6.5 Month Old Sleeping Troubles

Both of my daughters did the same thing! Talk about frustrating! The Tylenol does not always relieve teething symptoms to their fullest. It's like a headache, sometimes it cures it, sometimes it just makes it better. I used Orajel and it was liquid gold! Not the baby orajel. My pediatrician instructed me to get max strength orajel (same % of med as baby and much cheaper). This is very effective! Before laying your babe in the crib, place a small drop on your finger and rub it on his gum where the tooth is. You should see relief. If he wakes up, try the orajel (if it isn't feeding time). If the problem is solved immediately, it's his teeth.

Good luck to you, I hope you get your nights back soon!

Hi A.,
Make sure you are giving your baby a nice warm bath before bed (J&J lavender/chamomile soap is really good). Also, classical music, teething medicine for gums,bed time stories or nice childrens program can help.

All the Best!

I hate to say it, but it's time to sleep train. By rocking/nursing him to sleep, you aren't letting him self-sooth.

Check out The "No Cry Sleep Solution." Basically what you need to start doing is rocking/nursing him till he is ALMOST asleep, and then put him in the crib. If he puts up a fuss, you try and try again until he willingly goes down by himself. It should take some time, but after a week or so, he should get the idea and be able to put himself to sleep. Then, when he wakes in the middle of the night, you shouldn't have to help him go back to sleep.

And btw, the most important time to not nurse him to sleep is at the beginning of the night. How they fall asleep at the start of the night determines how the rest of the night will go. Think of it this way, have you ever fallen asleep somewhere and woken up startled about where you are? And then not been able to go back to sleep?

hi A., my daughter was teething at 6m and did the samething and now she is 9mons and is doing it again becuz of her 2 front teeth on top, this never fails me i will rock her or lay down with her til she goes to sleep and i give her some nighttime baby orel gel she hates when i stick my finger or a q-tip withthe gel in her mouth so i rub a lil orel gel on the nipple of her bottle and she is out for the night...plus since your breastfeeding try pumping a bottle for when he wakes up at nite putt some cereal in it and you can even put the orelgel on the nip and soon when your son gets 9months you can and some doctors recommend that you give them water so the dont get milk decay hope this helps good luck soon he'll be fat a sleep with no problem!

Hi A.!
He really has to learn to fall asleep on his own without you rocking him! You need to put him in the crib tired but not asleep. He has to learn to soothe himself! Also, he may be waking to nurse just b/c he wakes and can't put himself back to sleep any other way! I can't believe that at 6.5 months old he needs to eat during the night. He should be getting enough during the day to make it all night! My kids were sleeping all night with no feedings by 8 weeks old! I think you need to start working on self soothing and you won't have to devote your entire evening to helping him sleep. You may also be able to sleep all night! By this age he has learned if he cies you will come and it is going to take some work and some crying for him to learn otherwise this pattern will just continue!

Good Luck!
L.

I highly recommend these resources....

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp

"Distressed Babies Need to be Held"
http://www.mothering.com/crying-comfort-distressed-babies...

http://www.mothering.com/doesnt-breast-work-anymore

"Babywise Advice Linked to Dehydration, Failure to Thrive"
http://www.ezzo.info/Aney/aneyaap.htm

I also highly recommend using a lambskin specifically designed for baby-use (they are real lambskin but can be laundered as needed).

http://www.sheepskintown.com/baby-sheepskin-c-79.html

http://www.kiwi-sheepskins.com/detail.asp?product_id=BA001

http://www.sheepskinfurs.com/27-baby-lambskins.html

You might also find some help by taking a look at this book, which is probably in your local public library (or at least available through inter-library loan)...

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Bed-Concept-Child-Rearing/dp...

Best wishes,
J.

Actually this sounds like it could be an ear infection. Has he had one before. I am not advocating that there is something wrong but with teething tylenol and an soothing routine should help and he shouldn't be waking up every 30 minutes unless something more is bothering him. Does he pull at all at his ears? Sometimes that is a sign but not always. I'd have him checked out if it continues. Good luck

I too nursed my son. and Yes they do wake for feedings, and all kids are different. So on to the real challenge.

Teething is very painful, the fact that you said when you pick him up he falls right to sleep, means that maybe the pressure is off and enough pain relief for him to be able to sleep.

He might also be growing, I noticed that my son would wake in the middle of the night for a peroid of two weeks here and there.

And somtimes there is no reason or any tangable reason for them to wake.

If he is running a small fever it could be an ear infection. As my sons's worst night was when he had a double ear infection.

Good luck and I hope this soon passes.

Teething is very uncomfortable and disturbs the rest of even the "best sleeper." My daughter slept through the night from the time she came home from the hospital until she began teething. Then it was a month or so of fitful sleep. Now she's back to sleeping long stretches.

Perhaps slow down with the solids, he's fine without them until 9-12 months since you breastfeed.

This is my approach and mindset:

1. Your son will outgrow this phase, because that's just what it is. Responding to him is kind parenting. Parenting sometimes extends into the nighttime hours.

2. Feeding him in the middle of the night is fine and normal, especially since you breastfeed. Breastfeeding is a comfort and appropriate.

3. Our culture's emphasis on pre-mature self-soothing is absurd. Self-soothing is a developmental milestone and doesn't happen as an infant, but as a toddler/preschooler. Shutting down emotionally does not equal self-soothing.

I comforted, nursed and responded to my son while he was an infant and toddler. As a preschooler, he is confident and loving. He does not need rocking or nursing to sleep. As long as we follow his bedtime routine and he didn't nap a lot during the day, he goes to sleep just fine.

My advice: lovingly support your son through this phase. You're not doing anything wrong by responding to him. You won't ruin him by doing this, which is implied by other posters.

A.,

I am sorry that your son is crying so frequently at night and I don't know if my advice will help you, because perhaps your situation is different. But my daughter started waking up multiple times throughout the night at about the same time ~6.5 months. She actually got her first 2 teeth at 4 months and didn't really have the same waking frequency through that process. However, I thought that perhaps she was just teething or was hungry or had tummy troubles or something. This went on for a couple of weeks and it seemed that mine & my husbands attempts to soothe her every time she woke up were getting less effective (and we were bringing her to bed w/ us but still she would cry unless she was nursing).

Then, I read the book 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.' I learned a bit more about the stages that babies (and children) go through and how important it is to help them sleep at the proper times to support their internal clocks. (Let me mention that we also had a bear of a time getting her to take naps during the day unless one of us was holding her.) So, I decided to give it a shot. Basically, we would let her cry for up to 1 hour during her naptimes and as long as it would take at night. Fortunately, we really didn't have to test the limits. We found that she would cry for a few minutes at night and then fall back asleep. Her first naptime, she cried for the full hour and then we went to her and soothed her and tried again at the next nap session - and she cried for about 1 minute and then fell asleep. Now, she naps on a regular schedule, goes to bed a bit earlier than she used to, and sleeps through the night except for 1 nightime feeding that happens between 4-5am.

She also seems much happier and energetic during her awake time!

I hope that this helps but if not, I hope that you find a good solution that works for you and your son!

Hi A.,

It might be that your son is teething, but tylenol and teething drops might help but won't necessarily make the pain go away. Also, unless he has a fever of over 101 F, it's not a great idea to give tylenol to a child under a year old (despite what your ped. may have told you) -- I only realized this after having given tylenol to my daughter after shots, for teething, etc.

It might also be that he's about to accomplish some big developmental milestone, either physical (crawling? rolling over?) or mental.

If it's either teething or some developmental phase, the good news is that it should resolve itself soon.

Have you have any changes in your lives as a family recently? Gone on any trips? Babies can really pick up on stress. My daughter slept a really good (5-7 hour stretch) from when she was 6 wks. old to about 3 mos. and then she started waking up every 2-3 hrs. Right around this time, we were headed to visit my parents for over a week (and I think she needed us to move her 10 PM bedtime to more like 7). So trips, remodeling, or other sources of stress/change in your life can affect your baby (and his sleep!).

We did a lot of unintentional co-sleeping while my daughter was going through this (she ultimately started sleeping 12 hrs. straight around 10 mos.), and eventually she was only waking up twice (and then once). When she was around 8 mos., we just ignored her 8-9 PM wake up and she did fine. Then around 9.5 mos., we ignored her in the wee hours of the morning. But I know what you mean about crying it out. And it works well for some babies (and some parents) and not others.

So, I guess I would suggest that you stick to your routine and do your best and hope that things will get back to normal soon. Whatever happens, good luck. Try to stay calm -- you're doing a great job!

Best,
R.