DS does NOT sleep

[katymf]

19mo DS is a horrible sleeper. he used to sleep "okay" when he was a baby but it has gotten worse. much worse. he now stays up until we go to be which is around 10:00, he wakes up for an hour having a screaming episode which sounds like he is possessed. nothing works. we've tried rocking him, feeding him (maybe he's hungry), giving him milk or water, singing to him, walking around with him, rubbing his belly or back...then he's up between 5-5:30. mean while i am 8mo pregnant and can hardly sleep as it is. i'm so frusterated. we dont know what to do. his bedtime is totally gone-out the window. we used to give him his bath, rock him to sleep and he was in bed by 7-7:30. won't let us rock him anymore or even lay down with him to get him to sleep. he just falls asleep on his own but not until we do.

[mibarra]

I was just reading an article about insomnia in children. It can be diagnosed as early as 6 months. Most cases are not strong enough to warrant medication or anything like that, but there are specific professionals that can help you address sleep issues and modify sleep habits. Sounds like you have a terrible sleeper combined with a developmental sleep regression based on your description, but just a thought that there may be some help out there.

[Teexie]

I'm so sorry mama. You must be exhausted. 7 hours is not enough sleep for your little guy (or his pregnant mama!), and I would check with his doctor to be sure.

I don't have much to suggest, since my DD is my only and she is a pretty good sleeper, but that goes out the window during sleep regressions. I do allow her to stay up sometimes when she is clearly not tired, but I reach a point where I need to get her to bed. What happens if you do his sleep routine, and then bore him to sleep? Laying in a dark room with nothing to do usually does the trick for my DD (with me laying with her). She will wander around for a bit until her mind catches up that it's dark, there's nothing to do, so time to sleep. She will cry or throw a tantrum on occasion but that seems to wear her out a bit too.

[EmilytheStrange]

I guess the reason he wants to fall asleep on his own, but won't until you do, is because he cosleeps?

any chance you could put him in his own bed for the period of the night where you're not going to bed yet?