Hi Mamas,
I have been on here before asking help for sleep issues and always get such great feedback - so here I am again. My 5 month old has been doing great with sleeping for the last month and a half or so. She will nurse around 8pm and sleep until about 8am. I know, it's a miracle! Well, she got sick and of course that disrupted her sleep - terrible runny nose. She's a pacifier girl so it was hard for her to breathe with the paci, hence the sleeping got messed up, etc. We also went to the mountains for a few days and actually she did fairly well up there, waking about 2x a night and back to sleep immediately with the paci. The first night we got home she slept all the way through the night, not a fuss. The second night she woke up about twice and the paci put her back to sleep. Last night she was crying about an hour after I put her to bed and basically every hour to two hours after that. I finally nursed her because I thought maybe she was hungry, and she sort of nursed, but that was it. She went all night every hour to two hours. I am wondering if she could be teething and, if so, if I should be giving her Tylenol? However, when I pick her up to rock her, which I finally resorted to, she is moving her legs a ton like maybe she is having some kind of gas pains? Her naps yesterday were great... I'm just so tired and confused and wondering if anyone's kids have done this - champion sleepers and suddenly all kinds of night waking.
Any advice you can give would be great!
By the way, we have a very consistent night routine (same routine for months now), she can fall asleep on her own (well, with the paci), she doesn't seem too warm or cold, her naps are good (1 1/2 - 2 hours twice a day, with a catnap sometimes in the evening)
**update -- thank you, Tina, for the Motrin suggestion! Also, today she woke up screaming from her morning nap and within the next two hours had three huge poops. Could the sleeping problems be related to pooping? Has that happened to any of you?
You said that she had a cold and then you went to the mountains. Could she possibly have an ear infection? My daughter who is the same age as yours just got over one and I had no idea. She wasn't running a fever at all. The only thing was she wasn't sleeping through the night and had case of bronchitis. Sorry, just a suggestion.
Hi can't help you with the sleeping other than this too will pass and the next issue will come up. As far as teething pain, I would use Motrin instead of Tylenol because Tylenol only lasts 4 hours. Motrin lasts up to 8. We were told that in the ER and by our ped and it's worked great.
Hi A.,
My son had similar issues when he was teething, and as well with poops. He started getting his teeth at 4mos, and when he started having sleep issues, we used Tylenol as he was getting a lot of teeth at once. I would shy away from Motrin; it is harder on babies tummies than Tylenol at this age... can make their stomachs bleed. Even though it only works for 4hrs, it is worth not hurting their tummy. (Esp if you have to give it every day for awhile). As for poops, ours started waking up in the middle of the night crying, very unusual for him.... and it was b/c he had pooped his pants. After starting solids their digestion changes and he started pooping more when going down for naps/or night. Just be in tune with her cries and you'll figure out what is going on! Good luck!
First let me say I don't think you can give a baby that young motrin. I think only tylenol is safe. Ask your doctor! And about the sleep, take the baby to the pediatrition to see if she has ear infections. My son had a lot of ear problems and that's how I always knew was that he woke up a TON at night. Everytime he slept bad I took him in and sure enough, infection! It hurts them worse at night cause they are laying down for so long. Good luck! S.
I feel like somewhat of a poop expert. My daughter was constipated for the first year + of her life. Poop would definitely determine how she slept and for how long. Especially naps. We decided she had a hard time pooping but once she was in bed she was relaxed and would go.
Best of luck and remember she's only 5 months old. My daughter didn't start sleeping though the night until 11 months...you are lucky!
C.
I am going through the same thing with my 7 month old and I have found solution that works for us and maybe it will work for you and it is drug free! A little background. My daughter has not pooped in the night since she was a month old and has always slept well going right back to sleep if she did wake up. Starting in January her sleep started to fall apart which corresponded with teeth and also learning to sit up. We had some rough night buts muddled through, it was more going to sleep than waking up during the night and if she did wake up allowing her to sleep with us fixed it. After she cut her bottom teeth we got 2 weeks off and then it fell apart again. She started waking up with a poopy diaper, going to sleep may or may not have been an issue but she started waking up at 11pm and then every 30mins until about 1am and then staying awake for a couple of hours etc etc. She would look wide awake and be thrashing wildly arms and legs going. I thought the same thing as you maybe she was having poop issues or maybe she was sleeping more lightly and was aware her diaper was wet and was complaining about that. 3 nights ago instead of just trying to get her to go back to sleep while sleeping myself I decided to actually watch her. It was 11.30pm she was waving her arms and legs about groaning and I was patting her back and soothing her, she had the paci but it did no good. At one point she covered her eyes and was rubbing her eyes so I put my hand over her eyes and she held my hand against her eyes with both hands (too cute). At that point I realized that she wanted to be asleep but the arms and legs kept going. She desperately wanted to be asleep but it was like she was having an out of body experience. Then she started to full on cry becuase she was exhausted I think. Suddenly I was reminded of something I read before she was born about how newborns can be afraid of their own arms etc and that is one reason to swaddle them. I picked her up grabbed a blanket and swaddled her tightly I barely got her back into the crib before she was asleep. This never crossed my mind before becuase she hated being swaddled when she was younger.
2 nights ago when she woke up at 11.30pm I picked her up swaddled her nursed her put her down and she went back to sleep until 4.30am. Last night she was having a tough time getting to sleep at 7.30pm so I swaddled her she was out before I put her down stayed asleep until 4.30am and then i fed her and re-swaddled her and she was asleep again until 7am.
I feel glad to have found something that will help her sleep that isn't tylenol. Don't get me wrong I think they need tylenol when they have a fever from teething and are actually in pain but when I watched her that night for over an hour she was not in pain. Her brain was just going 19 to the dozen.
I hope this works for you. It has been a life saver for my husband and me this week!
Good luck!
This pattern has happened to us. My daughter was an all night sleeper from 2 months. Thenshe started to fuss some about an hour after being put down and didn't seem to soothe very well. For us it was a stage. We rode it out an sometimes she would let out a little cry and go right back to sleep. Other times we had to rock or otherwise attempt to soothe her. I eneded up giving her Mylacon for gas. Also she is teething now, with teeth surfacing. If there is a lot of saliva in the bed when she wakes we give her Oragel Nighttime. It numbs and has pain reliever. Hope this can help. Hang in there she might just be having a growth spurt.
