Is this normal

cangirl032

My babies have been decent sleepers up until a month ago!  They just turned 5 months on Monday and I thought at 4 months they entered a growth spurt and this crappy sleeping would end soon, well a month later it hasn?t.  Here is a little background info.  Prior to 4 months they would awake one time during the night for a feeding and some nights they wouldn?t wake until morning.  They go to bed around 8:30-9pm and get a bath every other night along with a bedtime story.  We would place them in the crib drowsy but not sleep.  They are fine with putting themselves to sleep.   Over the past month they have been waking up 2 times during the night and I am not even sure they are hungry when they wake up.  When I hear them moving around I give it a few minutes before going in there and pat them on the back.  Usually it is just one at a time, but within a few minutes the other one starts moving around as well.  Once I realize the patting on the back doesn?t work I pick them up and hold them, and they fall back to sleep within seconds until I place them back in the crib and their head pops up.  So, I pick them up again and hold them a little longer before placing them in the crib and that usually helps.  Then a couple hours later the same thing happens.  Usually the second time I will give them a bottle.  What am I doing wrong?  I read at this age they should be able to sleep longer period of time without a bottle.  Last night they were sleep by 8:30 and up at 12:30 nothing was working so I gave each of them a bottle and by 4:30 they were up again.  We were both exhausted so I brought them into our room ( I know a no-no) and they laid there with us and were knocked out without a bottle.  Please give me any advice.   

Chrissymarie98

All I can say is that my LO didn't sleep through the night until 10 months.

He was having bottles during the night as well. 

I think all babies are different.

We definitely went through a period of time where we'd go in and feed and get him calm and then we'd lay him back in the crib and his head would pop up even after having been back asleep on us.

So frustrating!

Then after 10 months he just started SSTN.

I think the thing to remember is that babies are constantly changing - once a ''schedule'' is determined, they up and change it on us.

 I don't really have any advice for you unfortunately - just wanted to say you're not alone

My twins are due in August and I'm dreading the late night routine. 

Did you swaddle at all? We swaddled until 4 months if i remember correctly.

And then we moved him to a sleep sack which seems to signal sleep for him.

Seems like you're doing everything right though? 

 

tiffanymuegge

This sounds exactly what my babies did.  However, at 5 months - they were JUST starting to sleep in their crib.  Prior to this, they slept on us on the couch and recliner (horrible reflux).  After breaking this BAD habit, they were still waking up in their beds...knowing that they weren't hungry.  I think they were just getting up out of habit because it was the same time every night - and often they didn't even want a bottle, they just wanted to be rocked to sleep.  Well, this went on for wwwwaaayyyy too long - they did this from about 5 months til about 9 1/2 months - we were at the point of SHEER EXHAUSTION - so at 9 1/2 months we did what I called Operation Tough Love - we just let them CIO.  Yes, those 3 nights were HELL - they would sometimes cry for over 30 minutes, but we watched them on the baby monitor and didn't go back in their room.  Mean, I know, but within 3 nights they were both sleeping from 6:30 til 6:15-6:30... I know it sounds crazy, but maybe put them down earlier?  I remember reading on here about everyone putting their LOs down so early, and I thought there was no way that would work, but it has worked WONDERS - now I have time to spend with my older DS and DH once the babies go down for the night. 

Good luck - I know how it feels to be completely and utterly exhausted!  Just keep telling yourself - this too shall pass.  That was what kept me going on the days when I thought I just couldn't drag myself out of bed in the morning after being up multiple times a night.