Cry it out?

torneen

HELP!!  Our daughter is 7months old and WAS sleeping through the night perfectly.  Then we moved her from her bassinet in our room to her crib in her room when she turned 6 months and since then it has just gotten progressively worse.  It was hit or miss for a while, she would sleep great most nights then one night a week was not so great.  But recently it has just been a struggle every night.  Getting her to sleep is no problem.  She falls asleep in our arms every night around 7ish and we lay her down and she stays asleep... for a little while.  The problem is after midnight.  Sometime between midnight and 4:00am she wakes up and WILL NOT go back to sleep unless one of us picks her up and cuddles with her.  This has resulted in a lot of co-sleeping and a major disruption in our sleep pattern.  My husband is not comfortable co-sleeping, he is scared of rolling over on her.  So either he goes to the sofa or I go to the guest bedroom with her.  Either way... we are essentially sleeping apart and not happy about it.  Her wake up habit got worse in the last two weeks because she was sick and needed frequent diaper changes.  But now she is better and the habit of cuddling in the middle of the night has stuck around.  We are considering making her cry it out... but I am not 100% on board with that and I am hoping to find an alternative that wont make me feel like I am abandoning her.  I was thinking of bringing her bassinet back into our room and starting the transition to her room over again.  Any suggestions?  Please keep your comments constructive... I am really heartbroken over this and very sensitive to my daughters needs.  If I could... I would hold her forever... but I need her to sleep through the night for her benefit and ours. 

torneen

Thanks... that is good advice.  Part of me is wondering if it is all just a phase... she is about 2 months ahead on all her physical milestones.  She crawls like crazy and stood on her own (without assistance) yesterday and she isnt even eight months old for another three weeks.  I was reading other posts about the 8 month sleep regression and I think we might be hitting that milestone early (since she has decided to do everything else early - except sprout teeth). 

At least she goes down easy the first time. It's just a matter of getting her to stay asleep I guess. 

dmathis10

I noticed you said she falls asleep in your arms. Have you tried putting her down drowsy but awake so that she has to out herself to sleep? That way, when she wakes up in the MOTN, she will be better capable of putting herself back to sleep. DS went through a terrible sleep repression from 4 to 6 mos old. I didn't even realize there is often an 8 mo regression!! Geez...

laurenhankey

I agree w/ PP, it sounds like she may need to learn to put herself back to sleep.  Maybe teaching her to fall asleep on her own may help he sleep throughout the night.  Try putting her down when she's drowsy but not yet asleep.  It may take awhile but she'll get the hang of it.  My LO is very ahead in the milestone department, too. Sometimes, all the new stuff can be overwhelming for them and keep them from sleeping! Mine wants to crawl, stand, push things more than she does sleep!

MrsEnright

I agree that you may need to teach her to fall asleep on her own instead of letting her fall asleep in your arms.  You may have to do some CIO in that regard, but it really helps them being able to sleep on their own all night if they can self-soothe and put themselves to sleep.

caeraRose

So sorry that you're going through a rough time. We also co-sleep, because it helps us all get sleep. DH is comfortable co-sleeping, though... it's important that everyone is comfortable with that solution.

Have you tried swaddling? DD stopped wanting to be swaddled around 4 months, and then recently wanted to be swaddled again, so it can change.

Have you tried bringing her into your bed, and then moving her back to her crib once she's asleep?

Have you tried changing around the light levels in her room to see if that makes a difference?

I suspect that this is a phase while she's learning new things. I'd recommend checking out nurshable.com to see if she has any useful suggestions, or if you just need a little emotional support to get you through this phase.