Not sleeping

Hi , this is my first post on here. I wish it was a happier one!
My son Jake is almost 7 months old, and started out as a great sleeper he started sleeping throughat 7 weeks. However about 3 months ago started to wake during the noght(which I know is Normal) It has got progressively worse and he is now waking 6-8 times per night. He goes back to sleep fairly easily if I pick him up and rock him,or feed him(bf). Its just getting ridiculous and exhausting, every 1-2 hours. Im pretty sure its not pain related. He cut his first tooth on Saturday, so maybe more are following? I really dont know. I have been giving him Brauer Calm, but it doesnt seem to be working.

Has anyone had similiar experience?, is this just normal? Please help! Very tired Mummy!

By the way he has about 3 hours sleep during the day, which I dont think is enough since hes up at 5 and going to bed at 7.

okay noone has been through this?

Hi there. I have a few questions. Are you still BF'ing a lot? What I mean is, have you introduced solids yet? I've heard that babies who have been comfortably sleeping through the night, and then start to wake can be requiring more substantial foods during the daytime. Molly started waking up at 5.5 months, and we started solids early (she had reflux also, so this helped that too), but my point is, when the solids started, she was feeling fuller and more satisfied, and therefore slept better. That could be one thing.

Another, as you say could be the teeth - your baby is at an age where they know they are going to get comfort from you (from the BF in the night) and even though they are young and sweet, babies are also conniving and great learners! If you get up every time they cry out, they will realise that this works as an attention seeking tool, and will milk you for all you are worth (literally!).

I'd try the solids first - if you are already feeding solids, then maybe ramp it up a little - introduce more variety or more volume and see if anything improves. You've probably heard this all before, but your baby is a unique individual, and they need to learn at the same time you do. If this doesn't work, then maybe try an infant feeding/sleeping clinic - we did and it worked wonders for us.

Hope this helps.

Kirsty, you poor thing, it must be so frustrating! It sounds like you guys have got stuck in a bit of a rut - its amazing how they can develop from just doing something once or twice to get you through and before you know it, its a habit. :(

It sounds like Jake has forgotten how to get himself back to sleep and cant unless you rock or bf him - like thr previous post said, they're fast learners! you need to teach him again to get himself back to sleep. Im not sure where you are, but in nsw there is a group called Tresillian who run a "settling techniques" workshop, and even do residential programs where they let you sleep and re-train bub to get to sleep. We did the workshop when James was 4 weeks old, although he was a brilliant sleeper early on, and we keep coming back to techniques they taught us over and over. Things like not turning on the light, not talking, no eye contact, not picking up etc. I wont pretend to be an expert and try and tell you how to do it.

I suggest you talk to your community nurse and ask her about your local groups who might do these, and ask specifically about settling techniques. Check out your baby books for same (eg "Baby Love" has a good section), and perhaps a web search. But get onto your nurse, s/he will be a huge help!

I hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

Georgie

Hi Kristy,

First of all, please don't worry - alot of baby's go through this. My own son has just had the worst month sleep wise and he has always slept through the night beforehand... we are getting better, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Have you seen our Comforted Sleeping and Sleep Issues forum? Lots of posts in there from mums in similar situations and lots of tips.

No sleep for us as parents is a nightmare so I understand how frazzled you are - let us know how you go.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for all your advice ladies! The last couple of nights havent been as bad. Were following our routine of dinner, bath, quiet time with Daddy and then feed and bed. Jake seems to be settling between going to bed and about 10.30. So I have been whisking him up giving him a big top up feed and back to bed, he has been then waking around 2am but am able to get him back to sleep without feeding. Waking at 5am, coming to bed with us for feed and cuddle, then we doze off about 6 for another 1-2 hours. So really I cant complain it seems to be getting better. I think it is his teeth, I just dont like giving panadol, nurofen too often! I just cant wait to get 8 hrs sleep in a row!!!!

I found that once I started going in & comforting him back to sleep(bf/pat/rock) he would want it more & more until it got ridiculous (sounds similar!)

I decided to go hardcore (i had had enough!) and do controlled crying as explained in 'Baby Love'...it worked in 2 nights (warning: 2 nights of haertbreaking hell! ha ha) Now 14 months still sleeping through the night. It was worth it...bubs needed to learn to get to sleep on his own.

good luck :p

Sorry you've been doing it tough, Kristy. I had a similar experience to Brodes - Charlie got used to rocking and patting and just wouldn't go to sleep without it. So with the help of a MCHN, we implemented a variation on the controlled crying thing - not necessarily letting him cry for a certain number of minutes, but rather listening to his cries and learning to understand what they meant. It took a few days to get him used to the idea that we weren't going to come and pat him all the time, but he started sleeping really well and has been doing so ever since. Not everyone is comfortable with it, and bubs needs to be ready for it, but I thought I would mention it.

I hope you find a suitable strategy for you. Good luck!