Although Lucy sleeps in a co-sleeper next to me and not in a crib, I think this image says it all :)
Help! I need sleep and so does Lucy!!!!
Advice wanted:
Lucy has been waking up at either 2:30 am and 4:30am for an 1 1/2 hours at a time wanting to play... this is not counting the other times during the night she is up to nurse. Any suggestions how to get her to sleep more during the night? She is about 5 1/2 months now. Suggestions are welcome :) How do you get your baby to sleep through the night or at least longer periods of sleep through the night?
She used to go to bed at about 7:30pm wake at about 2:00am then up for the day at 6:00am and start her day. Now for example she is asleep at 7:00pm, up at 11:30pm nurse, 12:30pm nurse, 2:00am nurse and diaper change (in the dark), 4:40am - 6:00am wanting to play. I nursed her twice and then she finally fell asleep with me bounce her and rocking her. Up at 7:30am to start the day.
She has progressively gotten worse at sleeping since about 4 1/2 months. Does this have to do with teething???? I am so tired;( Luckily she is a good napper during the day, which why wouldn't she be after be up so often at night.
How do you other mom's get your babies to sleep?
I'm going out on a limb here and just trying to put myself in baby L's shoes. It could be that she is not sleeping as deeply because of teething and then she smells you which wakes her a bit more. Is it possible to have her sleep with your DH for a night? If Maggie wakes in the night (bad dream, etc) she usually gets back to sleep better/faster with Paul than with me and my guess is because he doesn't smell like milk. Honestly I think I just got lucky with Maggs in that she has always slept well at night if I just follow her cues. Naps have always been a fight though. Hang in there. I'm praying for you!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I LOVE the pic at the top!
ReplyDeleteWe had this same problem at around the same point in time and I vividly remember blogging about it in almost the exact same way! I ended up separating from our Lucy at this point. I put her in her crib (in her nursery). Turns out, she was just a light sleeper and with a little white noise, in her dark room, she slept MUCH better for longer periods in the night. I ended up getting up to feed her twice a night for a while, then it was once, then she was sleeping 12 hours a night around 9 months or so. (its a process). It changed everything for us. I will not be waiting so long to do this with baby #2.
ReplyDeleteYou might try not letting her sleep so much during nap time, so she is more tired at night.
ReplyDeleteI agree...try putting her in another room in her crib and see if that helps so she can't smell you. Also, maybe you go in there to feed her every 4 hours, if she wakes up before 4 hours, have your husband go in there to soothe her back to sleep. If she smells you she will probably not sleep without nursing. It may take a few nights, but she will start to learn how to fall asleep without nursing. Try the white noise machine (louder than a fan and no cold air) to see if that helps her stay in a deeper sleep. Another idea, teething tabs, they are all natural and you can get them at Target, CVS, Walgreens in the baby asile. They help Bella so much with her teething! You can give them to her every time she awakes.
ReplyDeleteMy son, in a separate room, in his own crIb, does the same thing. I'll.be reading the advice! (we use a white noise machine and now he CANNOT sleep without it. Makes weekend trips to a hotel a nightmare. )
ReplyDeleteHe has gotten better the last two nights... down at 8, up at 11, down til 4, up at 8. He whimpers a bit around one but view back to sleep in a minute or so.)
she had a major sleep regression at 4 months or so. E had alway been a fantastic sleeper and the all of a sudden was up every couple hours at night and screaming for an hour before falling asleep. It was so awful. I started reading more and realized that babies should only be away for certain times (I think 4 months might be only 2 hours at a time) and they they should go to bed earlier. So I started with night sleep, putting her down early, like 5:30 PM and it really helped. She started napping better after a couple weeks. Sometimes she still regresses a little and we just put her down for that early bedime and it really helps. We also got room darkening shades and she only sleeps in her crib unless she falls asleep in the car and I just put her in her car seat in her room to finish her nap. So far so good! Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out the comments on All You Who Hope - lots of good sleeping tips on one of her recent posts! At almost 6 months, most infants do not need to eat more than once a night if they are on a regular eating schedule during the day (unless a growth spurt, etc). So the waking up is probably due to smell/sounds rather than hunger. I fully believe children need to be taught how to sleep and that is why I did sleep training with both of mine. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Kids is a great book on the topic. You'll learn so much. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Sleep begets sleep so depriving your child of daytime sleep will not help them sleep better or longer at night!
Sorry, no advice to offer but you better believe I'll be referencing these comments someday! Love the new layout.
ReplyDeleteI' mreading the responses to your post with interest. We have a similar issue with our Kate. She was sleeping well through the night (relatively speaking) but it stopped a few weeks ago. She's only 3-1/2 months, so I'm interested in what might help.
ReplyDeleteI feel for you! We've only just did sleep training after 18 months! (But it was complicated by adopting a toddler at the same time, etc., etc.) We used The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight, and I am loving it. It worked amazingly well and was gentle enough for me! We probably could have sped up the process (she gives lots of examples in her book of kids who didn't need the whole program), but I didn't want to risk it. We had had a regression following our Christmas road trip, to the point that Sarah was taking two hours or more to fall asleep with me in the room and letting her nurse at will, then waking frequently at night. After the first night, she was happy falling asleep by herself, and last night (after 16 days) she was falling asleep and staying asleep well enough that we moved both kids into the same room, and they were asleep at 7:30!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry :( I would say not to feed her more than she was eating before (so one time a night) because you know she doesn't need it. AJ went backwards last night and woke at 1am. I gave him his paci and he went back to sleep without eating and woke again at 6am. Made me glad I didn't feed him, and I easily could have chosen that being sleep deprived I am on autopilot!
ReplyDeleteIf you have to feed her, just do it on one side and make it as quick and boring and dark and uneventful as possible (it does sound like you re doing the dark part, etc). If she is sleeping too much in the day, that can be part of it too. I just posted on sleep, but it doesn't touch on this specific issue. You may want to check it out anyway. Praying it gets better soon!
oops, it is true that sleep begets sleep and overtired children wake more-def agree with that one.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that it's very common for "good" sleepers to start waking up in the night again around 3 months. I don't know why, but at least it's normal! Our Dominic has been doing the same thing for about a month now. I've been feeding him on one side, in the dark, and he's HUNGRY! But I put him right back down and that's that. Now he's finally starting to not wake as much. But I still feed him when he does. Probably with Lucy sleeping right by you, you're much more sensitive to her noises and it's harder to let her fuss for a bit and fall back to sleep on her own. We had this problem with out monitor being turned up too loud. I turned it down so that I would only wake up when he was truly awake and it's helped. Praying for sleep for you all SOON! I know how hard it is.
ReplyDelete