My Baby's Sleeping Habit Is Regressing!!!! Please Help!

Tiffany,

I feel your pain! Luckily (just not when your in the middle of it) this is just a phase- the sleeping through the night constantly comes and goes- as the others stated based on developmental milestones and teething. the best advise I can give is that if you had good sleeping success with your old routine- don't change anything! Just keep doing things the same as you were- if your little one was sleeping without needing a bottle- don't start giving him one just because he wakes during this period- keep the room dark, don't talk to him, don't let him play... this has served us well- and we are now on the 18 month night waking disruption.

Good luck- just keep reminding yourself at 4 am that this is just a phase and one day- all too soon you'll want to sit there holding him and he won't let you! <hugs>

M.

I agree with Caren. Either teething or any developmental milestone can cause this. If you think it's teething (has he been drooling more, gnawing on his hand and/or other things, etc?), check with the pediatrician about giving him baby oragel as a quick pain fix and then baby motrin so that he can sleep through the rest of the night. That's what helped for us. Also, any developmental milestone -- sitting, crawling, talking, standing, walking -- tends to cause sleep disruptions as it approaches and first begins. This is a well-known and accepted side effect of hitting these milestones, and I'm sure you can Google it for more info (my son is a first grader now, and so I don't remember the exact reasons why the brain does this). I do remember going through this, though, with pretty much every milestone and every tooth. I wish I could offer you something more hopeful. Is there a family member who lives nearby and could give you a break for a night? If he/she could stay with the baby and you could sleep in another room (if you don't already) without the monitor for just a night here and there, maybe that would help a little.

Have you introduced solids recently? Each child is different and it may be too soon for him. Keep detailed records of which foods are tried and see if there is a correlation to particular food for allergy possibilities.

Try rubbing magnesium oil on his skin before bedtime. This is very safe. If you have epsom salt in the house try an 1/8 c of that in a warm bath and let him soak it for 20 minutes before bedtime

If you have him on Iron supplements that can contribute to sleeplessness. I would not give Iron supplements at all to a baby without the baby being tested for Iron deficiency first. Iron builds up to dangerous levels quickly in infants tissues because they have no way to expel it.
Iron fortified solids can do the same thing. Be careful about them.

Gail

is he teething, or sick, or learning a new skill like sitting up?
these can all cause night waking, drink more coffee and nap on the weekends- it will get better, d you will get better living with less sleep

What is his bedtime ritual like? Do you let him try to put himself back to sleep (otherwise known as cry it out) after checking on him? Is it a growth spurt? Does he need more food? At 6 months, he should be able to sleep through the night without needing a feeding...according to my Baby 411 book. Or like another person said, teething or a new skill? Is he congested? Colds and such can seem to last and last.
This phase won't last forever even though it sucks right now. Sending good sleeping vibes your way!

Hi Tiffany,
I don't know what time you currently put him to bed, but if it is any later than 6:30, try putting him to bed between 6-6:30. I know, when you have an insane work schedule it's hard to do that but I think it will help. (There were many nights I'd get home and the kids were already asleep, and it was heartbreaking to me - but they were getting the sleep they - we all - needed.)

I have no idea why, but putting babies to bed too late will cause them to sleep badly and wake more often.

I hope that helps! Good luck!