Hello everyone! I have a ten month old son named Tyler and let me tell you it's a pain to put him to sleep every night! I'm trying to get him used to a sleeping routine considering I have to wake up early every morning for school. I put him to bed every night at 10:30, but the problem is he's not sleeping through the night and he's waking up at least five times a night. He only takes one nap a day which lasts an hour and a half. I'm honestly getting kind of frusterated because his doctor told me he should sleep through the night by now. Does anyone have any tips they can share about making his sleep more peaceful and pleasent?

Sure. I had problems too, my son would wake every night when he was about a year old and just cry and rock back and forth for about an hour. It broke my heart because I did not know what was making him so sad that he would cry like that. He was inconsolable. It was about that time that I "kidnapped" my son on the advice of child protective services and refused to let the father see him again until we settled something in court. He started sleeping fine after I got him full time. funny huh? Anyway, here's some advice to help him sleep.

1. Keep up the bedtime routine. He will soon fall into the pattern and know it's time to sleep. If you can, try to make every day like the one before. Naps at the same time and meals at the same time, bathtime always at 7, etc. Even if he doesn't realize it, his body will automatically adjust to the routine and know that after the bath or whatever, it's time to sleep, and he will get tired.

2. Put him to bed earlier! 10:30 is too late! His body is going into afterburn and producing energy to keep him awake that long, and when you put him to bed his body is still going full blast! I think between 8 and 9 is a much more appropriate time. Try to keep the nap at the halfway point of his day. If he wakes at 7am, nap him at 12:30 for an hour and a half, then put him to bed at 8. His body will learn the pattern and your child will start feeling tired and winding down after being awake about 6 hours.

3. Use "white noise" to blur out noises from the rest of the house. Use a clock radio set to no station, a fan on low, or even sofly playing music without words. There's even teddy bears that have a switch on the back and when you turn it on, it makes a sound like the mother's heartbeat. My son had one and it never failed to calm him. At ten months, he is begining to get curious about what the heck mommy does after he's asleep. Part of him waking up is just checking to make sure you aren't having fun without him.

Hope these tips help. Let us know how it goes.

Seraphin;

I've been using the tips you gave me and so far it's going pretty well. I suppose putting my son to bed at 10:30 is late so, I changed it to 9:00. My son is starting to wake up only twice a night now, which isn't that bad compared to five times a night. It's funny because I used to live with my sons biological father and I recently moved back in with my parents due to problems in our marriage. When I was living with my husband my son would be in bed by 9:00 and he would sleep through the night, and he would wake up at 8:00 in the morning. Ever since I moved back in with my parents he has trouble sleeping through the night. I'm guessing it's due to the big change of him living in a different enviroment. But, hopefully he'll get back into his old sleeping pattern. I was going to ask you what is "white noise?" Thanks for the Great advice and God Bless!

Michelle 0