Three nights of horrible... help!

[JordanKX]

My DS is 4.5 months. Has been sleeping wonderfully up until...
He is teething something awful. He squirms and opens his mouth in Ah, then tries to grab his face, and then puts his hands in his mouth. I know he's in pain, poor thing. But it hasn't disrupted his sleep up until....

We've also created a bottle-monster, which I'm not too happy about. Have ordered like 4 books on sleep habits to try to cut this out before it gets too bad. He doesn't need the bottle to go to sleep, but he'll wake up from a nap about 1/2hr later and just needs a few drops of the bottle and he'll go back to sleep. If you don't give him the bottle, he'll scream until he eventually wakes himself up fully and there's the end of the nap. Pacifier, rubbing his head, singing to him, all the things I do to get him to GO to sleep won't work when he's in this sleepy-awake mode.

Enyhoo, last night was #3 of this same nap-like behavior. Up every single hour (which is terrifying since for the past month, he's been sleeping 8-10hr stretches). Writhing around on the bed, grabbing his face, yelling until I'd give him a bottle. Again, 3 sips and he's back out. BUT... I don't want to be giving him a bottle all night long!!! Why is he waking up? At 5am, we both got up and sat in the glider for a while, rubbing his head, singing. He was calm for a bit, like maybe he just needed to get out of the bed for a while. But then started right back in. The minute I caved and gave him a bottle (of warm water), poof, back asleep. I mean The Minute. So... if it's really PAIN, a bottle wouldn't do it? Is it just the nap-time bottle-monster rearing it's head? Oh, we've got to find a new system if that's all this is.

Any ideas?

[cristeen]

Have you tried teething tablets? I'm afraid that's the best thing I can suggest... are you still BFing?

My little guy is doing something similar lately also, and he doesn't typically get bottles at night.

[Pandme]

4 months is a typical time for disrupted sleep. It's a phase, he isn't going to learn to sleep like that. I would quit searching for the magic bullet and ride it out.

[Adallae]

I second trying teething tablets - maybe an amber teething necklace? The No Cry Sleep Solution has some good ideas.

He might just find the bottle comforting, so it helps him relax and go back to sleep. Are you afraid it's going to create a habit? DD has gone through many phases of wanting one thing or another to sleep. Despite the ups and downs, overall she is improving little by little. I just go with what she needs at the moment. Between teething and developmental changes, I think babies go through too much to expect regular, consistent sleeping habits. It can drive you nuts to try to find a cause and fix each time their sleep changes. That's just my opinion though.

Good luck to you! Teething can be rough.

[JordanKX]

Thank you ladies. I do not let him CIO, so I break down and give him the bottle. I guess I am scared that it will stick and continue to be a dependency for him. But as you've said... if that's what he needs, I suppose I'll just go with it for now. He gets some BM in the bottles, but my supply dwindled at about 3months so we've had to supplement. Not enough to just BF during the night any more - bummer. Because that was the best joy of co-sleeping, he could just suckle during the night as he needed. Now, apparently, he needs that sucking again and it just means we have to get up to make a bottle.

Enyhoo. thanks for your words. We're using the teething tablets and chamomilla remedies, and they do help. Might need to start upping the night-time usage as well.

[kismetbaby]

nak

we've been going through something similar only we EBF, so its my nipple he wants all the time while sleeping! i don't mind this too much since we co-sleep, but its still can make crazy after a whole night of off and on the nipple. and like you said he's not really hungry just needs to suck to fall back to sleep and he hates the paci and nothing else will do the trick.

i've been told its a phase common to this age. hoping so! we're also very teethy here.

good luck mama!