell her she cannot come to your room until the clock says seven. Let’s say she goes to bed fine and midnight there she is. After that first night visit, march her back to her bed and show her the clock “It is only midnight and not seven, do not come out again until seven.”, and then say “If you come out again, mommy is going to have to lock your door.” Obviously, you are not going to lock her door, but if she comes again, now there is a consequence for it.
If it happens again, you take her back to her room without saying anything. You just take her back to her room, put her back in her bed and now you hold her door closed for five minutes. I have yet to meet a child who likes this. Even if she is at the other side pulling and crying and kicking, you just hold it closed for five minutes, that’s okay. After five minutes, you tuck her back in and remind her not to come into your room again. If she comes to your room again, you return her to her room and now you hold the door closed for seven minutes and each time she comes, you close the door for two minutes longer each time. Again, I have yet to meet a child who likes this and it usually only takes two to four tries before they realize that they do not like that and think “I am not going to get out of my bed again.” Most children like the door to be open, even if it is just a crack, so the idea of it actually being closed fully can be enough that they just do not get out of their bed.
A reward for staying in bed, a consequence for getting out of bed and it should work! Thanks so much for your question and sleep well.
To learn more about The Sleep Sense Program, click here — or you can click here to order now!
To ask a question about your child’s sleep, just leave it in the ‘Comments’ section below! I’ll choose one and create a new video answer each week!
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99 responses so far ↓
1 Bridget // Sep 30, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Hi,
My daughter is 17 months old and is still using a pacifier and on the bottle. She has to have a bottle and pacifier to get her to sleep. She wakes up at least two times a night for a bottle. How do I start getting her to sleep through the night?
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2 Kelly Reid // Sep 30, 2008 at 1:59 pm
My son Evan will be two on Thanksgiving. When he was younger, he went to bed no problem but was always waking up during the night, sometimes up to 5 times. When he turned one, he started sleeping through the night, but he still wakes up on occassion. The last week or so, I’ve been having a hard time getting to go to sleep and/or stay in his crib and he’s also waking up during the night. I haven’t changed any routines or bedtimes.
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3 LEILA GREENE // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I WAS READING THIS ARTICLE, AND THANKFULLY I’M NOT HAVING TO GET UP THIS MANY TIMES A NIGHT, BUT I AM STILL HAVING PROBLEMS WITH GREGORY WAKING UP AS MANY AS 3-4 TIMES A NIGHT, AND WHEN HE WAKES UP WE JUST LAY HIM BACK DOWN IN HIS CRIB AND GIVE HIM HIS BINKY, BUT THEN HE WANTS US TO STAND THERE UNTIL HE’S BACK TO SLEEP, WHICH SOMETIMES CAN TAKE UP TO AN HOUR AND A HALF, AND IF WE DO TRY TO SNEAK OUT OF THE ROOM, THE SECOND HE REALIZES THAT NOONE IS THERE HE STARTS CRYING. IT CAN GET PRETTY EXHAUSTING.
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4 Jessica // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:02 pm
My grandchild does not sleep well at all. She is one year old. All through the night she cries, moans and tosses and turns until she wakes up. Most of the time she will go back to sleep but then she crys, moans and sometimes screams and tosses and turns until she wakes up again and again. what could be causing this.
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5 JAMIE // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:05 pm
my child wakes up close to ten times a night and he is always wanting me to hold him and rock him till he goes back to sleep and sometimes it can take up to 30 min to and hour before he will go back to sleep and then he’s up again crying until i rock him back what can i do to get him to stop and to sleep through out the night i need help.
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6 Stacy // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I have a 21 month old and he sleeps with us. What do I do to get him out of our bed? I’ve tried several times and he will cry and scream until he’s gagging. I have a toddler bed set up also but don’t know how to make him stay there.
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7 Kristen // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Hi Dana,
My daughter Emma is 6 months old. When Emma was about 2 months old I wanted her to be able to fall asleep on her own. We would put her in her crib at night when she was tired and afew minutes later she would go right to sleep. Sometimes we had to go back into the room and put the binky back in her mouth because she cried, but most of the time she went right to sleep. Now,ever since she was 51/2 months, she starts screaming as soon as i put her in the crib. I try to comfort her and tell her good night and then I leave the room. I let her cry for about 10 min and then i go back and check on her. I try to calm her down by putting the binky back in her mouth, but it doesn’t work. Sometimes I even try holding her for just a few min. This calms her down, but then as soon as I put her down she starts screaming again. The only way that she will sleep is if I hold her until she is completely asleep. I cant put her down too soon because she will just wakeup 5 min later. I try to be strong, but she just gets so upset and it makes me feel bad so I hold her. Is there anthing that I can do?
Kristen
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8 JoAnn // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I have made the mistake of allowing my 6 month old Allie sleep with me from day one. How do I get her to start sleeping in her crib. She goes in there for a nap but only for 30 minutes. She goes to daycare and will take 2 hour naps there. Our normal routine every night is bath between 7:30 - 8:00, then she gets a bottle and goes to sleep. She is not falling asleep on her own and I know this is a problem. I just feel like I am now trapped by my own mistake. Please help. I don’t want this to be a horrible experience for her or myself. I know it will not be easy and will take time, but I just need some assistance on where to begin.
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9 Stacie // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I have a 4 year old that has a hard time putting himself to sleep. I know something similiar to this was addressed in a past video, but I am not sure my question was fully answered. He will go to bed at 9:00pm and not fall asleep until almost 11 or so UNLESS someone is in there and rubs his back. It is the only way he can calm himself down. If we do not go in there and rub his back then he will play, whine and cry until we go in there. We go in there and yell and tell him to go to sleep since we are so frustrated we are spending our night putting him down. We could stay in there rubbing his back for an hour or so before falls a sleep. Then most of the time we end up falling asleep. I guess my question is since he is already four years old how do we teach him to put himself to sleep?
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10 Amanda // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Hi, I have a 14 month old son and he will not fall asleep on his own. i have to lay with him on the couch or in my bed until he falls asleep, then move him to his bed, he will sleep from anywhere to half an hour to a couple of hours, then wakes up and will not fall back to sleep on his own, so i have to lay with him again. This happens a couple times a night, and sometimes I end up letting him sleep in my bed with me because i just get to tired. He has his bed time routine dinner, bath, drink then bed at about 8:00-8:30 and he wakes at about 9, but he cant make it through the whole night and I’m at my wits end.
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11 yolanda delgado // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:21 pm
My son is almost one year old. He only wakes up once during the night for milk and he was going to go to sleep without fusing. Now he wants you there with him to pat his back ’till he falls asleep. What can I do to help him going to sleep on his own?
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12 Alexandra // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Hi Dana,
My daughter is 17 months old. I used your technique to get her to sleep and it worked well. About three weeks ago she started waking up once a night and will not stay in her crib. She needs to rub my hair or ear to fall back asleep and will only go to sleep again in our bed. She goes down at bedtime with no problems but wakes up once a night and wants to come to our bed and will not fall asleep unless she is touching me. She naps once a day for 21/2 to 3 hours. She goes down for grandma no problems she lays right down in her crib. Alos I forgot to mention that her crib is in our bedroom and we are just about to move it to her own bedroom. Please help!!!!
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13 sara // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:28 pm
my sdaughter is one year old and she refuses to sleep in her bed & still wakes up wanting to eat. this is very exhausting for me. i don’t get much sleep and i’m running on empty. what should i do?
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14 Kelly Johnson // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hi, Jack is coming up to 14 months now but he has never slept through the night. He has his bedtime routine, bath, story, milk, bed and he settles himself to sleep everynight without any problems. However, it gets to about 10.30 pm every night and he seems to wake up and then continues to wake up approx 4 times afterwards - almost every hour on occasion. I go in and give him his dummy and teddy, lie him down and then leave the room, he then puts himself back to sleep with no problems. I don’t know how to break this habit or waking up and wanting me to come in - I just want him to sleep through!!
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15 Jennifer // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I’m afraid I have created a monster in my own home! And the monster is a beautiful little 3 year old boy. Right around the time he turned 3, he started to freak out when we put him to bed at night and I found myself having to spend more and more time to get him to fall asleep. Here it is 4 months later and it takes my husband and I about an hour each night of sitting with Sam, rubbing his back, and soothing him to get him to sleep. He is the youngest of our 3 children and I know this is ridiclous but I don’t know what else to do. If we attempt to leave the room while he is still awake, he panics and starts screaming and right away gets up and follows us out the door. We can do this over and over for a couple of hours and he doesn’t give up. He really seems to be terrified. On top of this, if he wakes up in the middle of the night he comes into our room and every morning when I wake up, there he is on the floor next to our bed. I know that he needs to learn to self-soothe and put himself to sleep. What do I do for a child who is old enough to be in his own bed, not a crip, but not old enough to necessarily punish for not doing what we want him to do?
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16 cassie vandusen // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:48 pm
i’m still trying to get kaneka to sleep through the night. she is a year old on friday. the other night she had me up every hour from 10 to about 6:30 am. all she was doing was crying and when i put her in mybed with me she wanted to play. i even tried putting oragel on her gums, she only has 2 teeth and im sure more are coming in. she still takes a bottle with her to bed. i have tried to give her a sippy cup but all she did was cry so i gave her a bottle. she had 3 bottles that night and still was up every hour. i dont know what was wrong. but she still wakes up in the night for a bottle and a diaper change. i need help. my mom said i was sleeping through the night at her age so she’s no help to me and kaneka is my first child. i need some advice, she is old enough to be sleeping through the night.
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17 Cathy // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I have an 11 month old daughter who goes down great at night and sleeps through the night almost every night.
The problem I’m having is with naps. She doesn’t seem to want to take a nap unless she is being held. This happens at the sitters, with her grandparents and with her parents. Any suggestions.
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18 Sammi // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Our daughter is 22 months old and is adopted from China. We’ve had her since she was 9 months old. Since we’ve been home with her, she has only slept through the night once or twice. She started out in a pack n play in our room and is now in a toddler bed, in our room. I know this is not a good situation. She needs to be in her nursery, but she won’t sleep! We spend all night long getting up and down to tend to her screaming fits, and we both have to work the next day. She goes to bed fine at night. The problem is, she doesn’t sleep through the night. She wakes up for at least one bottle or sippy cup. She screams, “Baba, Baba! or Cuppy! Cuppy!” Some nights she wakes up screaming “hand, hand!” She wants to feel my hand on her. Lately she has become obsessed with tags on blankets. She now wakes up screaming, “tag, tag, tag!” We are EXHAUSTED! What do we do? Is this normal? Will she ever sleep?
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19 Renee // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:51 pm
My daughter is 11 months and she wakes up about an hour or two before the alarm goes off. She tosses and turns 1 to 2 times in the night but goes back to sleep after she curls up to me and I cuddle with her. She also want me to find her paci and put it back in for her. I would like to get her out of my bed but she wont lay in her bed. She will for them at the Daycare but not for me. I am now trying to put her to sleep by making her lay in bed (with me) but that only works if she is REALLY tired. Otherwise, I am rocking her to sleep. When she gets up in the night we change her diaper, give her a bottle and rock her back to sleep. She will not lay in bed with or without me and go back to sleep. She also cuddles with me all night no matter how many times I scoot her over. How can I get her use to sleeping in her own bed with out me like she does for at daycare and stay asleep all night long?
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20 sylvia maffei // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Help. My 3 year old has never been a good sleeper since she was 1. She sleeps in a full size bed. However, she wakes up 1 to 2 times a night for me to tuck her back into her bed. I have made the mistake of laying with her. I have a 20 month old and I am afraid of making my 3 year old cry for the sake of not waking up my 20 month old who is a wonderful sleeper. I don’t know what to do anymore!
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21 Jasmin Paliogeorgos // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:57 pm
My son is 8months old and has never since he was born given me more than 4 hrs. (and that was only a few times) at a time during the night of sleep. When I was pregnant for some reason almost the whole 2nd and 3rd trimester I had restless leg syndrome and barely had any sleep at night. When he was born I thought good now that was gone now I can sleep but I was foolish to think that. His sleeping has only got worse as the days go by. He wakes up usually every hour, if i’m lucky I might get 11/2 hrs in betwween but not usually.He sleeps in bed with me and I would rather not give this up but I don’t know what i’m doing wrong. I’ve tried a routine of bath,massage,jammies,quiet time, but it does nothing. I like to think that i’m a very devoted mom and love my children to death but if i want to keep my sanity I really need help soon. I feel as though every day is a blur and I will crack one day soon. Please help if you can.
Jasmin
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22 Margo // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:08 pm
My daughter is 6 months old and has been sleeping through the night for a little over a month now. She goes to bed around 8 and wakes up at 5 or 5:30 to eat and then goes right back to sleep for another two hours. She barely takes half a feeding most mornings so I’m wondering if she really is hungry or is just in the habit of waking at that time. Is there a way I can get her to stay asleep until 7 when she’s usually ready to be up for the day?
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23 Lisa // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hi Dana,
My 23 month old son Noah has always slept fine at bedtime and we’ve had no problem with his routine(bath 7pm, cuddles downstairs til about 7.30 then bed). 2 months ago this all changed and he started throwing a tantrum at bedtime. We’ve persevered and in 2 months only brought him back downstairs twice, but he’s started waking in the night aswell and will not go back to sleep. Again we’ve persevered with him and nothing was working, then sadly 3 weeks ago i suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks and with it being a traumatic time and just wanting a quiet life we ended up letting him into our bed. Now it’s happening most nights! To be honest he does sleep once he’s in our bed, but this just can’t go on!!! We have a gate across his door so he’ll just stand there screaming until we go get him- bedtime is taking up to an hour at times! Help!
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24 corinna // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Hi, I have an 11 month old that gets up anywhere from 3 to 6 times a night and naps. I was rocking him to sleep, but know i am laying him in his bed awake. I tell him everything is going to be ok and that mommy is not far, I then leave the room. I wait 5 mins go back in and tell him i love him and that everything he is fine. I leave and go back in 10 mins repeat and then i leave and go back in 15 mins and repeat every 15 mins until he is asleep. First night worked great naps not so much. He is getting so upset the he is throwing up a few times. What do i do? Clean him up and start over again or try some else.
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25 Jerrianne Mecham // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:36 pm
We have a similar situation with my 15 mo old granddaughter. Thanks to your sleep program she naps well and goes to sleep at night easily and sleeps til 7:30am and has done so since for the past 10 months (since we instituted your program.) Recently she has begun to wake around 5am and wants her morning sippy cup of milk. Last night it was 2:30am. She is going back and forth between one and two naps a day, yesterday she had two naps totalling 3 hours. What would you suggest to get her back on track. thx, Jerrianne
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26 Erika // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:36 pm
My son is 1 year and 11 months, he sleeps with me. I tried putting him to sleep on his own bed for a week, but every time i had to sit beside him and tap his back or play with his hair so he can fall asleep, he will sleep for 2 hours or so, and he would wake up crying looking for me, i would take him back to his bed, make him fall asleep same way, and not even half and hour he would wake up again crying. He would do this at least 5 times at night until i get tired and just let him sleep with me. Now that he sleeps with me , he wakes up at least 3-4 times at night asking for his bottle which is a sippy cup, and he’ll go back to sleep. I don’t know how to get him use to sleeping in his room and getting him off asking for bottle at night? I aslo have my six year old son, he does not like to sleep in his room. i send him to sleep and he doesn’t end up falling asleep until half an hour to 1 hour after, so in the middle of the night he ends up coming to sleep in my room. I bring him back and he does not want to stay there because he says he is scared. After doing the whole routine with my youngest son, i get so tired and i just let them sleep with me. The worst part of all this is that my boyfriend, the kids and i sleep in one bed, and is so frustrating!
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27 Radha // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hi
I have a 4 month old who would wake up every 2.5 hours to 3 hours in the nite. Till the age of 3 months he was sleeping just fine and would wake up once for a feed. I exclusively breast feed him. However from the time he has turned 4 months he seems to have regressed. Currently my husband rocks him to sleep so i do not have to feed yet tiwce in the nite i still end up feeding him and he feeds for 10 mins. I tried making him cry out for 45 mins but it did not work.. we have to pick him and rock him for 5 mins or 10 mins and sometimes 30 mins and then put him back in the crib. I am at my wits end and would like to get my nite sleep back . How can i get him to sleep the entire night
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28 Heather // Sep 30, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I just read comment 6 from Stacey- I also have a child who sleeps with us- he is now 10 months and wakes up at least 4 times a night. I want to get him in his own bed, but feel guilty since our bed is all he knows. What is the first step to transitioning him to his own bed?
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29 Veronica // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I took my 21 month old daughter Shona out of her cot and into a toddler bed about 6 weeks ago, now before that she wasn’t bad at sleeping going to bed about 7.45pm and waking up about 6.30am. now she wakes at 5am. I am at my bits end and was even considering getting the cot back. all i want is for her to sleep a lettle longer. I would understand if she cried when going to bed, but she loves her bed. (although i close her door tight) is that where i am going wrong.
Please help
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30 marie // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:19 pm
pharoah goes to bed at 9 pm,wakes up at 1 am ,he stays awake till 6 am , then sleep again then wakes up for the day at 9 am ,please tell me what am i going to do because am planning of going back to work soon.
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31 Angela // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I apologize for the length of my comment, but it is reflective of our nightly bedtime routine. There seems to be several factors I need to mention so that you can get the whole picture.
My son Noah is 2 ½ years old. My daughter Mattie is 7 months old. He wakes up 2-3 times/night and my daughter the same—so often 4-6 times/night total. Mattie is asleep b/t 7 and 8, but wakes up at 1am and 5am to eat. Noah is in bed at 8, but not asleep until b/t 9 and 10. They are also early birds…b/t 6 and 6:30am (no matter how late they fall asleep). Noah takes a nap in the afternoon for 2-3 hours, but fights having to lay down. Mattie naps mid-morning for 1 ½-2 hours and in the afternoon for at least 2 hours. Mattie falls asleep soon after she is in bed…sometimes with help from the pacifier . Noah’s routine is the same each night: (bath, brush teeth, read 2 books, prayers, back rub and song, kiss and hug.) Its now to the point where even if I lay with him, it can still take 1-2 hours to fall asleep…and then I eventually fall asleep too. I have been trying a chart with stickers and after he is consistent for 3 nights he will get a train as a special treat. We have a picture of the train on the paper and he gets to put the stickers on, but as much as he wants it—he still gets out of bed and won’t sleep without me there. He cries and gets out of bed and sometimes smiles while he does it so he can test me. The train doesn’t seem special enough for him to go to sleep on his own. So he hasn’t gotten his train and we are still getting no sleep. *Relevant background information: We have lived in 8 different places since he was born b/c of internships & work. I do stay at home with them so that is consistant. I nursed Noah until he was 18 months.(Noah generally fell asleep while I nursed.) I had Post-Partum Depression with Noah and our last move was to be close to family to have support with Noah and the birth of Mattie while dealing with depression…my depression didn’t seem to end after having Noah so the doctors kept me on medication and I only came off of it before I delivered Mattie so she wouldn’t have withdraws, then they put me right back on it. I am grateful for medication and am much more compassionate for those who live with depression. I am worried that I have hurt him because of my depression and that he is insecure and that all the moves have made it so he won’t ever sleep well. Also, along thelines of security, he goes to a coop. nursery school 2x/week and just kisses me and hugs me and I tell him that I will be back soon and as long as we do that, he is fine. One time I didn’t do the same routine and he cried most of the time. I don’t know if its anxiety from moving, my depression, or everything combined. I just want to know that there is hope and that we haven’t messed everything up. He has parents who love him and love each other, a clean home, fun activities, lottts of love,…but we can’t sleep! …and we have no idea what to do! I appreciate your help.
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32 EMILY // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hi Dana. I have twin 2 year old daughters and I am having trouble getting them to go to sleep without me laying down with them. I never slept with them in our bed when they were little but since they were 18 months old they literally have almost a panic attack when I am not there. Sometimes I can lay with them until they go to sleep and then get up and go into my room and they will be up running to my room screaming in fear before I can even get to sleep good. I end up sleeping with them all night every night. I tried sitting in the chair util they went to sleep as you suggested but it did not work!! The girls will take a nap by their self it is just night time. Please help!!!
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33 Tuca Rowe // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Dear Dana
Julia just turned 1 year old today but her bad sleeps habits still going, she is now waking up at some point at night and takes me forever to put her back to sleep. I have to pick her up and rock her to sleep. Even though she cries a lot and it is a several attemps before it works.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to stop it.
Many thanks
Tuca Rowe
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34 claire Pepper // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hi Dana,
My two year old wakes twice a nite for 4oz of bottle then goes back to sleep.
I’ve tried going cold turkey but ound it so hard.
Thank you
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35 Sarina // Sep 30, 2008 at 4:54 pm
SLEEPLESS IN SARINA’S HOUSE! I have a 9 month old daughter who from the age of 8 weeks has slept beautifully through the night. She has a solid routine, has always gone down around 6:30pm and slept till about 6am. We always put her down awake and she would chat to herself for a bit and then sleep. Sometimes she would wake during the night and then self soothe going back to sleep very quickly. As of a month or so ago after she got a bad cold she goes down screaming, takes several rounds of controlled crying and patting before going to sleep and then wakes again every couple of hours screaming, requiring more parental intervention to get her back down! My husband and I worry that while she was sick and we patted her off to sleep we reprogrammed her although we are also wondering if it is just the age - many times she wakes because she has moved into an awkward position in the cot. Or is it the teething! She has not teeth yet so this is another potential excuse. In reality - I just want to know how to fix it! I have become accustomed to getting some sleep and am becoming increasingly grumpy as the nights wear on …… Help
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36 Nicole // Sep 30, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Hello Dana,
My son is only 3 weeks old but hates to sleep in his bassinet. We have the bassinet right next to our bed and I will place him in there once he falls asleep after breastfeeding and he wakes up as soon as I place him in, but if I was to place him in his swing or in bed with us he will sleep for hours. How can I get him to sleep in his own bed? Thanks.
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37 Kaylie's Momma // Sep 30, 2008 at 5:36 pm
My daughter is going to be 2 next week. She still does not sleep though the night. She falls asleep anywhere between 9:30 - 11:00pm and usually wakes around 3 times during the night. She demands a bottle of formula and then goes right back to sleep. How can I get her to sleep though the night without needing a bottle to soothe her??? PLEASE HELP! My husband and I are EXHAUSTED!
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38 Ramona // Sep 30, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Robbie is five months old and he wakes up at least three times a night. He awakes at 4a.m, 6a.m. and then again aroud 8a.m. What can I start to now to get him to sleep through the night. I’m soooo sleepy
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39 Kiana Slater // Sep 30, 2008 at 5:42 pm
My daughter will be 1 years old in 3 weeks and only drinks a bottle to go to sleep at night and maybe one at nap time. She wakes up about 5 times for a bottle through the night, what should I do to break her from waking up for a bottle.
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40 renee milton // Sep 30, 2008 at 6:11 pm
my 11 month old baby girl wakes every morning at 5am. how can i get her to sleep longer, i have tried putting her to bed earlier and later and nothing does the trick. i put her down at 7pm each night, earlier if she is wingy
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41 Carolina // Sep 30, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hi Dana,
My 10 month old son refuses to sleep throughout the night; he’ll sleep for about 2 hours after initially putting him to sleep then he’ll wake up every hour on the hour and want me to hold him in order to go back to sleep. I’ve tried letting him cry but he’ll make himself throw up… i’ve tried giving him his pacifier but he’ll get back up… I don’t know what else to do… I really just need some sleep… PLEASE HELP
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42 Ginny // Sep 30, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I am now successfully able to get my 9 month old to go into her crib awake and with a little bit of crying get herself to sleep and stay that way for the night (most nights) but I have been totally unsuccessful in working on naps. Before when I would put her to sleep and put her in her crib she would only sleep for about a 30 minute nap. Now since working on putting her down for naps awake she will just scream for forever, sit up, and even if I try to put her to sleep and put her in her crib she wakes and freaks out. What am I missing? I am really happy about the nights getting better but I need to get her ready to go to daycare and have naps.
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43 elizabeth // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:16 pm
hi, my baby is 10 mos old, he has been sleeping with us since birth. he used to wake up every ~ 3 hrs to feed/ or just for us to rock him back to sleep ( we usually has to rock him to sleep every night). the past 2 night, we tried to have him cried to sleep on his own. it did not goes too well the first night but the 2nd night he went to sleep after 10 mins of crying; though he still wake up a few times crying. so, should i leave him alone when he wake up at night ,too???? and how long should i wait before i can come to him???? please help.
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44 Shae // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:19 pm
My son is nearly 11 months old and still wakes 2-3 times per night. He is wonderful to put to sleep; I just follow the same routine every time it is nap or bed time and he just puts himself off to sleep in his crib….but he has to have his dummy to go off to sleep ( he has always loved to suckle to get to sleep). He goes to bed at 7.30pm each night then often wakes about 4 hours later, all he wants is his dummy back, i just have to walk in (find his dummy in the cot) then put it back in his mouth then walk straight back out, no contact nothing. He will then put himself back to sleep himself but then often wake in another 3hrs or so…then this repeats itself. He wakes up every morning at 6am (which suits us). He is great with his day time routine, he has 2 naps a day (often close to 2 hours in the morning and an hour and half in the afternoon). He is the most beautiful happy baby who makes being a mum a pleasure all bar not letting me have a full night sleep. What should I do? I have tried letting him go to sleep with out the dummy but he just cries and really works himself up, gets that worked up that then wont settle off to sleep. However with the dummy goes off to sleep peacefully.
Shae
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45 Rowena // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I’ve never had problems with putting my 2 year old to bed. I’d tuck her in and walk away and she would be able to put herself to sleep. We then went to visit my parents for a week and all slept in the same room. Now, she no longer can fall asleep on her own. She wants me to stay in her room until she falls asleep. Then she gets up about 3 times a night and wants me to put her back in bed. I’ve tried just putting her in bed and walking away, but she just screams and follows me out of her room. I’m not sure what else I can do.
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46 Judy // Sep 30, 2008 at 11:00 pm
CJ is a beautiful happy little boy of 18 months. We have done the sleepsense program several times. And it works but every time we visit family or there is a ruffle in his little feathers all bets are off. Now we are again back to square one and he screams his beautiful blonde little head off when it is bed time. We have a routine and I do it faithfully. Now as soon as we start the routine he starts crying and cries through the bath and the books and his bottle, song and prayers. It breaks my heart.
NAPTIME IS EVEN WORSE! He has NEVER wanted to nap. Oh he will nap in my arms but refuses to nap anywhere else. AND HE NEEDS IT! He is rubbing his eyes and grumpy and all of this makes bedtime even worse. I have no idea what I am doing wrong and i have read your book four times. Short of confining us to the house for a month and reprogramming him again I don’t know what to do.
He will start daycare soon and I don’t want to be “that Mom with that boy” who is so difficult. HELP!
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47 Deirdre // Sep 30, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Hi Dana,
My son Jake 18 months old still on a bottle, and wakes every night many times. He screams and stands up the minute his eyes open. when I go in his room I either pick him up, and he falls asleep as I sit in the chair. Or I lay him back down and pat his back. I know these are not ways of helping him to go to sleep on his own. But I have an older child and I am not ever able to let a child cry for more than 5 minutes. Especialy in the middle of the night. He and I are so tired most days. And I am nervous to take away his bottle he will never fall asleep. At nap he falls asleep while drinking his bottle. At night he hands it to me points to the crib and falls asleep with me sitting in the chair. Then wakes several times in the night. Help please
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48 LaLa // Sep 30, 2008 at 11:15 pm
My question is, how can I help my 6 month old son Lj sleep through the night. His night routine has consisted of reading, bath, prayers, feed, lay down drowsy somewhat awake since 4 months of age. He’s still nursing and awaking every hour or two and a half hours! His nap schedule varies… He takes three naps and will sleep for 20-40 minutes or sometimes 1 hour 1/2 (if I hold him). Help!!
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49 Christina // Sep 30, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Hello Dana,
I really need your kind advice about my 2 1/2 months-old-daughter sleeping problem. She usually weaks up in the middle of the night or later than that time, and refuses to sleep in her room, instead she wants to go back to the living room to sleep until daylight. So I have to sleep with her in the living room.
Please help.
Christina
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50 Jenn // Oct 1, 2008 at 12:51 am
Help, I cannot find a solution to our problem anywhere and I am exhausted! Our daughter who is 3 years old and sleeping in her own bed, has decided to awake somewhere between 4-5:15am. This might not be such a problem if we could get to read or play quietly in her room without turning on a light (because let’s face it 4am is not an okay time to be awake and she is exhausted), but she gets all “perky,” gets out of bed, turns on the light and does all kinds of crazy things: changes her clothes, climbs on her furniture, unplugs her nightlight . . . We have a clock routine like you recently suggested, which we have combined with rewards, punishments, and most recently going in with no words and turing off the light and putting her in bed repeatedly until the designated wake up time. Nothing seems to be working. Unlike this week’s problem, our daughter does not leave her room unless she has to go potty and then she returns to her room. I want her to stay in bed at 4 and 5 am, but I don’t think strapping her down is a good idea. How can we correct her behavior without stimulating her or giving her feedback? we are exahausted and desperate.
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51 Antoinett // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:35 am
Hi
Well what can I say about not sleeping…. My son just turned 1 two weeks ago and it seems that he was a bad sleeper when he was first born waking up every half hour, then every hour and a half, to finaly sleeping. He would sleep from 7pm to 8am the next day it was great. But now after he turned 1 he doesn’t want to be in the crib and screams when I put him in then falls asleep alittle after. His naps are only for about 25-30 mins. It use to be 2 hours, but he wakes up screaming on the top of his lungs. He can’t fall asleep by himself only when my husband and I later go up to bed does he sleep through the night till 6 now. Still better than every half hour… But he only will take 2 naps a day no more even though I try how can I get my little boy to take a good nap without screaming his lungs out every time I put him down for one? Thank you and can u please help…. From another tired mother, antoinette
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52 Michelle // Oct 1, 2008 at 3:22 am
My son is 15 months old and Jayden has always slept well he goes doen at 7pm and wakes at 6 or later in the morning but the last week he is awake every hour moaning or crying and we try to get him back to sleep then an hour later he is awake again. He is teething at the moment what can we do to get his routine back and help relieve the pain of teething.
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53 shaz // Oct 1, 2008 at 4:03 am
hi
i have a 6 month old, who, through my own fault, cannot self soothe. She needs to fed or rocked/patted to sleep and can only be put down when she is asleep. she wakes many times in a night, sometimes every hour or so. although she is sometimes hungry, sometimes as soon as I pick her up she falls asleep not long after.
how do i break this habit?
thanks
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54 Leanne Kelsey // Oct 1, 2008 at 4:12 am
Hello, my son is now 23months and keeps waking in the night, sometimes upto 8 times and has been for about 4weeks. He’s still in his crib and goes to sleep on his own fine but during the night he wakes wanting me to tuck him back in, once he’s tucked back in he falls asleep with no problems but obviously this broken sleep isn’t good for me or my son. i’ve tried leaving him to cry but cry’s aslong as i leave him. Last week I left him for 2hours thinking he’ll cry him self to sleep but he didn’t. He’s intelligent for his age and i’ve tried the reward/consequence process and the clock in his room but he’s not responding to any of them!! i’ve tried increasing the temperture in his room but nothing seems to be working!! what can i do for him to have a good/full nights sleep??
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55 Naomi de Buriatte // Oct 1, 2008 at 6:22 am
My nine week old cannot put himself to sleep. I am aware that it is my job to teach him but nothing seems to work. Yesterday he was awake for 13 hours with just one 20 minute and 2 five minute sleeps all day! He ends up very miserable and just cries all afternoon, but I can’t get him to go to sleep. I am not willing to let him cry it out, but I have left him for 5 mins to see if he will settle and he wont. After he misses several naps i get desperate for him to have some sleep and try anything, bouncing, walking etc. I know this is wrong but I feel he gets so over tired and distressed he will never go on his own so I need to refresh him ready to start again.
I try looking for the signs that he is tired but I can’t ever get it right. He also gets up between 2 and 4 times a night and is not having any more sleep than me and I am shattered. Help
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56 Michelle // Oct 1, 2008 at 8:02 am
My son, 17 months old will wake up 1-2 times a night just screaming…. I have stopped giving him a bottle when he goes to bed in his crib and he falls asleep…but will wake up screaming…I know when I go in there that he is still asleep. I check his diaper and if it needs to be changed I change it…then I give him a bottle to go back to sleep. whcih I know I am not supposed to do. But why does he scream..
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57 Vivian // Oct 1, 2008 at 8:12 am
Hi Dana, our daughter is 13 months old. She wakes up evry single nigt at 3am, the only way we can put her back to sleep is next to us in bed. I have tried controlled crying and everything to keep her in her bed. How can i stop her from waking up every night??
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58 Tanya // Oct 1, 2008 at 9:47 am
HELP - HELP - HELP - HELP - HELP - HELP - HELP
I have a 10 month old boy. He’s not getting restful sleep. He wakes up almost every hour. But while he sleeps during that hour it’s not restful sleep he tosses and turns and moans and groans and sometimes screams. We are very worried about him. My husband and I are very sleep deprived and it’s putting a serious strain on our relationship. We can work on fixing us, I want my son to be a happy sleeper I know how important it is for babies. I know we are making some mistakes. We are trying to put him in his crib while he’s still awake but drowsy and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. When he wakes in his crib he will start crying and then screaming non-stop to the top of his lungs and get to the point where he’s coughing and short of breath. At that point we just put him in the bed with us and you’d think that would solve the problem but it doesn’t even when he sleeps with us he still wakes every hour and tosses and turns. Another problem is (I think) his crib is in our room because our spare bedrooms are upstairs and I don’t want him up there. Please help us!!!!!!!!!
Thanks,
Tanya
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59 marie kirkman // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:13 am
Hi, i have a 20 month old daughter ‘Georgia’ who sleeps all night or if she does wake up, she gets herself back to sleep no problem.
The problem for me is i have to sit on the landing where she can see me till she falls asleep, any ideas of how to cure this seperation problem, help!!!
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60 louise // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:47 am
hi how can i help my 14 month old son sleep through the night? he has a bed time routine and it consists of bath at 6.30 and bed at 7 with a bottle, he goes to bad fine if i stay in his room with him which i dont mind because he doesnt take long to go to sleep, but then wen it gets to 2am he wakes up cryin and he will be awake for 2-3 hours he doesnt have a pacifier neither please pleas help!!
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61 Campbell Dalglish // Oct 1, 2008 at 11:37 am
My son is 32 weeks old. He returned from Sweden with his mother after a three week visit. Before he left, he was just beginning to sleep through the night. They have been home now for two weeks. We’ve been struggling with jet lag it seems forever. The night before last he fell asleep at 7PM. Last night he wouldn’t fall asleep until 9PM (he had eaten at 7PM) and then he woke at 11PM and seemed to be terribly frightened by something, curling up in some kind of pain. We finally fed him again and he guzzled down 6 ounces of milk. My wife slept with him in another room and he kept waking with a jolt, seemed to have worked himself into a frenzy. He woke this morning at 6AM, ate just fine, played until 9:30 AM when he fell asleep for an hour. He seems fine now, but what the night tonight will be is anyone’s guess. Any advice?
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62 Danielle // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Hi Dana,
My son Is 20 months old, he is a happy, smart little guy. His bedtime routine consists of me putting him into his crib, after breastfeeding him, and saying goodnight. I will then wait ten minutes and if he is still crying go back in his room and do this whole routine again. Most of the time I end up spending a good half an hour getting him to sleep. I am getting so frustrated with this process that I feel like ripping my own hair out. And if that wasn’t enough he still wakes up anywhere from 4-10 times a night, to be breastfeed, at which point he will go back to sleep. He has never ONCE slept through the night. I am at a lose of what to do with this situation. I have tried many different things, but nothing seems to work. I am not comfortable with just letting him cry for and undetermined amount of time. He only takes one nap a day, usually between 12:30 and 2:00. His bedtime is 9:30, and he wakes up in the morning at about 9-9:30. If you could please give me some idea of what to do… I haven’t had a full nights sleep in almost 2 years!
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63 Melody Chen // Oct 1, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Now I understand that the reason why Caroline, my 7-months old, is waking up many times in the middle of the night is because of her soother and/or my breast. My question now is how to wean her from her soother? If you’ve already answered this question before, feel free to refer me to the site. Thanks
Melody
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64 Dee // Oct 1, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Our daughter is 2 years and 3 months old. She is really good at going to bed - I put her in her bed, say good night, turn off the light and walk straight out of her room and she is asleep within 5 minutes, no crying not a peep!
Up until 4 days ago, however, she came in to our bed every night some time between 12pm and 2am and I would allow her to stay there until the morning.
I have recently, however, decided that it is time she slept in her own bed all night. Things went well the first couple of nights - when she came in to us, I would walk her back to her bed and put her back in, say good night and leave. She would then settle quite quickly sometimes cry a little but when I didn’t go in would go back to sleep. She would do this two times a night.
Since then, however, she has decided to rebel against my master plan and refuses to settle!
When I take her back to bed, she cries for more than 40 minutes at which point I give in and get in bed with her to settle her.
I feel very determined to keep it up but need some advice on how to move forward from here and am desperate not to make a wrong move and make the process harder!
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65 Lynette Hehn // Oct 1, 2008 at 6:32 pm
My 3 month old daughter will have gas pains in the night. This starts her arms and legs kicking and flailing all about. Eventually, all this motion wakes her up and she starts screaming. I would love for her to soothe herself and get back to sleep, but it takes me 20-30 mins to get her back to sleep and sometimes I can’t even get her back to sleep and then I have to resort to methods that aren’t helping her learn to get back to sleep on her own, but she will just scream forever. Any suggestions, or am I going to have to wait out this period in her life until her digestive system is better?
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66 Ahuva // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Occasional Waking,
I have thankfully gotten my twins how are not 11 months to sleep through the night pretty regularly, following your routine. What I am dealing with now is that every once in a while they will wake up - about twice a month for each of. What would you recommend in that situation. I want to be a caring mother, what if they had a bad dream, have a stomac ache, or just got scared - on the other hand, I am afraid if i go into them and cuddle them once, they will make a habit out of it. What do you suggest?
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67 Heather // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Hi!! My son is 14 months old and he has never slept through the night. He wakes up about 5 times a night. If I go in his room and lay beside him (he will only sleep on the floor) and pat his bum or rub his back, he will fall back asleep most of the time. I am exhausted and desperate for a full nights sleep. Please help!!
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68 Laurie // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:49 pm
My daughter is almost 10 months old. I have always played soothing music during her sleep times since she was born. I remember always liking to go to sleep to music when I was young. I’m wondering if this is a good thing to do or if it can be a bad thing for her sleep?
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69 Franki Hall // Oct 2, 2008 at 11:11 am
Hi, please help! My daughter is 11 weeks old and is sleeping through the night from 6.30pm until 6.00am, thereby with no 10.30/11.00pm feed. Do I need to introduce this feed in order to get her to sleep to 7.00am, or what do you recommend?
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70 Janell // Oct 2, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hi Dana,
I have a 7 month old boy who has always gone to sleep swaddled. The doctor showed us a way to swaddle him with a blanket - a slightly different method than the hospital uses which he cannot as easily get out of. He has always slept great this way so we had no reason to try to stop this habit. He has recently figured out how to roll onto his tummy, unswaddle himself and then he proceeds to crawl/climb all over the crib. He may be happy doing this for a bit but then hits his head or gets frustrated and will not stop crying. He will stay swaddled if we put him to bed drowsy (but not asleep) after our nighttime routine but wakes up in the middle of the night and starts crawling around. He gets so worked up that he won’t put himself back to sleep. Any suggestions??
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71 Chantel // Oct 2, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hi Dana,
I have a 8 month old boy who still wakes up 2 to 3 times a night for a bottle. He goes to bed about 8pm everynight and is up around 11:30pm, 2:30am and then 5-5:30am for a bottle. I’ve tried letting him cry to see if he’ll fall back asleep but he just gets so worked up and he’ll start to hyperventalate. I know he does not need this milk, I’ve tried a pacifier but he’s rejected those since birth, water instead of milk then he cries harder and I’ve tried an empty bottle but nothing works til that mild hit his mouth. I’m not sure how to break him of this, and I am starting to get exhausted please help….
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72 Kelley // Oct 2, 2008 at 3:40 pm
My little one goes to bed at 7:30pm and is awake every morning at 5am. I don’t go in until 6am. You say that they should be getting 12 hours of sleep at night. Is my child getting enough night time sleep? How can you get them sleep longer?
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73 kelly brownlie // Oct 2, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hi Dana i have been in contact with you before regarding Amis sleeping or lack of it my son is 10 months old and is still getting up anything between 4 and 12 times a night i have 3 other children 6,4,2, and ami 10 months i have recently stopped breastfeeding him back to sleep to try and stop him waking up for a feed, but this is not working he gets so upset, please help it is having such a big impact on family life now after 10 months of this everyone is so tired and we are all suffering i need some guidence i have tried the controlled crying and the not taking out of the cot,the not feeding i really dont know what to do.
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74 gosia // Oct 2, 2008 at 6:08 pm
i have all the same problems with my 14 months doughter saskia
she wakes up in the nights so many times
i often think its something wrong with her
maybe she is ill or something
it makes me feel upset and worried
i need some advise
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75 Alexandra // Oct 2, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Dear Dana,
my 5 months old daughter still needs to be swaddled to fall asleep both at night and for naps, but she is already too strong and keeps getting out. Then she wakes up and needs to be reswaddled. It seems to me that she is already uncomfortable sleeping that way all night and she needs room to stretch, which in turn wakes her up. Otherwise she goes to sleep after her nighttime routine on her own (swaddled only). How do I teach her to fall asleep without swaddling? Thanks
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76 sue // Oct 2, 2008 at 7:40 pm
My daughter Ava is sleeping through without a feed through the night, which has only just happened the last 2 weeks, but wakes 3 times a night and i have to tap and sing her back to sleep. Also through the day sleep is the same, wont go off by herself has to be patted of sung to. How do i change this? She is 6 1/2 months old.
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77 Michelle // Oct 2, 2008 at 9:16 pm
My problem seems little trivial to some but I would still appreciate the help. My son Finn is 8 months old. He has his breastmilk around 5.30pm then dinner with us at 6.30pm. He then has a bath and a quick top up of milk around 8.00pm. He goes to sleep well. He does however wake up at least once in the night (any where from 12.00 -2.00). I re wrap him but he cries untill I give him milk. He only takes one side and falls straight back to sleep. He then wakes at his normal time of 6.00am. Is it worth trying to get him to drop that middle-of-the-night feed? Thanks
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78 Leah // Oct 2, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hello.
My daughter, 10 month, like everyone is waking 3-4 times a night, sometimes every sleep cycle, sometimes with a full 5 hour stretch! I have been charting for months, switched nursing in our bedtime routine to right after bath and pajamas so that we still had story time, closing the curtains, a lullaby and rocking. She is resisting this chang but will get sleepy enough for me to put her down in about 5-10 minutes. We also moved her bedtime up to 6:30 from 7:30 with wake up at 6am so minus all the night wakings she still gets no less than 10 hours of sleep (closer to 11).
BUT I am going crazy with the sleep deprivation (really am considering medication but will then have to stop breastfeeding, for I cannot take an anti-depressant by itself), cannot function in my kindergarten classroom with such little tolerance… I NEED my sleep. We have tried averything; sleep easy solution, no-cry solution, ferberizing, our own mix, it all. I’ve tried to slowly wean her from nursing/bottle during the wakings, not picking her up - awful; hysterical and then needing soothing to calm down from that! She does legitimately seem hungry after 4 hours of sleeping- and we have stretched that to 5 hours, so I will nurse after that, but that is it til’ morning! Maybe we haven’t stuck with one long enough… we have been seriously actively pushing to find strategies that work for her and us for 5 months now. Anyway, Brianna more than cries when we put her down and walk out, even put her down and stay in and pat her… she will iether *BING* wake up completely and start bouncing around her crib to play with so much energy there is no way to get her back to a restful state for another hour OR - worse, she goes completely traumatically hysterical in 5 minutes (you know, gagging and flailing about she’s screaming and crying so hard our neighbors get concerned). This ONLY escalates if we let it (and we have tried… she would literally scream and be in fight or flight mode the whole night if we let her.) I’m afraid not only will this break the trust and safety she is building in our relationship and her relationship about the safety of sleep, but also her cortisone shoots through the roof and is so unhealthy for her! Am I being paranoid? I just feel trapped, like I know she needs to learn self-soothing strategies, but I honestly believe she is too persistent to calm down in any healthy way and still not ready emotionally to handle the stress and confusion of suddenly not being with her to go to sleep. AND I know this makes her call out for me to sooth her when she wakes… Again, I HAVE to get her to learn how to sleep through the night for my own medical/emotional well-being, let alone hers…. Can she really really be ‘just not ready’? What can I do??
Thanks!
Confused and Desperate,
Leah
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79 Winnie // Oct 3, 2008 at 2:50 am
Hi Dana,
We live in an apartment. Our 8 month old son is extremely sensitive to external noise. He will wake up to the slightest of noises. We cannot make a peep once he’s asleep or we’ll risk waking him up. Even running the water in the kitchen sink will wake him up. We have to tip toe around and I cannot get any chores done. Is there anything we can do to get him to be a “sound” sleeper?
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80 cristy // Oct 3, 2008 at 6:44 pm
my 15 month old son still nurses before being put to bed and will not go to bed with anyone else putting him down besides me. how can i wein him from this nighttime feeding & get him used to others putting him down for the night?
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81 Penny // Oct 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm
My eight month old son wakes up about three times a night. We have recently taken away his pacifier which has helped a lot. He goes to sleep in his crib by himself during the day and sometimes at bed time he goes to bed by himself but I am unsure of how to get him to go to sleep by himself when he wakes during the night. Sometimes I leave him to cry but he will wake again soon after. If I breast feed him he seems to sleep for longer (last night he slept 7 hours after a breast feed). But I am worried that if I breast feed him during the night that he will come to rely on this to put him to sleep every time and that this will result in him waking up more frequently during the night. At the same time I am worried that he might need that feed, he may be hungry or thirsty. How do I tell?
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82 Thelma // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hello, my question is how do I get my 6 month old baby to get pacifier in her mouth by herself at night. She wakes up every hour and does not go back to sleep until I get up and place the pacifier on her mouth.
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83 Irit // Oct 5, 2008 at 12:34 am
Dear Dana,
My 1 year old son still uses a pacifier and still wakes up once a night (at about 4 or 5 am) for a bottle. I would like to know how to wean him off that bottle and stop using the pacifier: does one have to be done before the other or should both be dealt with at the same time?
Thank you for your help.
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84 Michelle // Oct 5, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hi! My daughter Ava is 11 mos old. She had severe acid reflux as an infant and was medicated until 6 mos. We put her to sleep in a bouncy seat to to keep her elevated and to help with the reflux. She is all better with the reflux and now we cannot get her to sleep laying flat! Only in the bouncy seat! If we lay her flat in her crib for a nap she screams and cries and then refuses to nap at all!!!! Therefore- we have nto even tried laying her flat at night! What should we do??? Should we tough it out and let her cry til she falls asleep???? Help!
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85 elaine // Oct 5, 2008 at 12:56 pm
So far this has worked great for my 3 1/2 yr old. The first couple nights took some time for her to stay in her room and then she was getting up in the middle of the night. the last two nights she has went to bed fine as long as she thinks I am in the toy room which is right next to her room as our bedroom is on the main floor of the house. She does check for the first few minutes by yelling a a question to make sure I’m in there! Now it was the weekend and we had events so her bedtime was later and she slept through the night. Tonight is sunday so she will start going down at 7:30 so we’ll see. Anyway, I guess my question is I’ve been going into the toy room until I know she is asleep. I figure if I do that for a few days utnil I know she is comfortable going to sleep on her own then I will be able to just put her down and head downstairs. However, she asks me if I’ll be in the toy room so at what point do I let her know I am going to be downstairs? Or do I just tell her I’ll be in the toy room and leave it at that?
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86 David // Oct 5, 2008 at 8:53 pm
my 10 month old baby boy sleeps well at night but has trouble at naptimes. He is a very good natured baby but really cries and fusses when it comes to nap time even though he seems sleepy enough
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87 keeley // Oct 6, 2008 at 6:25 am
my kia is 5 months on 18th october,, he is waking often through the night, most of the time for his dummy, sometines he doesnt settle at all! help!!! still feeling tired everyday!
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88 cathy // Oct 6, 2008 at 7:36 am
my daughter Leonora (28 months) wake up twice a night.
We put her to bed around 8:00, she have no difficulties to go to bed ( most of the time she is going on her own) however she wake up at midnight and 3:00 every day.
She is clean so once it is because she need a wee, or nighmare, dummy lost…
My husband and I are really tired we don’t know what to do anymore!
help!
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89 Stephanie Mcgee // Oct 6, 2008 at 10:12 am
My daughter is a month old, Is it to soon for her to be putting herself to sleep at night?
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90 TRACY MCCARTNEY // Oct 6, 2008 at 1:30 pm
My son Roan is 6 months. Roan slept brilliantly from 8 weeks from 7pm to 7am with a small late feed at 11pm. However since he was 4 months old he has started to stir just about every hour from 2am onwards. He is not properly awake but flapping and moaning and would and has woken properly when left. He settles with his soother and has now become sleep dependant on it. How do i proceed?
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91 kerry akers // Oct 14, 2008 at 1:55 pm
hi my son Alfie is two in November. he has been sleeping 12 hours through the night waking on the odd occation but six weeks ago he started waking screaming sometimes as early as 11pm and then not going back to sleep until the four / five o’clock in the morning and its gradually getting worse. i’ve tried putting him to bed then sitting in the middle of the room with my back to him until he falls asleep but after a few hours of trying to leave the room i end up giving up and putting him in bed with me where he STILL doesn’t sleep just lays there. then i have a very tired toddler to entertain duing the day till it all starts again the next night. have you any ideas?
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92 lory // Oct 23, 2008 at 6:34 pm
My son is 16 months old and he never has fallen asleep by himself. I’ve always tried to rock him but he just always kicks and screams. I still breast feed him. I’ve tried to get him off but I just could not take him screaming and hitting his head on the crib for 2 hours. Please help what do I do? He sleeps with me and I can not even get up with out always taking him with me because he goes nuts what do I do?
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93 S Siddiq // Oct 28, 2008 at 7:22 pm
My 6 month old daugther will only go to sleep after been fed (still breastfeeding) and wakes up in the middles of the night wanting to be fed/comfort. My main worry is that she is not going to sleep on her own. What can i do?
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94 Ina // Oct 30, 2008 at 1:49 am
I have a 14 month old gorgeous girl who I believe is a light sleeper. She goes to bed ever night at 8pm and sleeps for around 3 hours. She then starts waking up every two hours, sometimes every 20 mins. We just don’t know what to expect. When she does wake up she is crying and I either need to comfort her in her cot or take her in my arms for a few minutes and then put her down again. We tried leaving her but she stands up in her cot and starts throwing herself, we get scared she may hurn herself. Also, if we don’t attend to her, crying gets so bad and it then becomes very difficult to put her down again. My husband and I are both quite tired and we just don’t know what is causing this? She still eats once during the night (milk bottle). Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
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95 katy n richy // Jan 9, 2009 at 6:31 pm
hello katy n rich here, we need some “HELP” asop …. are son has just turned two and has decided that he doesnt want to sleep in his cot any more and wakes 3-4 times a night maybe more some nights , to get him back off to sleep we have to stand in his room until he falls back to sleep and also he can climb out of his cot we have turned his cot into a bed but i feel he isnt ready for a bed yet and put the side back up and the sleepless nights have kicked in but saying that he used to wake up through the night when he was in the bed ( only 2 weeks in the bed ) please could you give us some advice because the sleepless nights are effecting us all any help will do thank you
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96 Sharon // Jul 21, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Hello, I have a 9 month old baby girl! When she was just born she was a pretty good sleeper per say!!
At abt 6 weeks she was not sleeping well during the day but was sleeping from 10pm till 7 am. Once we moved back home (at abt 8 weeks) she stopped sleeping well but still was sleeping from 6 till 12 and then waking up every 3 hours after that! I tried to pick her up calm her down put her down!!! But she is not interested she wants the breast and screams bloody murder untill she gets to go back to sleep with the breast!!!
With time it kept getting worse! Now we r on holliday for 2 months an moved around a little( we live in shanghai and came to Europe)and she now wakes up every hour and a half!!! We all sleep in the same room including her big sister and letting her cry is not an option!! She won’t take a pacifyer only the breast!!!
It has now gotten to the point where I sleep very little and due to the fact that I breastfeed no one can help!!
Please help!
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97 gillian bradley // Oct 10, 2009 at 7:45 pm
i have a 3 year old son who wakes up crying at least 10 times a night im really at my wits end now as i don:t know what else to do i’m having about 2 hours undisturbed sleep a night so most of the time i’m just like a zombie its getting to the point where i can’t cope with it anymore i also av 2 younger children ive tryed the clock thing and holding the door closed but i have now run out of ideas if you can please help
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98 Tiffanie // Oct 22, 2009 at 12:59 pm
hi! I hope you can help! I’m very tired and frustrated with my problem. my daughter will be 3 in march, she is still in her crib and sleeps in my room with me and my boyfriend. Her bed time is around 8pm with a bath before and a sippy cup of milk to go to sleep. she doesn’t fall asleep till like 12am and cry’s n yells for more milk and for me to cover her up till then. after that she wakes up screaming like the excursionist in the middle of the night and when i go over to her bed to help she flails her arms about and wont let me do anything but hold her and she does this repeatedly till she wakes up for more milk at like 5am. I don’t know what to do, she no longer naps so its not that. PLEASE HELP.
thanks,
Tiffanie
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99 dororthy omalley // Oct 26, 2009 at 2:58 pm
My 2 year old grandbaby olivia, wakes up every night screaming and kicking her legs and sometimes you swear she was still asleep.
Olivia my grandbaby during the day complains that her leg hurts,please what can i or my daughter look for.very concerned Nana.
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