Sleeping baby equals sane Mum

My son is about to turn 1! I can't believe how fast this year has gone, and the absolutely amazing developmental changes my son has undergone. From a helpless newborn to a talking scooting little person who knows his mind, my son is so much fun.

Lately we've been fighting him about his sleep. He has been struggling to sleep in the day at all and has slept no longer than 45 minutes at a time, sometimes only 20 minutes. I've found this very tiring, and the hours of frustration when he refuses to sleep and I go back and forwards to the cot have worn me down a bit. I've noticed Mr Tired and Cranky loses physical tone and is much more accident prone and harder to console. At night he's been difficult too, crying long and hard, sometimes until he vomits, and waking during the night and crying, sometimes for up to an hour! This is quite concerning for us: he's always been such a good night sleeper, sleeping through from just 7 weeks, and we hate him vomiting, he's already so skinny.

This morning he was once again yawning his head off and whinging so I put him in his bed with his latest favourite soft toy, a blue and white dog. I don't normally let him have a toy in the cot but I figured I had nothing to lose as he hasn't slept in the morning all week. He murmured a while and I peeped in after some time of quiet and found him sitting quietly with the dog. I wasn't prepared to give up so kept on with my housework. After I while I checked again and found him asleep with the dog, leaning over from the sitting position. I guess he wasn't ready to lie down and give in but his tiredness overcame him. I think that dog might be my new sleep-time friend... it's worth a try!

NearlySuperDad and I are about to attend the third installment in the parenting program we have been using, from Growing Families Australia (also published for the secular world, minus the biblical content, as Babywise, Toddlerwise, etc). We did a course for newborn and another for 5 to 12 months and this latest course is for pre-toddler, 12 to 18 months. I'm very keen to hear their suggestions for handling the behaviour of my independent and able boy. We have had great results using the information and guidelines from the previous 2 courses so we plan to keep on going.