A while back I was having trouble with baby sleeping through night. She is now almost 10 months and back to her old ways, about every 3 hours getting up to eat one night and then going from 11 to 6am. She is just all over the place, is this normal? She eats bottles and food during the day, and does take 2 naps which is what she suppose to do, but I just don't know what to do at night!
FYI I am not a mom that can just turn on the moniter and let her cry all night, so please do not suggest that.
Make sure she is warm enough. My grandson,he's 3, wakes up around 4:30-5 every morning when he is with his Mom. I took care of him for a week and he never got up before 7. I made sure he had plenty of blankets on his bed a that he was nice and snugglie warm and he slept better. Kids will wake up if they get cold while they are sleeping.
It's normal for kids to change their sleep patterns all the time. Mine is TEN and her sleep patterns still change somewhat, so I hate to tell you but....it's going to keep happening! She's still young enough for a lot of changes. She may be ready to have a shorter second nap or even to give up a second nap; some kids do go to one nap earlier than others. The nighttime eating may be a growth spurt and need for extra food, which will come and go many times in the future. As others noted, she may be starting to teethe (but does she seem to be in any pain?).
Like you, I did not do "cry it out." Babies this young do not yet realize that when you leave the room you do still exist; they think you basically vanish when you're not with them -- so no wonder they get distressed if you don't reappear. So I think crying it out only teaches them "If you are distressed, nobody's going to come to you because they aren't there any more." It doesn't teach them self-discipline at this age because they are not yet mentally developed enough to learn any. Go to her. She'll return to longer sleeps when the teeth come in, or the spurt is over (for now), or the naps adjust/end.
It will be tiring and you'll go through it again in other forms when she moves to a toddler bed and wants to experiment with getting up to find you...when she has night fears or nightmares...when she is school-age and has fears of fires at night etc.... I figure sleep changes are normal at all ages, you just have to adjust how you handle it and ensure the kid is healthy.
Each of my 3 kids had a relapse in their sleep habits around that age. I do subscribe to the cry it out method but I recognize that its not for everyone. Could your little one be cutting teeth? Before I got to the "cry it out" point I would let them cry for a few minutes to see if they would go back sleep and if not I would go and talk to my daughters, pat their back and lay them back down but I would never pick them up out of the crib. It's also about this age that My husband and I found a lovie (stuffed animal or similar) to get the girls attached to and then they would always sleep with it. I loved the glow worms for this reason because my second daughter figured out how to push the tummy and would cry fro about 2-3 minutes and then she would find her glow worm and push it until she fell asleep. It had a light and would play different melodies.
Hang in there and know there's nothing wrong with your little one. They all go through these things. I hope this helps.
