Waking at Night - Elkridge,MD

Not all kids follow what other kids do so yes she could be having a growth spurt. Is she truly hungry or is she waking for comfort. Mine didn't stop night feedings until 10 months and then she would just wake for some reassurance from one of us. Is she screaming or just fussing? Unless she's wailing her head off try giving her a few minutes to see if she calms and puts herself back to sleep. Does she have something to cuddle with? At this age it should be ok to give her a stuffed animal or blanket to hold onto for comfort. For us when she just needed some reassurance I would go in and rock her for 1-2 mintues and put her back in bed still awake but drowsy. Try not to talk too much but if you do say things like "you need to go back to sleep".

Probably a growth spurt and possibly teething (rule out ear infection). Every child is different. Is she on solids now? A baby should be able to sleep the 10 hours as you've said. I would not give into to feeding her at 12:30 or 4:30 if she has eaten the night before. How much is she eating? If she wakes up crying definitely check on her to make sure nothing is wrong and give her a pacifier if she uses one etc. Since she is getting older, it could be an adjustment for her to get back into a normal pattern. If she hasn't soaked through her diaper, isn't running a fever, pulling at her ear (sign of an ear infection) or is not too hot or cold (room temperature) then she should be able to self soothe. Of course keep checking on her to be sure she is ok. My son who just turned 8 months yesterday had a few of these periods and I "chalked" it up to growth spurt etc.. If she doesn't settle down back into a longer sleep schedule at night I would have the doctor check her ears. Babies don't always pull at their ears or run fevers to have an ear infection and they do have a disrupted sleep pattern and wake frequently if this is the case. Happened with my kids from time to time.

I have found that if a child (older than 5 or 6 months) is waking at the same time every night that it is just a bad habit. If they are teething or going through a growth spurt they usually wake up at different times. Unfortunately it doesn't take long for a bad habit to form in little kids. It usually only took two times and then they keep doing it until you train them not to. Use whatever method you want to get her to get back to sleep. I would recommend that you don't pick her up. I have sat right next to the crib until mine fell back asleep. Be forewarned that it will take some time. It would be great if it only took two nights to get rid of the habit:)

I honestly had the same exact problem with my now almost 9-month-old. She was sleeping through the night from about 4 to 6 months and then started teething and it ended for about one week and then she went back to it for about two weeks.

I thought perhaps it was a growth spurt, but I gave it a good month and one-half. Finally, I talked to my friend's aunt who is an infant specialist. She told me that she was at a touch point in the beginning, but then because I went in and fed her every time she woke she developed a habit. She said that after 6 months or a certain weight, there is no physical need for them to eat in the middle of the night. Because my daughter had always sort of done things on her own I thought she would go back to sleeping through the night by herself; however, she informed me that at this age she would not.

All that to say that in the end we had to do sleep training. I had "trained" my daughter that if she woke up I would come in and feed her so even though she had never done it before, now in order to go back to sleep she needed to nurse. It took us 3 nights of sleep training to get her to go back to sleeping through the night and she is much happier for it, as am I.

I promise you that it is going to be hard to do the sleep training, but it is worth it. We do not subscribe to the "cry-it-out" method, but instead did a progressive wait method, which allowed us to go into the room (the REAL Ferber method) and comfort her at different intervals. DO NOT PICK HER UP. This for me was the hardest part! It is difficult. God hardwired us as mother's to answer our babies cries and you still are (by going in for a moment or two and assuring you that you are there, but it is time to sleep), but you just can't pick her up. Everyone is different and everyone does different things that work for them and their family, so I would suggest to look into the different sleep training methods and choose the one that works best for you and one that you know you will be able to follow-through with and be consistent.

One other thing: My husband is the one who did the going in and comforting for the first few nights. We waited until the weekend so he didn't have to go to work the next day, but it helped because the second I would walk in the room she would get TICKED, because Mommy meant food. The Monday that my husband went back to work and he wasn't here during the day, she started testing me with naps. I had to do the same thing that he did. Go in, pat her tummy, talk sweetly and turn and leave the room. She was definitely beside herself when Mommy did the same thing and she realized that it was no different with me than it was with him. She did this for two naps and never did it again.

This might hurt a litle, but let her cry. She will sit back down or fall down, but eventually she will go back to sleep. She probably hasn't found that "thing" that helps her, and feeding her is NOT the answer. That's only making it worse. When she wakes up at 12:30 let her cry, unless her cries have changed (and being a mom you know what different cries they have), don't go check on her. If after 20 minutes she's still crying, go in lay her down, do not take her out of the crib, and pat her bottom. She will settle down then leave the room, if she gets up and cries again, then repeat. It will be tough for a few nights, so you might want to try it while hubby is home to help. The sooner you get her over this hump, the better she will sleep. Good luck. I also recommend Kim West's book "Good night sleep tight". I've used it for all three of my kids:)

If she is teething that is why she could be waking up. Give her some motrin or tylenol for infants. She could be having growing pains or getting teeth. If she is getting teeth,give her some hylands teething tablets. If she does not have teeth yet,look at her gums. If it looks yellow like a blister then the tooth could be coming in. rub your fingers along the top and the bottom of her gums to see if you feel anything. You are lucky she is a good sleeper. Not everyone is that fortunate. Some kids do not sleep through the night until they are over six months old.