Question

My boy Jadon is now eight-and-a-half months old. He is always been a bad sleeper but things seem to have taken a turn for the worse of late. For the last month he has refused to sleep in his cot (where he was quite happy before), and only wants to sleep in our bed.

Also he keeps waking up frequently in the night crying. He does not seem to be teething. We feed him at night so that he is not hungry. How do I: 1. Get my child to sleep in his own bed and 2. Get him to sleep through? Could it be that he does not know how to self soothe? If so, how do I teach him to do that?

Answer

PARENTING

I recommend that you try to get hold of Ann Richardson's book "Sleep Sense" She goes through all the necessary aspects of the sleep dilemma. Briefly, the main issue here is that sleep patterns become habits.

We all go through many sleep cycles during the night - periods of light and then deeper sleep. When a baby wakes up during a light-sleep phase, and is fed and held, this reinforces the tendency to wake up.

At 8 months many babies cannot go through the night without a bit of a top-up feed. Make this quick and as unstimulating as possible. You will need to be very consistent with your sleep routine. Gently put him back in his cot. Gently pat his back. Keep the lights low. The only way to get him to sleep in his cot is to persist with putting him to sleep in it. If you give in and put him in your bed this will only escalate the problem.

Sleep training can be a long and tiring process. Only start a consistent process if you feel you can persevere. If you do it in fits and starts then the problems will only continue. He is still very young - be patient and remember that he is not waking up on purpose.

In order to assist him in forming better habits, you will no doubt have to go through quite a time of patient perseverance.

Good luck.

- Anne Cawood