Daughter Won't Sleep Through the Night

It seems like she wants to see you. Maybe you could give her something thst smells like you to sleep with. When I moved my kids to their own crib I put under them the shirt I wore for the day. I know it will be hard but if you go in...she will cont. to do it. Crying it out...will have to be it. As for her sleeping through the night at MIL...it could have h=just been she was more tired...or just happened that day. I can tell you that my son will do things at the sitter and my in-laws that he won't do at home...so it's not YOU. GOOD LUCK...this can't be easy.

Hi R.,

I don't have a solution for you but I just want you to know that you are not alone. I have a 7 month old son who wakes up several times at night. When he was like 8 weeks old, he slept thru the night straight for 3 or 4 nights. Then he started "teething" and drooling all the time. Since then, he has woken up every single night for at least 3-4 times. It's exhausting.

I am nursing my son. He just wants to eat at night and then he goes right back to sleep. I know in my head that he doesn't NEED to eat. But it's hard to hear him cry for so long. He gets so upset and worked up that he really won't go back to sleep.

Just wanted you to know that you are not alone.

i completely understand your problem! i had/have the same problem with my daughter (now 16 months). she actually didn't sleep through the night until about 6 months (but for only a couple of weeks). she JUST started sleeping through most of the night w/in the past couple weeks, other then at my mother's house, which i just couldn't understand. we also tried the crying it out method....it just takes a long time to work. we start with letting her cry for a couple minutes, and after a couple days, move it up to letting her cry for 5 min., couple days later, letting her cry for a couple min. more, so on and so forth. when we finally do go into her room, we lay her down, tell her it's bedtime, she's got to go back to sleep, give her a bottle (or pacifier for your case). we'd slowly sneak out. it took us about 4 months to get to where she finally sleeps through the night (once WE go to sleep, but she still wakes up a couple times while we're still awake). we also put on the radio for her! we have 2 cd's that continuously play through the night. and we keep her bottle right next to her so she can get it for herself. someone had also suggested that once her sleeping patterns has changed, and we were still having problems putting her to sleep...to change her room around! this actually did keep her sleeping longer, even though i have no reason why. but since your daughter sleeps through the night at your MIL's house, and it is a completely different set-up where she sleeps there compared to your house, that maybe if you re-arrange her room, that MAYBE it will keep her sleeping through the night again. there's also a possibility that she has more teeth coming in, even though she just had some come in. my daughter has been getting 4 in at a time since about your daughter's age. good luck with everything, i hope that one or all of my suggestions work for you (i had to do them ALL for it to start working) and just remember patience...sometimes it takes a LONG time to get them to sleep through the night (about 15 months for me!) the only other thing i can suggest, that will definitely help you...is to take a nap when she does! that's the ONLY way you'll catch up on your sleep until she sleeps through the night again! once again GOOD LUCK!
oh, and there was a site that was recommended to me, i personally couldn't use it all the way through (being that i couldn't afford it) but 2 of my friends have raved about this. just take a look at it, and maybe it will be helpful for you. http://www.sleepsense.net/sleepinfo.html?gclid=CK2ug8XLxY...

You've probably had a bunch of responses to this, but let me say this:

That "old" story where your child is so good and compliant for everyone else but you is probably happening to you (although this is the only time where I'd actually agree with it-because I kind of think this is true for us where sleeping is concerned).

My two and a half year old has, on one or two occasions, been put to sleep at my in-laws house (and my parents house for a nap) by the grandparents (without us there), with ease. At our house, the same does not apply. Even though she's two and a half (and insists "I'm a big girl for not nursing") she still nurses at night to go to sleep. Unfortunatly I'm the one she relies on at night for comfort and to go to sleep, not her dad. On most occasions nothing we can do will get her to go to sleep (and without nursing), but it seems like the grandparents have the magic touch on that score.

My daughter isn't a sleeper anyway, never has been and I suspect won't be for a long time-even when the grandparent magic starts rubbing off on us.

My only advice is: Your daughter is little still, but what I do now is if I hear my daughter stirring and making noise I wait. I used to run right in and let her nurse, but now I just wait to see if she's really going to cry or not. I can usually tell within a few minutes.

And of course, as everyone else has said, the teething can affect their sleep habits for awhile.

Good-luck.

K.

My daughter (22 months now) was exactly the same way. What I did, and that was because me and my husband were beyond exhausted, was we finally let her cry it out. To get to that point I believe you have to be fed up with the waking up in the middle of the night. It's tough and not easy, especially with your first child. What I did was when Juliet cried I would go into her room, rub her back and try to get her to lie down(usually she's pulling herself up) and then walk away. The first night was the hardest and took the longest. She cried for over an hour, fell asleep and woke up an hour later crying again. I generally would go into her room every 10 minutes for two seconds just so she knew I was there. I did not go into her room when her cries quited down or were speradic since that would only rile her up, but use your best judgment. By the second night her crying lasted less than 10 minutes and on the third night she slept through the night. I wish you best of luck and hope this helps.

Are you nursing? Most nurslings don't sleep through the night for a long time. My son is 2 and still wakes up to nurse from time to time. It is normal for children to wake at night because their sleep patterns are continually changing. This is also a defense mechanism against SIDS in young babies.

Since she has started teething, her sleep will most likely continue to be erratic, this is also true when children are going through developmental leaps and growth spurts. At 6 mos she is likely having a growth spurt and may need to have more milk either before bed or during the night.

There is usually a reason for babies not sleeping - other than they want to see you. If she is crying and not wanting to play, something is wrong. Try some homeopathic remedies for teething or even some tylenol before bed if you think her teeth are really bothering her. Also if you are still nursing, she could be having a reaction to something in your diet or if she's just started solids, maybe a food is giving her gas and she is in pain while lying down.

If you find that she wants to play at night and is mixed up about when she is supposed to be awake, more sunlught during the day is very helpful.

Good luck.