Derwood

My 5 month old usually falls asleep for the night at around 8:30 pm. Se has commonly woken up once or twice in the night to eat, but goes back to sleep after the bottle.

But this week she has awoken to eat at around 4am and then won't go back to sleep. Wide awake (and cranky), she'll fall asleep in my arms but wake right up the moment I put her down.

I'm a stay at home dad monday-friday (wife travels for work) and have a 3 year old, so napping during the day isn't feasible for me. Pst attempts to keep her up later didn't alter her overnight feeding times at all (ie keeping her up until 10 didn't move her next feeding to 6am...she still woke up at 4)

help!

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raeanna74

Babies go through changes in their sleep patterns often. Sometimes it had to do with growth spurts, sometimes diet changes, sometimes there's no obvious reason.

There were two main ways I dealt with stuff like this when I had to get my sleep.

1. Let her fall asleep on her own and learn to self-comfort. It won't her them to cry a little. There were times when I actually got tired of the crying, falling asleep, waking when I layed her down, and crying all over again. So I would just put her in bed and cover my head with a pillow till she fell asleep. Letting her cry herself to sleep won't hurt her. There were times when I actually let my daughter cry for about 20 min even. That wasn't frequent but it did happen.

2. Sometimes I caved because I just couldn't stand the crying and I'd sleep with her on the sofa bed. I was nursing so this worked better for me as I'd lay down while she fed and half the time I'd fall asleep while she was still latched on. That won't work as well with a bottle but snuggling them does help the both of you get a little more sleep. Just be careful if you roll much in your sleep that you don't roll on her. And build an edge of some sort so that she won't roll off the bed herself. Or as a last resort make yourself a pile of blankets on the floor to sleep on. She won't go rolling off that very easily.

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Daoust

I'm interested in this topic.

My 2 year old is having lots of sleeping problems. Inconsistent sleep patterns. Rarely does she get through a night without one or two wake ups. Sometimes there are as many as 6 or 8. We try to not let her in bed with us, and I don't believe that is why she is crying... I think it's something else.

Someone told me that at that age they spend the nights dreaming a lot, trying to make sense of the days events... and I can accept that idea... but I think there's more to it than that. My wife is taking my daughter to the doctor next week so see if they can find out what the problem is...

Any other parents have light sleeping infants? What did you do?

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Derwood

we would let her cry herself to sleep if not for the fact that it would wake up her older sister

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raeanna74

Do they sleep in the same room?? Could you make a pallet on the floor of your room for your older daughter?? I mean it could in theory only be a temporary thing.

I've heard that babies need to learn to self-comfort and once they do that they will go to sleep on their own much easier. One little girl that I babysat when through that stage. She would cry whenever I put her down for a nap. For 15 min at a time quite regularly. Now she will go to bed without a peep.

Try to avoid a lot of stimulating toys or lights in the crib and see if an evironment free of stimulation allows her to fall asleep easier on her own.

Another thought that comes to mind. How does she fall asleep at naptimes?? Do you rock her to sleep then? If so perhaps you could try to get her to self-comfort at nap time and eventually she'll learn it well enough for it to transfer to night time too.

This too shall pass. When my daughter was going through this if felt like it lasted for an eternity.

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
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Sage

While I don't have kids, I have been around enough in my family to second the "babies need to go through a stage where they comfort themselves to sleep" thing. My parents were fostering a little boy who was mostly blind, and he went through the stage where he just had to cry himself to sleep. Sucked for me (I was about nine at the time) but it worked. Make sure your kid is fed, dry diaper, that kind of thing, then just let them cry. They'll go to sleep eventually. By keeping your kid on a regular sleep schedule, you're making sure they're staying consistent with sleeping.

Don't be like my cousin who just let her kid fall asleep whenever, wherever (even standing up) because she couldn't be bothered with teaching her to fall asleep consistently!

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DJ Happy

My daughter is 2 years and 9 months and she will often wake up once a night, maybe twice, sit in her bed and cry until one of us goes in to her and lies her down again. I have no idea why she does this as there's nothing wrong that I can see. She doesn't ask to come into our bed, she doesn't want us to stay with her, she just lies back down and goes back to sleep. It's a mystery.

Derwood

my 3 year old does that. She usually wants to go sleep on the sofa, so I just walk her out there, lay her down and go back to bed.

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thermight

When my daughter was about 1 she would wake up at the same time she used to get up to have a bottle. I would give her one but she wouldn't drink it. So we figured she didn't need it. We tried letting her cry, but we were afraid she would wake her brother in the next room. So I slept on her floor. When she woke up I would say, "Nite, nite. Daddy's here go back to sleep". After about 5 days she quite getting up. I stayed two more days to be sure. When we were getting here out of the bed we were stimulating her and she couldn't go back to sleep.
She would peek through the sides of her crib and lay back down. It was cute.

Charlatan

When my daughter was that young I would lay on the floor next to her crib with her lying on my chest... That way, when she fell asleep, we could both (sort of) sleep. I would also let her sleep with us in bed.

The key though, as others have suggested, is to encourage her to get to sleep on her own.

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ngdawg

My son started that waking up crying at about 14 months. Doctor told us to let him cry himself to sleep as we were making it worse by going in after him, but that first night lasted 55 minutes!!!!! Sheer agony....
We started a routine that seemed to have worked: An hour before bedtime, we started getting them ready then took them (twins) into our bed with a couple of books and would read to them. No playing or goofing around, just lying there with the books, pointing out pictures, etc. Then we would go to the bedroom window and look for the moon and when we found it, say goodnight to it and they then went to bed.
As infants, when they'd awake about 5am, I'd take them both to my bed, secure the edges with extra pillows, give them their bottles and the three of us would fall asleep. That ended when my son fell off-about 6 months old. (still don't know how he got past me, but I am a sound sleeper most times )
One last suggestion: My doctor gave me this idea when my son was only 5 weeks old and both nursing followed by a bottle didn't keep him sleeping long:
mix a couple of tablespoons of rice cereal with about a teaspoon of breast milk(or formula if wife doesn't nurse) in a small bowl. It should be the consistency of rice pudding. Put a small amount on a baby spoon and see if she sucks it off. If she does, she can take some. If she rejects it, no. Give her this cereal about an hour or so before bed. If she sleeps longer, she was awaking from hunger. Worked for Daniel. Doctor said under no circumstances should the cereal be mixed into a bottle. If they can't take it by eating it, they aren't ready to eat, period. And yes, I did mean 5 weeks. Kid was a freakin bear about eating

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Derwood

See, now our doctor said that the current trend is to hold off solid foods of any kind until 6 months. He also said no cereal in the bottle (though my sister has done this with her daughter for months....not that it gets her to sleep through the night...). Our daughter is 5 months now and simply won't take the cereal (either spits it out or later spits it up) so no help there. I don't mind (much) getting up to feed her, it's just when seh won't go back to sleep.

I first posted this in a 3 day stretch of really bad sleep, but she seems to have regulated back to her common 3 naps during the day and 1 or 2 feedings at night, so I think we're fine for awhile. She also didn't poop for about 2 1/2 days in that stretch, so something was going on in her growth pattern that upset her digestive system.

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ngdawg

Current trend is just that-a trend( I was raised on condensed milk and karo syrup). You have to find what's right for your own child and the fact that she spit it out shows she wasn't ready.
Cereal in a bottle does nothing, as your sister found out. The consistency doesn't change enough to make a difference or if it does, the baby has to suck harder-either way it's worthless.
Good to see she's getting back on track....for now

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spindles

friends of ours were having sleep problems with their little boy and after much sleeplessness he has been put on a certain formula which is "thicker" and he is sleeping better. Basically, he was still hungry and waking all the time.

Another friend had a problem with dust mites - they lived in an older house and had to rip up the carpet in the kids room.

Bottom line - if you have an ongoing problem, go and see a doctor and keep going until it gets sorted out. There may be a limit of problems for kids, but you still have to work out the exact one that is plaguing your child...

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Derwood

She was at it again last night. The most frustrating thing is that you can almost set a clock by her daytime sleep schedule, but from 8pm to 8am, it's a total crapshoot.

I don't mind waking up to feed her. If she's hungry, she's hungry. But some nights she goes right back to sleep, and others (like last night), she is wide awake and won't go down for 90 minutes or more.

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sexymama

I feel your pain. All my children (3 biological) slept through the night by six weeks. They were all tiny too. So, when I had baby lebell -- a "big" little guy -- I thought it would be a breeze to get him sleeping through the night. No it hasn't been! He still eats two to three times a night. The doctor says he needs to be fed as he is in the 75th percentile for height and only the 25th for weight. He is hungry because he is busy during the day. I hope we aren't setting ourselves up for trouble; but when he wakes up for the first night time feeding, I just take him in to bed with us. I can't stand getting up and down as I need my sleep to make it to work. At this point, I don't know if he is crying because he wants to be with us or to be feed. But I do know he eats for about 15-20 minutes every time he eats; so I'm pretty sure he just wants to eat. When summer hits, he is going to learn to "self soothe" -- I hope!

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Derwood

we have a new one this week!

sleep 7:30pm to 11:30pm
up 11:30pm til 1:30am
sleep 1:30am to 5:30am
up 5:30am to 6:30am
other kid up at 7am

mmmmmm....relaxing!

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doodlebird

holy cow. it seems as though there are as many different kids behaviors as there are kids... i honestly don't even remember how we got our little dude to sleep through the night, but i think it wasn't until sometime around 6 months.

my two year old recently decided that he doesn't want to sleep in his bed. he wants to sleep on the floor of his room. it's a hard wood floor! no matter how many times i put him in his bed, stay with him, read, sing, rub his back, etc... he will always slip out of bed, on to the floor with a blankie and press himself on the cool wood floor. i've tried cooler jammies, cooler sheets, keeping the house cooler, and he still wants to sleep on the wood floor. i have to wait for him to fall asleep and then lift him into his bed.

has anyone had any experience with this? thoughts... recommendations?

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Derwood

My 3 year old does this, but with the living room couch. It's the only place she will fall asleep, and sometimes I wake up in the morning and she has moved back there in the middle of the night

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DJ Happy

Have you considered selling his bed and treating yourself to something nice with the proceeds?

Meditrina

Ain't that the truth? I have been reading up on this thread but I have yet to respond. I once belonged to a message board for new mothers and when I had problems with my children's sleep patterns (or lack thereof) I got bashed for not listening to exactly what they said to do and it is a very sore subject for me. I felt compelled to respond today, not sure why. Every child is different and every night can be different for the same child. Just when I think I have a routine for my 3 yr old son, something changes. I try to go with the flow and do whatever is right for me and my son. Don't get upset if you try something someone suggests and it does not work, go on to the next thing to try. Something will click and work for you.


I understand how hard it is when a child (of any age) has sleep issues.

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Derwood

she's finally gotten over a cold and has nearly slept through the night te last 2 nights

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Meditrina

That is wonderful to hear!

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Derwood

Tell me about it. I won't get too used to it, but she's a much happier kiddo with the long sleep and i'm a much happier daddy.

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Kurant

I don't mean to wreck your thread here, Derwood, but I actully have a similar question.

About 3 weeks ago my 8 month old son had come down with some sort of stomach virus, along with his teething, he had a fever of 101-103 for 4 days, and then with his teething, he just wasen't sleeping for about 2 weeks. He'd go to bed at his regular time which is around 9, then up at 2, then up at 4, then up at 7:30. He had been sleeping all night till this point. Now, he's up every night at these times, and if we go in there, get him.. Sit in a chair he will go back to sleep, you put him down, he cries. So, tonight, right now.. I can't sleep with him crying, I finally just told my wife to put ear plugs in, and let him cry. He's only doing this because we let him do it for those 2-2 1/2 weeks.

I just feel bad.

But it is the right thing to do? And how long should I let him cry?

f6twister

I'm going to assume that he is over his virus but is still waking throughout the night. Keep in mind that teething can also cause pain and fevers in kids. My son spiked fevers often throughout teething and would cry. If he woke up, we would always check inside of his mouth and see if it was his teeth bothering him. If we could tell some were coming in, we would give him some pain reliever and he would sleep the rest of the night.

He did go through a stage in which he woke up and would not go back to sleep unless my wife or I were holding him. We just put him back in his crib and let him cry for about 1-2 hours. He cried off and on for about 2 hrs for three nights then got the idea and started sleeping through the night.

Is it the right thing to do? That is something you have to decide based on your beliefs and your child. We asked for advice but in the end, we did what we felt was right for our son and situation.

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Kurant

Well, I can say last night was rough,he cried for about 30 mins, just off and on.. then eventually went to sleep. I think it was the right thing to do.

He's not teething anymore, the tooth is the through, the gums are back to normal color, and he's back to being my happy little boy. He just got in a bad sleeping pattern, that he wasen't on till he was sick, and then he just stayed on it once he was "un-sick". We'll see what tonight it like.

Derwood

we started my daughter on solids and i think she's constipated. She'll fall asleep in your arms (and I mean she's OUT) but the second she is put down she starts writhing and screaming like someone is twisting a knife in her belly. This has led to two rough nights, but here is the weird/annoying part:

- it doesn't bother her during the day and doesn't affect naps
- it doesn't affect putting her down for the night
- the pain doesn't keep her from falling asleep in my arms
- naturally the only time this is an issue is the dead of night

letting her cry it out isn't an option as she'll wake up her sister. I also can't catch up on sleep during her naps because i'm watching the older one

damn, we had it so easy with the older one.

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