I'm on the verge of insanity

Mrs.Donkey

brought on by lack of sleep.   Part of me is screaming, "That's it!  This can't continue!  It is not okay to be waking every 2 hours at 7 months old."  The other part of me thinks, "Aww.. he must be really uncomfortable cutting all those teeth... it could be a growth spurt... oh God, what if I'm not making enough milk". 

 At 2 am last night I had made up my mind that a form of CIO was in order.  Now, I feel like maybe I'm over reacting and this is just a phase.  I know... there are books... I should read a book, do some research.  Who the hell finds time and energy to read books and research how to help your child sleep when neither of you are currently getting any?

ougrad1

She's still waking every 2 hours, Donkey?  I don't know.  I might have to call the pedi and ask his/her opinion.  That would wear anyone out.

princess4u81

I have let DD CIO before. You can try it.

lanie26

At 7.5 months I cried Uncle and borrowed a friend's Ferber book. I started as soon as I'd read it cover to cover and was ready. It was so hard, but so worth it. We still have the occasional bad night. But she sleeps. And she knows how to put herself to sleep. Its great. I'd highly recommend doing the reading beforehand and finding an approach that works for you.

 

I was very anti CIO, until i realized it was more cruel to have a baby who couldn't sleep without you, and woke every 30 minutes, and was always exhausted and desperate for a good sleep. I gave in, and was so glad I did. 

Good luck. 

BrieanneB

Every two hours is rough -- is he teething?  If he's sick/teething etc I say you just have to suck it up and get up with him. 

 

If he just wants to be with you or knows that if he cries you'll come get him then you might need to do a little modified CIO.

 

That's so tough, no matter what, you need your sleep also, maybe your DH can take a night or 2 a week so you can get some sustained sleep (with earplugs)!

amajane

Is he crying/screaming every time he wakes up? Or is he moving around in his crib, whining and making noise??

What will happen if you just let him be? There have been times when DD has been in her crib crying and I will stand in her room watching her for a few minutes to see if she settles back down and falls back asleep. She usually does. I try not to pick her up because if I do she'll often fully awake and it will take longer to get her back to sleep then if I just let her be.

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Can't Wait To Be A Mama

At 6 months DS got his first 2 teeth, he also got a cold at the same time. For a month and half after that he woke anywhere from 2-15 times a night. There was no sleep in our house what so ever.  At 8 months and 2 upper teeth later he started STTN again (on his own).  For what it is worth I have also heard that it is not uncommon for sleep patterns to change around 6-7 months and resolve later. I know that it is frustrating and I hope for you and you DS that it gets better.

lanie26

Oh Ditto Brianne about teething/sick. If she's even remotely in pain or sick I get up and deal. But even that has been better since ferber. She had a bit of a cold and Id' never let her cry. She'd make little "baaaah" noises and I'd go to her and she'd already found a new position and settled back to sleep. i was hopping even though she didn't need me.

trizzie

DS slept great from 9 weeks until about 6 and 1/2 months.  Since then due to teething, a cold and a pacifier addiction he started waking up a few times a night (which was more than he did as a newborn!).  I finally broke down and did CIO last week (which I was very against).  We figured out we were going in there way too quickly at night.  I vowed to not let him cry more than ten minutes and the first night he cried ten minutes on the dot and then went back to sleep.  After that he has fussed a minute or two every once in a while, but that is it, he has been sleeping great since then.  Hopefully, it will keep up.

trizzie

When I say that I broke down and did CIO - he is no longer sick or teething.  Just used to me coming in whenever he cries....

Mrs.Donkey

See, this is where it's so hard to determine what's going on.  Up until a couple weeks ago, he was pretty much getting up about 2 times a night  He'd go down at 7:30, then get up around 12:30, then around 4, then up for the day around 8.  It wasn't that bad.

Now he's up close to every 2 hours, sometimes there are three hour stretches.  He did just get a lot of teeth in.  He's working on his sixth tooth, but he never woke this much when he was working on the first two and those seemed to bother  him more.  He is all out crying when he wakes for the most part.  I wait and see if he'll fall back asleep and will let him fuss for 5 or 10 minutes, but 90 percent of the time it escalates.

He's also always fighting me on the naps.  It's always been this way, but now it's even worse.  He will let me rock  him to sleep, but wakes up screaming as soon as I lay him down or shortly after.  

I just can't figure out if all of this is brought on by him being uncomfortable or by him just wanting me to be there with him.  Of course, I have no problem soothing him if  he's in pain, but I don't want to be setting up bad habits if that's not the issue.

Thank God my H is an amazing man who really helps me out at night.  He gets up to bring K to me at least half of the time.  I would be a walking zombie at this point if he didn't.

Breezy.Lives

We've had a variety of things causing varying degrees of night waking hell for the past....2.5 months.  First is was milestones, then it was teeth, then it was a cold, then it was 4 teeth AND a cold, and now he has more teeth coming in.

Bennett was a sleep crawler when he first learned to crawl.  He would start crawling in his sleep and would bang his head into the wall until he woke up. 

He just slept 3 hours - he's been up 5-9 times a night for several days now, so this is a big deal!

I say hang in there if you think it's a milestone or teething or anything.  I know it totally freaking SUCKS though!!!  SUCKS!  SUCKSUCKSUCKS!

I was so tired one night I told DH he had to take DS because I was concerned I'd hurt him - I was THAT delirious.  DH took him in the car for 2.5 hours in the midle of the night while I slept.  It was GLORIOUS!
 

kmgourley

I have no advice for you, but you are not alone.  Seth usually has one stretch during the night of 2-3 hours, but for the rest of the night is up every hour.  This has been going for a long time.  Once upon a time, he got up only once a night.

Like you, I'm not sure how I function.  I go to school and work full time.  On maybe 5 hours of broken sleep. 

Maybe Ferber would work, like Lanie says, but I can't and won't do it.  You CAN learn to go to sleep without crying to get there.  But if it works for you, great.  It just won't work for my family.

I hope things get better.  I don't have any great words of wisdom for you, but just know you're not the only one with an older baby who is waking more than a newborn. 

avz2azb

YGM

jlb7640

I am going through the same thing.  DD STTN since 8 weeks and now is up every two hours.  DH is upstairs pacing her all over the place to get her to fall back to sleep.  I have a constant headache from sleep deprivation.  I have tried feeding her more during the day but she wants to nurse at night.  I really thinking it is teething.  All I know is I want my sleep back.  Starbuck's is the only thing keeping me going.

Califlorida

i was at this point 2 weeks ago. same thing, she'd been sleeping and then started waking up every two hours. i was delirious.

we were trying to start her in her crib for the night and then wait till she woke and then move her to our room but in the pnp. it didn't work, so we are completely co-sleeping now. she's in our bed with us the entire night and i'm finally getting sleep. and she's back to waking up at 12 and 4 to eat. then up at 8.

but i'm not sure we're doing the right thing. i wonder all the time if i need to keep trying the crib.

 

lep712

I say do what you need to do to get some sleep. ?I was also very anti CIO and told my doctor this at our 6-month appointment when we were discussing DD's horrible sleeping. ?At 9-months, it hadn't gotten any better. ?My pedi told me to give it three nights and not go into her room. ?And you know, the longest she ever cried was 15 minutes and it was more whining than crying...and now she sleeps through the night. ?She and I are both much happier now. ?Good luck with his sleep. ?I hope it gets better.

citygirl_

You are so not alone.  Lanie wrote me a very long, encouraging email about CIO because I'm kind of at a breaking point here.  Every 1/2 hour - 2 hours EVEYR NIGHT.  A 2 hour stretch is good in our house.  Yeah, it's terrible.  I feel for you.

joecubed

just typing to say we are there too - CIO isn't an option for us because he's sick right now.  I'm generally very anti-CIO, but if we hit a stretch where he's not obviously teething and not sick, and his sleeping is still SUCKS (I'm talking up every 45 minutes over here, and sometimes up for 2 hours before he'll go back down), we might have to start to look into it.

FWIW, the baby whisperer method worked for us in the past.  we will try that again before CIO.