[Dana Munnings]

Hi there,

I'm struggling to keep my daughter asleep in the evening and wondered if you all had any suggestions. We mostly cosleep. She sometimes starts out in the pack n play beside our bed if I can successfully move her, sometimes not. My daughter will be 7 months next week. I put her to sleep around 7 or 8, she falls asleep nursing, then wakes up about 45 minutes later ( I know this is normal) but then she continues to wake up about 3 or 4 more times after about 15 minutes of sleeping till about 10 or so. She's been doing this for a while and I'm just not sure why? She has reflux and is a spit up baby, but not terribly. She usually naps 2 times a day, not consistently.

I just don't know what to do and am getting frustrated about it this pattern. I'm tired and missing having an evening getting some stuff done. I'd love to know if any of you have had children like this and what you did? Maybe its just a developmental thing and I need to wait it out.

Thanks

Dana

 

[gemasita]

My 4mo DS does this too. Sometimes he is getting up every 15-20 minutes from 8:30-10. (Lately, it's all night long too!). People have suggested things like calming him with a bath at night but he doesn't have a problem settling down...he just can't stay asleep. I think it has something to do with that light sleep/deep sleep transition but I don't know what to do about it.

We keep hearing about the 4 month sleep regression so maybe there's nothing to be done. I don't know if you have that going on too - I think there is an 8 month one also.

 

[Dana Munnings]

Sounds like my girl. I think it did get worse around 3/4 months. It's so hard. Keep going!

I also meant to tell you all that the way I get her back to sleep is just nurse her back. It most often works.

Thanks for the input

 

[Ginger Bean]

I think it's normal around 7-8 months. My son never had problems sleeping alone or staying asleep in the early part of the night, not even during the awful 4-month sleep regression -- it was after midnight that he was restless.

But when he turned 7mo, it's like he totally changed. Now he's almost 9mo, and he's still lonely/restless in the early part of the night. He wakes up after 20-40 minutes, and then like every 45 mins after that until I come to bed.

It's separation anxiety (that kicks in around 6-7 months) and the 8-10 month sleep regression (which is a HUGE one).

Hang in there, mama!

 

[LittleBirdy]

My DS has been doing this too for the last several months. He's 10 months now. Just this week I am trying to offer him other comfort instead of nursing in the hopes that he will decide it's not worth it to wake up. This would NOT have worked until we got through the 8/9 month sleep regression, but now he generally fusses for five minutes or so and then lets me sing him back to sleep. We are on night number four so I am hoping for some improvement soon. But again this wouldn't have worked a month ago - he'd scream bloody murder until he got a boob!

 

[D_McG]

Both of mine did that. I had to stop nursing them from their bedtime to mine and have DH respond (or me respond and not nurse). It took a few nights but then they started sleeping and I could watch a movie in one sitting

 

[justrose13]

kellymom says this:
Quote:

Please don't deny that your breastfeeding baby is quite possibly very hungry at night at four months, even though they may have been sleeping through the night prior to this. Look at the feed -- can you hear swallowing? Does your breast get softer? Is he EATING? Then don't make him cry it out! He needs to eat....and he needs his mommy.

 

[sarahusesthis]

I wonder what about a 10 month old...He definitely looks for milk and doesn't sleep until he gets a good amount each time he wakes it- every 2 hours!

 

[LittleBirdy]

I think for an older baby you have to kind of do trial and error. If the baby continues to wake, perhaps he is really hungry. But if it stops after a few days then perhaps it was just habit. Whenever I try something new with DS I remember that habits are easy to break, while needs are not. So if after three or four days of something new if it's not improving I figure it's a need and not a habit and I go back to whatever we were doing before.

This has helped with the evening wakings, by the way, for us. Still wakes every few hours in the night but that's OK. And again, I don't think this would have worked at an earlier age.

 

[mamma2j]

Your LO sounds just like mine! She is now 14 months old and definitely wakes up LESS during the evening, but still wakes. She goes down beteween 7-8 in her own crib, and almost always has her first wake up anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hrs into the night. If it's 30 mins i try to go in and soothe her back to sleep, if it's after 9, I'll often just bring her to bed. From then on she'll usually sleep through the night. This didn't start happening consistently until she was almost a year. it was really hard for me, especially because DD is a super short napper so I feel like I never have time to get anythign done! I have no words of wisdom, or tricks that worked, just sympathy and enocuragement! I imagine eventually she'll start going longer stretches. Mine was also reflux-y and I think that had a LOT to do with it.

 

[Kobaby]

No advice! Just support! DS is EXACTLY like this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dana Munnings

Hi there,

I'm struggling to keep my daughter asleep in the evening and wondered if you all had any suggestions. We mostly cosleep. She sometimes starts out in the pack n play beside our bed if I can successfully move her, sometimes not. My daughter will be 7 months next week. I put her to sleep around 7 or 8, she falls asleep nursing, then wakes up about 45 minutes later ( I know this is normal) but then she continues to wake up about 3 or 4 more times after about 15 minutes of sleeping till about 10 or so. She's been doing this for a while and I'm just not sure why? She has reflux and is a spit up baby, but not terribly. She usually naps 2 times a day, not consistently.

I just don't know what to do and am getting frustrated about it this pattern. I'm tired and missing having an evening getting some stuff done. I'd love to know if any of you have had children like this and what you did? Maybe its just a developmental thing and I need to wait it out.

Thanks

Dana