Hellobee Boards

@jedeve: I'm so sorry you're going through this! Has your LO ever been able to sleep for longer stretches, when he was younger? How are naps? Have you tried co-sleeping?
What do you do now, when he wakes up- do you give him some time to see if he settles on his own, or do you go in immediately?

Re: CIO, I know it can be a difficult decision to make, but in your case, you're physically suffering and something's gotta give! Your LO might surprise you, too, by not crying as much as you think he will. It really sounds like he doesn't know how to fall asleep on his own yet, and he needs to learn... We did CIO pretty early, but for older babies I thought The Sleepeasy Solution (http://www.amazon.com/The-Sleepeasy-Solution-Exhausted-Parents/dp/0757305601) had some good tips.

Good luck to you! I hope things take a turn for the better asap!

I can totally commiserate! DS did this, and like you said, he struggled with connecting with his sleep cycles. Sleep training is one way to rectify the situation.

We didn't sleep train because we couldn't. DS would cry so hard, he'd throw up. It wasn't worth changing the sheets 4-5x a night plus consoling him, etc.

By 18 months, he was sleeping more consistently and longer stretches on his own unless he's congested. At 22 months, he's been STTN somewhat consistently. Those nights are awesome. lol

Sounds developmental. Everyone has their own comfort level with cio, but given its only been two days, I'd personally wait it out a week and see if it goes back to normal.

First of all, hugs I have been there recently and know how hard it is. My son is also 11 months.

Are you nursing/rocking to sleep at bed time? If you are, the first thing I would do is get a solid bedtime routine that puts some space between nursing and sleeping. Then work on putting him in his crib when he is relaxed but awake.

The other thin that really helped me is to wait it out a little while, especially if DS was just fussing or crying a little. If it doesn't escalate to full on screaming, I found that he'd usually fall back to sleep pretty quickly and it was worse if I went in. I also leave him alone if he is standing, eventually he'll sit down and fall asleep (though sometimes sitting up!)

Finally, if you are nursing in the night, you can start to work on night weaning. We did two things first gradually pushing back the time of the fist night feed and then gradually reducing the length of time I nursed. We just did this and it seems to have helped sleep a bunch.