Help! Went from sleeping 8hrs to 2...

mlwoo103

We are in some serious trouble with our almost six month old...She was sleeping 8 hour stretches in her pack and play in our bedroom, waking up and eating in bed with me and then sleeping three more hours in bed with me. It was the best of both worlds for us, but suddenly she stopped sleeping the 8 hours and over the past month, that time has dwindled down to her waking up every two hours! I never minded feeding or rocking her to sleep before, but now she expects it every time! I'm really in a bit of a pickle and not getting any sleep and I'm not sure how to get out of it without completely changing everything she has known and letting her cry which I just can't stand...please help me :

Edit: She goes to sleep around 9pm and wakes up at about 7:30am every day. We didn't have much of a bed time schedule, but have started trying to stick to one over the past two weeks but its hard since we rarely eat dinner before 7:30 or 8. It just seems like there isn't enough time in the day for a lengthy ritual at bed time...especially if we go out to dinner or anything.

mben1119

kbruington:

I think a bedtime routine is SO important, as is consistency. Babies thrive on these things and without them, they seem to get confused and aren't sure what to do. If you bring her in to bed sometimes but leave her other times she'll be confused. If you consistently do the same thing when she wakes up, whether it's taking her to your bed or sleep training of some sort, she will figure it out.

It's totally normal for sleep patterns to change. Could be any number of things messing up sleep just be consistent with whatever you choose to do

This. Also, have you tried an earlier bedtime?  I find that if I don't put DS down around 12 hours after he wakes up, he's a crankpot and sleeps terribly. DS eats his own dinner, and is in bed before DH and I even think about our dinner for the night.

Jimsgirl5821

Bedtime routine doesn't have to be fancy. Ours is simple as I have a 3 y/o to deal with as well. I just do lotion, pjs, bottle and he gets swaddled. If he is asleep I just put him in crib. If slightly awake, we rock a little. My 3 y/o routine is pjs, glass of warm milk, then I tuck her in and read a couple books we don't even attempt to eat dinner til 7:45 - 8pm when kids are in bed. DD has her dinner around 5:30-6pm.

EM1113

Just a thought, but what is her food routine like? I ask because my perfect sleeper started waking up every few hours around six months until I added a second daily solid meal. The very first night of the new food schedule she slept straight through again. She started waking more frequently around eight months, too, until I added a lunch and a late afternoon snack of yogurt melts or fruit melts. Not sure why it worked for her because I've heard a positive correlation between sleep and solids cannot be proven, but I was happy it did. Tinkering with the diet is worth a shot.

mamaHippo23

I agree...consistency and persistence is everything when it comes to getting good sleep. We put him in the bath every night at 5:20, out of the tub by 5:40, into pjs, then bottle, and put in crib as soon as he's finished. I try to lay him down by 6:15 or 6:30 at the latest. If we cut out the bath, our routine could probably be reduced down to 20 minutes or so.

If he wakes up at night I give him 20 minutes to fuss/ talk himself back to sleep before going in there. If he ate a good meal before bed, then I try to avoid feeding him again until his 5:30am wake up time unless he shows signs of being truly hungry. Yes, letting them cry is hard but it's so worth it when they learn to soothe themselves back to sleep.