- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
D.C. Area Babies
protesting bedtime already?! advice needed
DS has gotten pretty good about falling to sleep himself when I put him down drowsy but awake for naps early in the day, but is not really able to do it at night. Up until now it wasn't too much of a problem, he just needed extra soothing and we'd have to put him down a little sleepier than during the day, but still barely awake and he'd do ok. The last few nights though, he's been crying and pretty much inconsolable for about an hour or more until he finally falls asleep in our arms and we can put him down. I've tried moving bedtime up but that hasn't helped at all.
So last night we figured, if he's going to cry in our arms anyway, maybe we should CIO - and it worked, sort of....he cried for about 20 minutes and fell asleep for an hour, then woke up and cried again for 10 minutes and slept for another hour, then woke up cried for less than 10 minutes and slept for another hour - when he woke up after that I fed him and then he slept for 4 hours and woke up like usual the rest of the night. When we first put him down I'm sure he wasn't hungry.
So, any ideas what's going on?? I have no idea why he's crying so much before bed - any help is much appreciated!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: protesting bedtime already?! advice needed
it's possible your LO is teething, everything is much worse at night, or maybe he's gassy or needs to burp, it could really be anything, unfortunately. Do you give him a warm bath before bedtime to calm him down?
I would not let him CIO yet, he's way too young for that, IMO.
I think the one thing that is true about all babies is that they are always changing! While my parenting style is to go by LO's sleepy cues rather than the clock, even if that is not your style, every sleep book I've read or heard of advocates not CIO until 4-6 months. But, you asked what might be wrong, not what I'd do.
This article helped us when I didn't think LO was hungry (but for us, it turned out he was) https://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html.
More Green For Less Green
Like pp said, it could be lots of things.
Three months old is still so young, I wouldn't worry that what baby is doing now is any indication of what he'll do a week from now or even two days from now. It's likely that he'll have several more weeks or even months of inconsistency when it comes to sleeping, you may have to just roll with it. I also think it's a little young for CIO, only because at that age, again, they haven't really formed "habits." My pedi suggested Ferber (where they only CIO for a few minutes at a time) only when DS was 6 months.
There are lots of tweaks you could try - bath before bedtime to soothe him, a different feeding schedule (maybe he's gassy/burpy/reflux-y at the time you put him down?), changing the times of his naps during the day, holding him more upright during feeding, etc. Great ideas in the article above and don't be shy about calling your pedi about this too. I know our pedi office has "advice nurse" service where you can call about anything - not just illnesses - and they'll give you ideas too.