Help! 6mo. waking up all night long. Need more zzzzz!

[3 Star Mom]

I've been co-sleeping with my son since birth (as I did with my 2 older kids ) but now he is no longer sleeping. He wakes up every hour or two. I usually nurse him because it is the easiest way to get him back down, but I'm not convinced that he's waking just to eat, he eats good during the day. He just kind of tosses and turns and kicks around between nursings.

He used to sleep 6-8hrs. at 2 and 3 mo. Now at 6mo. and even though he's right next to me nobody is getting enough rest, and naps are hard to come by for me with a 5yr. and 3yr. old. I am getting exhausted and don't want to cry it out or anything like that. I love co-sleeping but this is not sleeping.

Just need encouragement to get through.

Wishing we were

[Bellabaz]

*hugs* I hear yah. Although dd2 has never been the great sleeper her sister was. I feel the exhaustion taking it tolls. This week has been bad with many many wakings each night. She usualy does 4. I was honestly too tired to count the last 2 nights how many we were up too.

Anyway, hang in there. Is he hot? I noticed temp makes a big difference for her. Dd2 is also teething (just cut 2) so that could be related. Your lo?

[lovepiggie]

I came here to post almost this exact situation! I only have one DS, but yeah, he used to sleep 5-8 hours when he was 2-3 months, and now 2 hours seems like a luxury.

Hope someone has some good ideas.

[llwr]

I also had a frequent 6 hr stretch at 3 mo and now it's about 2 hrs at 5 mos. I'm hoping you get some good ideas that I can use.

[lessmith23]

We're also going though the same situation and have been since DD was about 4.5 months old (she's almost 8 months now).

I'd love to hear any ideas/suggestions from other moms because it feels like we've tried everything with no success.

[3 Star Mom]

Hey, glad to see I'm not the only one, sorry to see you are all losing sleep as well.

I do have a few thoughts, no cut and dry answers though. I think that this tends to be the age where you need to make a difficult decision, to either cry it out or stick it out. I'm not necessarily for crying it out, but I did do it with ds1. I still feel bad about it to this day, but he cried all the time and did not sleep more than 2hrs at a time for the first 6mo. no matter what I tried, needless to say I was at my wits end . I felt that I had no other choice. So we bit the bullet and did it. It was terrible for like a week. But then he found his fingers and was sleeping 10hrs. a night regularly * relief*.

But I think that I goes against most mothers nature (or nurture) to do that, it did mine. If you don't though you stick it out for the long haul. I think that all of the developmental stages they are going though really interrupt their sleep patterns. Which is completely understandable but it's so hard to be patient when you have only had 3hrs of sleep in the last 3 days. Some kids figure it out in a matter of weeks, while others take years. So do you live with the guilt or frustration . I'ts not good for a baby to feel abandoned when you cry it out, but is it good for you to be upset and short with your child all the time from lack of sleep? I have this debate in my head every time I have a kid get to this stage (this is my 3rd).

I guess we also need remember that they have only been out of the womb for a few months, I know easier said than done, but all they have ever known before now is that cozy warm environment where you carried them and rocked them 24/7. It is a hard transition, for mom and baby .

Any comments, what do you think?

[Louisep]

My son hit a sleep regression at 5 months and got progressively worse until about 11 months. I was at my absolute breaking point, trying to figure out what was going on and getting more and more depressed. I eventually realized it's a common time for babies to hit a sleep regression as there's just so much going on developmentally and physically. Some babies seem to get over the regression quickly but others, like mine, keep on going. I'd say we turned a corner at 12 months.

I know you're reading this thinking oh. my. bleep! SEVEN months to get over the sleep regression! But the time flies and if you can manage your own sleep deprivation by napping or getting a partner to let you have lie ins, you'll really feel so much better.

I can also say that having relied on this forum heavily during those months, it is extremely common among families who do not believe in CIO.

I promise you, I have been to hell and back BUT if I could rewind there is absolutely no way I would try CIO. I find it pretty interesting now I have friends who did CIO at 6-7 months and are once again facing sleep regressions! So, it's no guarantee to work and IMHO the consequences are too damaging.

Take care of yourself, be strict about catching up on your sleep at weekends and naptimes if you have no other children. Nursing and cosleeping all night long really helped me get the most amount of rest.

The time will go by quickly, you'll get through it!

[treetop]

We are having a really hard time too. I don't know what to tell you but hang in there. Our sons sleep regression started around 5 months. Before that he slept so well that I would wake him up to nurse him. Boy, where those the days!
Cedar is now 8 months and he has had 2 teeth brake through in 2 weeks. He wakes up almost every 2 hours if not more and hates to nap. He also rolls over immediately and starts crawling the second he wakes up! It is amazing to me!
The last 3 nights we have been giving him Motrin before bed. I am usually against medication but he is in obvious pain. It has been sleeping for longer periods (about 4 hours) and I am trying really hard to get him down for naps. Also, I have been trying to wake up after he falls asleep and place him in his crib that is next to our bed.
Just remember, when you are up w/ your little one, so are many of us Mamma's that are on this forum!

[3 Star Mom]

Yes! that's a good term "sleep regression". People tend to label their kids good sleeper, bad sleeper, and the ones that are "bad" have to be sleep "trained". Strange thinking if you really sit back and think about it. I know they are just work'n through. Ds is not waking up crying and inconsolable just waking a lot. Like I said I didn't want to CIO the first time, I truly was the most trying time of my life so far. Maybe if I'd had other like minded moms to talk to I could have made it through.

[QUOTE=Louisep;15225907I know you're reading this thinking oh. my. bleep! SEVEN months to get over the sleep regression! [/QUOTE]
thanks for that, I had a good laugh

I did get a few hours rest last night. I swaddled him up (been swaddling since birth) and held him most of the night, he really just wants to be held and snuggled who doesn't right?

Anyone else swaddle? I'm thinking that I should try to work him out of it before the weather gets hot, but I'm not sure he's ready. My first was swaddled until 9mo.

[Louisep]

3 star mom - we swaddled until 4 months when he just started to bust out of it all the time. I think I read it's fine to keep swaddling until one year? It might be worth trying without the swaddle just to see if it makes any difference. My son always needed lots of cuddling too. I wish I had found a way to sleep better myself while cuddling. I miss those cuddles now though and really relish it when he comes to cuddle in the night!