Help me to get my baby out of my bed before I lose the will to live!

[tigwig]

Right my baby has just turned 12mths and before we went on holiday for 2 weeks he would sleep all night in his cot perfectly fine. Obviousy he would wake if unwell but only needed reassurance to go back to sleep. We got back from the Dom Rep at the weekend, where he slept in his own cot fine too, but since then he has cried when I've put him to bed then settled until around 10pm when he becomes inconsolable. I've tried every way possible to reassure him, picking him up and putting him down, patting him, shushing him and ignoring him but nothing works. Last night I was determined to get him to stay in his own cot but the screaming went on for an hour and a half and by that time my 6yr old was woken and crying and we were ready to kill him! Now he has had a sickness bug since we got back too and with the jet lag I could make allowances for the first night but now its been 3 nights in a row and I feel I've started a pattern of bad sleeping habits and do not want this to continue anymore. Part of me feels bad that he's unsettled due to coming back from the hol and feel sorry for him but then the other part of me imagines him still doing this when he is 5 and I definitely do not want him to. Help!

[redcrx]

hes poorly and wants his mum. Its only been 3 days!

come back again when hes 2.5 and still doing it, like mine is lol

[ummmm]

It's probably more to do with his sickness. 3 nights is not long...especially as he's had long flights and illness.

[Count-A-Strong]

I remember when my daughter was very young and you tend to think that the situation will go on forever, which of course it doesn't. I think you should wait until he's over his sickness bug ( I presume you meant that your 12 month old had this and not your 6 y o) and then try some tough love i.e. Less attention. I remember my wife standing at the bottom of the stairs listening to our daughter virtually cry herself to sleep but it only took a few nights of doing this until she 'learnt' that crying did no good. If he's fed, clean and warm then the only thing they're crying for is attention.

[starone]

I didn't have a night's sleep with my son until he was gone two and even then he woke but had learned to play with his toys comparitively quietly. He has never been a good sleeper. My daughter, however, slept all through the night, bliss. There's no answer but as ummmm says if he is not well then he will be fractious.

[tigwig]

I just worry that Im starting something that the longer it goes on the harder he will be to get out of it and want to nip it in the bud now but at the same time can see that he wants me for comfort. Can you reassure me that he will stop when he's better lol? My daughter never ever did this and has been a brilliant sleeper even though yes shes been sick too.

[ummmm]

I found the boys much more needier than my daughter.

Tig...just make sure that he is 100% better than you can start to get stricter. On 'The House of Tiny Tearaways' They managed to get them back in their own beds in less than a week. It just means you'll have to grin a bare it for a bit.

BTW....My son slept with me until he was over 2 and a few months before his brother was born.

[k8bailey]

whenever my little girl has been ill I've let her sleep in with me sometimes for a week or more until she's better, she always starts off in her own bed and then when she wakes she comes to bed with me - when she's recovered she ends up back in her old routine. Its only been a couple of days, try not to worry about it. Have you tried sleeping in his room to show him that its a good place to be?