My 5 mos. old has a lovely habit of waking up somewhere between 12-1 on a daily basis, she is not hungry, nor does she need to eat at this time (we have tried in the past only to have her eat an ounce or 2 - so that's not it). It is brutal when we get up at 5 am for work etc. She will be up for about 30-45 minutes and is difficult to calm down. we let her cry one day - she did for an hour at 2 am before giving it up. Now that we havea long weekend we are going to try that again. any other suggestions? We did not have to do much sleep training at all with our son so any suggestions are appreciated
So I will start the year off with some humor as to what the problem truly was... I feel horrible, but it turns out my daughter was cold- yes it was that simple and makes sense as to why it was always about the same time. It was probably just enough time for the house too cool after turning the thermostat down for the night, it also explains why my husband could soothe her and i couldn't - he is naturally very warm and I am not. She now sleeps in her jammies and a fleece sleep sack, beforehand it was one or the other. I happened to figure it out when she got really fussy one night and Calmed as soon as I put a blanket around her.... She sleeps much better, unfortunately, we had broken the 12 am feeding and that one has returned. On to the next challenge.
I think if that is the only time she is waking up that is pretty good for 5 months old. Children that young are not ready to sleep through the night yet.
LK,
You don't mention anything about how you get her to sleep for the night? Perhaps she has an association with walking, rocking, nursing/eating to get to sleep? If so, then it may be that when she wakes at night she doesn't have "it" to help her get to sleep.
We have found that a sound machine really helps our LO sleep better. It seems like the noise reassures him that he's not alone. If nothing else, I'd advise trying NOT to pick her up, keep the lights low, no talking, just shushing, rubbing her back and reassuring her that you're there. Each night, try to do a little less.
I have been in sleep deprivation hell and tried the crying it out with my older children. It is another method to letting the child figure it out that they simply need to "roll over and go back to sleep". For us, we were willing to reassure as often as needed to get them to sleep on their own. We also did bump up the bedtime, but that didn't work either. For our kids, it seems that they just needed to mature and get reassured.
Regardless of what "method" you choose, be consistent.
I'm sorry I don't have a weekend fix for you! We read several books, tried multiple methods and felt our kids just needed more time.
Good luck.
Hi LK.
I love the weisbluth book, but is she only getting up the one time? That is really good for 5 months and if she is breast fed. My 8 month old goes down at 6:30, gets up to eat at 2 am, and then up at 6 or 6:30 for the day.
Believe it or not, it could be teething. I know it is a bit early, but my 2nd daughter got her first 2 teeth before her 4 month well visit. If you are comfortable with it, try giving her some Tylenol the next time she wakes up at that hour and see if it helps. If it does, I think teething is the problem. If it doesn't, no harm done by one dose of medicine.
Best of luck! Merry Christmas!!
My friend swears by the happy sleep/baby book mentioned by someone else. I did not know about the book, but i definitely dont believe anyone should just "let them cry it out". They need to feel safe and secure. It just might be that she just needs that little bit of bottle to get her back to sleep. Or maybe just some reassurance that you are there. I tried a heavier blanket (not necessarily warmer but literally heavier, my mom knitted her a blanket and it weighed alot but she was never too hot) and when she would wake at night, i would just wrap her a little more snuggly with this heavy blanket, a rub on the back, and she would fall back to sleep. Good luck. Just take your time and find what works right for your daughter.
I was obsessively charting my son's sleep b/c his sleeping through the night was messing with my milk supply. I noticed that if I intentionally pulled his bed-time back (b/4 9:30pm), he would wake up at least one time during the night. Thusly, if I put him to bed after 9:30pm, he would often sleep until 5am or so. This may be contrary to many mommy's advice, but that is what I observed.
We used to have the same problem with our son, only it was 2am. I personally am not a fan of the cry it out. If you normally don't let her cry and then all of a sudden one night you let her go for an hour before responding. That is probably pretty confusing to her. After we cut his feeding down to nothing (decreasing 1 oz every 3 days) we would gradually let him cry a little longer. We always responded told him it was OK and it's time to sleep. We'd let him go 10 mins a couple nights in between checking on him, then 15. But we never got him out of his crib. Just some nice words and pats on the back. I know Ferber.....I just couldn't do it. It took a couple weeks, but it worked. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth - it will be exceptionally helpful for both you and your child!
