My 3 m/o forgot how to go to sleep...

[diana_of_the_dunes]

When my LO was a newborn, he was a great sleeper. By 2 months old, he was only waking once at night to eat, and I could just lay him down in his crib or swing for naps and he'd usually go right to sleep. Then something happened. Whenever I laid him down, he'd thrash around like he was trying to get comfortable, but then the thrashing turned into crying. If I didn't pick him up and tried to soothe him while he was laying down, the crying would escalate. It should go without saying that I never left him to CIO...

Since then (he's 3 months now) it has just gradually gotten worse. Now when he gets tired, he usually just starts to cry. I've read the No-Cry Nap book and looked at the Sears' website (along with many others), but nobody seems to have suggestions for the baby that just cries (then screams) when he starts to get drowsy. I can't even implement any of the suggestions because we never get that far! Even when I'm carrying him in the Beco or just in my arms, he gets so upset when he gets drowsy that he ends up waking himself up. Sometimes I can nurse him to sleep, other times that backfires too. He'll go to sleep in the car, but he usually cries then too. Mostly DH or I end up walking him and bouncing while he cries and eventually goes to sleep. Oddly enough, when he wakes at night to eat, I can just lay him back in his co-sleeper and he goes right to sleep. Bedtime is a battle, though.

Help?!

[darcytrue]

I'm no help but wanted to give you some hugs.

My DD (also 3 months old) has not slept well for the last few nights and was sleeping pretty good for the past month or so up until then. I think she has a cold coming on or something because she just isn't herself.

[odoole]

Exact same thing happened with DS around 3 months. It was such a shocker b/c he never used to cry, and he used to just fall asleep when he was tired. It took me a couple days to figure out that his new crying fits were related to his sleepiness.

Now I try to look for his cues and at the first sign of fussiness I put him in the sling, stick a pacifier in his mouth, and he usually falls asleep without too many tears. But if I miss those cues, or if I can't respond to them for whatever reason (this is especially true now with holiday travel), then yes, it does often result in a brief crying fit until I can get him to sleep.

Same goes for nighttime. I think it's a developmental stage that your son has just reached where they start to fight sleep, and honestly at 5 months the sleep fighting has only gotten worse. And like you, it gets worse and worse as the day goes on, so that nighttime can be a bit of a battle. But like you he always goes down easily in the middle of the night.

I'd say just look for the early cues. And try to have a long wind-down around his bedtime if you are able. We like to just sit in bed and sing quiet songs and read books for a good hour before his actual bedtime. At home that has generally worked really well. But now that we're traveling for the holidays and all our family keep him stimulated right up until the minute his bedtime approaches, he's had more meltdowns in the past week and a half than he has in his first 5 months of life!

[jilly]

by 3 mos, you can start a bed time routine and make an attempt ay regularly sceduled naps. try to keep track of when your babe starts crying and see if there are fairly regular times they get sleepy/cranky. start a soothing sleep routine about 30 min. before this.

around 3 mos babies are more aware of what is going on around them and so they can get more over-stimulated and have a harder time winding down, as well. Try to provide more time to wind down and have things fairly calm and quiet around bed time -- this might help too. Or sometimes they just need to cry out all the extra tension and frustration from the day before they can sleep.

[Conifer]

SOOOO weird. We are starting to get the same way here and my ds is 10 weeks. I used to just lay him down and he would fall asleep and now he fusses. But at night he goes right back to sleep. I kinda figured he was becoming more aware of his surroundings and know more about what he wants...and he wants me! lol

[Masel]

My 3 month old has gotten the same way. However just today she has gotten her first tooth. I figured that was it.