Is this just a phase he is going through??

:help: Well, I posted about this in the sleep thread and only got one reply so I thought I would post again in the general category and see if I get more help!!

My DS is 9 months old and has NEVER been a good sleeper from day one. He takes after his father and my brother - neither of whom require much sleep to function at top performance! :) I bought Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution book a couple of months ago and I'm currently reading through it for the second time. I find her thoughts and techniques very helpful as both DH and I are in agreement that we don't like the idea of controlled crying at all - and besides that - we know that it wouldn't suit our son's persistent personality.

We took a trip to the US in early October to visit my family and James handled the travel, the time there, and the adjustment when we returned, VERY well. We were even having some sleep successes as I was slowly trying to cut him down to only one feed in the night as I was pretty desperate to get some sleep. For a little while there he was going 4-6 hours without any boobie, re-settling well with other techniques, and sleeping 3-5 hour blocks which was FANTASTIC!

Then, his top two teeth came in (within about four days of each other) so that was fairly traumatic but we got through it.

Now all seems fine but his sleep has gone out the window. He is waking MUCH more frequently (a couple of nights ago he was having trouble sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a stretch) and generally he is up every 1-3 hours and is very INSISTENT for boobie.

So my question is I guess... is this a phase? did I rush him in trying to cut him down to one feed through the night? is it a growth spurt? He doesn't seem to be getting any more teeth at the moment and he isn't sick (or at least isn't showing any symptoms of illness and is his happy normal self during the day). His daytime sleeps are still going well, though he isn't as excited about his solid foods as he normally is - a few times he has even stuck his nose up at mango and that is his favourite.

So I'm confused and stuck and would love some ideas - I know probably no one really has the answer for me, but some support would be welcomed. I participate in a mum's group in my area but don't feel very connected to the other girls in the group as their parenting styles are very different to mine. I'm just hoping to find some more support in these forums which was the main reason I joined!

It is possible that he is teething again, but not showing any signs of teeth kwim? Quite often my little boy would be totally off his food for up to three weeks before the tooth appeared, and only in hindsight would we realise that is why he was off it. It is also possible that he is just getting thirsty during the night and needs a drink to quench his thirst before being able to go back to sleep. I don't think you rushed him, it is probably more likely that once you got that situation sorted, he has moved on to the next developmental stage too.

For the time being, would you be happy to give him some boobie at night again just so that he settles and see how that goes for a bit? He might only want to have it for a little while and then settle back down again for you.

Jacob would go off his food when teething as well, and he'd point blank refuse any form of teeth cleaning! It was a real battle. Have you tried some bonjela to see if that works, or perhaps the 'Brauer's range which has a teething formula? Just an idea anyway (you can get these at chemists).

Jacob hasn't been a good sleeper either, Heidi, so I totally appreciate how hard it is on you all! When you say he wakes after 45 minutes, it sounds like he is stirring after a sleep cycle and is having trouble resettling himself. I found that Jacob's sleep would come and go, in that some weeks were good and other weeks absolutely positively rotten! Teething certainly didn't help, that's for certain!

Have you tried using some music, some gentle patting/rocking with him at all? Jacob responded well to the patting/rocking when he was James' age, as well as a sleep ritual which was the same every single time he went to bed - being consistent and persistent are the keys I think!

I don't have a miracle cure unfortunately - if I did then Jacob would sleep well now LOL but he still has a lot of trouble with it!

GOOD LUCK!

Hi again!
Thanks for the reply girls - it turns out it was the teething! DH discovered this arvo that one of his upper side teeth has come through the skin and possibly the other upper side tooth is coming through as well so we'll see what happens in the days and weeks to come. He is still somewhat off his food so we'll go with the flow. I gave him his first sandwich on the weekend and he seemed to like that so we'll just take it one at a time.

Melinda - yes I do play music/sound in the bedroom at night - I have the Sounds for Silence CD and play #6 on repeat all night as I find he settles to that one the best. I am still swaddling him as I find he settles better when wrapped, and I rock him or walk around the room with him to settle him as well.
We have not been that good with a strict bedtime routine so that is next on the agenda. I have Elizabeth Pantley's book "No Cry Sleep Solution" and I'm working on figuring out which of her strategies will work best with James.

Thanks for the help and I look forward to continually being a part of BellyBelly as I'm actually finding it more helpful then my mum's group!