Hello Ladies - My daughter Mia has been sleeping through the night pretty well since she was about 4 months old. She is almost 1 now (Sep 16th) and the past week she has been waking up crying in the middle of the night, 1 to 2 times, and then wakes up at 4:45 or 5. She does not want a bottle, I just pick her up and cradle/rock her back to sleep, then put her back in her crib (and it can get pretty tricky putting her back in without waking up). Sometimes she will continue sleeping, other times she will wake up again in a couple hours. Does anyone know why she may be doing this all of a sudden? I feel so bad, she wakes up crying and I don't know what I can do for her. She has a couple teeth and more coming in, possibly the pain from teething is making her wake up? Any advice you ladies can give I would appreciate it. Thank you!
Hello. Give her some baby motrin before she goes to sleep and she will not have pain that wakes her in the night. I have 3 daughters and they all went through that. Motrin takes the swelling of the gums down and tylenol doesn't per my pediatrician. Good Luck!
It is quite likely teething pain seeing as she doesn't want a bottle. My daughter is 15 months and has 18 teeth! We have gone through a lot of sleepless nights. If she is vigorously chewing on things or thrusting her hands in her mouth she is most likely teething. I use Hyland's teething tablets for everyday use when teething, but if she is showing signs of discomfort I give her a dose of Motrin or similar at bedtime which helps. Children can wake up for many reasons, it's up to us to decipher and do what we can to help.
It's probably teething. Use orajel before sleep. But, she may also try to wake up and play and get attention from you too. Check out the book written by Dr Richard Ferber. My son had the similar problem around 1 year old. We just let him cry out a little bit for 2-3 night. He didn't do that anymore. He went back to sleep. Now, he is 2 years old, he knows that he needs to stay in the bed until we come to get him. Even he wakes up earlier than usual, he will just play in his crib and wait the time comes.
Maybe it's teething, but I really recommend reading Richard Ferber's book, "Solve your child's Sleep Problems". I know, Ferber got the reputation as the "cry it out" guy, but the biggest take away for me from the book, was his explanation of sleep patterns. Everyone has the same natural rhythm of sleep, where every 2-3 hours we wake up, shift positions, and then fall back asleep. The problem for parents is when their kids/babies wake up during these 2-3 hour intervals and they aren't used to putting themselves back to sleep.
The key to fixing this is to make sure you put your baby to bed when she's still awake, so she's used to comforting herself, and falling asleep. Then, in the middle of the night, when she wakes up naturally, she'll look around her room, know that she's ok, and just go back to sleep.
The other key is to wait a little bit before you go to comfort her. My pediatrician recommended to wait about 15-20 minutes. If the crying is really urgent (like pain), then go check, of course. But if it's groggy (I'm tired and mad I woke up) crying, then wait and see if she can put herself back to sleep.
My son went through the same thing around 13 months where suddenly he was waking up 2-3 times a night. When we reinforced his bedtime routine, really consistently, and got him used to putting himself back to sleep, the problem went away.
Good luck! I hope you get 8 good hours for yourself soon! :-)
It might also be what is referred to as "night terrors."
Night Terrors, possibly.
Look it up online.
It is purely a developmental based thing, that crops up at about this age.
All the best,
Susan
I would bet it's teething or some kind of growth spurt....trying giving her a dose of infant Motrin before bedtime (if your doctor approves of course), and see if that helps, also try the teething drops (target has them, they are made by Disney I believe??)you can give them a few times during the night as needed; they are easy to slip into a crying or fussy babies mouth.....and yes, I believe the teething pain can wake them up for sure!!! good luck!!! whatever it is, this too shall pass :)
It may be that she is going to start walking or hit another major development milestone soon. My son did this around the same time. He always slept through the night and then right after his first birthday he kept wakeing up. It lasted a few weeks until he mastered walking. Good luck.
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M.
Teething is definitely a likely cause, since the pain usually increases when they are lying down. Try giving her a little Tylenol before bed to see if that makes a difference.
Has she started walking yet? If not, she may be on the verge of walking. Any new, major physical development can easily disrupt sleep.
It's probably just a phase. Kids go through tons of sleep phases in the first three years, where they have perfect patterns that suddenly (and inexplicably) get interrupted, and then they go right back to being good sleepers within a few weeks.
K.
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Why does everybody blame everything on teething? night terrors? come on now. Your daughter is waking up because you are going in there. Don't go in and problem solved. You think it's tricky now to get her to sleep? It only gets harder. Sorry I'm a bit more blunt tonight than usual. Good luck.
I would put my money on teething. My DD is a wonderful sleeper and every 3 months or so, we have gone through the exact same thing. It is always a shortlived phase (about 2 weeks or so) and it is always associated with new teeth breaking through. We just use tylenol, orajel, ice cubes and a lot of patience and cuddles. It isn't fun for either of us, but once the teeth break gums, she goes back to her normal sleep patterns. Good luck!
