Help! I have a crazy baby

musicalmama5 · September 2013

My post on sleep training blew up, so I know most of you are familiar with our sleep situation...

I am at a loss right now. DS is just shy of 6 months, so I don't expect him to STTN, but I would like more than a 2 hour stretch at least once during the night! It's getting ridiculous. He seriously wakes up every 1-2 hours. When he goes 2.5-3, I wake up before him because my body is used to waking up so often. Fortunately, DH and I don't have to wake up early, so when DS is up for the day (around 7-8am), DH takes him and I sleep another hour or two. This is the best part of my night.

Here's the kicker, though. DS doesn't do any better when we bedshare. In fact, he doesn't always want to nurse when he wakes up (he's never been much of a comfort nurser). He won't even let me sit in the rocking chair to rock him back to sleep. I have to be UP walking around and bouncing him. I would be fine with him nursing next to me all night long. At least then I could be lying down.

Gah. Any advice/ideas/sympathy/commiseration is appreciated.

Emerald27 · September 2013

Aww. If it's any consolation at all, the stress chemicals released in a baby's brain when he cries are lessened when he is being held and snuggled.

His age makes me think one (or all!) of three things: teeth, developmental milestones, and/or growth spurt. I hope hope hope it's a quick phase he races through so you guys can get better sleep. ::Hugs::

PhieryBFly · September 2013

I can't offer any clues but I feel for you! My sister-in-law had her son 2 days before my daughter was born and what you describe is my nephew to a T! My poor sister-in-law is at a loss at what to do as well so I'll be watching this thread to see if there are any awesome ideas.

Emerald27 · September 2013

What's the temp in your home, and how do you dress baby for bed?

Have you introduced any solid foods yet (I ask because of possible sensitive tummy, not because giving him solids would make him sleep longer/better

)?

How is he during the day? His happy and normal self, or extra fussy? Is he pulling on or sticking his fingers in his ears at all?

ObLaDi · September 2013

I inadvertently posted a very similar thread without reading this one, so I'll be watching whatever advice you get.

In the meantime, we're in similar boats, and it sucks. Big hugs!

TiffanyBerry · September 2013

Food allergies/intolerances? Reflux? Environmental allergies? Too much/too little light? Too much/too little sound? Or just a sensory sensitive baby? 'Cause mine is/was. She started sleeping longer stretches - certainly not until after a year though.

Oh, and look, there she is waking up after less than three hours since bedtime. (And she's three years old.) /eyeroll

musicalmama5 · September 2013

Emerald27 said:

What's the temp in your home, and how do you dress baby for bed? Have you introduced any solid foods yet (I ask because of possible sensitive tummy, not because giving him solids would make him sleep longer/better )? How is he during the day? His happy and normal self, or extra fussy? Is he pulling on or sticking his fingers in his ears at all?

The temp is usually around 70, and I dress him in a sleeper with a blanket over him. We have been doing BLW for almost a week now! He's getting better at it and last night, he actually ATE a decent amount of bread and banana. And wonder of wonders, he didn't need to nurse til about 1am! (He still woke up a lot before that though) During the day, he is a bit more fussy, but he's easily distractable so it's not very noticeable. Haven't noticed any ear pulling.

Last night, DH and I took turns rocking him back to sleep. Obviously if he needed to nurse, I went in, but otherwise, we took turns. At one point, I even put him down awake, gave him his lambie stuffed animal, and he chewed on it until he fell sleep lol. No crying or even fussing! He only nursed at 1, 3:30, and 6. It was tolerable.

musicalmama5 · September 2013

TiffanyBerry said:

Food allergies/intolerances? Reflux? Environmental allergies? Too much/too little light? Too much/too little sound? Or just a sensory sensitive baby? 'Cause mine is/was. She started sleeping longer stretches - certainly not until after a year though.

Oh, and look, there she is waking up after less than three hours since bedtime. (And she's three years old.) /eyeroll

Sensory sensitive sounds about right. He's the baby that WILL NOT nurse if there's anything slightly interesting going on, WILL NOT sleep unless his sound machine is on and we're tiptoeing around the house.

violajack · September 2013

I'm sorry I have no advice, just commiseration. I remember that age being the absolute worst. My DS woke up to the world at about 4 months and never went back to sleep. He went from sleeping 5 hour stretches with some 8 hour nights to waking every 1-2 hours. It hasn't stopped. For some babies it's a phase they grow out of quickly, and for some, this is the new normal. DS has slowly gotten easier to get back to sleep. We definitely had the nights that required walking around to fall back to sleep. Those about did me in, but he gradually started falling asleep again while nursing. He still wakes about every 2 hours, but will just want to nurse a little and fall back asleep quickly. I'm looking forward to the time that he starts staying asleep longer stretches. We mostly rock or nurse to sleep still, but we're finally starting to get some times where he'll lay down and fall asleep on his own, no fussing.

nosoup4u · September 2013

DS1 was a horrible sleeper like that, too. Woke constantly his first year. Things got better when I night weaned him around 18-20 mos, and then he started STTN at 24 mos. Sorry! Baby sleep can be horrible.

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