Not Staying Asleep Through the Night Anymore

J.,
Babies develop is so many more ways than we can visually see. You can be assured that she is growing, changing and developing in some way. Also, at 6 months, your baby has not mastered object permanence. When something is out of her sight, she has no comprehension that it will ever return. So, when she wakes frightened or in pain, she can't understand that you are in the other room. She NEEDS you and to meet this need, she has to see, feel, smell you. If putting her in your bed is working for your family, that is great. Once she has the understanding of object permanence you will be able to get her back into her bed for the night.
If putting her in your bed is not working for your family, you could try snuggling her back down with one of your night shirts or some other object that smells like you. Especially if she is not waking completely...
Once the teething or other developmental issue is resolved, she may return to her "normal" sleep patterns - or she may not. But by about 9 months she will understand that when she can not see you it does not mean you have disappeared forever and separation issues will be easier on everyone.
I can also assure you that your 6 month old is not interested in nor able to formulate a plan to manipulate you. She only knows that when things are not right with her that YOU make them all better - and what a wonderful thing for her to know. :) At this age, needs are needs - not manipulations. Listen to your baby and your mother's heart and you will raise a bright, independent child who knows that she can count on you to meet those needs. Don't worry about manipulation until she hits the terrible toddler phase ;)
L. G

Babies sleep needs change several times that first year......you'll probably have the same problem around 10months.....no worries......she may be napping to much in the day time or it really could be teething (especially if you have noticed the telltale diarrhea) As for you getting sleep, now is the time for you and your fiance to start working together. You should try alternating nights to get up with her if you don't want her in your bed. One of you should always be well rested and taking turns is fair at any age :)

Good luck with little Cameron, she'll grow out of it in no time even if it feels like forever due to your sleep deprivation :)

There are many things that can be going on. She could be teething and for that I would suggest Hyland's Teething Tablets. They have them at walmart and the work without toughening the gums like Orgel does. The child might have a growth spurt and need to be nursed or fed. What it probably is that the child is feeling anxious and needs to be close to you. My child has always slept with me and we all get good sleep that way. Whatever works for you! Good luck.

First, let me stress the danger of having your baby of any age sleep in the same bed with you. There are horror stories all over the world of parents and grandparents who let a baby, even a 6 month old, sleep in their bed, then the parent accidentally smothered the child in their sleep!

Please, please, please NEVER allow your baby to sleep in the same bed with you. Yes, it is convenient, and yes, you get more sleep, but you say you don't want to get up and down all night, but you had to expect that when you got pregnant. We all go through that, and believe it or not, that will eventually pass.

Your lack of sleep is no excuse or reason to do something as dangerous as allowing your baby to sleep with you. Please believe me, we as parents must make sacrifices to ensure our children's safety, and this is one of the smallest sacrifices you will make as your baby grows.

I know I sound harsh, but if it saves your baby's life, I am ok with that. If an accidental smothering occured, you will never forgive yourself, and may even face charges of neglect.
Imagine if you woke up one morning, and your fiance was laying on your baby. You would never forgive him. EVER. Now, put yourself in his place. He would never forgive you. EVER. Life is too precious to waste simply because you want more sleep.

Ok, I am done with the lecture.

Have you thought of making a tape recording of your heartbeat and putting it in the baby's crib or bassinette? Baby's love the sound of their mother's heartbeat. After all, they heard it inside you for a long time. It is very soothing to a baby.

Or, you can go to a baby store. They will have various electronic devices such as the heartbeat sound, white noise, etc. One of those might work.

Your baby may also be getting too cold in the middle of the night. My daughter constantly kicked her blanket off of her during the night, and it would wake her up. You can do a few things about this. Turn up the heat a little, to a comfortable level. If you don't want to do that, take safety DIAPER pins and pin the blanket to the bottom sheet near her feet and stomach areas. Do not pin it too close to her chest, you don't want the blanket somehow getting on her face. Make sure there is enough loose blanket above the pinned area to keep her chest warm, but not restrict her movements. You don't want it tightly pinned, she will need to be able to move around as normal...this just keeps her from kicking the blanket off and getting cold.

I hope that some of this helps, and forgive me for taking you to task about having your baby sleep with you. I have lost two nephews when they were young, and my own brother, and the pain NEVER goes away, even when you know it wasn't your fault that the child died. Imagine how you would feel if it WAS your fault. Take care.

My daughter also slept all night from 3 months until about 6 months. She started waking up several times throughout the night. The culprit was teething. Good luck! My daughter just turned one and still has about 2 rough nights around the "welcome party" for her new teeth. I guess after they're all in, we won't have to worry about it. I wouldn't put her in the bed with you; that will only make it worse when she's not teething.

J., Is your baby attempting to crawl or other activity increases? My 8 1/2 month old has been doing the same thing lately, he doesn't completely wake up, but sounds more like he can't get comfortable or is more achey than painful. It was suggested to me that his muscles are sore from trying to do so much and that I should give him a little Motrin before bedtime. I have done that the last two nights and he is sleeping through the night again. Hope this helps.

First - STOP putting her in your bed. If anything will stop her from sleeping through the night in her own bed/crib it is knowing she is going to be in your bed. If I put my son in my bed for 30 minutes he will wake up the next morning early to get in my bed. That was noticable from early on! My daughter did the same thing your daughter is doing - she slept like a champ (and now sleeps through the night and longer than her twin brother in the morning) for the first 5 1/2 months and then all the sudden she started waking up. Two things - teeth and not eating enough. She stopped eating almost entirely and I think that happened because of her teeth and she hated eating from a spoon. It was just having patience and getting as much food in her for dinner and hoping for the best. I would get up, but always hold her and put her back, or see if she would put herself back to sleep (only if she was NOT crying though), or even pick her up a few minutes and put her back in. It will not fix over night, but it will get better sooner if you just work with and keep to the schedule of her being in her bed and you in your bed. :) I think if I had her work to go to sleep more on her own the stage would have passed sooner. I notice a lot of emails about the same thing you are talking about!!

S.