What happened to sleeping through the night?!!!

deanna1313

My LO has been a pretty decent sleeper since day one. He is 5 1/2 months and had his first tooth come in this past weekend. His sleep went a little crazy during this. Understandable. Shouldn't he be going back to better sleeping again? It's getting worse.

He doesn't want to sleep in his crib anymore. He also only wants to sleep with me and mostly ON me. He is also waking up a lot through the night and also eating sometimes! He hasn't done that in the longest time.
On top of that, he scratches his forehead when he's mad and he's all scratched up when we get up. Maybe there's more to it, but he definitely scratches himself up while he's mad.

I'm lost and don't know what to do and didn't see a sleep board.

LunaBug924

Some of this was discussed in the Sleep Training thread. We are going through a mini regression here too, not teething related. All of a sudden, DD went from sleeping 11-12 hours straight to waking up at the 8 hour mark. I would feed her and change her, she'd go back down, but then wake up an hour later and be up for the day. Then she wouldn't nap. So we got trapped in this vicious cycle of overtired-ness with meltdowns every night.

I talked to my pedi at her 6 month appointment and he confirmed that she should not need to eat during that wake up and supported my decision to try CIO. Ferber doesn't really fly here. Me going in to try and soothe at the timed intervals just made things worse. So I tried it the other morning when she woke at 4:30am. She fussed (not really cried) for 20 minutes and fell back asleep until 8am! Then last night she only fussed for 10 minutes. And her naps are getting back on track during the day.

All this to say, you definitely can get LO back on track with sleep. Maybe a few bad habits got picked up while that tooth was coming in. Figure out if you want to try some sort of sleep training, and go for it! Good luck!

lrmrtn

I just posted something similar in the sleep thread...

deanna1313

@LunaBug924‌ thank you. Yes, I saw the sleep thread, but I felt like I was hijacking the thread when you guys were on to another topic. Looked for a sleep board, but on those boards you can wait a month before anyone answers your question.

I'm just feeling very frustrated and I'm sure we need to just get back in track with a routine. I also need to not give in because I'm tired.
Thanks for the tips!

RachelCA29

I'm not sure about the sleep thing (we're in sleep hell with major trouble napping right now too). BUT, babies tend to scratch and their faces when they are tired. So I would guess he's really overtired at night and that's why he's hard to get to sleep and scratching at his face. Again, no advice on that, but I know how frustrating it can be. I loose it sometimes when I have an exhausted baby at 4 am that refuses to sleep. It's just so frustrating!

deanna1313

@RachelCA29‌ true! They do rub and scratch when tired, but he claws and leaves scratches and scabs all over his forehead and in his hair. There is even blood on the sheets a little. My appt isn't until December 1st, but I definitely want to ask the dr.

Good to know that he's going through a developmental leap and sleep is effected. At least it's not something in doing wrong and it will pass.

mrsbtobe20122

comicsans said:

Sounds like the poor lil guy is going through something and just needs his mama more right now. There is a growth spurt that happens around 6 months which would explain the extra eating. Since he was a good sleeper before, I'd wait a week or two. He'll likely bounce back.

This is what I'm thinking. My super sleeper is doing the same thing. Got back to sleeping great after his tooth popped, but now waking to eat. I'm blaming the growth spurt and hoping by the weekend we will be back to our usual 11-12 hours.

deanna1313

He's napping well today (after last night he should be tired!) and he's in his crib again so maybe things are going back to normal.
Good to know it's not just my LO going through this.
Thanks ladies!

Tjacks09

My guy has been doing this all week. Usually a great sleeper but now has been waking up almost like screaming in pain multiple times a night. Brought him in to make sure it's not an ear infection and it's not. I'm guessing it's teething related but we aren't getting much sleep and my heart breaks for him because I can tell something hurts! I'm hoping this gets better soon!!!

deanna1313

@Tjacks09‌ Awwe! Sorry to hear that. Hopefully they all get back to normal soon. I'm so tired!!!!!