Our 10mo is finally sleeping longer stretches (somewhat)

[dtom]

Since month 5.5 our son has been waking every 1-1.5hrs at night. We do the whole routine of bath, milk, pjs, and rock/feed in the chair with bottle to sleep and then transfer and his wake windows are perfect because his naps have significantly improved at the 6.5month mark..
But only NOW is he sleeping 2,3,4 hour stretches…I didn’t know id see the light of day. I also don’t want to jinx it.
From 10pm-5am dad is with him so I can rest, and he has been letting him cry it out while holding him (I was never ok with that but it seems like he had to do it to instill in him that crying got him now where when all his needs were met).
We have a floor bed like so and he usually crawls into the bed when he gets up while crying. I’m not sure if it was developmental, or maybe crying made him realize he can just go back to sleep (I’ve seen him do it during the day with his naps so he is capable now) but I’m glad we are finally here.

 

[drwhen]

@dtom Aw I love your setup. It looks so cozy! Can I just like… curl up there in the corner… and rest my head for just a minute… close my eyessss… zzzzzzz

 

[rlj]

@drwhen Your comment made me laugh in solidarity, also, username checks out

 

[smmath]

@dtom Yup, 10 months was a huge progression for my baby's sleep too! Glad you're getting more rest!!

 

[soulhealthy]

@dtom Right on! Beautiful setup. Ours has similar positioning and results. At 9-10mo mark he cut down from 3 to 2 naps, and after a while started to sleep on longer stretches (8pm - 2am sometimes). Too bad my wife can't get herself to sleep this early. He still wakes up one more time at 4:30 am and then usually has to be taken into our bed and sleep with us until 6:30-7:20am. This period has also improved, but it's still wild.

I don't know about the crying. I have been taking the sleep duties during the day and for the night after bath. I gently transitioned from rocking to sleep into getting sleepy over my chest and then going to his mattress. Sometimes I can put him down right after the reading ends.

Recently he started to cry more, we're still unsure if its because mommy has started to get back on sleep duties or something else. What I'm doing is increasing the routine: after reading when he gets more irritated I'll gently dim the lights while entertaining him with a made up story or something. High hit or miss, sometimes he crawls for many minutes in our mattress trying to find a comfy position, sometimes he settles over my chest.

I rarely let him cry. When it happens I usually get up and swing or rock him until he calms down. When everything fails for many minutes, mommy usually comes in.

 

[dtom]

@soulhealthy Yeah ours is somewhat of a cryer and he will just cry even if there’s nothing wrong. I wish we didn’t have to do it but it seems he wants to get it out before he eventually falls back asleep. Idk what that’s about.
Regardless, yeah I’m hoping for more improvement. But it seems every night is different for example he was waking every hour last night so it’s hit or miss.

 

[joandee]

@dtom This gives me so much hope! Glad you’re all getting more rest

 

[dtom]

@joandee Thanks yep I was suffering for a while haha

 

[laurie4321]

@dtom Can you explain your set up a little better? Are the mattresses both on the ground? What size is the baby’s mattress? Love the set up so much I’m going to screenshot it for when we move.

 

[dtom]

@laurie4321 The one on the right is queen normal mattress, the left is a crib mattress. They’re just on the floor so they’re essentially floor beds. My son likes jumping on and off the queen one so it’s like a little jungle gym for him when he’s awake. We rock him to sleep on the chair across from his crib mattress and then transfer into there.

 

[laurie4321]

@dtom Awesome set up! I think you nailed it.

 

[dtom]

@laurie4321 Thank you. It works for us because normal cosleeping never worked for us :/ this is the alternative. Thanks again.