Sleep Question

Em&Bee

Does anyone else have a really restless sleeper?  My DD is 5 months, 1 week old and has not slept through the night yet. She still wakes up about every 30 minutes to 2 hours.  There has been the rare occasion when she sleeps 4 hours, but I haven't seen that for months.  She does the same during naps.  She sleeps like 20-30 minutes, then wakes up, rolls around and cries, etc. I've tried letting her cry for a long time, crying then patting her, etc.  If I feed her (formula only), she will go to sleep and then wake up about another hour later.  She's getting rice cereal, (I thought that might keep her full longer) but that still doesn't make a difference.  She's not in a bad mood during the day from lack of sleep, she just won't lay still long enough to do so.

I've also tried crib toys, like dolls to hold, musical ones that play music when she cries, lights, projection on the ceiling, you name it. She has a consistent bedtime routine.  Yet still, every night she just starts rolling around and wakes herself up, like she never really reaches REM.  Any suggestions??   

 

vanverth

Swaddling?

Em&Bee

Nope, we've tried that, she used to like it, but now just cries until she can get "free".  Even swaddled, she'd still roll her head back and forth.  Like I said, she's a happy baby, jand completely normal, other than she just sleeps poorly.  Maybe that's just how she will be, who knows.

leffe1

Hi, ever since my dd hit 5 months sttn has not happened. She is up at least once every night. I do go in and just put the paci in her mouth and she goes back to sleep. She is an excellent napper and never fusses when I put her down at night.

I have tried everything but have come to accept that maybe "it is what it is". I am hoping she outgrows it eventually. I hope it gets better for you.

YaraC

We still swaddle my almost 6 month old for this very reason. Without she can not get into a deep enough sleep to stay asleep. I recommend trying it. We use the SwaddleMe's in a size large. I don't know what we'll do when she outgrows that.

 

ETE: Oops, should have read all the responses first.Looks like you've tried swaddling. Does she sleep well in a swing?

stever

Some babies are just bad sleepers. DS was an absolutely terrible sleeper until around 7 months. He'd wake up every hour or so at night and not really nap during the day. I thought he was trying to kill us!

It suck, suck, sucked!!! But it did get better. He still has rough nights every once in a while, but he mostly STTN. Yay!

Sorry, I don't have a cure or reason for the change in his sleep, but know that it will get better.

Oh, and FWIW, we stopped swaddling around 5 months because he started breaking free and rolling over .

Em&Bee

It's good to know that I'm not the only one at this point, who's still dealing with not STTN.  DD used to sleep great in her infant carseat and sleeps pretty good in the swing, but now she's not as comfortable in the carseat, as she's getting bigger and I guess I didn't think about putting her in the swing all night, moving.  I don't think she'd sleep in it if it was sitting still because she would be sitting pretty upright.  I guess I'll just have to wait it out and see if 6 months gets better.

pahokie

There is hope!  DD was a terrible sleeper for a while.  We had several phases of her waking every 1.5 - 2 hours.  We tried numerous tricks, but it just took a while for her to grow out of it.  Now she goes down at 7:00 and wakes at 5:00.  I'm not thrilled about the early wake up, but I will take it as long as she keeps up the 10 hours straight part!

What time do you put her to sleep?  Is she staying up too late?  Being overtired makes things worse.

Em&Bee

Nope, she's not up too late, normally bathtime is around 7:30, then a bottle, and then to bed by around 8-8:30.  Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon.  Thanks again for the stories of encouragement.  It's definitely helpful.