Please help, I'm gonna lose it?

Question

My son hasn't sleep in days. In fact, it's close to two weeks now. He's always been a bad sleeper, but this is off the scale, even for him. He goes to bed around 7 p.m. wakes anywhere from 10 to 11 pm and starts crying... nothing can calm him down except sitting on my lap or if I walk around with him... once he's calm, he'll go back into his crib, but he won't sleep. He'll play for bits, but will cry at regular intervals. This can go on till 3 a.m. easy. He wakes up again around 5 a.m. (6 if I'm lucky) and it's all systems go. Some days he'll take an hour nap - most days he won't sleep at all during the day.

I have my own business, which I run from home and I'm completely exhausted. He's incredibly clingy and most days I have to wait until he's taking one of his marathon naps to get my work done and I can't make it to bed before 10 pm.

My husband is no help at all... even if he was, my son refuses to go to him at night. I don't have many ppl I can ask to help me out either. My MIL goes against my wishes at every turn (last time she put bum cream on him, after I expressly told her he's allergic to the brand. She told me she doesn't believe me, put it on to make a point, and he broke out in blisters on his bum... so I don't trust her with him alone).

He's almost a year old... I don't know if this is typical behavior for a child his age. This is new for him, we've had sleepless nights, but nothing like this - he also used to be fine on his own, and would play by himself for long stretches.

He's been to the doctor and he's in perfect health, although the doctor did mention that he may be hyperactive.

I need some advice please.

Answer 1

Try to source an 'Early Parenting Centre' and see if you and your baby can be admitted to assist him to re-settle.

Your baby is chronically over-tired not to mention you. What you need is assistance from your Doctor to do this.

This is not typical behaviour for a near 1 yo. He should be sleeping 10-12 hours at night and have 1 day sleep of between 1.5-3 hours.

What you need to do is have a bed time routine, so this is a sleep promt. When he wakes up do not go to him. Once he starts to cry go in and lie him back down, do not speak to him, do not give eye contact at all. Stay with him for 2 minutes ( pat him and stroke him is fine) and then leave, stay away for 2 min, then re-enter the room for 4 min.

Stay for 4 min this time, do not pick him up at all. Do as I described above. After 4 min walk out again. Increase this in 2 min increments until you have reached 10 min in and 10 min out, keep repeating this till baby re-settles. Do not give in at all, otherwise it will fail. If he vomits, soils his nappy, change him and go back to where you left off.

It could take up to 1.5 hours to initially re-settle him. This may take 3-4 nights to teach him to self settle and it is not easy.  In the day 2 hours up and place baby back to bed for at least 1 hour.

If you cannot do this seek immediate assistance. Good luck!!!

Answer 2

my baby did this... granite shes not 1 yet..but she used to not sleep at all during the day.  someone told me i had to teach her to sleep.  you have to put them down every couple hours and leave them there to cry.. give them the opportunity to sleep, if they cry for more than a half hour....they aren't tired.. get them up.. and try again in a nother hour.  make sure they are fed right before putting them down and dint let them do lots of rambunctious activities before you try to put them down.  it makes wind down time easier.    

Answer 3

Babies NEED their sleep. Its time to put your foot down.  Start getting him into some type of routine and STICK TO IT.  Be VERY consistent.  My daughter (who will just be turning one in a week) has a sleep schedule that goes something like this:

8am- Wakes

10:30 Nap (1 hour or so)

3:00 Nap (Another hour or so)

7:30 Out for the night.

Do a little routine before each so baby can anticipate sleep.  After breakfast and a bit of play, put him down for a nap.  After lunch and a bit of play, put him down for a nap.  Have a bedtime routine (i.e. warm bath, pj's, story time, whatever) and put him down for the night.  Just be consistent.  He may not get it for a few days, maybe even a week or two, and thats ok, but you MUST keep attempting.  Dont let him cry, and dont force the issue, but be consistent, and eventually he will understand its sleep time and he'll go. Just hang in there.  Good Luck!