Sleep Woes!

Sounds like teething to me. Does she have any teeth yet? Do you see any signs of more or the first ones coming in? My first daughter was the same way. I promise it gets better. We tried giving her baby tylenol or motrin every night right before bed. And then if she woke up we'd dab a little baby orajel on her gums. She didnt get her first tooth till 10 months old so it was hard to go from no sleep, to good sleep and back to no sleep again. Good luck!

H.,
It sounds like she's in pain at night, with crying and screaming and such. You've tried great strategies- good for you for sticking it out with her. Crying is her way of telling you something's not right, so crying it out tells her that you're not willing to help her out. And reading- although a great thing to do- at night reinforces being awake. So...have you tried orajel and tylenol at night? It sounds like her teeth are giving her a heck of a time. Or her ears- has she had her followup to be sure it's all cleared up? Another thought- have you introduced a new food recently? Like over the holidays? There may be something upsetting her tummy if you've begun new foods. OR- if you're nursing, are YOU eating something new? If you can't figure it out, a trip to the doc may be in order, since it really sounds like she's in pain. So much luck to you, and keep sticking with her in this difficult time for all of you!

Hi! I have a 5 month old son who we think has been teeting for a little while now (my sister, brother and I all had a tooth by 4 months) and he will wake up randomly throughout the night. He normally is a really good sleeper also. We try not to take him out of the crib ... we will go in and give him his pacifier and we have the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Acquarium that we turn on and it usually puts him back to sleep right away. I don't know if you still use a pacifier or any crib toys but this has worked good for us. Have you tried giving your daughter some anbisol (sp?) for the teething pain. When we can tell our son is going through pain teething (screaming and needing to bite on something) we'll give him some and it helps calm him down quickly. Oh ya, our son had an ear infection before but it didn't really bother his sleeping. We caught it early and found that the antibiotics worked quickly. Good luck!! It is hard watching your baby in pain...

My son began having the same sleep issues at the same age. Our pediatrician suggested Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Ferber. Although it was tough, he was back sleeping through the night within 2 nights. We had to let him cry for certain amounts of time, then we could go in and rub his back, let and let him know we were there for only 2 minutes! The toughest part wasn't hearing him cry, but it was leaving his room when he was crying. It worked though, Good Luck!

Hi H.,
I'm guessing it is probably the 2 teeth bothering her and like you mentioned she is getting over being sick! She is probably waking to just get comforting from you both. Teething is so hard because it seems to last forever until they finally break through the gums. Once the initial break is done through the gums it always seemed to be easier on them. The tricky part seems to be (which is what happened recently to us) is that once your baby is feeling better from teething or the like, they have then gotten used to you being up with them, picking them up and/or sitting with them in the chair...you have to kind of re-teach them again how to fall back asleep by themselves at night. Sounds like she might still have something bothering her though...whether it be the ears or teeth! Does she have something in her crib that is sort of a 'lovey' type object ? Hopefully things will ease up soon!!

try to add a little of orajel to her gums at night when she wakes up she may be cutting teeth

Hey at eight months she might be hitting seperation anxiety. A lot of children that I have worked with got seperation anxiety around that time. I worked with one family who ended up puting a blow up mattress on the floor in the childs room and whenever they woke up would just fall asleep in there. I dont know if that is something that you are willing to try, but I would try really hard to re-establish with your child that you are always going to come back and care for them. The Ferber method is pretty outdated. He actully gave a talk, taking back some of his suggestions in the book now that research has supported not letting children "cry it out" to be unhealthy. Also remember that if it is seperation anxiety, you would be feeding into the fear to let them cry alone. Good luck, you are so luck that your kiddo has slept sence 8 weeks! My son didnt even start sleeping 4 hour stretchs untill 8 months!

Hi H. T,

I have a 4 year old at home so I know how you feel when your little one gets up hysterically crying in the middle of the night. I wouldn't worry too much it's common for a child to experience what they call night terrors. It's very upsetting to the parent who has to witness there child go through it, and I know you must feel helpless at times. I wish I could give you more, but what you have been doing is great. You just need too keep comforting her. Also let her pediatrician know whats going on they might have more info for you and your wife.

Thank you
J.

I find there is usually a reason that we don't know. Is she teething, constipated, ear infection?