March 2015 Moms

Waking up every couple of hours!

My LO is now 5 months old. Up until her 4 month "birthday" she was an AMAZING sleeper. I'm talking about going to sleep at 8, waking at 3 to simply feed, then back to sleep until 7. Lately she has been going down around 9 and waking up every 2 hours! I find myself leaning over to pop a bottle in her mouth and she falls asleep almost instantly. (She sleeps in a bassinet next to me) any advice on how to stop/survive this? This mama needs to sleep!

Re: Waking up every couple of hours!

  • I am going through the exact same thing ! Except for my son will wake up and want to play. He was awake from 2:30 to 5:30 am last night after falling asleep at 10. He then woke up for the day at 6:30 ! He was sleeping all night from 10pm to 9am only waking up around 4am for a bottle. Now I just can't get him to sleep like he used too. I don't know what to do but this momma needs sleep !! :(
  • He is 4 months old and this just started about 4 days ago.
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  •  My doctor is kind of old school and he said  that this is about the  time that they realize that "hey, if I cry, good things happen!" So he recommended that we don't pop in right away when he starts to make his little "im awake" sounds. He is a fan of Ferber, I am not lol. So we compromised by giving him 10 minutes  before we go in there. Then I go in and give him his paci and rub him while humming, if still doesnt go back to sleep after about 5 minutes of that then I pick him up and feed him. He will pretty much always go back to sleep after eating. Letting him fuss those 10 minutes is so much easier said than done, especially at 2 am, but we try. He is slowly getting back into his better sleeping habits.  
  • My little one is in the same boat. Check out the book The Wonder Weeks-it's amazing!!! At this age so much is changing/developing; sitting up, starting solids, rolling over, etc. It's A LOT for developing brains to sort out and deal with. The book explains it beautifully!
  • I tired to let her cry it out for a little bit last night when she woke herself up.  Needless to say, I ended up crying!  She was crying like she was DYING!  I ended up picking her up after about 5 minutes because she was crying so loud and hard.  I picked her up and guess who instantly stopped?  I'm hoping that this is just another phase.

    I will definitely check out the book!  Thank you for the advise!  It is all very much approicated! 

  • Although I'm not glad to hear your son is going through the same thing, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!
  • My LO did the exact same thing at 4 months after sleeping through the night from about 2 months. She turned 5 months 2 days ago and literally started sleeping through the night again at the same time. So there is hope that it will just be a phase linked to what's going on developmentally around the 4 month mark!
  • You can also get The Wonder Weeks app. I have it on my iPhone and it is very helpful.
  • Tried the Ferber method with our FB and just couldn't do it! Decided to do what works for our family, which is cosleeping. We practice safe habits and I do not drink or take meds and I'm a very light sleeper. Both my kids sleep from 8:30-7ish (give or take an off night due to nightmares).
  • She typically ends up in bed with me since both my husband and I have to work, therefore we need a little sleep! She does sleep better in bed with me, but still tends to wake up. It's usually never to play, just get a quick sip of milk!
  • I don't have advice
  • Seriously?! Come on theBump!!! I had a whole paragraph written!!! I'm too tired to write it all again tonight - will try when it's not 3am.
  • My LO is almost 5.5 months and is going through the exact same thing. It's driving me insane! She was such a great sleeper before this sleep regression I cannot wait until it is overrrrr!!
  • So the gist of what I attempted to post earlier:
    I don't have any advice because I'm in the same boat! My nearly 5 month old has been waking every 2-4 hrs since he learned how to roll onto his belly about 3 weeks ago! Sometimes he even is scootching around in the crib and getting an arm or leg stuck in the slats!
    I hope it's a phase and he goes back to being my good sleeper! (My first son didn't sleep through the night until he was 13 months old and it was awful, I was a zombie!)
    I fear SO MUCH that I'm creating a terrible habit. The only thing that consoles him when he wakes up is to nurse him! He gets so mad at me if I try to soothe him any other way. I don't want to do the wrong thing, but I'm so hesitant to let him cry louder than a fuss because I don't want him to wake up my 3 yr old (at 12, 3, 5.....)

    Ugh!
    I know lots of mommies are in the same boat of this 4 month sleep disruption... Can't wait to hear more success stories about teaching these babies to sleep better!
  • I went through the same thing last week. It was like all of a sudden he decided to wake up every few hours and I was exhausted. Through the Internet, it said that they are transitioning to sleeping like us vs. sleeping like a newborn now.

    Needless to say, I did Ferber with him. Background knowledge is he was a great sleeper before and I have tried hard to always put him down drowsy. So, the first night was hard. We decided my husband would go in and soothe him after 5 minutes, then after 10 and then 15 if needed. He cried for 25 minutes and then slept through the night. The following night my inlaws watched him and he cried for 12 minutes. The third night he cried for 1.5 minutes and the past 3 nights has put himself to sleep and we are on vacation and he is in a new setting. I turned to my mom and husband and said "is this what it's supposed to be?" And my husband reminded me that we don't fall asleep crying every night.

    I feel blessed and thankful he was ready to do this.

    I would suggest having your significant other be part of it with you as a support system and discuss your plan before you do it. Also do it at bedtime not during the night when he starts (I did the that first time and he cried for like 3 hours). Also, be consistent!! When you go in, soothe him without picking him up which will only make him cry longer the next time because he/she realizes that crying leads to getting picked up.

    Also, a friend gave me the book "Sleeping Through the Night" by Jodi something and it is a good resource!

    Good luck! It isn't fun but getting some sleep for yourself is important!

    Sorry this is so long! But I hope it helps someone!
    For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.
    1 Samuel 1:27
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  • I just got through that sleep regression stage myself. It is a doozy, but you'll get through it and your not alone!
  • Think we are coming to the end of sleep regression! For us it lasted about 4 weeks. My baby was waking up every 1.5-2 hrs all night and only taking 30min naps twice a day. This week she has been sleeping 4 hrs at a time over night and napping for an hour 3-4 times in the day! Hopefully it will continue like this as I feel like a new person after a few days of 'decent' sleep.
  • 5 months was the age for both of my kids when I decided to move them to their crib in their own room. It seemed like we were disrupting each other's sleep (they slept in a pack n play next to me). My baby will be 6 months in two weeks and this is his second week in his crib in his own room. He sleeps SO much better only waking once now to eat. He would wake every two hours and would seem uncomfortable in his pack n play. Also, any movement I would make would make him stir and he would want to eat. I have a video monitor that I periodically check so I have peace of mind. My sleep has greatly improved since the move as well. Just something to think about.
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