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Unless you want to co-sleep the only other options are continue what you are doing, do some other non controlled crying option OR do the controlled crying option. Let me make it clear, I am not saying cry it out - i do not condone leaving your child to cry for hours at a time. My son was a difficult sleeper, he was never one of these babies that got all nice and drowsy before bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the mattress. I had to do the following -



Started a good solid bedtime routine which was dinner around 5, then a little play. Bath at 6 then a breastfeed, then a play and then I would put him to bed. I would walk him through the house saying good night with him to the trees outside (he waves good bye to them now), then we say goodnight to the dog and grandma and anyone else in the house. Then together we turn off the hall light and go into his bedroom where we pull down the blinds and pull down the curtains. He then goes into his gro bag and I zip him up. I put him in his cot with his special toys and then I rub his back for a short period before saying night night i love you see you in the morning. I then leave a turn out the light.



Initially he would cry cry cry. I then started letting him cry for about 10 minutes to see if he would settle. When he didnt I would go in and pick him up, give him a drink of water and a cuddle and back to bed. Then I would leave him 12 minutes then 15 and then 20. If he was still crying I would keep going in and out each 20 minutes. One night it took over two hours, but that only happened once. You have to be prepared for a stint of night duty and be consistent, doing the SAME thing every night. If you waver you will ruin the progress you have made. At the moment your brother knows if he keeps crying eventually he will get what he wants. It will take quite possibly a few nights or even more. But if you persist it will get better, sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.



Basically you have said he is fed and warm and happy but he just cant get to sleep himself. He needs to learn how to get to sleep and by rocking and holding him he is not going to learn. I guess eventually he will learn but it sounds right now you are at the end of your tether.



I stand by a book I read by an author Tizzie Hall called Save our Sleep. She says that the baby needs to be in bed at 6.55pm to catch the 7 pm bus. Basically babies have sleep cycles which mean they wake at certain times, if you put them to bed at 7 pm you have a better chance of your child sleeping through and not waking until around 7 the next morning. It has worked pretty much since I have been doing it. He generally sleeps until at least 6.30 and some days even longer. In addition if your brother is walking - get him out of the house and active. This certainly helps to tire them out. I hope it starts to get better sooner for you all but it is nice to hear that your mum is not doing it alone!!!

It's time to let him cry it out, the first 2 or 3 nights he will cry for hours, but after that he won't cry very much anymore. If you want to check up on him when he's crying, do not give any attention to him, not a smile, not a frown, nothing or it'll just keep him crying.

kids at this age tend to need to go to bed about 13hrs after they woke up. for example, my son (same age) gets up at around 7am and goes to bed by 8pm. just let him wear himself out ragged, and put him to bed and leave the room. he'll fall asleep on his own.

Do you co-sleep or do you actually hold him to sleep?



Co-sleeping isn't a bad habit, it can be wonderful, and usually helps everyone sleep much better. Is he happy just to lie next to his mum, but not be held all night?