Nancy's Sleep Advice:

My ds was the worlds worst sleeper so I did a lot of reading and tried everything. I could to get him to sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time. Now at 16 months he is a great sleeper. Even when he is sick he sleeps 10-11 straight hours at night. I would love to help you both but I need a lot more information. If you could answer these questions, then you can start working on getting you all more sleep.

Do your babies co-sleep or in a crib? Is the crib in your room or in another room?

I believe that you need to pick one or the other. If you choose to co-sleep than go all the way with it and just nurse lying down. This way, both you and your baby don't have to wake all the way. Aysha has done this very successfully with Zan. If co-sleeping is not what you want long term, than don't ever bring your baby into your bed. You will need to start weaning your baby from eating at night and then work on getting them to sleep through the night but it's critical that they have a consistent place to sleep. Going back and forth between their crib and your bed is the worst of both worlds.

Do you have a nighttime routine and an attachment object (blanket, stuffed animal, etc?)

The more consistent you can be with the time and order of the routine, the better. If you don't have an attachment object, pick one and leave it in the crib so your baby gets used to it even if they never really get attached to it.

Do you have a way to get your babies to sleep or back to sleep (other than feeding) during the night?

In order to wean, you need to be able to "stretch" your babies between feedings. It is usually easier for your husband to get your baby back to sleep by rocking or dancing than it is for you to do it.

Are your husbands willing to help?

It really helps if they are willing to get up and rock your baby back to sleep as you are trying to wean.

How much do you feed at night? How often and
for what duration?

I started keeping track of how long I was feeding and then cut down by a minute on each side every night or every other night. Then I would stretch between feedings. If he got up sooner than every 3 hours than my husband would get him back to sleep.

How much do you feed during the day? How often and for what duration?

Kim had excellent success by adding feedings during the day and increasing the amount she fed her baby during the day as she weaned at night.

I highly recommend the book "Helping your child sleep through the night" by Cuthbertson. Most of the steps I took to get Adam to sleep through the night are from that book. One thing in the book that really helped was a "focal feeding". You wake your baby at 11:00 (before they usually wake for their first feeding). This way, you control the feeding and then within a few weeks you can drop the feeding and they should sleep right through it.

Click on the star to find "Helping Your Child Sleep Through the Night" by Joanne Cuthbertson on Amazon.com