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My DD has starting waking up out of her sleep in the past couple of weeks. I know this is normal but I can't figure out how to settle her. She is crying quite a bit but her eyes are still closed so I figure she is asleep still. But because I can't settle her she cries till she fully wakes! I have tried music, patting, ssshhhing, rubbing, dummy etc all without picking her up, but she doesn't stop the crying. Any ideas?
Hi Deirdre, it's hard isn't it?! I would only suggest the same techniques you have already tried. My DS is the same, he doesn't respond to patting and shhing anymore and I'm not a fan of controlled crying. Sometimes I put a tiny squirt of Brauer Colic Relief (it's all natural) in his mouth and put his dummy back in and this calms him down. Other times I have to pick him up because nothing else works and rock him for a little while then put him back down. If none of this works I end up getting him up and putting him in his swing for a while until his next feed.
Sorry I'm not much help! I hope you find something that works for you soon :)
Hi Deirdre,
There is nothing more stressful than your crying baby, but just remember no baby ever died form crying. Ur settling techniques sound ok, but alot of those never worked for my first baby. He just liked to cry himself to sleep. You could try swaddling/wrapping her. She might be waking her self up when she startles. Sometimes they just have to cry themself to sleep and its a way they learn to self settle and exert some energy. My first son needed to cry for 20 minutes before he went to sleep. My 2nd only cries for 5mins before he sleeps. He is a totally different temperement. Of course some days are worse than others. Hang in there.
Oh and also I read this book which talked about the 45minute intruder...so true and was the case with my boys. A sleep cycle is about 40 minutes and at about 3 months they can start waking after one sleep cycle. They need to learn to settle themselves again if this is the case. Sometimes they might only be sleeping lightly and still crying as they pass into the next sleep cycle, which might be the case if her eyes are still shut.
Ahhhh, the 40 minute wonder....I know it well!!
Both my babies have done this. Teaching them to resettle is hell, put quite simply. It takes time and effort and a LOT of patience.
But if you're consistent with your settling, eventually she will learn that its not time to be awake yet and will go back to sleep after that first cycle.
I've been hard at it with DS for weeks now and I am finally starting to see an improvement. Far from perfect, but definitely keeping me going.
My daughter did eventually learn how to resettle herself and went on to be a great little sleeper!
Hang in there, sounds like you're doing all the right things!