I’m frustrated and exhausted. My 13.5 mo still will not sleep. She’s up 2-5 times a night and naps are so unpredictable, sometimes 45 minutes and sometimes 2 hours or more. Our life revolves around her nap schedule (or lack thereof) and I can never take her to do things in the morning (like library time or swimming) because I’m so dog tired every day. Then I get even more frustrated when all my friends with their kids talk about how they sleep for 9+ hours straight. The longest she has ever gone was 7 hours twice, right before she got sick both times.
We’ve tried nearly everything. We’ve tried both capping naps (which feels wrong because she doesn’t sleep) and letting her sleep as long as she wants. We’ve tried following wake windows and we’ve tried following a set time of the day schedule. We’ve tried both two and one nap days, the one nap days are much worse. We’ve tried waking her up at a set time (again feels so wrong) and letting her wake up on her own. My husband goes in during the night to settle her, but I am still nursing once in the night to try and get her to sleep for at least one longer stretch. She’s often awake after 3-4 hours all night, sometimes hourly. She no longer nurses to sleep and always gets a snack before naps and bedtime. The only thing we haven’t tried is sleeping training because I won’t let her cry for extended periods of time and I’m too tired to try any of the gentle methods.
Besides sleep, she’s way ahead on all of her milestones. She’s been walking since 10.5 months, has a few words, has incredible motor skills (kicking ball, putting shapes in the holes) and is using the potty. I’m beginning to wonder if she will ever figure it out or if we are destined to be sleep deprived for the rest of eternity. I don’t know what I’m looking for… advice? Solidarity? Someone to complain to?
Signed - an exhausted mom.