Another sleep question...

ColieAnn31

I love cosleeping but Grayson just will not stay asleep unless I am in the bed with him. Which means I can't get anything done. I probably need to sleep train him don't I? I feel like I'm failing and that he should be able to stay asleep by himself at this point.

What do you all think? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

musicalsilver

I don't know how much help I can be - we still cosleep sometimes.  You're sleeping with him on a queen mattress on the floor, right?  I don't know if I'm remembering right.

Regardless, have you tried a very gradual approach to changing things up?  Do you have to be curled up right next to him for him to stay asleep, or can you be sitting up on the other end of the bed?  Maybe start a transition from close contact, to further away to try and help him realize it's okay.  If you sat at the end of the bed and just maybe reached over and stroked his back a bit and said something soothing if he stirred, would that be sufficient to help him get back to sleep?  And then maybe transition to just being in the room and just saying something soothing once that was working.

I wish you much luck.  LO goes from sleeping pretty decently one night to needing me by his side all night with very little variation in external stimuli, so fixing sleep issues is sadly something I can only speculate on ;-)

ColieAnn31

Thanks ladies. Yeah, we sleep in a queen mattress on the floor. He'll sleep on his side by himself and I'll sleep on my side. Occasionally throughout the night he'll roll over to me to cuddle and he's immediately asleep again.

Some nights aren't as bad. He'll wake up once and I'll get him back to sleep and then he's good the rest of the night but most nights are terrible. Multiple wake ups until I say screw it and just go to bed.

I try sending A in to get him back to sleep but Grayson wants no part in that. He's been going to sleep for A but won't let him out him back to sleep.

And Grayson is currently climbing off the bed...

musicalsilver

It sounds like we have very similar sleepers @ColieAnn31. And you're not saying that *I'm* failing are you??????  

Nope.  

So neither are you :-P

I've decided that some LOs are just terrible sleepers, and my LO is definitely in this camp.  They'll sort it out eventually, but for now, I do try and savor the cuddles.  Because little boys only want their mommies for so long.  Which I refuse to ponder too deeply, because our LOs are never growing up, right?

ColieAnn31

Thanks. I'm really trying to not get so frustrated with him but it's hard sometimes. Especially when I'm exhausted. I currently have given up on getting him to go back to sleep and I'm letting him play for a bit. We'll try again later

ColieAnn31

Ok I do have a question for you @heelibrarian‌ how did you transfer your DS to sleeping on his own when the time came? I'm dreading this but we plan on getting a twin size bed for Grayson later this year.

ColieAnn31

He's generally awake at 7:30 each morning because that's when my alarm goes off and we usually have to take A to work so we can have the car. I start work soon so he'll have to start waking up earlier and I was going to start waking him up at our new time on Monday to get him used to getting up earlier. I'll have to make sure I'm rigid with this schedule. Hopefully this works for us. Thanks!

ColieAnn31

And he is always awake on his own by 8 no matter how late he stays awake lol

GalLaura

Sleep training has been on-going for is too. We have never co-slept. I started this week putting him down for all his sleeps without being rocked or sung too. It's been hard some days and easier others but we are getting there. Our lo is still in our room and had milk before bed...all which I'm slowly changing. Don't be too hard on yourself. My advice is if you think it's time for a change, go for it.

ColieAnn31

Thanks for all the advice guys. He finally went back to sleep right before 1 this morning. I got him up at 7:30 regardless of how late he was up. I am exhausted. It's going to be a very long day but hopefully bedtime is easier tonight. And hopefully Alex doesn't get stuck working until 10 pm again. Grayson has been going down great with A at night. Tonight one of us (A if he's home at a decent time) will stay in Grayson's room with him a little longer and see how that goes.

You guys seriously rock and I am so glad I have so many awesome women I can turn to!