6months =major sleep curve! Help! (Long)

hlz128 · May 2016

For the past two weeks my sons sleep schedule has gone off the wagon. We were going to bed by 7 and up at 7 with two or three wakes, two 30min naps and one hour to two hour nap in the day.
Well then it went to napping all day with only maybe 6hours or so of wakefulness and sleeping most of the night with 4-5wakes until about 4am then an hour to two hours of refusing to go back to sleep until he passed back out until 7. I assumed this was for the six month growth spurt,but after about four days of this it changed again!
We are currently at 5days of 6am wake for the day with two 30min naps all day, then bed at 7 with wakes ups every 30-45mins until about 10pm, then sleep with wake ups at 12, 1,& 3, then it's the hour or two of wide awake. And repeat...what is going on with my kid!? We haven't changed our routine or anything that I can think of to bring about this. Is this all the growth spurt or what..advice and help please momas!

bellie1223 · May 2016

Right there with you, we had a pretty good little routine down, she was still waking 1-2 times a night, but would eat and go right back to sleep. Then about two weeks ago (days before she turned 6 months) the whole thing went to pot and she is all over the place with her sleep. I've kept her routine the same, hoping that helps, and tried every sleep training method I dare. Doctor told us today at her appointment that it's likely a growth spurt and also pointed out that her bottom teeth are coming in and that probably has something to do with it. She basically told me just to push through and that things will go back to normal.

Sorry I don't have any real words of wisdom for you, but hope things improve!

Ceridwen77 · May 2016

We were dealing with something somewhat similar. DD would still go down around 7:30 and sleep until 8:30 if she could (we typically have to leave the house earlier than that). But she was waking every 1-2hrs wanting to eat each time, and would have 1hr stretches of wakefulness in the middle of the night. We were planning to start a no cry sleep training this weekend, but suddenly she just started sleeping better. She's still waking 2-3x a night to eat and another 1-2x where she either self-soothes or we put a hand on her until she goes back to sleep. I don't mind getting up a few times a night so this is more manageable and hopefully will improve.

Basically I don't have advice but hang in there and know that things can quickly change for the better.

helsbels222 · May 2016

You probably already saw this but tb has this article posted. Maybe it will help.

From The Bump: "Why Is Baby Still Getting Up At Night?"

https://www.thebump.com/a/baby-wakes-up-at-night

Edited: link posted twice

Peanut1128 · May 2016

My son went through something similar. He started waking up 7 times in a night and just crying. He wasn't hungry or wet, I talked to our pediatrician and read a few sleep books and we decided to try some sleep training. After 4 nights, he sleeps through the night now and when he does occasionally wake up in the night now he just "talks" and coos at himself till he falls back asleep.
I also found out that our daycare had been putting him in his swing for all of his naps, I think he developed a dependency on motion for sleep and that was a big catalyst in the night wake ups. Our pedicitrician agreed and so I no longer use a swing and I asked be daycare to avoid it as well.

AmoLovesAud · May 2016

Yeah, this is us too. LO has been having good nights and bad nights, but one way or another she's been sleeping at least from 11-3 and 3-6. But last night her longest stretch of sleep was just under 2 hours, most of the time she didn't even make it a whole hour. And her daytime naps were fine! Usually when she has a bad night it's bc her nap schedule got messed up somehow, but IDK what brought on last night. She didn't need food except at 11 and 3 like normal, in fact she usually fell right asleep as soon as I picked her up. So not big wake ups but exhausting to get out of bed, pick her up, and rock her for 5 minutes ever hour.

I've been suspecting a growth spurt, she's nursing much more frequently during the day (but spitting up a ton again, too). I was also giving her little bits of fruit in the mesh feeder at lunch, I might cut that out and stick to oatmeal and veggies for a time.

ETA she turns 6 months tomorrow.

PocoHR · May 2016

We went through a rough patch too, until I realized that he needs to fuss a little before he falls asleep. Now we put him in the crib awake but drowsy at night around 7/7:30 and let him fuss a bit and he's usually asleep within five minutes now and sleeping much better at night. I have started doing a dream feed before I go to bed, around 9 or 10, and then he will wake up at around 3:30/4 for a feed, then go back to sleep until 7 usually. When he wakes up, he doesn't always immediately cry anymore, he just hangs out in his crib. I think he is learning to fall asleep on his own and be happy in his crib, which I think helps him wake less or fall back asleep easily at night. Sleep training sucks and I did NOT want to do it (I would have been happy to rock him to sleep all the time) but its really what he wanted, and what he needed. Not sure if it could help you or not, but I hope your situation gets better! Also, we started doing purees at both noon and at 6pm, which I think he was ready for. Maybe you could add in another solid food feed during the day? I really hope you get some rest soon!

LuLuEisla · May 2016

Our little guy has also been waking up a bunch lately, we finally figured out he wasn't warm enough even though he sleeps in footie jammies. We had to turn the heat back on to make sure his room isn't chilly. He is sleeping his regular stretches now.

CayceFry · May 2016

My little guy went through a few days of waking up so many times in the night then we turned a night light on and it helped so much! I guess he just couldn't figure out where he was before!

AmoLovesAud · May 2016

2 solid weeks of hourly wakeups. She will do one 3 or 4 hour stretch in the middle of the night, but I can't imagine she's getting nearly enough sleep. The bad nights were off and on until she started antibiotics for her never ending cough. Calling the doctor as soon as they open.

hlz128 · May 2016

Oh man hope she's alright! @AmoLovesAud

AmoLovesAud · May 2016

@hlaverett88 it seems like it? The doctors can't find anything causing the cough, her lungs sound clear, her sinuses seem fine, no wheezing or trouble breathing or etc. Which is great, I don't want my kid to be sick! I just wish she'd stop coughing. We're down to getting rid of any and all perfumes and sprays in the house, in case they're bothering her, though we didn't use much.

amm0512 · May 2016

@AmoLovesAud DS had very similar symptoms and your little one when he was 4months (he's now almost 3 years). Turns out he had reflux. No typical symptoms, just a persistant cough. He would wake himself up coughing every 30 minutes, all night long, for months. The day after we started him on prevacid, he slept through the night. Just something to consider running by your pediatrician.

AmoLovesAud · May 2016

@amm0512 I have suspected reflux for awhile (at 6.5 months, she still has a spit up problem, to the point where I'm hesitant to do much in the way of solids bc I don't want it to turn into food vomit), but her doc pretty much won't look at anything but her sinuses. He's a pretty hands off guy. My MIL said SIL was similar as a baby, and Mylicon (?) helped and is OTC, so we're going to give that a try.

VexedMommy · May 2016

AmoLovesAud said:

@amm0512 I have suspected reflux for awhile (at 6.5 months, she still has a spit up problem, to the point where I'm hesitant to do much in the way of solids bc I don't want it to turn into food vomit), but her doc pretty much won't look at anything but her sinuses. He's a pretty hands off guy. My MIL said SIL was similar as a baby, and Mylicon (?) helped and is OTC, so we're going to give that a try.

Grains can actually calm reflux. Have you tried little one on rice cereal yet?

AmoLovesAud · June 2016

@VexedMommy yes, it didn't make a difference, and yesterday she projectile vomited all over the place (after banana oatmeal, 2 things she's had before and been fine with), so we're taking a break from solids.

We're now at wakeups every half hour. Once or twice a night she'll go as long as 90 minutes, but that's it. Bloody murder screaming at the top of her lungs whenever she's not held at night, resuming as soon as she starts to wake (she basically wiggles in her sleep, when she realizes she's not in arms due to the wiggle not being restrained, she screams. You can sometimes trick her by putting a hand on her legs and applying some pressure, but you have to do it for a good 10 mins, and it only buys you a 20 min break). She screamed herself hoarse a few days ago, and hasn't recovered because she won't stop. She's pretty wonderful during the day, other than being on the clingy side and doing the torture-scream whenever she can't see me (which includes any and all car trips). I'm out of ideas and too tired to come up with anything else.

ETA we fought tooth and nail to get her to sleep 6 hours. After barely napping yesterday. And DH had to hold her for almost half of it (and I had to hold her for all naps).

doodleoodle · June 2016

AmoLovesAud said:

@VexedMommy yes, it didn't make a difference, and yesterday she projectile vomited all over the place (after banana oatmeal, 2 things she's had before and been fine with), so we're taking a break from solids.

We're now at wakeups every half hour. Once or twice a night she'll go as long as 90 minutes, but that's it. Bloody murder screaming at the top of her lungs whenever she's not held at night, resuming as soon as she starts to wake (she basically wiggles in her sleep, when she realizes she's not in arms due to the wiggle not being restrained, she screams. You can sometimes trick her by putting a hand on her legs and applying some pressure, but you have to do it for a good 10 mins, and it only buys you a 20 min break). She screamed herself hoarse a few days ago, and hasn't recovered because she won't stop. She's pretty wonderful during the day, other than being on the clingy side and doing the torture-scream whenever she can't see me (which includes any and all car trips). I'm out of ideas and too tired to come up with anything else.

ETA we fought tooth and nail to get her to sleep 6 hours. After barely napping yesterday. And DH had to hold her for almost half of it (and I had to hold her for all naps).

I am so sorry you guys are going through this! When she falls asleep are you holding her and sneakily placing her in her crib? If so, part of it could be that she is freaked out that she's woken up in a different place than she fell asleep... But it definitely sounds like she has reflux issues

could you maybe see a different pedi at the same practice?

VexedMommy · June 2016

It does definitely sound like reflux. My first had projectile vomit after every meal from birth onwards. It did get better eventually. A trick that a nicu nurse told me they use is they take a glove and fill it with dried beans or rice and then tie it off. (You could do the same with a fabric glove that you sew shut.) They put that on the baby so there is pressure even when there isn't a person available to hold them.

AmoLovesAud · June 2016

We do definitely have some sleep associations with falling asleep in our arms, I replied in the other thread but we're working on it. And to the reflux, her well visit is next week, if her doc won't take the idea of reflux seriously I'm going to request to start seeing a different doctor in the practice. DH is convinced that teething pain is the main culprit, I'm not sure of that but it's definitely a factor. Poor kid has been struggling with these first teeth for what feels like a month solid. I actually have a hicky on my arm from her trying to knaw on me!

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6months =major sleep curve! Help! (Long)

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