11 month old waking at 3am - is controlled crying the only way to help him sleep through?

Submitted by Tina on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 14:32

Hi, my baby is waking regularly at 3am and only resettles when I lay my hands on him.  And sometimes even this does not work.  He also then sometimes wakes up around 5am and I have to try to resettle him again, and often give up and take him into bed.

I have managed to wean him off all milk in the night so he has his last bottle at 7pm.  He is on 3 good meals a day, with ample milk to supplement this, is taking a good afternoon nap of about 2 hours, (he doesn't seem to need his morning nap these days)  and we have a good bedtime routine in place.

I am aware that he needs to learn to resettle by himself but I really am not keen to go down the controlled crying route, as I don't think he is going to respond well to it, but I feel I have little option if he is is ever going to sleep.

Any advice on alternatives?

Also, if I do embark on the cc route, how do I deal with a baby who stands in his cot?

Many thanks,


Tina

‹ 6 mth old wakes at 5am every morning 5 month old waking hourly for dummy ›

Reply

Submitted by Adilla on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 14:58.

Hi Tina,

Does your son always wake at the same time? And do you go in straight away when he wakes?

You could try leaving him for a few minutes before going in and then try the 'return and check' method.

If your son wakes at exactly the same time every night and youa re certain he's not waking for any reason other than habit, you could try 'wake to sleep', by going in at or just after 2 and make him stir gently by stroking him. You don't want to wake him completely; you want him to be just beginning to stir. The idea is that this can start his sleep cycle from the beginning so he misses his 3 0'clock waking 'slot'.

Trying either method should show results within a few days but you will have to accept that for those 4 or 5 days you will have to carry on waking into the night until you've cracked it!

I hope that helps, do let us know how things go!

Warm Wishes,

Adilla