My precious baby girl is just about 4 1/2 months. She was sleeping soundly from about 8:00 until 6am or so up until about a month ago. FOr the last 3 or 4 weeks our nights have been awful. She will go down at about 8:00-8:30 and then she'll be up around 1am or so. She then constantly wakes up almost every hour. I do feed her a bottle at some point but that doesn't always seem to help her sleep better. I have read so much of what everyone has posted about their 4 month old waking up during the night. I know a lot is probably happening: growth spurt, TEETHING, new foods, etc. From what I have read, these tough nights last for people maybe a couple of weeks. We are going on over a month almost. Last night it got so bad that I did EVERYTHING I could think of and by 4:30 I just let her cry until she fell asleep. I hated it. Any advice or ideas why she might be having such tough nights?
Hi, I have a 8 month old son and he did that around 4-5 months. Since he was starting fruit and oatmeal at 4 mos. I noticed he was gassy a lot more. So when he had his last bottle to go down I would give him some mylicon. It helped him. I dont know if you have tried that.
oooohhhh... the memories. My daughter had Colic... Something I do not wish on any mom or baby. I had to shake her and bounce her and walk her for HOURS at a time. Finally, what helped the most, was putting her in a swing, and I had an older one that you had to wind every 7 minutes. I would get up to her wimpering about every 8 minutes through the night, but she would sleep in that swing. Her little tummy just wouldn't settle if she was still. We good days, bad days, and there was ALWAYS a certian time of day that she was worse than others.
I'm not diagnosing... I'm just suggesting to try and bounce your baby a little more, try and take her for rides, put her in her carseat on the dryer while it's going... There were times that I'd bounce mine so much I thought I was hurting her.... that wasn't so, she'd start crying if I stopped. Her belches would be SO STINKY when they'd finally come out. As Colic is just a bad gas buildup, there wasn't an issue with diaper filling - she did that VERY WELL! haha
She is probably teething. Have you tried massaging her gums with your finger to see if you feel any new teeth trying to poke through? She probably has multiple teeth trying to break through. I have an 8 month old. A lot of nights he just wants to be near Mom & Dad for warmth or comfort. Do you let her sleep in the bed with you & your husband?
Emily,
It wasn't one of my better moments as a mom, but when my Emily was about that age she kept waking up too. The pediatrician (who was also my best friends Dad) said to put her in the wind up swing in our bedroom and let her sleep in it. Now, it was an electric swing so it could go forever.
As long as she's in a good position and can breath well, you might try the swing chair.
Just know the sleepless nights don't last forever.
I have been there too. It is a real difficult time but you will make it through. I have a few suggestions I have two children and I did this with both of my children. First thing is to make sure that she is completly healthy no ear infections, no tummy troubles ect. If she is completely healthy and you know that she is dry,not hungry trun down the baby monitor and let her cry I know that it sounds horrible but it helps your stress level to be able to at least rest make sure and listen to make sure she is breathing. The other thing is when my daughter was about that age she began to do the same thing so I talked to my wise grandmother and she told me that she was hungry I began to tell her that the doctor said that she was not ready for solid foods and she said try this and see if you do not sleep at night put some rice or oatmeal cereal in her bottle with just a touch of kero syrup I did this for two nights and we were back on track sleeping the night through. I hope that this helps you.
Just so you know the syrup keeps the baby from getting bowel blockage.
I have two boys that are 4 and 5. When they were little they did the same thing. I read that I should not feed them because they are not really waking up to eat. (Even if they down a whole bottle) I read that they are just rolling over or readjusting and happen to wake up and are just trying to get back to sleep. I would go to them and let them know I was nearby but wouldn't pick them up. I would give them water. Which they hated. Once they realized that I wasn't going to pick them up or feed them they finally "learned" how to roll over look around to orient themselves as to where they were and then they would go back to sleep without intervention. It took about a week. Since then (about 4 months old) they have slept from 7:30pm to 7am every night. Unless of course someone is sick or something.
Good luck. It does take strength to do this, but it is very hard for mommies to stay up all night and day.
C.
This age is notorious for bad sleeping. It will pass. I promise. Basically, you have to do what you have to to get some sleep be it putting her in the rocker, next to you in bed, in a swing or whatever. Swaddling can be helpful too. I just read this article on it and thought it pretty well sums it up: http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/02/qa-rocking-baby.html
Hi Emily,
I am sorry you are having so much trouble with her sleeping. I know those sleepless nights can have such a toll on you and it really affects your whole entire day after a restless night.
I'm no expert on what will work best for your baby but I know what worked for mine and that was actually letting him sleep in his swing. I thought it would be something that would turn into a bad habit to break but at 6 mnths he was ready to sleep in his crib and he was only waking about once or twice a night by then.
I asked his pediatrician about it and they said it was perfectly fine to let them sleep in the swing as long as you are turning their head occasionally for them so they don't get flat head.
My son was sleeping in his swing from about 4 weeks to 6 mnths and I had NO problems whatsoever from a result of using it so much. We just had to buy alot of extra batteries. : )
It was truely a lifesaver!!
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.
~N.~
I went thru it also. Be patient. stay calm. as the person before said put some oatmeal in her bottle before she lays down. You dont want it to thick, but not to runny. I never tried the syrup but sounds good. Good luck
Princess
Have you checked her for ear infections??? My son at around 5 months old started waking up all the time at night. He was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old so I could not figure out what was wrong. We went to the doctor and they said he had fluid in his ears. Eventually he started getting ear infections five within 3 months so we had tubes put in when he was 10 months old. I could not believe the difference it made. You should probably go to your doctor and just have them check her ears. My son never ran a fever so the only way I knew something was wrong was that he wasn't sleeping.
