My son has been sleeping through the night (7 pm - 6 am) since he was 4 months old. For the past 2 weeks, he's been waking at 3 am and nothing but a 4-6 ounce bottle seems to settle him. We've tried to feed him more at dinner, which has been unsuccessful and giving him another bottle just before bed -- which he usually won't take. A typical dinner consists of 2-3 jars of food and a 4-6 ounce bottle. For "dessert" he will sometimes get a few poofs while we finish our dinner.
When he wakes, we wait a bit until we know for sure he's up and then try settling him without picking him up. He's usually calm in a minute or two and the second we leave the room, it starts all over.
He's alwasy been a great sleeper and still goes down when he's awake and won't fight it. But the middle of the night thing is not so easy. Is 8 months a common time for a growth spurt where he needs the extra food or is our little night owl testing us?
I decided to turn off the monitor and wait for his cry to wake me. What I learned last night was that by having the monitor on, I would hear him shuffle in his sleep, maybe whine for a minute and I would jump up, and be by his side which actually woke him up. He may have done the same thing last night, but because I didn't hear it, and didn't end up by his side, he never woke up and slept throught the night.
Duh -- parenting 101. I should know better!! Thanks for your responses and suggestions. Have a great weekend everyone!
All 3 of my boys had sort of a "sleep regression" around 8-9 months. My pediatrician said this is normal, and a lot of babies go through this. It should all be back to normal in a few weeks.
I have two boys, 9 and six. When my oldest did this same thing I talked to their pediatrician and he said during physical or developmental growth spurts, they have these "night terrors" where they can't sleep. Like adults, they sometimes can't turn off and of course they can't tell you that. It is important not to pick them up, just reassure them and let them drift of on there own, if you have to pick them up, put them down as soon as they calm down. Sure enough after a couple of weeks, this would pass until they hit the next "phase" of growth. Both of my boys did it. Usually they had a growth spurt or were learning to do something big (ie crawl, walk, sit up or when they were doing growths in speak or learing) they both did it when they were ready to start potty training. Bottom line is every kid is different - what worked for me may or may not work for you, but your little guy is normal and may not really be hungry. I like you thought that was the case, the doctor said all that extra food may have kept them awake longer....
An idea is maybe to try keeping a water cup with him, so if he is sincerely thirsty he can help himself to a sip. We've done that with both our boys (now almost 3 years old and 16 months)and haven't had any problems with them waking up and needing anything. Some mornings the full cup of water is gone when we get them in the morning, and other nights it is still full in the morning. Plus, there is not the issue of milk staying on the teeth in the night and being bad for the teeth since it's just water in the cup. Just an idea that may help.
Could your son be teething? My son would find comfort in the bottle when he was teething, but it sure was hard to get up overnight when we were all used to sleeping. You could try Tylenol before he goes to bed to help keep him comfortable and asleep. Otherwise, if it is teething, I don't think it's fair to let him cry it out. Just know that in a few weeks it should be back to normal.
We tried the sippy-cup-in-the-crib trick and it seemed to work for us, that is if he was waking because he was thirsty.
Good luck!
It might be a phase. My daughter also sleeps from 7 to 7 and she had night wakings for a few days at around 9 months (around the time she was learning to walk) and again at 13 months. I've heard sleep is disturbed during developmental milestones. Good luck!
J.,
This was about the time my son started to wake up. He is 4 now and a great sleeper. One night, I just let him cry (2 hours) I know it sounds harsh, but it could be teeth or attachment. It was the hardest thing to do, but he has been a great sleeper since then. I have a 22 month old daughter, and she still wakes up!!(ugh) I have tried to let her cry (she went 4 hours one night) Every child is different, but I would try the cold turkey approach, only if it feels right! Good Luck,
M.
Hi J.. Is he learning something new like standing, crawling or walking? Sometimes the baby will wake to "practice" this new challenge and as soon as he masters it, he will go right back to his old sleeping patterns. My daughter did this at eight months when she was learning to pull up and cruise. She would pull up in her crib and be unable to get back down. Hope this helps and if you want a good read about this, try Dr. T. Berry Brazleton's Touch Points.
I would go with the growth spurt. My son actually went through several growth spurts during his first year of life. There would be a month where he would eat continuosly and I was told to feed him more cereal but that didn't stop him. He grew twice his birth weight within 6 months and more than tripled his birth weight by one year. Every child is different when it comes to growth spurts. I just hope yours doesn't go through the every other month growth spurt my son did. Good luck!
How are his diapers? My son went through a phase and was waking very early and wouldn't go back down because his diapers were so wet! We put him in a larger diaper at night, and it did the trick and he started sleeping again.
The SAME thing was happening to me. We gave more for dinner, less naps, early bedtime, later bedtime, teething tables, tried everything.
I have boy/girl twins. My daughter slept without problem. She has always been a good sleeper. My son would wake up sometimes between 10pm-12 AND 3am. The ONLY thing that would calm him was to nurse/bottle. I tried to let him cry it out and he kept screaming for over an hour. Slowly the 10-12am feeding stopped. Somehow.. in the past week.. KNOCK ON WOOD... he has turned around and is sleeping through the night. We put him down at 7:15-7:30. So I am just thinking it took him longer to figure out how to soothe himself. I am sorry I cannot provide more advice. Good luck! And I hope he turns around soon :)
