Why won't he sleep? (long)

LtlAngL · November 2013

My little guy was sleeping great until last week. He'd wake up to eat once or twice at night, have his bottle, and pass right back out with no issue. The last 5-6 days, we put him down at 8:30ish, he sleeps until 12. We feed him (BM-bottled or "from the tap,") he passes out toward the end of his feeding. We put him in his crib, and he's crying within 15 minutes. We're not huge CIO fans, so I'll let him be for maybe 15 minutes. He's not all-out screaming by this point, just upset. If I pick him up and rock him for 5 minutes, he calms down and goes back to sleep. Unfortunately, he repeats this process every 15-30 minutes until about 5 AM. At about 5,I feed him again, and he'll sleep straight through until he wakes up happy as can be at around 7-8 AM. During the day, he's taking only "power naps" of about 20-30 min, whereas they'd be between 1-2 hours before.

He started solids about 1 month ago. I thought maybe it was gas, so I just took away the solids for a day and gave him gas drops to see if it helped - No improvement.

The daycare lady said maybe it was teething - this is a possibility, but he hasn't been mouthing more than usual, and his nose was stuffy last time his bottom teeth came out X 2 weeks. I really hope this is the problem!

My hubby thought that maybe the temp in the room was too hot or cold, so we experimented with no improvement, and he also thought that maybe the hard crib mattress was uncomfortable, so we flipped it to the softer "toddler" side for a night with no improvement.

Out of desperation for sleep, he slept just fine on my hubby on the couch last night and just woke up to eat, and last week, I brought him in to bed with me, and he also slept better.

I definitely don't want to make it a habit of bringing him to bed or sleeping on hubby. He's quite energetic and happy during the day, so I know he doesn't care! LOL

What do you think? Teething? an unpleasant phase? separation anxiety?

sidey1 · November 2013

Going through the same thing, we do ok until around 11ish and then its the same deal as you described above. We did find some tylenol suppositories (the regular stuff makes DS gag and ends up spitting up) and we've gotten some longer stretches but i dont want to give him that every night.

I'm thinking it might be developmental, he's changed so much so quickly lately it kind of makes sense, but since the tylenols worked could be teething/growing pains too. Or he's just playing DH and I since he has no issues sleeping on us lol....

=Lee=B · November 2013

Sounds like a typical baby! They let you get into the groove of things then out of no where change it up and drive you nuts as you try and find a reason. You finally give up trying to find a reason and adapt the new sleep ways. Then, once your back in the groove they change it up...

Sounds like you problem solved all the typical things that come to mind. Of course it takes more than one or two nights to figure it out. Maybe it was the mattress that started waking him...then he got in the habit of waking up all the time...so now he's just waking because he did the night before and the night before...so why not tonight, even though the bed is softer, which was, weeks ago the reason he woke up so much.

ohhhh gotta love babies.

I'd say this too shall pass...and it will...but it is closely followed by the 8month sleep changes, then the 10-12month crappy sleep stage...then.......

Did I mention you gotta love these babies and their sleep changes?

lana22 · November 2013

so you pick him up every 15-30 min? if he's not all out screaming or crying, why not let him be and fuss until he falls asleep. he is learning a habit of being rocked because you keep picking him up. you are also being inconsistent by having him sleep on husband, bringing him into your bed, etc. pick what you want and go with it. the cat naps sound like he's over tired.

sgoodsel · November 2013

Oh my, we went through this with my daughter!! For her it was a few weeks starting just after 6 months (and, I thought it would never end)! I don't know what solved it, I think it was just a phase and she grew out of it. Maybe it was teething? We managed our way through by co-sleeping.

But we also started a very strict bedtime routine and followed it every night for a week and she has started going to bed well now and falling back to sleep on her own. Coincidence or not, we'll never know.

Whatever happened, she is now sleeping well st 7.5 months. And now I better go find a large piece of wood to knock on!!!

LtlAngL · November 2013

So over the last couple days, DS developed some sinus congestion, but no fever or other signs of illness. This also happened for about 2 weeks before he got his bottom 2 teeth, so I think my answer to this issue is that he's just teething. He finally slept much better last night, and I didn't do anything special to help him. I hope he keeps it up! Thank you girls for the advice :-)

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