My son , who is almost 4 months old, was sleeping VERY well in his bassinet since birth. Last week, we changed him into his crib, and he slept through the night with only ONE feeding at around 2:30am. He did really well for 2 days. For the past 4 or 5 days, he has started to wake up about every hour from about 10pm until 2:30am, when I give him his bottle. After that, he sleeps until 6:30am. We were doing so well. I am not quite sure why he took a few steps back. I calm him down, and he goes back to sleep. My son is sharing a room with my 2 1/2 year old daughter, and I don't want her sleep to be interupted or compromised by his crying. Any ideas or advice as to why he is all of a sudden waking up?
This might shed some light - good luck and hang in there :)
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html
My daughter did that at 4 months. Her Doctor said that she was going through a growth spurt. My Mom said that once you think that you have it all figured out, they change.
Good luck.
He might be waking up because of the noises your daughter makes when she sleeps. Was she in the room with him before? If not, it may just take him a while to adjust to sleeping with someone else in the room.
Two steps forward and one step back; or is it one step forward and two steps back? :-)
I'm not sure if I have advice, but I have lots of sympathy. I can tell you my son did the exact same thing just shy of 4 months. Ugh. I feel your pain/lack of sleep. It was just awful. I was nauseous from lack of sleep. He had just started rolling over, and his new movements were scaring him and waking him up every hour. This lasted for about 2 weeks before he settled down to 1-2 times per night. Then, he started teething, and we were back to waking up 4-5 times a night before he settled down again. I'd been spoiled since he had been sleeping thru the night (like 10 hours straight!) since he was 6 weeks, and he'd been purely breast-fed!
I think every time there is a developmental milestone, it sets them back a little and our blessed sleep gets disrupted. Growth spurts, changes in environment, changes in daily patterns, new milestones like teething and rolling...later, it'll be puberty, cellphones (or whatever they'll have in 15 years), new girlfriends, driving, high school, etc.
Some may say that you moved him away from you too soon, but he did do well for a few days, didn't he? I'm a huge fan of sleep training and using a bed time routine. I hope that helps. I'll cross my fingers for you and hope he settles down again soon!
I recently went through the same thing with my daughter (she is almost five months old). I think she was just hungry. After we started feeding her cereal, she went back to sleeping for 7 or 8 hours. Have you tried feeding him yet? If not, you might want to talk to your doctor about starting him on cereal. Hope you get back to sleep soon!
We had a good sleeper from 0-3.5 months and then a disastrous sleeper from 3.5 - 7 months, after which we started some sleep training. Their development varies. And, until they are 6 or 7 months, they still need to feed at night. The best advice I got was to make sure we had a really solid bed time routine, which allowed my daughter to put herself to sleep in her crib. Not in our arms, not on the breast or bottle. This didn't help up immediately but once she was older the skill of falling asleep on her own made a huge difference.
Children don't always develop in a linear fashion. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If it persists, maybe move him back into your room for awhile longer. You don't want your daughter to get in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night too.
A.,
Babies TRIPLE their birthweight in the first year - they experience many growth spurts where they need to take in more food at odd times - it sound to me like he is experiencing a growth spurt. There will be more as the year progress' It should go back to a modified schedule in a few days - just feed him and love him!
could he be having reflux? maybe you should try elevating one side of his mattress so his head is up a bit?
Hello, A.. I feel ypur pain! My son started doing the EXACT same thing at the EXACT same age. I came across this blog and even though it didn't change his sleep, the comments did make my husband and I feel better knowing that it must be a part of their development since so many others experience the same thing.
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2007/10/4-month-olds.html
Hang in there.... :O)
Four-month-olds shouldn't be sleeping through the night yet. The fact that he was doing it before it unusual. They need to wake up more often in order to nurse. Maybe he's still too young to be sharing a room with his older sister.
The baby may have started teething or is still hungry. My guess would be the teeth though, it was the same for me.
Hi A.,
I have an eight-month-old daughter. Around the your son's age, she, too, was getting up a couple of times in the night after having slept through the night. It took me a couple of nights to figure out that the temperature in the room would dip in the early morning hours and that's what woke her up. It's really amazing how just a few degrees makes a difference. When I put her in a sleep sack and she wasn't able to wriggle out of her blanket, I didn't have that problem again. Hopefully, your situation is something as simple as this. Good luck!
A.,
I found that when my daughter went from the bassinet to the crib she felt it was a big world. I began swaddling her nice and tight with her baby blanket. She felt snugg and cozy and safe. You'll also want to check if your son is getting cold or hot or if there is any noise that may be waking him (we had very loud crickets some nights).
After 6 months my daughter began to wake up again. This time it was because she was hungry. I began pumping my breast milk and giving her a little extra before putting her to bed for the night. I made sure she had an extra ounze or two. If she woke up at night I would just hold her and try to get her to go back to sleep. There were nights when she simply wanted a little something extra. I used a bottle to give her lukewarm water (not tap water). This way her tummy felt full but the next night she wasn't craving a meal. First thing in the morning I would breast feed her. When she was able to have rice cereal I would mix my breast milk with some rice cereal and use that to make sure she was getting the milk she needed and feeling full at night. This routine helped and gave me lots of good nights with sleep. My husband also helped by taking a feeding at 6:00 a.m. and putting my daughter back to sleep before heading to work. I simply had to make sure to pump so there was milk. I do have to mention that I was able to produce a lot of milk. I took the time to drink lots of water and pump.
Boys may need more sustenance so please watch your son carefully and if this routine doesn't help him then try and work with your husband so that at least on the weekends you can catch up on some sleep.
I hope this helps.
