WTH happened to my good sleeper?

[cristeen]

Once upon a time, my little guy was a great sleeper (up until this week that is).

He would go to bed between 9 and 11, wake once in the night and was up for the morning about 7. Tended to sleep a good 4 hours at a stretch. Would go down around 9 for a 3 hour nap, and then take at least 2 more 90 minute naps, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. With sometimes 1 or 2 shorter naps in there (20 minutes or so).

Then Saturday he took 3 3-hour naps, and ever since he has had a whacko sleep schedule. Last night he didn't go to bed until 1:30 am! It was midnight the night before. He slept for about 6 hours straight, but then he was UP (is up). Yesterday he took a grand total of 1 nap that was about 90 minutes, beyond that he took several other naps all for less than 20 minutes (a couple of them were 5 minutes).

I would think he was just changing his schedule if I weren't dealing with a cranky, pissy, over-tired baby.

HELP! What on earth can I do here? He's driving me BONKERS!! He doesn't want to be held, but he doesn't want to not be held, either. Regardless of what I try I'll have a max of 3 minutes of not-screaming time. And it's been this way for the past 2 days. I can NOT handle another day of this. Mommy hasn't had more than 5 hours of sleep all week, and I do not do well with sleep-dep.

[dislocator3972]

My LO changed her whole sleep schedule and when I asked my ped about it he suggested 'resetting her' by giving her a dropperful of infant motrin before bed.

How many windows are in the room where your baby sleeps? I've noticed my babe starting to get up and go down with the sun, could that be something that's throwing off your babe (I think ours are near the same age aren't they?)? If it isn't causing the problem, maybe it can help you regulate his sleep. In the sun when he needs to be awake, pull the curtains when he needs to sleep, etc.

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[Bokonon]

How old is he? There is a pretty common sleep "regression" around 4 months. It sucks.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by dislocator3972

How many windows are in the room where your baby sleeps? I've noticed my babe starting to get up and go down with the sun, could that be something that's throwing off your babe (I think ours are near the same age aren't they?)? If it isn't causing the problem, maybe it can help you regulate his sleep. In the sun when he needs to be awake, pull the curtains when he needs to sleep, etc.

2 windows - and he does get up around sunrise, but he has no interest in going to sleep even with the room totally dark (it's never pitch black, but it does get pretty dark at night).

Originally Posted by Bokonon

How old is he? There is a pretty common sleep "regression" around 4 months. It sucks.

4 mos last Saturday, of course. How long does it last?

[kismetbaby]

Oh yeah. We are in the same boat Cristeen and my LO is 4 months this Monday. His sleep schedule (or what seemed to consitute a "schedule") has gone to hell and he is fussy, cranky, and drooly. None of the usual tricks seem to keep him happy. I'm at a loss. . .is he bored, hurting, growing?

I'm thinking teething, but I've also had other moms tell me that at about 4 months they go through some weird sleep stuff.

Hang in there! We are relying on walks in the stroller, chewing on washcloths, and kid music played loudly.

[kamane18]

Originally Posted by dislocator3972

My LO changed her whole sleep schedule and when I asked my ped about it he suggested 'resetting her' by giving her a dropperful of infant motrin before bed.

Really? Why would giving a baby (possibly unnecessary) medicine help "reset" their sleep schedule? Seems odd to me...

[larzanna]

Mine did that at exactly 4 months......it lasted, well, its still going on and he's almost 9 months now. Its always something, teeth, growing, just being a pain in the butt, who knows.
Others tell me that it lasted only a month though. Fingers crossed for you that its only a month.....

As far as motrin, i am one that if i even suspect teeth, i try a dose of it, if it helps, i know that was the case, if it does not then i know that teeth/pain was not the issue.

[Bokonon]

The really awful phase lasted about 3 weeks for Peepers IIRC. She never really got back to the initial 4-6 hour stretches, but sporadically will go 4 hours now. Sometimes I can even get a 4-hour stretch from midnight to 4, then she'll sleep another 3 hours.

What was so hard for me wasn't just the frequent waking, but it would take 2+ hours to get her to sleep to begin with. If I just let her stay up with me and then put her to bed when I went to bed, it was better. Not that I recommend making your baby overtired, but it was preferable to getting her to sleep, then laying her down and having her wake up and having to start all over. When she came to bed with me, I could just feed her and keep her in the bed.

Oh, and we still swaddle. She can't sleep without it, even at 9 months. *sigh* So if you're not still swaddling, you might want to try that again, and all the other sleep tips - white noise, dark room, co-sleeping, try an earlier bedtime for a few days...but just know that it's not abnormal what you're going through, it does suck, and it's only temporary.