Frequent Night Wakings - HELP!!!

Hi All,

Up until last week, I thought I was the luckiest Mum in the world, as my little one has always slept through the night, with very little issue...... Now, my 4.5 month old is waking frequently and crying for his dummy. As soon as I put the dummy back in, he instantly goes back to sleep. He could sleep anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours. Last night however, he started waking an hour after he went to bed and woke ALL night long...... I am due to go back to work next week - and I am not sure that I will be able to handle sleepless nights on a regular basis!!!!!! Can anyone tell me - is this a phase - or is there something I can be doing to alleviate the problem???????? I know there is the option of discarding the dummy - I am not sure I can do this yet though.....

Something else I should tell you - until last week Liam was wrapped - so I am sure the waking and not being wrapped go hand in hand. I just really dont want to go back to wrapping him......

Any ideas would be REALLY appreciated!!!!!!

Nichole

Nichole,

My son did exactly that too - when his teeth started making an appearance, all the sleep went out of the window and at 9 months now, he still wakes 2-4 times a night for a feed - he has two bottles and 1-2 breastfeeds a night! He's quite a big boy, not fat but tall, and the MCHN said yesterday that he clearly needs these feeds with so much growth so she doubts I will be able to cut out those feeds for a while. Oh the joys of motherhood!

At 4.5 months of age I would say this is completely normal, not many babies sleep through at this age and lots more wont sleep for even longer. It took my daughter two years to sleep through, on her own.

So do whatever you need to do to get him to sleep at this stage, you might like to read Pinky McKay's book, '100 Ways to Calm the Crying' which has 100 ways you can try and soothe your bub to sleep, in gentle ways. It's a great book - good luck!

Nichole - just a question - why do you want to stop wrapping Liam? If it helps him to sleep, why not keep going? Gabby is a bit over 4 months old now and I can see I am going to be wrapping her for quite a number of months yet.
I second what Kelly said about Pinky's book. It's fantastic. I just loaned mine out to a friend because it makes heaps of sense :)

Thanks for you help ladies!!!

Debbie - I decided to stop wrapping Liam because he was wiggling his way out them and waking up anyway. Also, he is going to Nanas and Creche when I go back to work - and Nana struggles with the wrap. I wanted to make things easier for them..... Liam sleeps well during the day without the wrap but that could be a result of lack of sleep at night..... Maybe I should continue to wrap him of a night time??????? Motherhood is sooooo confusing!!!

Kelly - Liam doesnt yet look for the feeds - which is great!! I guess it is comforting to know that it is completely normal!!! Looks like we may have a long road ahead!!!

Thankyou both for the advice and the suggestion of the book - I will check it out today!

That makes sense, Laura (the reasons for not wanting to wrap Liam). What do you use to wrap him? I found that bunny rugs and cot sheets weren't all that good at keeping Gabby's hands in so I started wrapping her in a polar-fleece blanket. It's one of those stretch polar-fleece ones. I swaddle her in that and there's no way her arms can get out (well... not yet - I am sure she will get stronger and get out one day). Maybe give something like that a go??

Hi Nichole

I agree motherhood is so confusing - there are so many options!!!

I also agree with everything that Deb and Kelly said. Pinkys book is fantastic.

Joshua is now 12 months but at 4 months I had to go back to work out of necessity. I was still breast feeding and Joshua knew that mummy was home at night so to start with he would wake constantly. To counteract this I made sure I spent every minute I was at home afterwork and before work with Joshua and he stopped waking up to have "mummy time".

In addition we used to take the dummy out as soon as he was asleep. This helped to stop the waking during the night (although he will not go to sleep without it.

We didnt have the wrap issue as Joshua never liked sleeping on his back and hated to be wrapped while he slept even more.

All this things worked for us.

I guess the best advice I can give is try a couple of different things, What works for one mum wont work for another.

I am sure Liam will sleep through the night once he finds his own pattern

Goodluck with the new job

Love

Jen

Darl, why don't you try a sleeping bag, he may want the tightness, but also the freedom if that makes sense!

IKWYM, with no sleep Im soooooo tired I can't hardly function, I have not had a full nights sleep for god knows how long, and I so miss it.

Good Luck.xx O:)

Thanks Nadia - I neglected to mention that I have Liam in a sleeping bag.... However, I think I have solved the problem. I think I have been trying to cook the poor little man!!!!! I have been putting him in his pj's and then a sleeping bag and 4 blankets as well!!!! Last night I put him only into a sleeping bag (blankets but no pj's) and he slept all night!!!!!

Up until now - we have been so lucky. He has slept through the night from about 7 weeks until 7 - 8am... So I have no cause to complain...

Thanks again!!!