15 Week Old Suddenly Not Sleeping Well at Night

Hi A.,
My son cut 2 teeth at that age. I wasn't expecting it at all, but his behavior definitely changed. He cried a little more at night, and at night he would cry out then fall asleep.
According to my reading daytime napping has nothing to do with night sleep- at all.
I would not stimulate her at night when she wakes. I found that picking up my son at night woke him up out of a lighter sleep. As if I was over soothing him. I have to let him toss and turn, and he is learning to fall back asleep by himself (it is difficult for me though!). It wakes me because he sleeps with us, but I find that easier to bf. I am reading Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Baby by the recommendation of mommies on this site. I would recommend it, it has enlightened me to some bad habits I had, although I don't think I will follow everything in the book right now.
Good luck and don't worry.

I think it sounds like a combination of the 4 month sleep shake up and teething. Our ped also said teething starts way before they cut teeth. The teeth buds form in the jaw bone, which is very uncomfortable for them. My daughter's sleep also fell apart at that age, and to be honest, it's still not what it was before we hit the 4 month mark.

I will say that solids are not the answer - they don't make any difference in sleep for most babies and your daughter is too young for them. We've been on solids for 2 months (she's 9 months) and her sleep is virtually the same as it was before.

For us, better naps always mean better sleep at night, though. I don't think keeping her up more in the daytime will help in the long run.

Have you read the No Cry Sleep Solution? That's a great book on infant sleep!

A.,
It could be a growing spurt or teething. Don't indulge her though. Keep the lights and TV off and make it very boring for her to stay awake.Don't interact with her because she will think everyday at that hour is play time. Also try a little Tylenol right before bed, a good feeding before she goes to bed and a really good feeding right before you go to bed. Just pull her out of her bed and nurse her and then lay her back down. This should help. This will help with filling her tummy. I always started cereal at around 16 weeks and this too helped with all my babies sleeping through the night from very early on.

good luck,

Babies have a growth spurt between 3-4 mths of age and they will nurse more frequently to cause you to generate more milk for their growth. The also go through a shift in sleeping patterns around the same time. If it lasts more than 1-2 weeks it is prob not a growth spurt. My daughter also did this later when my supply was dropping so make sure you are still drinking lots of water. We start to forget this as we get used to the thirst.

It is often around this age that they begin to get more hungry thus waking them up. I gave my babes a teaspoon of rice cereal before bed which cured it for me. In addition they are more alert at this age and sometimes don't fall back asleep if something catches their eye.

My kids often wake in the night when teething. Is it her canine teeth? Because my 22 month old son is working on his canines, and has been sound sleeper all his life, but since a month and a half ago, when they first started in (you could just see swelling on the gums) until now, when youc an just see the tips of the teeth, he is grumpy and restelss just at night. During the day he is fine. Good luck to you and your family
M.

Hi A.,

My son went through the same thing. There is this thing called a 4-month wakeful period where sleeping patterns are disrupted due to growth spurt, teething, etc. I gave my son more formula and breastmilk. He went from getting a total of 27oz to 30oz. After a week, he went back to his regular sleeping patterns. Also, we gave him 15 mins to fall back asleep on his own whenever he woke up in the middle of the night. Good luck. I'm sure it's only a phase. Love your daughter's name.

She may have an ear infection - take her to see her doctor. also, if she had one or two nights where she woke up for some legitimate reason, it may have started a habit and now it's just a habit for her to wake up. Once you know she doesn't have an ear infection, try not getting her out of bed when she wakes up unless its feeding time. Don't turn the lights on and don't talk to her. Just leave her in the crib and rub her back and try to help her soothe herself back to sleep.

My children are now 20 and 25 years old. I'm still puzzled at their behavior at times! :-) Your 4-month-old daughter's low-grade fever and sleeplessness is unlikely to be due to teething (she's too young), but could be due to an ear infection. Some children are much more bothered by these at night, but do fine during the day. If you doctor rules out an ear infection, you might pay close attention to her behavior at night. Is she coughing? Does she have a runny nose? There is an upper respiratory virus going around right now that starts with a low-grade fever and is comparatively mild for most people, but could be enough to cause your daughter problems at night. If you rule out all kinds of ailments, then it's possible that your daughter is going through that common 4-month-old stage of being restless at night. This is rough on parents, especially if you don't take a nap while your daughter naps during the day. If you want her to learn to self-soothe at night, then she'll need a transition object (e.g., blanket, soft toy) and a lot of patience from you has you ensure that she's dry and adequately full and then let her work it out for herself. Best wishes!

A., this sounds like the legendary 4 month sleep shake-up. It's not pleasant, but it's very common and totally normal. My daughter started to have teething pain around that time, and our ped said that although it was early to actually cut a tooth, the pain starts way before that and could be keeping her awake.

I would check with your pediatrician before giving her rice cereal if she hasn't started solids yet. She's on the young side for that, and besides, it may not work.

The four month sleep shake up is why a lot of folks start sleep training around that age. Depending on your parenting style, there are lots of options available in that area.

Good luck!

Hello A.,
The same thing happened to my daughter around five months! And guess what, it was her first tooth coming in! One day I looked at her gums and saw something white; I thought it was a milk curdle but I touched it and it was hard, a tooth was coming in! Sure enough that very night she started sleeping through the night again! Before than our daughter who slept ten hour nights straight through was getting up every couple of hours!
Honestly, we had no idea a tooth was coming in! I would look at her gums and see if you see anything!
M.

A.,

I would try an warm bath before bed time, and if she's waking up several times during the night, I would most assuredly try a warm bath or shower! I've experienced this with my twins (who are now 4), and the warm water really helped to relax tehm and sooth them. I would even do a shower in teh bathroom with just the night light on, so there wasn't a get up and play mood. I also had ll their jammies, and lotions and towels ready when I got out. I simply wrapped them in a toewl, threw on my robe, and then I would massage some lotion on their skin, dress them, nurse them to tap them off, and they'd go back to sleep. If you think it's teething, you could also try some tylenol too. I would also talk to your pediatrician for some more tricks to pull out of your hat! You could also play some really nice worship music, or sing and pray over your daughter. That still works for me! Good luck, let me know if this helps!

A litlle about me:

I am also a happily married Christian, to my best friend! I am 34, and am a stay at home mama to 4 beautiful little boys ages 9,6, and twins that are 4. I love to sing, study the word, cook (especially with children!), hike, camp, and spend time with my friends and family.

Keep her awake more during the day. Playing more with her during the day or keeping her very active for a day or two might help. Invite grandparents or relatives over to help you keep her active and she will be very tired and most likely sleep well. A meal of rice cereal before bed might help too.

She is to young to be teething. She sounds like she has her day and night time mixed up. Try to keep her up longer during the day. Or get someone to come over and play with her and keep her awake while you sleep so you will be killing two birds with one stone. You will get some much needed sleep and she will get worn out so she will sleep better at night. It might take a couple of days of doing this to straighten out her schedule. Good Luck

my son is almost 18 months and when he comes home from his dads he wakes at night it takes me a few nights to get him back on track so for us it is change so think of anything that might have changed and fix it posible if nothing did or cant be fixed try putting her down with a worm bottle and then befor you go to bed make sure there is still something in the bottle and a pasifire is also handy for her there is also the one thing no mother likes to do but let her cry it out if you are worried at all take her to the doc and explain to them what is going on i wouldnt want to see anything happen to your little girl and sometimes there are no simptoms of whats going on good luck and happy helping

Hi A.,

My first thought was an ear infection. My daughter had the same problem and also was very cheerful during the day. They often went with teething so we weren't sure whether it was from that or not. You may want to get it checked out just in case. Ear infections also cause fever. Baby Tylenol helps but make sure you talk to the doctor about the dosage of course.

Just when you think you got your baby figured out, whammo, they go and start waking up again. There can be a lot of factors in this such as teething or overstimulation from the day. Remember, she is little and learning all kinds of new sights and noises each day. It is a lot for a little one to absorb and sometimes they melt down at night while sleeping. I do not recommend putting her to bed with a bottle, that is not safe and could cause her tooth decay when those little teeth do come in. Also, have you ruled out gas? Sometimes gently rubbing the babies tummy or giving them gripe water will help get rid of the bubbles and get them back to sleep.
This phase will pass, rest assure. Just have patience, and good luck!

I agree that it could be an ear infection. My son had a temp of 99 one day and was waking up at night several days in a row. It turns out he had infections in both ears. My other son was the same way, low grade temp and lots of waking up during the night but no complaints during the day.