frustrating morning sleep pattern

[Lirazel]

DS is 8 months and still wakes frequently during the night (around every 1-2 hours), but I'm okay with that and figure he'll grow out of it eventually. My new concern though is for about the last week, starting around maybe 4/4:30 AM he'll wake and fuss and not really want to nurse (we co-sleep) but he'll usually settle right down if I roll him to the other side and latch on again. Fine, but then he keeps doing it every half hour or even 15 minutes until we wake up at 7. So I spend the last 2 or 3 hours of the night waking up a LOT with him to move him to my other side - back and forth. Super frustrating and I don't know why he's doing it! He sleeps as normally as he ever did for most of the night until this starts. If I let him keep fussing he'll get up and start crawling or sit up probably ready to play.

He has recently learned how to crawl on his hands and knees, but aren't babies supposed to sleep *better* once they figure out a milestone? And he has cut 4 new teeth in the last 3 weeks, but they're all through and why would it only affect the last few hours of sleep? DH has been getting up earlier now that he's started a new job, but not THAT early and other than that we haven't changed anything in our routine.

Any ideas? Anyone been there?

[triony]

This might be a dumb question, but have you tried rolling him over so you're spooning him with his back to you? That works for us sometimes. Just hold and cuddle him until he goes back to sleep unless he starts screaming.

[cileag]

My daughter did this too right around 8-9 months---it WAS incredibly frustrating. Is it possible for you and your partner to take turns dealing with her from 4-7? My husband is the sahp and he often takes her down when she's finally really up for the day and I go back to sleep for a few hours. If that's not possible, we have also just woken her early at around 5 or 6 or whenever we got really sick of it and played for half an hour and then she usually take a "nap" and sleeps much more soundly.

Phoebe is 10 months now and rarely does it anymore.

[BathrobeGoddess]

moved to family bed

[Angelorum]

Yes! My son does this, and has done it often for months. It's usually about 20-40 minutes in between wakings early in the morning. I discovered that sometimes he sleeps so restlessly because his bladder is full and he's either not waking up enough to pee or he doesn't want to pee in his diaper. His diaper is usually wet by this point, so I know he goes in his sleep sometimes, or else during one of his night feedings. But maybe he's just letting some pressure off and not really emptying his bladder? I keep a little potty by the bed and during the early morning when he starts getting restless I sit him on it for like 1 minute. If he has to go he goes immediately, and then he gets a fresh diaper and sleeps much more soundly after that. He usually is not happy to be sat on his potty, but I keep it short and if he's really mad, I let him nurse while he is sitting there, and it's totally worth getting better sleep for the rest of the night. HTH

[dpelephant]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

Yes! My son does this, and has done it often for months. It's usually about 20-40 minutes in between wakings early in the morning. I discovered that sometimes he sleeps so restlessly because his bladder is full and he's either not waking up enough to pee or he doesn't want to pee in his diaper. His diaper is usually wet by this point, so I know he goes in his sleep sometimes, or else during one of his night feedings. But maybe he's just letting some pressure off and not really emptying his bladder? I keep a little potty by the bed and during the early morning when he starts getting restless I sit him on it for like 1 minute. If he has to go he goes immediately, and then he gets a fresh diaper and sleeps much more soundly after that. He usually is not happy to be sat on his potty, but I keep it short and if he's really mad, I let him nurse while he is sitting there, and it's totally worth getting better sleep for the rest of the night. HTH

My DS is 9 months and has been doing the same thing. I am going to try this!

[Tway]

DD is 10 1/2 months and does this a few days a week. She can toss and turn like crazy, kicking, flinging her arms, wiggling, you name it. It keeps me awake and makes me crazy! She has about 7 teeth coming through, though, and I'm hoping they're the culprit.

As a PP mentioned, I'll often spoon DD and hold her hand until she falls good and asleep. That seems to help for awhile when her restlessness gets really bad (like wiggling every 5 seconds).