Q&A: Baby Won't Sleep Through the Night Discussion

Our 10 month old son doesn't sleep through the night. he goes & has a great day with the sitter, we have a normal daily routine with both of us working 8 hrs a day, go home, make dinner, bath & some playtime before last bottle feeding. our target time is 9pm to have our son asleep. he normally falls asleep as he nurses then we lay him in his crib. we've started laying him in his crib so he can fall asleep on his own (not easy but its work in progress). by 1:30am or 2:00am he's up crying & the only way to soothe him is to feed him another 6-8 oz of formula. we tried a late-nite meal thinking he wasn't getting enough but that didn't work. we even switched to soy thinking he's lactose intolerant, nothing seems to work. any advice from anyone is greatly appreciated.

Omg, i feel the same i'm a mother of five. i have 3 daughtets 13,9,8 and a set of feternal twins. ive been going through it since the twins were born . basicaly lost my lifestyle , career freinds and even the love my man and i had for one another. our relationship has really suffeted and still is because of the twins. i cry all the time. they turned 1 a few months ago and nothing at all has changed the demands of them seem higher. my twins have never slept on any type of pattern or schedule and the doctor seems to be taken it in stride that shes told me sevetal times to use the cio method and because i havent this is the reason that their not sleeping its nerve recking. because im a quote unquote stay at home mom now i bend over backwards for them ive tried it all. i feel so hurt and defeated. nothing seems right . and to see that my man is so uneducated towards his babies and me just adds fuel to the fire . dont get me wrong i get help from him , but its never enough . he has to be told what to do never knows what to do , thats mind boggling for me . can you imagine two freaking babies screaming and you have to constantly look over you shoulder at your assistant and shoutout instructions along with the screaming its like a damn 3 ring circus act. fyi the twins are his first, my older daughters are from a previous marrige. to be able to get some sleep during the hours regular people are sleep would truely lesson whats already a hard job. i havent been able to enjoy my babies because they are so stresful. i hate nap time and bedtime . these docs dont have a clue what we moms really go through.

Sarah from cleveland, i'm right there with you and i feel that the cio method isn't helpful for my daughter either. does anyone have any alternatives?

I have a 13 month old with the same issue! i won't do cio so i don't know what to do. knowing others are out there going through the same thing helps. but i need sleep! praying we all figure this out.

I have had a similar problem with my 9 month old. she has always, from birth resisted sleep and has always wanted to be held, hated the car seat and pram. i completely agree with louise from the uk. forcing babies into independance was introduced in the 50's at the same time as feeding only every 4 hours. some babies just arent able to go the whole night without comfort from their mums. although it makes it hard for mums, it is completely normal for some babies. the way we respond to this ultimatley comes down to our attitude towards parenting i feel. i am disheartened by the docotrs response. we as mums need to change the way we think and be supportive of each other. it is only pressure from other mums who say it is not normal for babies to wake during the night, that make us go against our natural mothers instinct and leave our sensitive babies to cry. it shocks me that even our doctors have these beliefs. what chance do our babies have when our doctors prescirbe such measures to us? i know lost of other mums. some ahve babies who sleep through the night from a young age, some have babies who continue to need comfort for many years. some have had babies who fall into both categories. it comes down to the baby not the parenting. all babies learn if we leave them to cry is that they have been abandoned in their time of need. i worry about the psychological impacts this has on our society. by listening and responding to your baby you are teaching them that they can rely on you for love and nurture. ultimately they are not going to keep waking until they are 18. it may only be a few years out of your whole life that you will have to have an interupted sleep. it is not long in the scheme of things. from what i ahve experienced and read, babies sleep patterns continue to evolve as they grow. i know this doesnt help you a great deal but at least it might help you to understand you are doing everything right by going to your baby. it is not your fault your baby is waking. they are a baby after all and just want their mum!

My 13 mnths son had pneumonia and in hospital for almost a week ever since we came home he has never slept thru the night his very restless wakes up every 3hrs to drink back to sleep then jus wakes up again it wil go until 6am then he wil settle down and sleep until 8 if im lucky

Maybe you could introduce a comfort object. when i weaned my daughter off her night feeds i found giving her a comfort blanket helped extremly. as she only gets her comforter for bedtime as soon as i give it to her she automatically starts sucking her thumb and putting herself to sleep, has worked a charm. we never had to take her into our bed when she had her comforter.

My daughter is 13 months old, she used to sleep from 7pm to 6am no problem in her bed. after coming home from a trip where she had to sleep with me (which we had never done before) she got sick and would not go back into her bed. that was over a month ago. i've tried the going in every 5min and this just leads to her being sick from crying so much. the minute i bring her to our bed she goes to sleep instantly. help!!!! really would like her to sleep in her crib again. not good for mommy and daddy or baby!

I'm sorry but reading this has made me very sad! your babies need you to be there for them at night as well as in the day. leaving a baby to cry themselves to sleep is cruel and is not good for the baby. of course they want to be with their parents. babies need their mummy and daddy! whoever invented the idea of leaving a baby to cry themselves to sleep has a lot to answer for in my opinion! i'm sure it was a man as no mother finds it ok to hear their babies distressed! stop reading books and do what feels natural! humans are the only mammals who sleep separately from their young! they are the only mammals who hurry their babies into independence before they are ready! i have a 14 month old son who sleeps with us and feeds a couple of times at night. when he is ready we will begin to reduce feeds and gradually move him to his own room in his own time and we, as his parents will be there for him at each stage! there are many ways to cut feeds/get babies to sleep without leaving them to cry. i wonder what the advice was before the "ferber" method was introduced and doctors decided that how people raise children was of their concern! it makes me sad to see a doctor say that to leave your baby to cry themselves to sleep is the only way! it most definitely is not! your babies are only babies for a short time! enjoy them and give them what need now! they will give it back when they can! i'll get off my high horse now and stop reading things which make me angry!

My 12month old doesnt go to bed while 2 oclock in the morning and doesnt get up till 12 in the afternoon but then hes napping for 2-3 hours at around 6pm please help it is getting frustrating i have tryed everything to try and get him into a routine the cry it out never worked he would just stop hisself from breathing untill i picked him up if i try to put him in his own bed as soon as i get him in he wakes up stright away me and my partner are falling apart my partner is now sleeping in the spare bedroom because i have to put my son in my bed or he wont sleep

My 14 month old has never slept through a whole night. he was breast fed till he was 8 months then was bottle fed with breast milk up until 13 months. he now is on whole milk and eating a variety of foods. when he was born our doctor told us to breastfeed him him every 3 hours, so i did until he was 6 months old, then our doctor said to stilll feed him every 3 hours during day and feed at 7pm then 11pm, he would sleep till 5am, not bad. but now he wakes up every 30 min or every hour during night and during his naps. we have him on a routine for feedings, naps sleeping but nothing works.

At least it is good to know that there are other people who are experiencing the same issues we are! i have always felt so alone because all of my friends have babies who have slept through the night since 3 months old! my son is 13 months old has never really been a good sleeper, but the last month has been horrible! he is awake and screaming for almost 3 hours a night and nothing we do has helped at all! we have tried cio routine which never worked and always leads to vomit in the bed. we have tried bottles, rocking, and letting him sleep with us! i am 5 months pregnant again-soooooooo tired and can barley even function through a day! my husband works 12 hour days and is sooo tired he is almost always late for work. our marriage, relationships with friends and family, moods, phsycial well-being and almost every aspect of our lives have suffered tremendously! i am also a phd student and find it almost comical when i have a 100 page paper due! i am going to have to give that up as well! is it selfish as a mother to resent having to give up every part of your life? my social life, my marriage, my sanity, my sleep, working and now school? sleepless in cleveland- sarah

My daughter is 12months old, she goes to bed at 7pm then wakes sometimes through the night just for her dummy, but at 4am every morning she is awake and we have to get up with her, we have tried the controlled crying, tried giving her a bottle nothing works she stands at the bottom of her cot screaming, i have even sat next to the cot trying to calm her down but as soon as i get up to leave she is scream;ing again, we have had this for 7 months now and would appreciate any advice

I have a daughter that is 10months old and she wont sleep without us either. she used to sleep in the crib as a baby for about a month but now she wont. i have gone back to work and her father works with her during the day to get her in the crib. we have to let her cry it out as well. its sad to see but we just cant have her sleeping with mom and dad all the time, it makes for restless nights. any tips on how we can get her to stop this after 10 months would be great.

I can really understand how stressful it is having a baby who won't sleep at night...i've been through it any questions let me know.

Hi there, i can really empathize with your baby not sleeping thru the night and being extremely sensitive. i want to comment to the first comment: you think your baby will never sleep on her own...we thought that too...but she will! my baby is 11 m old now, and sleeps through the night. at 10 months we started sleep training. prior to that she was getting up every 2 hours, nursing 2 times a night, we were constantly rocking her we were not sleeping. when we put her in her in her crib asleep she would wake up very easily. i read a book called "sleeping through the night" by jodi a. mindell ph.d. this book is excellent! you should read it or read up on similar sleep training methods in detail before beginning. this book explains the plan of how to put your baby to bed awake and what to do thru the night. it covers any problems or difficulties you may encounter (such as what to do if your baby gets sick...we had this problem too!) our baby had a very difficult time the first 3 to 4 nights--we followed a very specific plan according to the book..we would put her in her crib at our set bedtime (7:30--do not put baby to bed too late, it makes it harder for them to fall asleep) and after a bedtime routine. she would scream and stand up, we stayed in the room with her, after about half hour the first night we could get her to lay down. then we'd leave the room and she would get up again, we had to keep coming in and gently lay her down again. the first night she cried 1 hour 15min. the next night 40 min. the third night an hour. then it started to get better and better. the biggest improvement showed at about 1 week. now (2 weeks later) after her bedtime routine she lays down on her own and goes to sleep...i didn't think this was possible. dr. wood is right on her advice you really have to have a good plan, and pick a time when its a weekend and you can handle some stress...follow through and you will be amazed at how life changing it is. i can understand how you think your baby might not be able to handle this, because that's what i went through. our baby is so happy now, sleeping well. best of luck!

Hi my son is 12mths and he doesnt sleep thru the night.he wakes around,1am then 300am.he doesnt properly go back to sleep until 5am.its driving my husband and i crazy.we have tryed every thing,his baby no5.my other children never had sleeping problems.please help!!

My 7 months old baby wakes up every 2 hours every night and won't go back to sleep unless i nurse or cuddle her. i am exhausted and grumpy and don't know what to do. when my husband goes to her room to settle her she screams her head off because she wants me. yesterday i tried cio but she got so upset and angry and i ended up picking her up. tonight i will try to give her bottle when she wakes up and see how i go. do you have any other suggestions?

I see so much stress and worry about sleep and parents feeling anxious about letting their baby cry it out. they are only babies for a short time and it is natural for them to want their parents. just like every person is different, every baby is different. the sooner you can accept your baby wants to be close to you, the closer you are to a good sleep and peaceful mind. my baby is 8 months old and had stages where she slept in the bassinet but will fight it for the last 4 months. i put her in bed with me out of tiredness and now everybody is happy. after a holiday she went back in the crib happily until i once tried to leave her there and now the negative connotations have kicked in and she screams when i get near it. fair enough. honestly, your baby is normal if they want to be with you, they love you unconditionally and are expressing it in their own way. just go with it for now and they will trust you more.

Finally, read something to make me feel a bit better, that i am not alone! seems like there's loads of people all having to deal with the same sort of stuff but the question is what to do?? only thing that keeps me going is that they won't be doing this when they're older,well i hope not anyway!!

My 11 month old is having a really hard time sleeping. he fights sleep every night even when exhausted. all he seems to do is toss around the cot and try to get on his knees or to do his new trick of standing up. my wife and i have tried everything.if e let him cry it out two things happen, he gets so worked up he gets worse and then ends up in a right state and choking himself or because he can get up on his ees or stand he ends up flopping about the cot as he is so tired and ends up bumping himself which again gets him more worked up. we refuse to bring him to bed with us and now spend allnight on a chair next to the cot in the dark wide awake and having no interaction with the baby other than to turn him on his back when trying to stand up. this can last all night as he is very determined. we have had the odd week of him sleeping through but even sticking to the same routine his sleeping pattern goes out the window.we have read all the books and tried most things but nothing seems to work. should i face up to the fact i have a baby who doesn't like sleep or can some-one suggest something new?

My 8 month old won't sleep at night. she goes to bed asleep and then when she wakes, she will scream. also, sometimes she wakes up at 3 in the morning for 2 hours wide awake. she sleeps great during the day and eats well. we do let me cry a little at night when she wakes up (1st time 1 minute, 2nd time 2 minutes etc) i just want to know if there is anything i can do. and just want to know how to make her stop screaming as soon as she wakes up and wants out of the crib.

My son is 13 months old, but was 10 weeks premature. he slept great when he was in the hospital. but from the day i have brought him home he has been a terrible sleeper. i keep thinking he will grow out of it. it started out feeding him every 1 1/2 hours and putting back in his bassinet. then it was feeding him in our bed and him falling asleep in bed and having to sneak him into his own bed. now he won't even do that, he makes you get up and feed him downstairs on the couch and then when he finally passes out he will go back to bed, but by then i'm wide awake and can't sleep. he will cry for hours if i try to let him cio and i don't have the heart to let my baby scream for hours. is this just his personality or is there a solution??? he has always been a way more demanding baby than my first, she was a breeze. i am lost and me and my husband cannot take any more sleepless nights. it is affecting our moods and home life.

Eating too much at night, they have to be eating more in the day and slowly taking away the night time feeds. everyone is feeding their childs problems, look at what your are doing!

My baby is just turning 1 and he will not go to sleep by himself ive always rocked him to sleep and now im trying to get him to go to bed by himself but he just wont during the day if i put him to his cot he will just keep standing up and screaming i keep going in and putting him back down but it doesnt work, at night its the same i try getting him to go to sleep by himself but he ends up getting himself all worked up so i end up having to rock him to sleep. in the middle of the night he wakes up 3 - 4 times eventually until he gets into bed with me, hes still in the room with me so he just stands up in his cot andscreams till i get up and even if i keep putting him back down he hardly ever goes back to sleep so i have to take him into bed with me. he wont go to sleep with on anyone else apart from me, if i walk out of a room he will scream until ive gone and lifted him up. gonna keep trying putting him to bed by himself and letting him cry himself to sleep. dont think its going to work tho.

My 12month old baby wakes up 3 to 4 times every night, drinks 120ml bottle of milk each time she wakes. is that normal? and she never sleeps in her crib

My son is 6 1/2 months and wakes up at least six times a night and 3 times on a good night. he feeds everytime he wakes up, finishes 500ml a night. i'm am so exhausted and i'm back at work, if someone has advice on how to get him to sleep all night, please help.

My son is 19 months now, almost 20 months and for the past couple of months he gets up mostly every night about every 30 minutes to an hour apart to drink water so i would always keep water by his bed side. his bed time is at about 8:30 pm, 9:30 the latest. i try to tire him out before his bed time so it is easy for him to fall asleep. maybe once in awhile he will sleep through out the whole night which is good, i can handle the water during the night, but what i can't handle is for the past few days, he would be lying in his bed and all of a sudden he would get up and walk to the door, wanting to do what ever he wants to do and not sleep. i try to put him back in his bed and tell him to go to sleep but he cries with a sharp piercing voice like he is in pain. i try to carry him to sleep but it doesn't work. i like to put him to sleep at 8:30 and he usually sleeps at that time until a few days ago. i am hoping this is one of those stages that babies go through. please help.

I have my 12mth baby boy, still waking up ever 30min to an hour every single night, because i cannot get him to sleep in his crib, we just put him in our bed with us in the middle of the night so i can get some sleep myself, he still wakes up to breastfeed every two hours and end up spending the whole night in the breast, just like a pacifier, because he refused to eat or drink anything else throughout the day. we tried all kind of different bottles, cups out there and different kind of food, he is still not interested. i am verry stress out. i am afraid he is not getting enough nutrition’s he needs and maybe that's why he is not sleeping through the night. help.

My little boy 10 months has this separation anxiety and what makes this harder during the night he generally will sleep through but if his eczema wakes him up then he realises he is on his own and will cry for hrs on end. stuck for words and dont kno what else to do. everyones has posts up of the problems they are having are there any ideas people can give to help others. i dont know any other than to be patient and try out ur options.

My daughter is 12 and a half months. she waks up crying if she is in her crib for more than one and a half hours. if my husband or i hold her she goes back to sleep right away. if we get her to sleep and put her in her crib she wakes right back up. we are scared to put her in bed with us. my husband ends up sleeping in the recliner in our room. we try crying it out, but within three minutes she will start gagging and eventually vomit. then you are up anyway changing sheets and bathing her. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My daughter is 8 month old now..first 3 months were miserable for me because she was in the habbit to wake up all the night n did not sleep at all without a swing..then i started to put her with me in the bed.now she wakes for 2 to 3 times in night for feed n readily goes to sleep in 5 to 10 minutes..she is a breastfed baby..doing much better than before..so my suggestion is to let ur kid play during the day time as much as she can..put her for naps in the day when she really feels sleepy n much exhausted...from 8pm onwards,dont allow her to sleep readily,giv her night time snack,engagae her in activities for one or half hour n finally she will be so much exhausted that she will sleep in 10-15 minutes n will not wakeup too frequently..

My 14 month old doesn't sleep through the night and he never did,i'm exhausted and frustrated,i tried the cio and never worked before,i'm trying it again this weekend ,we strated tonight and he vomited everything after just 10 min of crying,and i checked him and comfort him 3 times in 10 min,he's just so stubborn,everytime he cries a little he throws up,i dont know what to do anymore,i'm so sad,please just say there's something i can do for him....he's not sick,but he just doesnt wanna fall asleep by himself...

A few things can affect night sleep: baby sleeping too much during the day, going to bed too late (7-7.30 should work for most babies but for instance if my baby is crying when being put to bed next day i move bedtime 20 min earlier and he goes down with no fuss at all) , being overstimulated during the day and pacticularily before the bedtime. what works for us and for many of my friends' babies is eliminating the above factors and providing minimum interaction at night, not even smiling at the little one, to make nighttime boring with nothing to do but sleep. these rules are a summary of extensive! research on babies' sleep and made wonders for me, hope will be of help to you too!

I used to nurse my son until 6 months old and i would nurse him on our sofa or in bed. now, he's going to be 12 months next week and he will not go in his crib. i have been batteling this since he was about 5 months old. as i write this, i am sitting in his room, and he's looking at me crying his head off leaning over the rail because he's sooo tired and needs to nap. he has fallan off our bed so i makes me nervous when he's on our bed so i don't get to sleep well. he won't even play in his crib or playpen and he's been like that for many, many months. he even cries if i have to go upstairs to the restroom and does this also with my husband. so unless one of us are downstairs or in the same room/area with him he will throw a fit. i don't know if it's too late to fix or if there is something wrong.

My 13 month old son has slept with us since he was a baby i nursed him until he was 7 months old then tried to make him sleep in his crib but he was so used to sleeping with us he just cried forever. i know have it where he will cry only for a few mins then will just sit there all night no joke and will stay awake i put him in bed at 9 at night and i still heard him moving around at 1 am i went to bed and he then woke me up at 7 am crying so when he gets up he is so craby and is so tired i dont know how he can sit in his crib all night and no?

My 10 months old does not sleep thru the night. she waked up and instantly is bright eyed! its not like i can let her cry herself back becasue she is just standing up in the crib ready to go.

I completely understand what you all are going through. i am currently laying on the floor on a made-up bed of blankets next to my almost 12 month old son who refuses to sleep in his crib. we have tried everything we can, all of the methods, and nothing works! he has been nightnursing since he was born and still wakes about 2 to 3 times a night looking for me to feed him. i am trying to at least get him used to his own room and sleeping on his mattress, which is also on the floor surrounded by pillows right now. i just lay in the room next to the pillows and when i hear him calling for me i feed him. but that is the only way he will sleep without me. maybe it's something to do with the actual crib, the feeling of being enclosed/entrapped? i've heard of maybe giving him a bottle with just water in it through the night, and that eventually they get bored with water so they don't bother waking up at all. maybe we will try that once he is weaned from me. but he does do the same things - the only wanting to be in our bed but tossing and turning all night; and screaming and gagging himself if we attempt the cry it out method. i'm starting to feel like a bad mom. but i know that if anything, us moms that can't stand the cry it out method, at least we have a heart! we love our children and don't want to hear them suffer! well, somethings gotta give and ill just take it one day (and night) at a time for now.

My 13month old was sleeping through the night from birth to about 6months. then he stopped sleeping through the night. we put him to sleep at night and then put him in his cot. about 3-4 hours later he wakes up screaming and won't go back to sleep unless he is in our bed. we did try putting the cot right next to our bed and taking the side railing of so that he is in his cot but thinks he is in our bed. then after 4 weeks we put the side railing back on. with this we had him sleeping through the night again in his cot. but after a few weeks it started wearing of. maybe this might help you.

My 10 mth old daughter....ugh....is such a fussy baby. don't get me wrong, she is happy as a lark, but very temperamental.....and she won't sleep. she has yet to sleep through the night, i am at my witts end. cio won't work for her, there is no way. she holds her breath.she doesn't even nap during the day and she goes about 100 miles per hour. i don't know how she does it.i don't know what to do.even if she wakes and i put her in my bed, she just crawls all over me. she is the sweetest little baby, but i can't help but to get frustrated with her.i don't know why she fights sleep so bad. she wakes up screaming. i know she has had a hard time with teething, but every nigh for 10 months rules out teething in my book. this is having a negative impact on my relationship with my three year old daughter, college, my personality, and my life. my first daughter was easy!! i know they are all different, but i couldn't imagine this different. help

Hi all, my son is almost a year and a half..and he's always been an awesome sleeper..untill recently and i'm not sure if it's cus all of his teeth are like coming in or what, but he usually sleeps in his crib all night but lately he just screams forever so i bring him in our bed and that's the only way he'll fall asleep and i don't want him getting use to this i want him to be that good sleeper again in his crib. what can i do?!?!

I agree, the cry it out method just doesnt work for some babies. it worked for one of mine but that was all. i have a 13 month old daughter and we have tried and tried this.... to no avail!

I have an 11 month old that does not sleep through the night and i have tried the cry it out method for 2 weeks-- it does not work! i just keep hoping she will eventually sleep more than 2 hours at a time. i think that saying to let them cry it out is like saying there are no other ways to teach a child to sleep and there has to be something better than that cruelty method. if anyone finds it-- please post immediately!!!

My 11 month old son is very active and healthy, ive noticed he has been sneezing alott and hes got a really bad runny nose i was wondering if there is anything i can do to prevent him from getting sicker??

My first boy did not sleep through the night at all until he was old enough for me to reason with him (around 2 years). i had no other choice. there is no magic answer. perhaps try to get used to the fact that this may happen until you can say "please don't wake mummy, i am so tired and need to sleep!" and they can understand you. but what i can say (2 years later) is that the time goes faster than it feels like it will at the time. before you know it they will be 4 and it will seem long a long time ago...

My 10 month old hasn't slept through the night since he was born, & now it's gotten worse. he wakes up every half hour or so in his crib to see where i am & all he wants to do is sleep next to me in bed.when he does sleep next to me, he sleeps soundly. but i'm sick of people telling me to let him cry it out! i did it for one night & he threw up from crying so much & he was hysterical! i can't go a week doing this to my baby! what other solutions are there? & if there is not another solution, then more research about baby sleep should be done...coz this is not good enough! i'm exhausted, but i'd rather exhaust myself than see my baby crying hysterically & making himself sick!

I am at my wits end my 11 month old daughter still wont sleep through. she screams when we put her in her cot for at least an hour untill she finally goes to sleep. we do the ferber method but it does not seem to sink in with her. she then wakes exactly 1 hour after falling to sleep and cries and then again in the early hours and wont go back to sleep just cries harder. its so exhausting every night even though we give in and she sleeps with us at the end of it she just wriggles all night and when 6am comes she wants to wake. i think im going stir crazy dont know what to do.!!!!

My son is 13 months old. at two months he started sleeping through the night from 12pm to 8am! by three months he could put himself to sleep at night, but not for naps i'd have to rock him. now the last 2-3 months he will not put himself to sleep at night anymore and is waking several times a night. i usually bring him to bed with a bottle. he's also getting harder to put down for a nap. it takes any where from 1/2 to 11/2 hrs to get him to sleep for a nap. last night he woke up at 2am and didn't not get back to sleep until 5am! his sleeping issues are getting worse with age, what's going on, he used to be an excellent sleeper?!

I was given a suggestion by the website raising godly tomatoes. put them in their sleeping position (i.e. back or stomach) and then continue to place them back and tell them, time to go night night ... and head down or turn over .. figure out what you want to say. then keep putting them back and teach them what you expect and how to obey you. initally it can take 15 to 30+ minutes but this dramatically decreases because they know what to expect and what you are going to do. it will dramatically shorten the time it takes for them to go to sleep and doesn't involve feeding. i am still in the process of seeing how this decreases the number of time my son is up but it makes it easy for him to go back to sleep. now it can take 1-4 min. when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

I'm going through the same thing too. my son has never slept through a night whether he is in the crib or my bed. it's even more frustrating and stressful for me because i've begun working an eight hour job. at the end of the day, all i want to do is sleep. as he wakes and realizes he was falling asleep, he starts crying and flailing around with his eyes closed. my husband and i will try this method starting this weekend.

My 11 month year old daughter is doing the same,she does not want to sleep even in the day,some times she have her 15 min naps then an hour or two but when comes to night she be up all night and wont settle down!! i tried letting her cry rocking her to sleep,she thinks am playing an game,its really making me exhausted and literally left me where i have hardly any sleep!!!!!!!!

My 11 month old daughter has never slept through the night! i don't understand why or what the problem is. i'm a single mom and this is my second child. i've never had a problem with my first child. now my 11 month old won't sleep in her crib, co-dependent on the pacifier. once the pacifier falls out of her mouth she would start crying and this would happen all night. i just don't know what to do anymore. i would be lucky to get anywhere between 4 - 5 hrs of sleep throughout the night. when she's in bed with me she's always tossing amnd turning. i hope someone can give me some advice.

My son is 19 month old since he born never had slept through the night. he allways wake up crying at nigth specially cause he wants his zipy cup. i had try everything for him to sleep through the night.but it havent work.i need help please

I have these same problems.... nursing and i get so sore after trying to get my son to relax and fall asleep that i cant stand the pain. if we let him cry he screeches at the top of his lungs until he is sick and we live in a apt. my husband always gives in and goes in there to comfort him but he does not have to wake up with him 3-4 times. sometimes every hour!! i am a zombie! help

I have an 11 month old son who has never slept through the night. he wakes on average every 1.5 to 3 hours crying hysterically. i have tried the cry it out method, i have taken his soother away, put him to sleep awake and anything else i have come across as a suggestion and nothing has worked. the only thing that it has done is cut down on the crying when i first put him to bed, he calms down pretty quickly and falls asleep but is awake again within a couple of hours. i have no idea what to do, i am hoping to return to work soon and it will be very difficult with the amount of sleep i am getting at night. any suggestions?

My son is almost 11 months old and does not sleep through the night at all!!! he wakes up between 1-3 am in the morning, have a bottle of milk and will not go back to sleep. he will then realize that i am not picking him up from his crib so he will start crying for the longest time!i will then go and get him to sleep with us coz there is no way that we will get any sleep at all!! how can i stop him from doing this?? he needs to sleep all night. help!

Hi i have a 4month old baby and he goes down to bed at night really well at around 7.00 and sleeps for 4 hours and after that he keeps waking up every 1-2hrs.then at 5.00 he is wide awake ready to play.please help

I actually don't have a comment, but a question and i wasn't able to click on the section above to ask a question to dr. christine wood. my ten month old is a terrible sleeper. his lack of sleep at night is making me miserable which makes my husband and three year old miserable as well! he does pretty well putting himself to sleep at night but is up at least four times after that to have a bottle. this doesn't always put him back to sleep - he might want to play or just be held. it's driving me crazy! i've gotten to the point where i'm considering letting him cry it out. i find it hard to believe that he really needs to have multiple bottles in the middle of the night. could he really be that hungry or is he simply looking for attention? i need some help here!!!

My 12 month old son started to develop a sleep pattern at 3 months, and now he will not take naps, or sleep through the night. he will cry for hours and still not sleep. i go in and out of his room giving him his binkie and blankie, but still nothing. my husband and i are exhusted. we never had this problem with our older son. his eyes are always puffy and red, he is cranky, but he doenst sleep. when i do get him to sleep, he wakes up the second i leave the house no matter how quiet i am, and it is 5am. he wakes up screaming as if he is hurt. i don't know what to do because it is causing stress on my marriage. we just don;t know what to try or what to do. please help!!!

My 12 mth old did great untill she was weeaned off the breast. she now wakes up at all hours of the night nad taking her to bed with us does not help. if i let her cry she will vomit eventually