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Sleep help! I need all the advice I can get

katejones243katejones243 member
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Being a first time mom is hard as most of you know Smile I am really experiencing that fact now. My son, Gavin, has always been somewhat of a good sleeping. Going to bed by 930-10 and waking up only once to eat.. about 3 am. I have heard about the 4 month wakeful period. Gavin seemed to miss it, or so I thought. Hell be 5 months this coming Sunday and the last 3 nights have been hell. He is awake almost every hour of the night starting at 1130 pm. He naps maybe an hour of the day too. I dont know how hes functioning w/o sleep. I read that babies his age should go atleast 6 hours sleeping w/o needing to eat. I fear that hes waking because hes hungry, because after I feed him throughout the night he seems to calm down. I want to try letting him cry or talk to himself to self-soothe and go back to sleep, but I'm worried hes waking from hunger and if I dont feed him he'll really be upset. I guess I'm stuck on not knowing what angle to take on this to try to get him back to sleeping. Any advice would be helpful! Thank you ladies!
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Re: Sleep help! I need all the advice I can get

  • JennDave+1JennDave+1
    It is probably just a phase. He he is waking and drinking then he must be hungry. You can try getting more in him during the day but if he is anything like my nosy little guy he is not interested in eating. My DS has not been a great sleeper and all of the sudden Sunday night I thought things were starting to get better and then bam the last two nights have been the worst ever. He has been waking up constantly every 15 / 30 mins all night long. I am exhausted but just keep telling myself this will not be like this forever. Not much help but just hang in there.
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  • katejones243katejones243 member
    I appreciate it Jenn! Its hard to tell if hes hungry or not because if I give him a bottle hell always eat it.. lol. Hungry or not! I guess I'll just keep waiting it out and see how things develop and change! Thank you :)
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  • JennDave+1JennDave+1
    One thing that I learned from having my first is not to stress so much about sleep. There will be lots of times when they won't sleep as great as they usually do but it always works itself out. Just keep doing what you are doing with your schedule/routine. It may be a couple days or a week but it will get better. :) GL
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  • AZ123AZ123 member

    Could he be teething? usually, they'll start this a month before even a tooth will break. The bottle or breast will comfort the gums.

    How's his eating during the day? Is he on a schedule of eating every 3 or 4 hours? How long is his awake time and what do you do to put him down for naps? He could be overtired, which is weird but it causes a lot of wakefulness at night. Sleep begets sleep. 

    With DS1 when nights were bad I looked to see what was going on during the day and the day usually resolved the night. 

    Lastly, he could be going through a growth spurt and is truly hungry only then you want him to get his calories during the day and not at night. You could try feeding him every 2 hours during the day and then you'll know that at night he's not hungry and it is behavior and not hunger and so you might have to let him cry a bit to go into the next sleep cycle.

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  • katejones243katejones243 member
    AZ- Its hard for me to give all this information since hes at the sitters, but I do know he sleeps about an hour only at the sitters. Its like he doesnt want to miss anything. Its the same with his feedings there. I am not sure how much hes eating with her. I will ask her to start keeping track for me. He usually eats 4 oz every 2- 21/2 hours. He is still eating a small bottle since he spit up so badly. Thankfully that seems to be getting better and hes eating a little more bottle wise for me. 5-6 oz every 3 hours. I think he's still getting used to his sitter though. Hes starting to settle down for her. So hopefully itll get him more on track. I'm just ready to pull my hair out. I'll try to watch what hes doing during the day if it doesnt resolve! Very helpful info!
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  • AZ123AZ123 member

    Ask the sitter to write down the schedule. If you're confident he's eating enough, then I say give him tylenol, some teething gel, put him to bed and tell him you'll see him at 6 a.m. That is, if you can handle crying.

    DS1 did the same thing to me at 5.5 months. He wanted to play during the day and thought he'd eat at night, right? No, mommy and daddy weren't down with that so we had to switch it around (we both work FT). More food during the day and then we did a modified CIO at night. From then on out (took 3 days) it was glorious and he was a much happier baby for it because he was finally getting sleep. Waking up like that through the night isn't healthy for baby let alone the parents.

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  • katejones243katejones243 member
    You are so right on not being good for the parents! We both work F/T too so its hard. I'll get a schedule from her and see what happens. She told me hes the most awake baby like he doesnt want to miss anything going on. Hes always been a very awake baby. I used to complain at the waking once to feed at 3 am.. but being up every 2 hours is HORRIBLE! Im not sure hes teething. He is drooling and chewing on his fingers, but not whining or crying in pain.
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  • vbibeauvbibeau
    My son started doing the same thing at 5 months... We started solids shortly after, increased his bottles and also bought the next size up in diapers, but the overnight ones. So far so good! Good luck!
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  • misssurlymisssurly

    imageJennDave+1:
    One thing that I learned from having my first is not to stress so much about sleep. There will be lots of times when they won't sleep as great as they usually do but it always works itself out. Just keep doing what you are doing with your schedule/routine. It may be a couple days or a week but it will get better. :) GL

    So nice to read this, thank you for the reassurance it will get better... sometimes, in the moment or a few nights in - I can`t help but think it might be like this forever!!

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  • Snapdragon750Snapdragon750 member

    imageJennDave+1:
    He he is waking and drinking then he must be hungry. .

    Not necessarily.  Just like you can sleep from 11:00 and wake up to eat a full breakfast at 5:30 because your alarm wakes you (even though you naturally might have slept in until 10:00), a baby who wakes up for no reason in the middle of the night will probably eat a whole "meal."  That doesn't mean he is crying out of hunger.  Babies do not biologically need a midnight feeding once they hit about 12 pounds (maybe 11), but they might still want it for comfort.

    OP, I'm not saying not to feed him if you think he's hungry, but I am saying not to feel guilty that your baby has been starving just because he will take a bottle when he wakes in the middle of the night. 

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