My boy has always been a good sleeper and started sleeping through at about 6 months of age but at about 9 months of age (2 months ago) he has started waking 2-3 times through the night. It starts off as a whinge and sometimes he puts himself back to sleep but most times he doesnt.
When I get in there he is up on his knees with his arms tucked up underneath him. He still has his eyes closed but is crying sometimes screaming. Coincidentally, this night waking started almost the same day as he started crawling. My initial reaction was that I needed to increase his solids because he was probably burning a lot more energy now that he was on the move. This didnt help.
When I go into him at night he doesnt always take the bottle so I dont think he is hungry.
My next thought was that because he is crawling, he is moving out from under his covers and he might be getting cold as he moves all around his cot and most times I find him in the most weird positions.
Does anyone have any tips on how to keep a crawling baby under the covers at night??? I'm hoping this is just a phase but I'm 6 months pregnant and I really need the extra sleep so any tips on how to extradite this phase would be very much appreciated.
I hope using a Gro-bag fixes the issue for you..
My DS is doing the exact same thing, but still does it whether he is in his gro-bag or not. Also still does it if he is in bed with me.
Thanks Rainforest and Marlene. I'll try using his gro-bag (if it still fits him!!!), thank you both for your suggestions. I know when he was younger he wouldnt sleep in one though because he hated being restricted but we will see how he goes now that he is a bit older. I think it is the only thing we havent tried so far.
Did the grobag help?
does he have tummy ache? DS sometimes curls up like that if he has a tummy ache - i usually cuddle himand rub his tummy and he sometimes has wind and then feels better and goes back to sleep.
eta just saw you only posted about the grobag today so wouldnt have tried it yet - hope it helps!
Tonydale, my DS has been doing the exact same thing for the last week or so. He sleeps reasonably well until about 12 pm and then wakes up hourly with a whingy cry for a couple of seconds, self settles and this keeps repeating itself hourly till approximately 5.30 when he just wakes up and plays in his cot. It too started around the time he started crawling. We tried feeding more or less for tea, didn't make a difference, he is not too interested in feeding when he wakes up during the night and it doesn't make him sleep any better. We have tried different combinations of jarmies; hasn't made any difference for us.
Now I am thinking it might be that he sleeps too much during the day, since his daysleeps have improved out of sight since he started to wake up during the night. So for the next few days I will reduce his day sleeps to see if that will make a difference. I am at my wits end, because the biggest stretch of sleep I get is about 3 hours before 12pm and then it is down to about 45 minutes at a time....
Sorry I can't help you; just wanted to give you a and hope our bubs will be going back to sleeping soundly through the night soon!!
It seems that our bubs are similar ages and doing similar things!
My DS will sleep like a champ until midnight (mind you getting him to sleep is a different story, we rarely get him down in his cot before 9pm!) and then will wake up hourly after that. I don't think it's hunger either, I too am getting close to breaking point as this has been going on for around 3 months and I am exhausted!
I hope we all find some answers soon, hugs to you all going through this!
Hope the sleeping bag works for you.
Otherwise, all I can think of is that he might just want some reassurance... Natty goes through phases like this where she'll wake 1-2 times a night crying. She goes back to sleep within 10 minutes if I pat her bottom. Will your DS be comforted in the cot?
Natty has stopped doing this for the moment (touch wood!) so the phases come and go... Sleepy vibes to your little man!
This is something that's going to sound a bit silly and not very helpful, but hmmmm....well
I found that everytime Darcy learned something new, it would take her a couple of months to get over it mentally. ie crawling - distrupted sleep, walking, and now TTing - back to crap sleeping. Her little brain was still processing the development and it was hard for her to settle down.
Sleeping bag never worked for me, just dressed her warmer.
But she always went back to some kind of 'normal' after a little while.
Wow, thank you all for your replies ..... I found something useful in each and every one of them.
Rainforest and Preagainpan - I used the gro-bag for the past couple of nights and it didnt seem to help so maybe he isnt cold afterall ???
Esme - You have just described my DS to a T. Fraser has also started sleeping really well during the day but he has swapped his big sleep from the morning to the afternoon which might have an effect of his night time sleeping. The only problem is that I have tried in the past to decrease his day sleeps and it causes more problems than ever. I shouldnt complain too much after reading your post because Fraser only really gets up twice (about midnight and about 3.30am) so at least I get some sleep but being pregnant at the same time doesnt help!!!
Adkins - It is strange because I cant comfort him in the cot but DH can! The other morning DH went in at 5am (Fraser's usual waking time) and he just patted his bottom and he went back to sleep until 7am. He has NEVER slept in that late before. Yep, we have trouble getting him to sleep at night too (just in the past 2 weeks though) but he is usually down by 7pm (after about 45 minutes of crying and sometimes screaming).
Snacks - That thought crossed my mind too, maybe dreams or nightmares?? The fact that he isnt interested in food made me think that maybe all the storms we have had lately (we live in Brisbane) may have scared him a bit and is scared to sleep by himself??
Kim - Hi matey !!! Thanks for the reassurance that things will return to normal. I know it has only been a few weeks but I get visions of rocking to sleep a 17-year-old some nights! Your thoughts on the matter dont seem silly at all - I'm open to all suggestions! I really think crawling is the culprit because he moves all around his cot during the night so I dont think he is sleeping very deeply at all. I can go in there every 15 minutes and he will be in a different position every time.
What would I do without BB??? I often say to Mum "How did you do it without the internet". I think we'd all feel very alone and "what am I doing wrong" all the time without BB.
Thanks again for all your suggestions. I appreciate them all. Looks like we all just need to ride out the storm and look forward to good sleeping again shortly.
What could be wrong with his sleeping???
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and hope our bubs will be going back to sleeping soundly through the night soon!!
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