Squirmy Daughter Waking Herself up at Night

My Mom says that they squash themselves up against the sides for comfort. My daughter does this too. I have often found her with feet and hands sticking out in the air. Eight months is plenty old enough that if she wiggles into a spot...she most likely can wiggle back out.
Let her be....and get some sleep!!

Margaret :)

Oh, BTW, my kiddo is two now and still does it. I found her one morning with both legs fully out of the crib....and she was sound asleep.

She will be fine. Remember she spent 9 months inside of you all squished up against your sides!

Yes bumpers are great. You may also want to roll up some towels and tape them so she can also use these up against the sides of the crib... Infants really like to sleep with their heads squished up against a bumper. I would leave her and let her learn to put herself back to sleep, sometimes babies, loose their binkies in their beds, so leave a few of them around her mattress so she can reach one during the night.
I love that Margarets child was asleep with her legs hanging out of the bed.. classic!..

when my first child was born, i was given a gift that initially i thought would be worthless- i t was springs that replaced the rollers on the baby bed legs. they were the BEST thing! As the baby turns and rolls over in their sleep, the bed would gently rock- thus rocking the baby back to sleep. if the baby did awaken, the springs allowed me to gently rock the crib while patting baby on the back - thus making them feek assured that i was there without having to pick-up baby, which often wakes them up more, or gets them in the habit of wanting to be picked up all nite.

I think the springs can still be purchased at Babies r us - and cost about $30 for the set of 4 - but they are sooo worth it!

even as my kids grew older and began standing in the crib - they gained great balance because they would try to walk in the rocking bed - they would laugh and thought it to be great fun! Also at a youg age they figured out that the the rocking motion would make the crib mobile move - so they would wiggle even more. i thought this was a great teacher of cause and effect - even for a baby.

Both my kids ended up sticking arms and legs between the bed slats too while they slept. I knew the day would eventually come when they would get "stuck" because they were getting older and bigger. As "that day" grew closer - i just kept liquid dish soap handy. One day you will hear that "cry" and you will know what has happened- so just squirt the soap on the limb that is caught - and it will slide right out!

about Me - a 54 yr old working mom of two now grown kids. Married 31 years.

Let her be. If she screams or moans or babbles let her. If she screams for too long then you'll know its time to go in there. My daughter is almost 9 months and has been doing all this since she first figured out she could move. We never did the swaddle thing so it started early for us. We have her on a video monitor so I could see what she was doing and there's only been once where she had her leg wedged so she couldn't get it out of the slat. And then she slept with it that way for several hours before she finally got too annoyed and had to tell Momma about it. If you keep going in there every time she's going to learn some bad habits and you will be spending even less time in la la land.

Good luck!
Jen
http://www.mommysjoy.com

Hi S., My daughter went through the same thing at 7 or 8 months. It was exhausting for me but she was over it within a month and a half or so. All phases pass. I wish I could offer advice. I wouldn't swaddle her at this point though. Hope you start getting some sleep soon.

My youngest is 9months, I had her sleeping through the night by 4 in her crib, then 4 1/2 same thing!It was teething! I would give her some teething tablets (Hylands brand) and rub some oral gel on her gums. But then I spoiled her and brought her to bed with me and breastfed her, so now trying to get her back to her bed again. She got her bottom two, and now the top two are coming! Babies are so fun!

Both of my girls who were great sleepers early on went through a phase at about 8 months where they suddenly woke up again numerous times a night. Once they begin to be mobile, they wake themselves up moving around. If she isn't crying, I would leave her alone in her room. If she is crying, keep doing what you're doing and rest assured that it isn't likely to last too long, though it can be really frustrating while you're going sleepless again. Also, it isn't recommended to use bumpers for older babies because they could stand on them, which could make them more prone to going head first over the side of the crib since they're so top heavy! (Here's the AAP page on crib safety: http://www.aap.org/family/inffurn.htm.) Good luck.

I am a little confused. Is she waking up?

If she is not waking up, I would not worry about it. My daughter has moved all over the bed since she started rolling over at 4 months. It is a little nerve racking.

My daughter has always wedged herself in a corner or hugged her bumpers. Once I figured out she was not suffocating, I could sleep better. I occasionally did go check on her but she was always ok.

I would NOT go back to swaddling. B/c she is so mobile that could be very dangerous.

Back to swaddling sounds like a great idea!

I completely understand. My daughter (10 months) is going through the same thing. She wakes up in the middle of the night and has moved into some strange position,usually in the corner. If she isn't crying then leave her. Get some sleep. My daughter will straighten herself out and go to sleep. She taught herself how to put her pacifier in her own mouth when she was about 4-5 months. What I do is I try to put her to sleep without her pacifier and then put the pacifier close to her so in case she wakes up which she does. She knows where to find and put herself back to sleep. It is getting better. She isn't doing it so often. I agree with everyone and it is a stage. Hopefully she will grow out of it soon.

We kept crib bumbers on the bed and let our son sleep however he liked. Of course we made sure he had a sleep sack on or footie pj's b/c it was winter in west TX at the time. He was a big baby, but he preferred to sleep curled up in the corner- that was his comfort. As first-time parents, we often worried about it, but he loved it ! He'd wake up when we moved him back to the center and move himself back to the corner.

I say let her put herself back to sleep and you get some rest yourself.

I had the same problem with my 15 months daughter, what i did since 2 months ago, was to put a matress on the floor and this was the end of the problem!

My advice? 1. Remove the bumper (it is more of a smothering hazard than her being up against the slats) 2. Let her teach herself how to get back to sleep... right now, you are teaching her to only fall asleep ONE way: in a certain position, with a pacifier, etc.

I know that the face up against the side of the bed looks uncomfortable and scares you - my daughter would have "slat face" when she woke up but babies totally take care of themselves... if she is uncomfortable in that position, she will move! I would also make sure that she is warm enough at night and not use a blanket until she stops squirming so much. Our daughter is such a mover that I wrote a song "Squirmy the Wormy" about her... and I used to get all upset thinking that she was going to hurt herself or something but a friend gave me the same advice I am giving you... and now she sleeps fine!

blessing,
stacy

My son had this same issue for awhile. I had taken the crib bumpers off because I had heard that for babies becoming more mobile, they can use that to step on to try to get out of the crib. When my son was waking himself up over and over at night, I put the bumpers back on and it helped a lot. Eventually what I did was I would wait it out. Usually he would whimper or whine for a few minutes, then get back to sleep on his own. I would peek in to make sure he didn't have a leg or arm caught in one of the slats, but I would make sure he didn't see or hear me. I would only go in his room and move him or comfort him if he began full-on crying that lasted for more than just a few minutes. It seemed to be just a phase because he is now 11 months old and does just fine at night again. I think that once your 8 month old figures out how to be more mobile and get themselves out of predicaments like getting stuck, things will settle back down. I wouldn't rush in immediately though because it's important for your little one to learn how to get themselves unstuck, or how to get out of positions they don't like.

Hi, Im not sure if this will help your situation, but I have a 16 month old that has never slept all night (still doesnt) but when he got old enough to hold his bottle, i'd fill up 4 full baby bottles. juice, milk, whatever he likes to drink. I give him one when he goes to bed & after he falls asleep I lined the other 3 up in the bed along the rails. When he wakes up he moves around & cries until he finds one of his bottles. Grabs the bottle & goes back to sleep. He sleeps in the room with us & after a few minutes of crying if he hasnt grabbed a bottle i just tell him get your ba-ba & he finds it & he's off to sleeping again. As for the moving around, just let her do it (they do anyway) & try to ignore it & get you some rest :)
My grandbaby won't stay in the middle of her bed, she sleeps at the end of her crib everynite. Thats where she like to curl up.
Best wishes!