Hello!
I am hoping you can help me with some suggestions! I had some great help a couple of years ago with my daughter, and now needing help again with my nearly 18 month old son.
He has never slept through the night and has always been a tricky sleeper.
He's dealt with a lot, from bronchilitis at 8 weeks old, then we discovered dairy, egg and kiwi allergies, which he no longer has, but his eczema will flare up randomly and he can get very itchy.
He was breastfeed fully, then we introduced a dairy free formula for bedtime around 12/13 months.
He is awake when we put him in his cot. Some nights he'll stay perfectly still and go to sleep without any help. Some nights he needs us in the room, so we sit either by the cot or across the room and leave once he's asleep. I would say it is 50/50 on what we do.
He then wakes between 9:30pm and 11:30pm - but normally, 10:25pm!
He cries so after making sure he's not going to settle himself (which he's done the odd time), we go into him, try and settle by calm words and being next to the cot, but he doesnt stop crying, so we end up picking him up.
We have to rock him, but we can't get him back into the cot without him going crazy or waiting a really long time until he's in a deep sleep - he then wakes 10mins later if he's back in his cot.
If i'm the one holding him, he is obsessed with pulling and playing with my hair. I wear it up and try and stop him as it hurts, but sometimes he goes crazy for it.
If we attempt to sit down, he goes mental and arches his back and then goes into a weird state where its like he doesn't want to be touched by us and will say "no", but equally, is really upset and won't settle.
So......after we've faffed around (and like last night it got to 1am from the 10:30pm wake up) I give in and breastfeed him and he sleeps in our bed. Although this didn't send him into a deep sleep so he was still crying on and off, but I think exhaustion took over.
He then wakes 3/4 times and will need me to feed him back to sleep otherwise we repeat the above!
I know that sometimes he is itchy from his eczema, so when I know he is, I basically do whatever will help him, which is normally stood rocking or feeding. He has piriton once or twice a day as per the Dr.
A bottom molar has just popped through, but he doesn't seem overly in pain or dribbling in the day at the moment. Although his poo is very running in the day.
So......I'd love some help please! I don't mind if he is asleep in our bed but actually sleeps. But would prefer him in his cot if possible, but need a way to deal with the crying and upset that he seems to be going through.
Thanks!! xx
