I think we made a parenting boo-boo when it came to teaching our LO about sleep. LO was a fabulous sleeper as a newborn. I did nurse him to sleep because we wanted him to sleep as long as possible in the beginning and hoped if we fed him as late as possible this would help with that (This was probably mistake number one) but it worked well and we were rewarded with 6-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep almost immediately. Before you start hating on our good fortune, dont worry, this has all changed 
At 4 months LO hit what I thought was a classic 4 month sleep regression. He was waking up about 45 minutes after first drifting off. I would go in the room nurse him for a few minutes more and he would be out. This wouldnt have been a big deal but just around the time we thought things were getting better LO got sick. And then got sick again. And then seemed to be having trouble with reflux. And then started teething. Get the picture? We are now at nearly 10 months old and LO is still waking up once or twice a night and requiring me to nurse him back to sleep and we dont know what to do about it. I hate having him in bed with me due to the inherent dangers of co-sleeping (no judgements on anyone else who does it I just am a big time worrier and it causes me too much anxiety) so I end up staying awake for most of the nursing session and am sleep deprived almost every day. We have tried letting him cry it out a few times to no avail. We have waited up to a half an hour before going in to get him which is horrible on both him and us. He also stayed one night at my parents house and was up 4 times that night for up to two hours each time. Ugh. Clearly our kiddo has minimal self soothing skills and nursing is about his only comfort. Anyone been through a similar situation? We are at a complete loss as to where to start trying to get him to STTN or even if we should be expecting him to at this point.
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@tillma: How long is he nursing for at each wakeup? We've had a lot of issues with sleep, too. LO is 12.5 months and has only been STTN the past couple of nights because we finally decided to night wean. If she wakes up we will let her fuss for 5-10 minutes (unless she's crying hysterically). DH has been handling all of the wakeups because if I go in and don't nurse her she gets pissed. We have one of those Fisher Price glow seahorses that play music. We don't put it in the crib with her, but if DH has to go in, he rocks with her and lets her hold the seahorse through one round of music (6-7 minutes). Then he puts her back down. She woke up a handful of times the first few nights, but now she's not waking at all! Have you tried sending your DH in?
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@tillma: Check out no cry sleep solution or dr. jay gordon for non-CIO night weaning tips! Sorry, that sounds exhausting
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@lawbee11: Shamefully, LO is still sleeping in the room with us. I was not planning on this and had a beautiful nursery all set up before he arrived but I had a very traumatic labor and ultimate c-section which meant getting up was hard on me and then once I was feeling better he was waking up at night and it was easier to have him close. I have thought that this may need to be part of our action plan but am also scared to implement too many changes all at once.
@SCG00387: thanks for the suggestions! I will look into that -
@tillma: No shame, you did what you needed to do. That being said, I think that is probably a big factor in your LO's poor sleep habits (though I'm definitely not a sleep expert as evidenced by my crap sleeper!). Maybe what you could do is work on getting your LO to sleep in his room but continue nursing him if he wakes up (or maybe nurse him after a certain time, like 2am). We've done that before with good results. Then after a week or two once he's used to sleeping in his room you could work on eliminating the night nursing sessions altogether? Just an idea!
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I agree with @lawbee11 ! I don't think it is/should be shameful AT ALL but I do think it will help a lot if you're not in smell/sight range
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@tillma: you do what you have to do and then when it stops working you try something new so don't beat yourself up!
I agree with @lawbee11: on transitioning your LO to his own room and then working on the night wakings.
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I do have next week off work so it would be the perfect time to get him transitioned to his own room...
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So when you did try CIO, he was in the same room as you? I agree that it's time to try to make the transition to his own room - I know that with my son, he sleeps awesome in his own space, but if he's sleeping in the same room as us it's a nightmare, because the second he wakes up and sees us he is wide awake until he gets what he wants.
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@tillma: our LO didn't really start sleeping through the night until we moved her to her own room. I was still nursing then and we got our motn wakeups down to one and then none. Then, the nine month sleep regression hit, teething, and vacation. Needless to say her sleep sucked. She has been doing fairly well the past couple of weeks (knock on wood). I think she sleeps better on her own, we have a really solid bed time routine, and she is worn out by the end of the day. She plays hard with her sitter. I looked into Dana obleman's sleep solution and it helped a lot.
Good luck!
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No shame it's called survival! You did what worked for everyone and now it's not working for you so time to change it up! I agree that first step (if it were me) would be moving to his own room. See how that goes and then devise your plan for night weaning if necessary.
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Well on night three of LO being in his own room. First night he woke twice, last night he woke seven times and I barely slept and so far tonight isn't looking much better. Breaking bad sleep habits sucks
I can do this. I can do this.
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@tillma: stay strong momma! I believe it's harder on us than it is on them, even though it doesn't feel that way when it's happening
I can do this. I can do this.
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