Can Babies Get Insomnia?

[TreeRose]

Help... please... somebody. Can you hear my desperation?

DD is 1 (turned 1 3 weeks ago).

Up until 4 nights ago she was basically sleeping through the night (FINALLY - she's never been a "good sleeper"). She sleeps in a crib in the nursery. We co-slept til 6 months and then her and I couldn't sleep together anymore. So we began the transition - a long and hard one.

Anyway, Thursday night she was up a LOT. I chalked it up to teething.

Friday night we gave her ibuprofen and it didn't help. Instead of being up every hour (like Thursday night), she was up every 2 hours.

"Up" means just crying and we go in and pat her back (she's a stomach sleeper). A usual night would be maybe getting up 0-2 times between 11 and 6 and patting for less than 5 minutes. Friday night she had to be patted for long periods of time and there was a stretch of 2 hours where she was up every 15-20 minutes.

Last night was by far the worst. The cries didn't make me think teething or pain or distress... they were just tired cries like she needed to sleep. I spent 2 hours patting her and every time I slowed she would pop her head up and look at me. By 12:30 a.m. I just thought I'd die. My DH relieved me but he was losing his mind too neither of us having slept well since earlier in the week. It felt like she had insomnia! I don't know how else to describe it. In desperation at 1:30 or 2, we brought her to bed, laid her between us and I held down her legs while he patted her back. Somehow we all got some sleep off and on until 6:30. I'm grateful for what I got, truly but I'm scared. I haven't been this nervous about going to bed at night since the early, unpredictable days.

Any thoughts? Any advice? I'll even just take a BTDT hug. Thanks mamas.

[ThreeTwoFive]

Have you ruled out an ear infection?  Sounds just like my DS when he gets a bad one.

[crunchy_mommy]

I'd take her to the doctor... DS is a horrible sleeper anyway but even so, when he has a really bad night, it's usually because something else is going on (ear infection or whatever). He also doesn't experience pain normally though (see my thread in SN!)... so I wouldn't be able to tell by the way he was crying or what he was saying.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe she is napping too much/too long?

[TreeRose]

Thanks mamas...

I think we can rule out ear infection. She was just at the doctor and ears are clear. She's only had 1 cold and never had an ear infection. Since even ibu didn't help the one night, it doesn't seem like pain is an issue.

I'm thinking food. She didn't eat much yesterday and last night was the worst. Several friends have suggested a pre-bedtime snack so tonight DH gave her peanut butter on bread. Some protein fat and carbs. I'm PRAYING that's the issue.

As for napping, haha, she sleeps even less / worse during the day. She pretty much hates nap. Rarely, she'll take one 2-hour nap. More likely it's one 30 minute nap in the afternoon. I've tried to put her down in the morning and 90% of the time she won't sleep - think she's outgrowing it. Some days, though, she does sleep...

So, someone mentioned Wonder Weeks - weeks of developmental and growth milestones that can cause fussiness and sleeplessness. I also wonder if that could be it. It came out of nowhere and I know she CAN STTN, but for some reason the last few nights she hasn't been able to.

I just have to decide how I'm going to handle it tonight if it happens again. It's unfair to have DH up that much with me because he has to work the next day, but being pregnant, I need rest too... so I'll either bring her to bed or sleep on her floor.

[organicviolin]

To me it sounds like she's either hungry and very possibly WAY OVER TIRED!  Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child by Dr. Weissbluth?  If not, I highly highly recommend it.  She needs naps still, she could be transitioning from 2 to 1, which happens at this age.  Also, what time does she go to bed?  When DS was that age he was in bed by 6.30 at the latest.  He would sleep until 6 or 7 the following morning.  So, remember the golden sleep rule, Sleep begets sleep.  When we take a nap and get enough rest, typically we want more.  For example, when you used to have to opportunity to sleep in until 11 am (about 300 years ago I know!) you probably would go to bed between 10/11 or so.  Depending on you of course.  :) Just something to keep in mind.  Good luck

[TreeRose]

Thanks everyone. We are back to sleeping through the night. I just thought after 3 nights I was going to go insane. I do respect all of the many sleep theories out there. My DD fits more into the Dr. Sears' High Needs Child definition in that she doesn't follow routines or schedules and what worked yesterday is not guaranteed to work today. She starts to go to bed at 7 and is usually asleep by 7:30 or 8. Anything before then and she is wired and spending time with her daddy, doing dinner, shower / bath, etc. It's worked pretty well for us. She gets up around 10:30 or so to nurse one last time and usually, God-willing, she's down til 5:30 or 6 or even 6:30. I have read a LOT of sleep books including HSHHC and trying to force her into a mold was causing more stress than just letting her be who she is.

Last night we did peanut butter toast before bed and I prayed hard over her room, her crib, and her to just ask for peace and comfort. Thankfully we all slept and now, I'm praying again that it happens at least for a few nights in a row because we desperately need to catch up!

Thank you all for your responses! :)

[organicviolin]

so glad things seem to be on the upswing!!!  Phew!  Those nights are ROUGH!

[octobermom]

 It is now 3:44am and I'm here so umm you tell me LOL...

My 18 month old is not sick I've checked and checked but doesn't seem to be teething (though not totally rulling out)

she is eatting well and nursing great

not over tired and not going to be soo early eaither (ussually around 8om)

but at least once a week she wakes around 2am and will NOT go back to sleep.. she is perfectly happy just awake..and wanting to play

around 5am she'll decide sleep is better and still be up for the day aroynd 6:30am

 We haven't figured out why or any trigger Ive tried many things to both prevent and get her back to sleep sooner but i t always ends up just her wearing out then it seems to go jsut as fast as it came.

[octobermom]

ohh one thing is your baby walking yet or rather is it a "new" skill? I know with my first we had short imnonmia spells right around every big milestone... We decided her brain was jsut on hyper drive.

[TreeRose]

Wow OctoberMom - once a week?! That would be rough. So far that long stretch of insomnia is the only one we've experienced...

She's been walking since 9 months and is almost 13 - I don't see any huge developmental shifts - trying to talk? playing a lot as usual. Ha ha...

So far we're getting back to one wake up at night and either a 5, 5:30 or God-willing a 6 a.m. wake-up. The night wake-up is moving from 11, to 1 to 2:30 so hopefully we're working our way back toward STTN! I hope you find rest too!

[octobermom]

 it hasn't been onece a week forever thankfully  just every so often we have these few weeks of insomia spells and its like 1-2 nights up then a few days where nothing happens and it repeats.. then it jsut goes away for several months. She has had these spells since birth practically.

Deanna