Sleeping prob- HELP!

kelseyhh

My LO is 3.5 months and our bedtime routine has pretty much been the same since the beginning. Bath, lotion, jammies, swaddle, nurse, bed. It's always worked like a charm. Then, about a month ago, he began waking up crying once shorty after going to bed. However, he was easily soothed. Now, he wakes up crying SEVERAL times an is not easily soothed. It will take 2 hrs to get him to sleep. He doesn't do this during day time naps. Any ideas as to why he's doing this? I'm at my wits end!!

=Lee=B

Welcome to the 4 month wakeful.   Soon to be followed by teething and everything else a baby can come up with to throw sleep routines out the window!

Sorry this is of no help.  You can google the 4 month wakeful period for some info.  I wouldn't expect any routine to last too long with a baby, they love to change it up on us.

kelseyhh

I know about the 4 month wakeful, but this all started around 3 months. Can the 4 month wakeful start that early?

pinkpinot

I had a similar problem (along with other things) with my LO.  I was so distraught from months and months of terrible sleep that I emailed Alexis from the blog, Troublesome Tots.  She told me my son had a huge "suck = sleep" association and I had solved 50% of his problem by taking away his pacifier.  I had to stop giving him his paci because he was waking up about 4-5 times an hour for it at night, when it would fall out of his mouth.  She told me to separate nursing from bedtime by 20 minutes and give it 3 days.  Sounded easy enough!  So I started nursing, then we play for 5-10 minutes, then bath, lotion, jammies, white noise and lay in crib and wouldn't you know...he has been sleeping a solid 6, 6.5 hour stretch since!  This is a HUGE improvement because the last time he slept a 6, 7 hour stretch was MAY.  The thing with SOME (some, not all) babies is they need to fall asleep in the same environment they wake up or they can't fall back to sleep.  So if you rock and nurse to sleep and put baby down in the crib asleep, when baby wakes up...he's confused about where he is and will need to be nursed and maybe rocked back asleep again.  I've learned a lot from reading her blog, I suggest you check it out!  The key to baby sleep is NO surprises when they wake up.  You have to work on putting them in crib awake and letting drift off to sleep on their own.  Hope this helps!  Hang in there.  I know how hard it is, I dealt with months and months of terrible sleep.  I even posted about it on here

emmy236

I definitely understand your pain. DS was a decent sleeper then these last few weeks are hell. He was up 7 times last night. He's just over 3 months. I'd kill for just 4 hours of sleep!