SOS - help Save our Sleep pls!!!

Jack has never been a very good sleeper, probably only slept through a dozen or so times but i resigned myself to this. I can cope with waking a few times a night and resettling quickly.

But he won't even resettle at the moment.
Last night went like this:
6.30pm     Bath
7pm           Ready for bed, drink of milk, drunk too fast, throw up all over me . DH out so clean myself and Jack up.
7.30pm     asleep after clean up etc
11pm-ish Jack wakes, DH resettles him, Jack sleeps for about 5mins, Jack wakes, DH resettles him, Jack sleeps for about 5mins, Jack wakes
Give Jack pamol, bring him into our bed which usually works.
Jack fidgets, moves, tosses, turns
12.30-ish   give up and take Jack back to his room, try rocking him to sleep, doesn't work, put him in his cot, pat, shhh, sing
1.15am     Jack finally asleep
1.30am -ish - Jack is awake AGAIN, back in our bed
2am           DH and Jack go and sleep in the spare bed
6.30am -   my alarm goes off as I am working today

I can't work out what is wrong. This has happened before, it happens for a few nights in a row then we get some good nights then back to the bad ones.

I assume it is not his 2yo molars that are bottering him because the pamol made no difference. I assume it isn't separation anxiety as having him in our bed isn't working at the moment either. He can't be hot as we took off his merino sleeping bag and that didn't help

I don't want to use CIO or CC as personally (no offense to anyone who does) I think that only treats the symptoms not the cause and is really saying "don't call out to me and ask me for help as I am not going to come"

Has anyone else experienced this? What was the cause? How can I find out the cause? What do we do?? We needs some decent sleep!!

.Mel wrote: Firstly you need to make a plan and stick with it. Start tonight. You are all going to be sleep deprived and it will probably take a few nights but I think you can get there in the end. You just need to break some bad habits. I would stop bringing him into your bed with you at night.

Totally agree. Whatever you decide to do/change will take time to work.

I can't help much with solutions though as we used CC crying and now when he wakes its always for a reason and we figure it out very quickly, fix it and hes back into his cot and off to sleep

My standard response to unusual sleep disturbances - are his ears ok? Is the problem 99% of the time when Joshua is like this during the night.

Hope you have a better night tonight

Thank Mel, I had forgotten about the No Cry Sleep Solution. I read it earlier in the year but will try and get it from the library again. I also like Pinky McKays "Sleeping Like a baby" but lent my copy to my boss who is due in Jan

We don't always go straight into him, it depends on his cry. Sometimes he will resettle himself and sometimes not. Usually resettling hm only take about 15mins max. It usually takes DH a bit less time than me.

I honestly don't think he is "trying it on", I do think something is wrong but I am not sure which. DH even commented that his crying sounded strange, almost like he had had a nightmare or a fright. Last night though he didn't cry except initially on waking. He just couldn't seem to get into a deep sleep, just sort of dozed, it is kind of hard to explain.

We do have a routine that we stick to at night and as a general rule we have no probs with it.

We have tried a soft toy, I slept with it up my nightie for a few nights and had it between Jack and I when I used to bf but he has never really taken to it. Never took to a dummy either.

Not sure about his ears as he seems so happy in general but will keep that in mind.

Often how his nap goes is a reflection on nighttime. The last few days he has only slept 45mins and wouldn't resettle. DH said today that Jack slept an hour then he sresettled him and he slept another hour (I think DH did too!!) so hopefully we have a good night.
Just wish I knew what the cause of it all is as I have run out of ideas.

Thats great Linzy, maybe the other couple of nights were the teeth moving up??? Fingers crossed that you get another good night.

Thanks Mum2Ella, I was thinking it wasn't his teeth because Pamol didn't work but at least it's not just us. DH ended up taking Jack into the spare bed again last night and we all slept pretty well, Jack seems to be a bit better when it's just DH

I would suggest nurofen too - pamol doesn't seem to get close to stopping teething pain when those big nasty back teeth come through AND nurofen lasts much longer than pamol . Amy has been working on her second molars for a while now (they take AGES to arrive for some kids) and nurofen helps a lot.

How much Pamol are you giving him? Maybe it's not enough??

Thanks again ladies for the recommendation of using ibuprofen! We have been using it when Jack wakes and won't resettle and it has worked a treat. And last week his first 2yo molar cut. So 1 down , 3 to go!