Any idea how to make Beans sleep?

[bobleponge]

Must be said my kids were pretty good with the sleeping business, although I was a v. strict dad, bedtime WAS bedtime, and that was that.
On the rare occasions one of them couldnt sleep, I used to bung them in the car, drive them round the block for a bit and that was them, sound asleep. Didnt need to do it often, they were good, but when it was needed, it always seemed to work.

[lainey lou]

Neither of mine slept through until 9 or 10 months, I think mainly due to the fact that they were both big babies and breast fed. My OH was away a good bit of the time on tours and exercises back then (hmmm, strange that!) so he missed out on most of it. Both mine slept in bed with me when they were tiny babies, it just made life so much easier, the HV didn't like it but she wasn't the one having to feed the baby 2 or 3 times a night.
Wayne, you and LW sound like fab parents, Bean sounds like a healthy, happy little boy.
Not all of us are lucky enough to have babies that sleep through from 6 weeks, just do what suits you guys to get through this, it won't last forever and in years to come you'll look back and laugh!
I'm sure you remember to tell LW what a great mum she is and to ignore others that critise, it just isn't helpful. Big hugs to you all.xxx

[Matt.]

I'd put it down to the early evening kip in the car. Those type of naps really throw my son out of his sleeping pattern and we try our best to keep him awake from 5 onwards. Probably just one of those out of routine nights.

[Nicos]

Mine had a slow, warm , quiet bath every night and a cuddly story. Worked for both my Kids!

Mine did take a year before they slept through the night though!!!

[HeyWayne]

Cheers for all the support and suggestions guys (and gals), appreciate it.

We're really lucky in so many ways - he doesn't cry all the time (hardly ever), he eats anything we put in front of him (even Jarlsberg cheese the other day - albeit he pulled some funny faces), he's good with people, he's happy, healthy and bladdy gorgeous.

There are plenty out there less fortunate than us - and I know it.

It's just that sleep.

I'm very lucky - LadyWayne is fantastic (and I do tell her often lainey) and very patient, things will change when she goes back to work, but hopefully we'll have it licked by then.

If I start to drift off, someone gimme a nudge...

[zazen999]

Mine had a slow, warm , quiet bath every night and a cuddly story. Worked for both my Kids!

Mine did take a year before they slept through the night though!!!

And me! I still can't sleep properly if I haven't had a bath and a read, a cuddle helps as well.


HW: I think the daytime naps need to be kept to a minimum, and stick as much as you can to the routine! If you find something that works; stick to it like glue.

And, having met Bean - he is a lovely chuckly happy bundle of fun. And yours is a lovely happy household and it was a joy to visit.

[kirsty b]

you'll get there mate, you have a happy healthy baby and thats the main thing.

Like Andi and Di's son, pickle is one of these that doesn't need sleep, she stopped having a daytime nap just after she turned one but still wouldn't go to sleep before 8.30 pm.
She slept for 6 hrs a night from 6 weeks old (to me that WAS right through cos I'm a night owl), but started waking in the night again when she was ready to start solids because she was hungry. Teething did cause upsets as did overexcitement/breaks in routine. She is an absolute nightmare to get to bed now (she's 8) and I'm lucky if I get her upstairs before 9, and I can hear her pootling about in her room and/or reading. She gets up for school ok though and teachers have never had any concerns about paying attention or the quality of her work.

Who is Gina Ford?

[quark1]

It seems Bean just wants to do his own thing at the moment and doing mum and dad's heads in at the same time.

Was going to suggest a bottle of 'heavy' as I used to call it for the final feed but you're doing that already.......I guess there's nothing else for it but........

The 'nursery sledgehammer' - put my son out like a light! If only there was such a thing!

[HeyWayne]

It seems Bean just wants to do his own thing at the moment and doing mum and dad's heads in at the same time.

Was going to suggest a bottle of 'heavy' as I used to call it for the final feed but you're doing that already.......I guess there's nothing else for it but........

The 'nursery sledgehammer' - put my son out like a light! If only there was such a thing!

You mean like this:

[quark1]

Oooh Pinky-Punky - hate to say it - but I do remember him!

[Incy]

I was really lucky for the first couple of years. My son slept right through from 3 weeks old. I used to wake him up at 11 or 12 at night and give him an extra feed which seemed to do the trick.
Once he was nearly 2 though he stopped sleeping which was awful so I completely understand your problem. It turned out that he doesn't produce melatonin naturally so his body doesn't tell him he's tired. It took 2 years to diagnose and during that time I tried everything. The thing that worked best was singing a really monotonous song (calming one) over and over again. Poor child I think he used to go to sleep in self defence!

[jackie j]

All babies are different I should know having had five lol. My eldest used to wake every hour every night from 8 months old, we were in the process of moving, the date was moved several times, stressing for all of us. He went to sleep ok just kept waking until I had my 2nd son and even though they didnt sleep in the same room son no 1 slept through from the first day I came home with son no 2. All my children were in bed by 7pm most nights, they say its best baby goes to bed awake rather than waiting for them to fall asleep, I found this usually worked. Teething like he is will make him wake if he is uncomfortable and in pain. If its at the same time every night check that nothing is disturbing him like neighbours being noisy, going to work early dogs barking etc. Other than that not a lot you can do that you are not doing already.
Non of us adults have the same sleep pattern so you shouldnt be too worried if bean doesnt. If he is not grumpy then he isnt tired.

[RedThorn]

We used the 10 o'clock dream feed with DD and like bean, you could not keep her full! This did help her sleep through longer and stopped the midnight - 1am wake up. She was still up between 5 and 6 but trust me that was pure bliss!!!

[kiwirach]

HW, theres loads of good stuff being suggested here, so i wont add to much!. i used to deal with this alot when i work in NZ......the 2 things i'd say is make sure bean can settle himself to sleep on his own without any aids.....dummy, feed to get to sleep, rather than feeding cos hungry, music etc. cos if he can then he will get over this hump no probs. if he cant then you need to think about changing that at some point when you're ready, cos he will always need help to go to sleep.....long after he needs to be waking at night.
the other thing would be to not limit daytime sleeps to much, otherwise you'll end up with a wound up cranky bean. babies arent like us..... the more they sleep the better they sleep.

[Mrs Jackson]

Can I just say I'm quite envious he only wakes up that much! My 15 month old wakes up at least 4 times during the night (and has to have a breastfeed every time he wakes up or he screams the house down) and my nearly 4 year old wakes up about 3 times. They both end up in the bed with me every single night too, so Mr J sleeps in a separate bed I'm not a fan of Gina Ford at all I have to say, the best book I ever read was 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' by Elizabeth Pantley. It was working for number 1 son before I returned to work, but things went a bit wonky when I returned to work and we moved house and I haven't had the energy to try the methods again. Hope you find something that works for you soon, lack of sleep is a killer!

Mrs J