My dd is eight months old and has been sleeping through the night for many months now. She recently got her first cold and ear infection but is feeling much better now. She did not sleep very well when she was sick, but now that she is better, she is still waking up crying around 4:00AM every morning. She has also learned to pull herself up and gets stuck standing in her crib. We have been trying to let her cry it out a bit. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. My husband and I both work full time and, needless to say, are reaching the point of exhaustion! Help! We need words of advice. Why is this happening and what can we do to get her back on her lovely sleep schedule?
You already explained why she is doing it :). As babies learn new milestones thier sleep can be effected, If she is stuck letting her cry isn't going to help...she's still stuck, I would go in soothe her, tell her it's night night time and go out, if she is still upset a few minutes later, go in and repeat. She'll get back into her groove, you just have to understand that the best night sleeper will still have rough periods.
Hi B., We went through this with both of our kids. Our Dr. said that kids generally "forget" how to sleep around 9 months and again at 18 months and it proved true in our house. The ages were a couple months off, but in the general area. It was 2 to 4 weeks of h$##, depending on kid and time. We use the cry it out method and we all made it through it. I know it is hard to listen to, but I am under the impression that if you spend a lot of time with them in the middle of the night, they will adjust their schedules to spend that time with you, provided they aren't sick. I could always tell the difference in their cries.
Hope this helps, good luck.
This is going to sound harsh, but I wish someone would have told me this when I was a brand new mom... don't expect to have your child sleep through the night every night EVER until they are like 8. Maybe not even then. Seriously. My daughter was never a sleeper, and she didn't even sleep a 5 hr stretch until she was almost a year old. She is now 17 months and will have nights where she wakes and cries every two hours.
I think it's part of being a parent, not the best part. Consider yourself really lucky to have had such good sleep so far.
Try asking your caregiver to help show her how to get down. You can also work with her when you can, as well. Don't push her if she gets frustrated, just little bits each day, several times a day. Until she does figure out how to get down, go in and lay her back down. Letting her "cry it out" will just cause for frustration and sleepless nights. This is a common stage for a lot of little ones as they learn new skills they are just excited to practice them.
I know with my son it starts as being sick, then he's excited about being able to pull himself up and then it becomes a habit that takes a few nights to break and get back into schedule. I hate the cry it out method, but some times it has been the only thing that works. I only let it go for no more than 15 min and I am in the room comforting from a distance, not picking him up. It is exausting, but most of the time it does not last longer than three to four nights.
TEETH!! At that age the is the number one cause of sleep disruption they grow mainly at night and cause pain and pressure in sleep. Try giving her motrin or tylenol before bed or giving her a teething tablet when she wakes (they don't last as long). She will learn to lay back down from a standing position you just have to wait that out and let her figure it out. Colds and ear infections reared their ugly head during teething with both of mine due to excess mucus and slobber. I put a voice activated music box in the room too that went off if they stirred or fussed and it was soft and wound down after five minutes, that helped a lot to settle theirselves back in.
She may be hungry too, my daughter needed to eat once a night until she was almost a year old. Growth spurts they need extra calories. Maybe before you go to bed whenever you do, wake her gently and give her a bottle before bed or nurse again and change her and lay her back down so maybe she can make it until morning.
I have to respectfully disagree with the moms that say there is nothing you can do and that you can't expect kids to always sleep through the night until they're several years old. I have 3 little kids - 5, 3 & 19 months and they have all been sleeping through the night every night (with the exception of illness) since they were 7, 5 & 4 months respectively. They even sleep through teething. But it took some effort & sleep training to make that happen. I used the Ferber method - it is a totally common sense way to teach your kids how to soothe themselves to sleep and stay asleep without too much cry-it-out trauma. It does involve some crying - in short intervals, but teaches your child that you are always still there for them & they are not being abandoned. And it only took me a week or two to implement (the payback has been WELL worth the effort). I swear by this method. If you want details of how it works, message me & I'll fill you in. Or you can check out Ferber's book "How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems." There may be other ideas in there about what could be going on in your particular situation. Ferber is a sleep scientist & I feel like he really gets what is going on & has really good suggestions to help. Good luck! Let me know if you need any specific suggestions!
