7

Our 6.5 month old used to sleep well; put up/put down. She'd fall asleep on her own at around 8pm only to wake up once for feeding. She would then wake up around 5:30am to then be held to sleep till 7:00am (the last part I don't know why).

2 weeks ago, she started waking up every 40 minutes to 1 hour throughout the night. She would cry fairly hard as soon as she woke up and the cry would escalate very loudly if she was not tended to within 30 seconds. As soon as she's picked up, she falls right back to sleep and you have to hold for at least 3 to 5 minutes before putting her down. Even then, she would wake up again in 10 minutes.

As you can see, this makes sleep impossible for both working parents. We now have splitting headaches during the day and I'm afraid we will lose our minds soon.

My kid is very happy during the day and never cries during day time nap either. She only becomes difficult at night.

The thing is, we put her to bed at the same routine as before. She falls asleep on her own at 8pm every night.

What's wrong? Is there light at the end of tunnel? Please tell me this won't go on until she's 1 year old or even longer.

Improve this question
10
  • 4
    Perhaps she is teething?
    – Greg Hewgill
    Apr 10, 2017 at 1:47
  • Does she breast or bottle feed? Colic sounds possible as well.
    – Stu W
    Apr 10, 2017 at 6:23
  • Where does she sleep? Same bed? Same room? Different room? It sounds like she wants more contact.
    – Erik
    Apr 10, 2017 at 9:17
  • I dealt with this insanity too. My answer was to take her to another room and sleep with her. Took about a year and eventually she let me gradually sleep in the other room. like start with her, then wake up middle of the night and slip away. It was hard, and even though a year seems like a long time I assure you you'll forget the horror and think nothing of it later. I alone slept with her while her mom got actual sleep in the other room. It was necessary to do it that way when all other ideas failed
    – Kai Qing
    Apr 10, 2017 at 20:35
  • @GregHewgill Yes she is, she has 4 teeth out now. WIll this last until 2 years old ?
    – user27203
    Apr 11, 2017 at 1:36

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

If this is new behavior, your child may be experiencing a sleep regression. There will be a number of times your baby's brain develops at a fast rate and this can cause trouble with sleep as well as increased fussiness at times. Our baby was generally awesome outside of these periods of mental development.

So rest assured, this won't last for forever.

There are a number of things you can do to try and help with the situation. While this site doesn't provide any citations of their sources they do provide some options for helping.

Improve this answer
0
1

While I think sleep regression mentioned by JackOfTales is a great guess as to what's happening. I would put my money on pain from teething.

As everyone else mentioned, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it won't last forever. When my child started doing this (around 6 months), we tried a night, where we gave our child Children's Motrin (or some other very safe pain reliever for kids...I am not a doctor) right before sleep. This worked really well for us, and we did it once or twice a week, alternating between two different pain reliever's as recommended by our pediatrician.

I don't like the idea of moving the kid to another room as a method for solving the problem....but I'm also a helicopter parent who can't leave them alone when I think they're in pain.

Having said that, early on, my wife and I did take turns sleeping in a different room. That way the impact is a little less.

Improve this answer
1
  • I'd add some caution on the part about teething pain. When our child first started getting his I looked into the available literature and found there's a lot of mis-information and misunderstanding around teething. This article is a bit old but has a good summary, although really should provide better citation.
    – JackOfTales
    Apr 13, 2017 at 14:42
0

I think there are two separate issues: 1) the sleeping pattern, and 2) your coping with the sleeping pattern. Having lived through something similar twice, perhaps I can offer some helpful nuggets.

1. Try a sleep swing. If it works, it will be the best $50-100 you ever spent, and you won't have to do anything else different.

2. Try sleeping chest to chest for a few hours This is not a long-term fix, but if you can break the pattern, that can be the difference maker.

3. Cover sleeping shifts in 3 or 4 hour stretches. There needs to be a space for each partner to get uninterrupted sleep for a few hours at a time. A spare mattress or air mattress can be used next to the crib or swing.

4. Try a comfy recliner chair and co-sleep. This sort of combines the above; again, it's important that each partner gets hours of consecutive uninterrupted sleep time. Otherwise you might go insane.

5. Try some rice cereal or yogurt. She may be hungry and need something more substantial to supplement breast milk.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I suggest alternating every other day instead of splitting the night in half. Sleeping a complete night will let you recuperate in ways that two half nights will not. It's also easier to manage.
    – user27286
    Apr 12, 2017 at 17:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .