Napping and Sleeping Problem

I know it may be hard, but he's shown you he can sleep through the night, so if you can let him cry it out a little that might help. I've found the book, Baby Wise, on sleeping to be very helpful. He might be teething. That may be waking him up. Is he drooling a lot more or a little stuffy? If you can get him to put himself to sleep without rocking that might help. There is no reason he shouldn't be a good sleeper all around, but every baby is different! Good luck!

My daughter is a good daytime and nighttime sleeper and most people I know have either good sleepers or bad sleepers overall. You said your son wakes up at 2AM for a feeding. Are you positive that he is hungry or is he nursing out of habit or for comfort. I know friends that have nursed on demand and it took forever for their kids to get in a consistent sleep routine. My daughter at 5 months would sleep from about 7:30-6:00 also, but would take 2- 2hour naps. I think good naps are key to good night sleeping. Over tired babies just don't sleep as well. Does he know how to soothe himself to sleep? Can you put him in bed awake and have him go to sleep on his own? Your son probably associates going to sleep with rocking and nursing. He should learn to fall asleep without any of these aides. It may involve letting him cry a little bit. I know not all people are O.K. with the CIO method, but personally I think it works great. I did a modified CIO (same thing but more gradual) and my daughter has slept through the night (10+ hours) since 2-3 months old. The sooner you do this the better, because good habits are hard to start as they get older and more opinionated. He may have some gas also, since he is getting used to solids. Try some Mylicon for a week or so and see if that helps. Good Luck.

I think that if you have someone rocking him during the day and he is taking his naps that he didn't before than there is your problem. His sleeping schedule has been disrupted by this and now your having him wake up and want to eat when he used to sleep.

Relatives mean well sometimes but, now by rocking him all the time during the day and him sleeping during the day that makes him more apt to want to wake up at night.

If you like him sleeping during the day then expect him to wake up at night for a while. Try putting him to bed later so it will ensure he is tired. Keep him busy from the time between his nap and bedtime so he will be tired.

Also, try putting the cereal in a bottle mixed with the milk instead of just straight cereal. It won't be as heavy or as hard to digest.

Hope this helps!

He is probably allergic to it.Switch to oats or give it a week or two of solids just too see.

I totally lucked out and have a good napper and good night time sleeper. I will say though that we have definately had bumps in the road. At 5 months she started waking up due to teething - I was the same as you - totally had been spoiled with sleeping through the night- at first I would go in and give her a binky turn on the sleep sheep -Noise machine etc. Basically replicated everything I did before she went to sleep for the night. After a month of that drama - I read the Ferber book and basically took away all of the crutches. Sounds to me like your liitle guy has associated falling asleep with eating and rocking - I would suggest reading Ferber - you may not like the idea of it - but everyone I know that has used it - has a happy child that sleeps well at night and during naps. I have not seen any trust issues developed by doing this method.

Can he roll over yet? If he does with ease -have you tried putting him to sleep on his stomach? That may help with the gas.

I tend to agree with a baby being a better day or night sleeper. I am a mother of 3 with my youngest being almost 11 months old. Typically babies change their routine if they are going through a growth spurt or there has been a change in the home of some kind.

Hi E.,

Sorry you aren't getting your sleep. He may be reacting to the rice cereal. You could try removing solids from his diet and starting again once he is six months. As for sleeping through the night...if he's still waking up and seems like he's in pain after removing rice from his diet he may need to see a doctor. It's possible that he is just off routine which is messing with his eating/sleeping cycle which messes with his metabolism and digestion. Many babies sleep well during the day and night so don't think you have to pick one. He should be having two long daytime naps (about 2 hours each) and possibly a short evening snooze (45 min to an hour).

He has no nutritional need for nighttime feedings. Make sure he is getting enough to eat during the day. If you continue to give him rice cereal make sure you aren't significantly decreasing the amount of breast milk or formula he is getting. Give him milk first and then offer him a few bites of rice cereal. Solids are just for practice until age one.

Hmm...what else...OH, before your in-laws were there did your baby get rocked to sleep? If not, this could be disrupting his sleeping routine. If so, you may want to stop and let him get himself to sleep. That way when he wakes in the middle of the night you can listen for a bit and see if he will go back to sleep on his own. Sometimes babies cry a little when they go through light sleep stages. They aren't fully awake and go right back to sleep in a few minutes. If he seems like he is in pain it is worth a visit to the doctor just to rule out the possibility of anything like sickness coming on. If the doc says he is fine then you will know it's either the solids or his routine is off or both.

I hope this was helpful and I wish you and your baby the best!

E.

Hi E., My son is 8mos now, and has gone through similar patterns with waking at night. Now it is easier to see that the reason is teething. He didn't sleep through the night till around 4mos, but now he is getting more teeth and has woken up around every hour at times. If we give him some tylenol before bed he sleeps much better, but we only do that if we know it's his teeth. (All of a sudden we'll see another one 'popping' through!). The rocking during the day could be a problem though, at this age. He'll get used to that, and then protest when your family isn't there to do that for him. (We learned that as well, and just limit the time that someone is rocking or the time that he is in the swing for calming).
It will get better, but there is most likely a simple reason and teething and/or nap schedules during the day can really affect the nighttime sleep! Good luck!

I am having a similar problem with my 5 month old. He has never slept throught he night,but since the rice cereal, he has been waking more often with gas. I have been giving him the Tummy Soother from Disney. It's all natural and helps with the gas. He isn't waking as often now.

My sons are 13 months old and they have been better sleepers in their 3rd-4th month than after they turned 5-mths-old. The teething started and it bothered them quite a lot. Hylands teething tablets helped a bit, although they still wake up at night. Also, eating solids actually helped my sons to sleep better, but that happened later, around 9-10 mths. I have to say, it surprises me that so many parents report that their kids sleep through the night at such an early age. As far as I know, it is normal and common for kids to wake up at night for up to 2 years of age. All kids are different and some are happy campers, but the waking up is due not only to hunger or "dependency" on rocking, as some other posts suggest -- this is due to immaturity of their system, first digestive, and then teething, and the need for emotional reassurance. I am a psychologist in training, and find it scary how many people think that Cry-It-Out solution is acceptable. It is damaging, ABUSIVE, and unhealthy for kids. There has been research about it done by Harvard university and it shows that kids who were not attended to when crying develop fears and phobias in later time.
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNee...
The concept that kids have to console themselves is invented by people who either do not have or do not love kids. It is simply cruel and abusive. And it terrifies me that so many people are so easily believing that it "is good for the kids" to be left alone to cry for hours, vomit and put themselves back to sleep. It is against any common sense: how would you feel if you had a pain, discomfort or a need that you cannot fulfill and you are left to cry without support?!?! And the research shows that it has damaging, long-lasting effects.
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNee...
It is not about the parents convenience, it is ABOUT kids health and well-being!

Hi E.,
My 6 1/2 mos. old is the king of 20 minute daytime naps or skipping them all together. On occassion he'll take a long nap, which always surprises me. Last night he ate at 10:45pm, 1:30am, 6:30am and again at 8:30am. A few nights ago he had 7, 8 and 11 hrs. between feedings at night. I track his feeding/sleeping deligently. I don't see any correlation in my 'lil guy between bad napping during the day and good sleep at night or vice versa. I've given up guessing and just go with the flow! My pediatrician says that's all normal!! I do swear when my in-laws are around he cries around my mother-in-law for no apparent reason (he typically only cries for the usual reasons) and makes a big fuss. Everyone else knows he's a mellow little dude the in-laws think he's a big fuss monster! Best of luck!

oops!! I responded to the wrong post!!

Hello E.,
My daughter did the same thing at about the same age. I got 1 full month of 8-8 nights, I was in heaven. Then it stopped. Your son could be going through a growth spurt (sp) or teething. I realized at that point to not plan on ever sleeping through the night again =o) She did start sleeping through the night at 11 months. I moved her bed time up from 8pm to 7 pm and she started sleeping all night (7-7 or 7:30). My daughter started off as a horrible sleeper in generally, and now she consistently takes great naps and has slept great at night for a couple months.
My best advice (and I hope I'm reminded of this when I have our next one) don't stress over it. Accept that you won't be sleeping well for some time. I stressed about naps, about sleeping through the night, etc and it worked itself out on it's own. Looking back now, I wish I would have just enjoyed the time with my UN-mobile baby =o)
Lastly, if you are planning to sleep train, I wouldn't start it until 6 months. Actually, I wouldn't start it until right before they learn to sit up on their own. Once my daughter learned so sit up, she pull herself up on the crib and then couldn't get herself back down. So she would be crying, and I would be waiting to see if she was going to fall asleep, I would go in and she would be exhausted and hanging on for dear life on the edge of the crib (inside, not like she was pulling herself over the side or anything).
Best of luck!

Hi E.,
I always recommend the book The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems because both of my kids have been good day and night time sleepers since they were about 3 months. So I know it works. The book has a huge section on identifying why your baby isn't sleeping as well as how to get him to sleep better. It seems to me that your son needs to be napping longer during the day, and there is a routine in the book you can use a guideline. Basically, according to the book, he should be on a 4 hour feeding and napping schedule. That has such a positive impact on sleeping overall. The book also talks about feeding your baby more during the day if he wakes during the night to feed. She recommends a "dream feed" where you feed the baby around 10 pm without actually waking him. Trying some or all of these things may help you to determine if he has digestive issues or gas, but I'm guessing that if he goes back to sleep easily it is probably not gas because you usually have to do something about the gas (drops, bicycling his legs, etc) to get the baby relaxed enough to go back to sleep. Keep in mind there are lots of developmental strides that occur around 4-6 months (rolling, sitting, etc) that can interfere with sleep, too.
Good luck whatever you try,
C.

A good book on this subject is the No-Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley. As a Therapist, I've seen too many children psychologically damaged by "crying it out". Emotional needs are just as important as physical needs. Your baby needs to know he can trust you. Please don't sever the bond you've formed.
Babies go through phases. Yes, you did get spoiled by him sleeping through the night. Congrats! At his age, he still needs to feed often. It's quite possible that he's teething and that's what's keeping him up. Is he exhibiting teething signs? If so, homeopathic teething tablets and/or Tylenol can help. Gripe Water is MUCH better for gas and doesn't have side effects. At 5 months, my son also started screaming every hour - it did turn out to be teething.
Most children still wake up every night through age 3 and even 4 years old. Pantley's book helped many parents learn how to lovingly re-condition their children and how to teach them to self-sooth.

I am a first time Mom too and my daughter is 2 now. He is probaly going through a growth spurt and that will disrupt his sleep. I usually lasted about a week with my daughter and it happens about every 3-4 months. Good luck

Any time a routine has been disrupted intentionally or not, the lil' one's feel the impact. Granted, day to day routines do vary on occasion, but I am a firm believer the more one can be consistent, the better for the entire family. As an educator and OT, consistency and follow thru are key for any age of child. Why? Because numerous studies let alone experienced parents will tell you that consistency, routine, and follow thru will deter many behavioral issues or changes in children. I would go back to your routine as soon as possible. It may take a few days for your lil' one to readjust, yet as I have found with my 18 month old son, they are quite adaptable when given the opportunity. Also, any time a child goes thru a developmental change their lil' bodies will feel the impact; therefore, disruption to there sleep and eating patterns. And you will find, just when you think you understand your lil' one's behaviors, they change and throw you for a loop : ) but enjoy, because they too are just trying to figure out their world and well, change is all part of the process. Enjoy and good luck!

Hi E.,
I would consult with your ped.doc about this b/c it could be the rice cereal that may be causing gas pain. He may have issues with lactose or other ingrediants in the cereal. Even a 2hr nap should not cause disstress at night. Feeding once even(maybe twice) is normal at this age. Also,it's not mentioned, if you're nursing, you may be eating something that bothers his system. This occured with all three of my kids. If bottle fed, talk to your ped. and try a different formula. My second child could not have milk (lactose) base formula when switched over. In any case, your are your own detective and your child's advocate. Don't give up and keep searching for the answer, that's what I did. Best wishes for the answer!

I am sure other mom's have said this already, but he is probably teething. My son had the same behavior when he started cutting his uppers.
Don't worry, it is only temporary, you have already taught him to sleep through the night.
As for day naps, get him back on his schedule. The sooner you get him sleeping for his day naps, he will do better at night.
I am not big on medications, but I give my son some tylenol before bed to help get him through the night. Some mom's give motrin because that lasts longer, but that absolutely did not work for us. He was in excruciating pain and I had to give him tylenol instead (thanks to the doc).
So don't worry, you are doing everything right!

I don't know how to fix the sleep problem but can say that my daughter is a good sleeper in both day and night so I don't believe that you are limited to only having one or the other. I've also been told that the better they sleep during the day, the better they sleep during the night and this has been true for me - but I'm not sure when this adage stops - I'm pretty sure it's not at 5 months, though.

I must say, though, that I am pretty horrified at the number of people that still believe in the cry it out method. I'm glad to see some professionals write and cite studies showing its harmful effects.

My daughter breastfeeds on demand, sleeps in bed with me (with common sense precautions) and sleeps wonderfully, thus far (she's 3 months old). If and when she starts to have sleep problems, I plan to tend to her needs, not ignore them.

Just my two cents...