At around three months old my oldest son (now about to be four) began to sleep through the night so when my second son (now at 10 months old) turned three months and began to sleep 7-8 hrs at a time, I thought I was set...
That lasted about a month, when he began to wake up crying between midnight and three am every night (this has been the last seven months)
Occasionally I am able to soothe him back to sleep with nothing more than a gentle patting on his back, but he began to cough (the air in our old apartment was very dry and a humidifier wasn't strong enough to work in the boys large room)
I began to give him a bottle of formula, usually six ounces, and he would go right back to sleep
My pediatrician told me to STOP giving in to him and doing that, but when the air is so dry and I can tell he is dried out, I don't want him to get himself sick (he is getting over that nasty cold everyone seemed to have in January, on top of teething and allergies)
I wanted to know if anyone out there had any advice to give on handling this situation... I hate to give in to him every night with a bottle, I have begun to give him only a few ounces of water instead of formula, so maybe that will help, but it has been over a month since I have slept for more than 3-4 hours straight, and I have become more than exhausted.
Any advice will be welcome!
Thanks! ~g
Well, last night I decided not to give him another bottle of formula, instead I gave him a bottle of water (tonight I will exchange that with a sippy cup) He fussed around 10pm for just a bit, I went in and soothed him for a second, made sure he was comfortable, no wet/dirty diaper, not biting on anything (teething pain), and I layed one of his little stuffed toys in with him... he watched me for a while, fussed when I tried to leave the room, and then began to talk to his little friend I put in bed with him...
He didn't wake me up during the rest of the night!!
My heart breaks everytime he cries and screams like he does, on top of the fact that he gets himself worked up to the point of hacking like crazy... with him getting over that cold, I'm just on edge at every cough.
Last night went much better than usual, lately he's even going to bed earlier (his usual bedtime was around 9 or 930, now its closer to 830)
Wish me luck on tonight...
Thanks for all the great advice ladies!!
~g
2/2/07
Yesterday, when I picked him up from the sitter after work, he was running a low grad fever (teething again). My poor baby was miserable and I knew the night ahead of me was going to be tough. After he had his fever reducer/pain reliever he perked up a bit and last night he went to bed around 730! He did wake up at 10 burning hot, it had been over 6 hrs since he had any pain reliever/fever reducer, so I gave him his dose and a couple of teething tablets. He didn't want a bottle or water. I rocked him for a couple of minutes and was back asleep before 1030. I didn't hear a peep from him until I got out of the shower this morning! Hopefully this will keep up.
Wish me luck!
~g
Hi G.,
You've probably gotten all of the advice you care to get, but I had to add my recommendation for the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. It is such a great book. It specifically deals with sleep from newborn to adolescence. It has been a lifesaver for me and I just always feel the need to share it with other moms.
Glad to hear it's been going better. Good luck!
C.
hi how are you? besides tired.. lol well i was going to right something today about the same lines as you did. but, i was going to right about my 4 year old. he will go to sleep in his own bed but wakes up in the middle of the night (all night long) and gets in our bed. he takes up the whole bed and then some.. but on your 10 month old, the air gets dry so i could see he would be thirsty. i used to keep a sippy cup of water where he could reach it and he would fall back asleep. good luck
Please let me know if you find a good response. I have a 3yr old and a 17 month old. The 3 year old has been sleeping great since about 6 weeks but my 17month old has been waking up in the middle of the night since he was born. We might have had a few months around 3-5 months when he slept 7-9 hrs straight. I still have him on the bottle which I know is horrible but if I don't give him a bottle in the middle of the night then he will not go back to sleep so please share with me any advice you might get.
Thanks,
T.
Denton, Tx
Don't give in. He is doing it for your attention. At this age, he needs to start learning how to put himself back to sleep. If you keep going in there every night as soon as he starts crying, he will keep doing it forever because he knows you will come. My daughter did the same thing at around that age, and I finally just had to let her cry herself back to sleep. It was really hard, but better for everyone in the long run. As long as you know he is ok (meaning he doesn't need to be changed or is not in pain or something), then just let him cry himself to sleep. I would definitely listen to your doctor and don't give in. Good Luck!
I have felt your pain. My 1st boy slept great...still does.
Mt 2nd boy didn't sleep through the night until he was 13 months old....so I went over a year w/ no sleep.
I also fed him in the middle of the night b/c he was hungry. Then I started giving him more meat for dinner b/c it takes longer to digest and also one banana right before bed. This kept him from being hungry b/c when he woke up, he rejected the bottle...but he still woke up! He just didn't want to be alone. It finally stopped at 13 months!
G.,
We went through a similar challenge and were told not to feed our son during the night as well (I was breastfeeding). I went with my heart and got up and nursed him all the time for months on end after those first few months of great sleep... The hole I dug just got deeper and deeper. At a year, I stopped nursing him during the night (had to be REALLY consistent in that decision), and just now, at 14 months, we've decided to let him cry a bit at nap time and bed time. Now we all sleep through the night. (I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" and it made a world of difference.) Maybe a humidifier would help keep him more hydrated?
Good luck! I know it isn't easy. I was in your shoes just a few months ago. If you need a listening ear, shoot an email my way.
M.
