Need child sleep help

[aimeejo]

My beautiful, sweet daughter is making me exhausted.
I am lucky if I can get her to take one nap a day. Which I try to do before 1pm. She'll sleep for 2 hours.
At night it could take us till 11:00 to get her to sleep.
Now when I do put her to sleep she has to be on top of me but the min. I put her in the crib she wakes up crying. I for one cannot sleep w/ a baby on top of me which leaves me staring at the ceiling all night.
I tried a radio by the bed, didn't work. We tried the crying it out but that just left her awake for 3 more hours.
When she was a baby we were able to put her in her crib awake w/ her bottle and she would fall asleep. Then she got her first cold and mommy babied her by holding her and she just got use to it. Now I'm kicking myself for that.
She is getting her 1 year molars so we give her some Tylenol and ambesol before we put her down.

I am up and down all night long. She lost her Nuk, she wants more milk, she wants held. All I want to do is sleep more than 2 hours straight.

My question is how did you all get your 13 month old to sleep? Any ideas how Mom can get more sleep?

[maree_strawberry]

here's a link...scroll down to "sleep" & click on links below that...hope something helps!

Topics for Toddler - BabyCenter

[jhall1977]

Well, I could tell you to do what 1 of my doctors told me to do. Close the bedroom door, get a nice plump pillow & put it over your head. At least 1 of you could get some sleep!

Sounds like she just got used to having mommy hold her & figured out she likes it. If she's not in pain, hungry, cold, etc. I would just say let her cry it out for a while. At 13 mos old I would just put a few extra paci's in her crib & put water in her bottle, maybe once she realizes that mommy isn't going to come running at every cry, she'll start to settle back into her routine. It might take a few days & there willl probably be crying from both of you. Hang in there, it will get better!!

[jenjacobs]

I'm going through the EXACT same thing with DS. He is 15 months. I so feel your pain. Sleep deprivation is the hardest thing about being a mom for me.

I took him to the Dr. yesterday to make sure there is nothing wrong with him (no ear infection) etc. and he got a clean bill of health. Dr and I had a long talk and basiclly he confirmed what I knew we should do. Let him cry it out. So we did and after 1 hour last night he finally stopped. Sounds like your child is even more strong willed than mine, but she'll figure it out eventually if you don't come to rock her or give her a paci etc.

Get the whole family ear plugs or something seriously! Dh slept with them since he goes to work.

Also DO NOT let her make up her sleep during the day if she has been crying all night. I was letting DS do that and he was taking 3.5 or 4 hour naps. I now wake him up after 2 hours.

GL

[aimeejo]

The other thing I forgot to point out is that we are all in our bedroom. Mommy, Daddy and Gavin in the bed and Wynter beside me in her crib.
Why? Gavin won't sleep in his bed, which use to be fine w/ me but we put bunkbeds up in his room and he says there are monsters on the top so we wil be taking them down and putting a regular bed back in and Wynter doesn't have a room, yet. When she does she'll be in the room next to us. < We have to clean the room out but I'm waiting for Hubby to get his stuff out. > For now I'd rather have her in there since I'm up and down so much during the night and I'm just too tired and lazy to walk out of my room.

Our house is small so if she would CIO during the night she would wake everyone else up. Hubby's thoughts are that as soon as she starts to cry get up and give her her milk or Nuk..He can say that cause he doesn't have to get up w/ her.

[Katnpsl]

Well I too am going through the same thing with my 8 mo old. She is teething also and wakes up randomly all night. She slept through the night at 12 weeks and I so miss those nights. After a few nights of no sleep I get quite grouchy myself. I hear that its good to get them used to a certain stuffed toy to soothe them and sleep with but as of yet she isn't buying it. If anyone comes up with the magical cure let me know...lol Mine only has 2 teeth yet so I have quite alot of teething to go through still. Good luck everyone.

[BzyBee]

Wake her up in the morning...same time every day. Put her down for a nap at the same time every day whether she sleeps or not and get her up after 2 hrs (or whatever a 'normal' nap time is for her). Put her to bed at the same time each night and close the door. At this age you don't need to 'put her to sleep', she should be falling asleep on her own. If she has never learned to do this it will take a few days, maybe a week but she will do it. You both will be tired, but she will learn. What is worse than a 13 month old who can't go to sleep by themselves?? A 3 yr old who can't go to sleep by themselves and you are headed down that road.

Good luck!!

[Katnpsl]

The other thing I forgot to point out is that we are all in our bedroom. Mommy, Daddy and Gavin in the bed and Wynter beside me in her crib.
Why? Gavin won't sleep in his bed, which use to be fine w/ me but we put bunkbeds up in his room and he says there are monsters on the top so we wil be taking them down and putting a regular bed back in and Wynter doesn't have a room, yet. and down so much during the night and I'm just too tired and lazy to walk out of my room.

I saw a few years ago, someone posted on ebay (no kidding) "monster from my childs closet for sale". I don't know if it sold but I thought that was a pretty inventive way to go about it. lol

[aimeejo]

I do take her in at Noon for her nap and bed at 7:30 every night. Some times she'll fall asleep and others she won't. I give her 15-30 mins to fall asleep and if she doesn't she goes in her crib but she just screams really bad and that just breaks my heart so I get her back out and hold her till she falls asleep again then pray w/ all my might that she'll not wake up when I put her in her crib.
I feel like I spend most of my day putting her to sleep. Gets aggravating sometimes.
I'm just so exhausted I don't know what to do.

[Macaela25]

Wake her up in the morning...same time every day. Put her down for a nap at the same time every day whether she sleeps or not and get her up after 2 hrs (or whatever a 'normal' nap time is for her). Put her to bed at the same time each night and close the door. At this age you don't need to 'put her to sleep', she should be falling asleep on her own. If she has never learned to do this it will take a few days, maybe a week but she will do it. You both will be tired, but she will learn. What is worse than a 13 month old who can't go to sleep by themselves?? A 3 yr old who can't go to sleep by themselves and you are headed down that road.

Good luck!!

ITA with all of the above. We are fighting this with DS (20 months). He has learned that if he screams long enough at night that Mommy and Daddy will give up and put him in their bed until he falls asleep (after walking on, hopping on, poking, and kicking us in bed for an hour or so). It's a total control issue with him. How do I know? Because at preschool he lies down on his mat each day without ONE PEEP and takes a two hour uninterrupted nap. Last night we let him CIO and after an hour he gave up and fell asleep. Both parents have to be on board, however. It's awfully easy to tell your partner to get up and pacify a screaming baby all night so you can sleep.