Hello! This questions is for my almost 6 month old daughter. She started sleeping through the night very early on. Then teething happened. Once that started, no matter what I did, she would wake up 2-4 times a night. Now that the tooth has broken through she's a lot calmer but she's still waking up 2-3 times a night.
Here is the special part of the situation. I have a 2 bedroom house. We are adding on to the house in the next few months but until then she's in a room with DH and myself. We didn't want to put her in a room with our son because he DOES sleep through the night (and always has, teething never bothered him for some reason. I never even had to use a drop of orajel!) and we didn't want to ruin that. Plus we just transitioned to a big boy bed about a month ago and I didn't want to upset the situation.
Sometimes I feel like it's worthless to even go to sleep. I wake up more tired than when I went to bed. I'm also a lot crankier and less patient throughout the day. I feel like just sitting down and crying. I know it's just from lack of sleep. It's impossible to nap during the day because my son doesn't nap anymore and my daughter only takes one 1 hour nap and then random cat naps.
Any advice on things I could try until she has her own room? Thanks!
This may sound crazy, but what about putting your son in the room with you, and your daughter in the second bedroom? He's a good sleeper and if you need to go in and soothe her/rock her whatever, you probably won't disturb him. Just a thought. Yu could use that time to get a routine down pat for her in her "own" room: soft music, nightlight, etc.
Giving a protein snack about 1 hour before he goes to sleep will help keep his blood sugar more constant. Also cutting out carbs including juice and milk after supper is often helpful.
It is often the liver releasing sugar as it detoxes which wakes children or adults up.
Liver Cleanse Formula is also helpful.
The quick answer is that you are definitely not out of luck. The lack of sleep is definitely just a phase, and you may be able to head it off by giving her a pacifier for one or more of the wakings. With my son it meant that night was a wash, but the next night he'd wake up later and ultimately we dropped feedings. Also, you know, she doesn't have to sleep in the room with you OR in your son's room. Good friends of ours had twins AND an older child in a 2 bedroom house and they simply put the last kid down in the dining room. Putting the baby in another room will help you get a little bit more sleep while you train the baby to forego all of those wakings. Also, we put our kids in the same room starting when the littlest was 6 mos and the older child was 2.5. Despite the fact that the baby had some bad nights, our son was able to sleep through the noise. I wouldn't advise putting them together until you get the youngest down to more like 1 feeding/waking a night, but I'm just saying you'd be surprised how deeply little kids sleep.
Hang in there.
aww, im sorry hun. the sleeping arrangements i'm sure are not making it any easier on you.
my daughter would get used to getting up, after a bad week with teething, or her being ill. she would just get in the habit and continue to wake up after those things had passed. once i checked on her and knew she was 100% ok, i would just have to make myself let her go.
most times she never cried for more that 10 or 15 minutes and she would go back to sleep. other times she would lay awake for up to 2 hours, sometimes not even crying but just rolling around and being awake. i could hear her on the monitor but i wouldnt go to her, only b/c i didnt want to keep up the habit you know. either way, even if she wasnt crying, i was still awake when she was... it's just a mom thing :o)
its hard to say if she is in your room, she might just be able to get up and look right at you. can you use a room divider or something to partition it off a little and give her and you some privacy? it might be a good idea since she will be moving into her own room, to help her get used to the idea of being away from you (baby steps.)
i feel for you with these sleepless nights. i hope you find something that works for your situation. please let us know how it turns out. and good luck with your new construction.
