5 Month Old-trouble Sleeping at Night

Your daughter is going to go through periods of either sleeping though the night or frequently waking up. Its natural. Teeth pain, growing pains, hunger, fear... lots of things will affect her sleep. You need to do whatever you need to in order to cope. If you can handle letting her cry herself out and that's what you want to do, then that's what you should do. I could never do that. The couple of times I tried, my kids threw up all over themselves and the bed so it took even longer to get them settled down and cleaned up. So I was one of those moms who, (horror to many I'm sure), picked up her child and soothed him before putting him back down to sleep. I sometimes even went to the rocking chair and rocked him back to sleep. It was important to me that my sons knew that I would be there when they needed someone, no matter what time of night it was. We also did a family bed for the first 9 months of both of our sons' lives. We then moved them to a crib in our room and then finally to their own room. But that's what worked for us. I'm not telling you it will work for you.

The only advice I feel comfortable giving is to hang in there, do what you feel you need to, and just accept that your child will sleep through the night consistently at some point. People are going to have lots of advice for you, but that is just their opinions. Whether you have a child who sleeps perfectly through the night from day one or a child who is up all the time is not a reflection of your abilities as a parent.

How often do you read a post on Mamasource from a mom to a 5 year old at her wits end because he won't sleep? Your daughter will sleep through the night. Before you know it, you're going to be up all night worrying about her because she's out on a date. You can't make your baby sleep. All you can do is create an environment that is conducive to sleeping and then control your own behavior related to your baby's sleeping or not sleepying (and crying.)

When I was struggling during the first year of my first son's life, (a lot having to do with being sleep deprived), my father looked at me and said, "You'll sleep plenty when you're dead. I still have nights where I'm up at night worrying about you kids even though you are all grown." Very true.

One more thing... both of my kids sleep through the night consistently now. But deep down, I miss those 2 am snuggles in the rocking chair with their warm little bodies in my arms, listening to the relaxed deep breathing. Because now, neither of them will sit still long enough to let me snuggle with them for long.

One more thing you could do is take her in to the doc and make sure she dont have an ear infection. My 6 month old son would wake up and cry like that about a month agao and when we took him in for a cough we found out he had a bad ear infection in his right ear. He never showed any other signs of having one so i had no idea till we went in. He is also always happy even when sick. After a couple of nights once the medicine kicked in it got better, and he was back to basically sleeping through the nite. Hope she starts sleeping good for you soon again.

She could be teething. Even if you see no evidence of a tooth it could be getting ready to come down. Sometimes it takes even a couple of months! There is a great product called Hyland's Teething Tablets. In my opinion it works faster and better than tylenol for teething pain. The tablets dissolve instantly in the mouth so there is no choking risk. You can get them at any Wal-Mart or Target. I think I paid less than $5 for them. It's worth a try!
I hope you find a solution! I know your pain. My daughter woke 6-12 times a night for a year. I was so tired that I literally thought I might die.
Also, whenever my kids get a cold or whatever, I take them to the chiropractor. It totally helps them sleep. Plus a chiro has lots of suggestions for healthy sleeping and good teething remedies too! I highly recommend it!

If only our babies could talk.

The first thing you have to do is start asking yourself questions. That's what I always did. And if I exhausted all means, I would go to the doctor and get his advice. But, I have learned to always ask myself lots of questions. It might trigger soemthing.

Have you changed her diet? It could be gas.
Has anyone in the house been sick? It could be something viral. There are so many viral things going around right now and most of it is fevers, shakes, related stomach issues.
Did anyone come over and was sick or got sick?
Did you change any household routines, cleaners in her room? could be allergies
Is she teething? Check her gums. She will let you know they are sore when you touch them. 'Tis that time.

That's the first step. My mom told me if they are fed, loved, and they have a clean diaper, they are overtired and they'll cry themselves to sleep, but when a baby is screaming, she's trying to tell you there's something wrong.

Please let us know.

J.

Get up and bring her back to bed with you... you'll both sleep better. After she resumes a good deep sleep, take her back to her crib. You won't miss the few moments of sleep you will miss going back and forth as compared with the heartache and suffering of the hour-long crying bouts.

Babies should not be abandoned to "cry it out". This is cruel. When a human being cries in pain, responding with pain is unhealthy.

I went through this also when my 3 year old was that age. It is possible she is having night terrors. My two suggestions are one talk to her pediatrician and two read the book, "No Cry Sleep Solution" Excellent book.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
I am a wife of a loving, Christian husband with our almost 3 year old daughter and 7 month old son. I also have a degree in Child Development and Family Education.

hi K.,
we have an almost 5 mo old boy and i have hardly slept in the past 3 weeks either. he was doing well thru the nights and suddenly...not so much! this last week has been a bit better. i've started letting him cry for up to an hour at night- did that for about 3 to 4 nights in a row and it has actually tappered off. he still wakes up, but i try not to go in there until about 4 or 5 am and then nurse him. i can now lay him down after that feeding and he usually talks himself to sleep. try letting her cry for 5 mins, go in and rub her tummy, then 10 mins, then 20, etc.. my friends all did this and it worked. do you have gripe water? it's holistic and it's for tummy aches, teething, etc.. it really has helped rocco. we think he's teething-but who knows? so that remedy seems to be safe and cover all bases.
rocco also cries with his eyes shut, it's terrible. people say they don't have nightmares, but it seems like one to me. if you figure that out please pass it on. good luck. it's so hard to know what's best. follow your gut!

As soon as she is healthy I would go back to letting her cry it out a little. Start with a small amount of time before you go in and then work your way up. Your not supposed to pick them up either. If you do a diaper change, make it fast and uneventful. Try not to feed her too close to bed time as it may be a wet diaper that is waking her. Also try to get her to fall asleep without the soother, because if she wakes up without it, she will cry until she has it and will continue to do so. If you see any teeth emerging (probably not until 7mo) I wouldn't do the cry it out method. I would do the cuddle method! Babies need their mommies when they are not feeling well! I would totally call your pediatritian about the screaming with her eyes closed thing. Just for peace of mind. Good luck with your little lover!

My daughter did the same thing a little after 4 months. Before that she slept through the night wonderfully. Then she all of the sudden wanted a nuk when she was sleeping and woke up several times a night if she lost the nuk. We kept thinking it was teeth. Well she still doesn't have any. I now just think she was going through growth spurts. Physically and mentally. I think they really are processing so much that it's a lot to take in even while sleeping. Our next hurdle was at 6 months when she started solids. That really is surprising for them when their stool changes so drastically. We've gotten in the routine of solids now so shes gotten use to the changes. We've the last 2 months now changed her bedtime routine also. Before she would nurse herself to sleep. Which had caused her dependency on the nuk while sleeping. Now she has the same routine every night at the same time unless she's sleepier earlier. Keep the lights dim(at least 20 min. before she's laid down), change her diaper, put on her jammies, sit down and nurse(do not let her get too sleepy during this), and read her a book or two. The biggest thing is for her not to eat right before laying her down. She now most of the time talks or maybe whimpers herself to sleep and stays down most nights.
I have found that this does not work well when she's overtired.
Well it's still a work in progress. So we'll see.
Best of luck,
K.