Waking Every Hour All Night Long.

Totally agree with Dawn B.

Amy, watch out for moms giving you harsh lectures about how evil and horrible "Crying it out" method is, and how mean you are for thinking of doing the 'crying it out' method.

Moms on this site do not hesitate to tell you exactly what they think, even if it comes out extremely rude and inappropriate. They have no shame. So be careful and good luck.

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growth spurts will do this. so will developmental stages like crawling, standing up, walking. also teething. this is NORMAL BEHAVIOR for an infant. feel blessed that your baby has slept so well. trust me, as a mom, you wont EVER get a good nights sleep again; even when they graduate and leave home you will be up at night worrying about them. just be patient with him, listen to his needs, and stop setting him up for failure by saying things like "i know he is capable of sleeping through the night" because kids are NOT always capable of sleeping through the night. think about it; how often do you get up at night to get a drink, go to the bathroom, turn over, hit a snoring partner, whatever. babies are not soldiers. dont expect them to act like one.
white noise, dim lights, whispered voice, even things like not looking directly into his eyes are all things that can help not rouse your baby more than he already is. remember thuogh, the more he cries, the more awake hes going to be. if you can catch him at his needs the first wimper, you've won half the battle already.

its not "baby him" its tend to his needs. your husband is following his instincts, and you should follow yours. dont let the whole world tell you something is wrong. if you let him cry it out are you really going to be able to sleep? im sorry, but theres something insensitive about a parent who can sleep while their baby is in the other room crying. just doesnt sound like a plan to me. i have a four year old who NEVER cried it out. ever. he goes to bed like a dream, he sleeps like a dream, and he gets up in the morning happy and ready for the day. sure, some babies are releasers and need to fuss a little to relax but most babies are increasers and their panic will only increase by being left to cry. think about it this way: if you had a need, you were hurt or something, and no one cared, how would you feel?? you would feel pretty rejected. think about it; your baby doesnt understand the world yet. just relax. theres no such thing as a baby who is "too attached" to his parents. i mean really, isnt that what we want? dont we want kids who are attached to us? dont we want kids who feel like they need us? dont we want teens who trust us so much that we are the first person they come to with a problem? think about it over the long term. no you wont sleep full nights for the rest of your life. but really, no one does. we all survive. put sleep first, stop worrying about chores late at night. record your tv shows, or just forget about watching them, and netflix or hulu them later. go to bed earlier. do what you need. dont overstress yourself, and dont overanalyze this. your baby is just going through a phase, this will pass and be replaced with something else soon enough. lol.

Amy, I haven't read all the other posts, but if this has only been going on for a couple weeks you should have baby checked for possible ear infection! My daughter had a period at daycare where she cried everytime she was laid down for about 2 weeks (ignorant daycare provider took that long to mention it). and when i finally took her in, she had a double ear infection and a small hole in her eardrum from the pressure. I had no idea, she really had to other symptoms. teething is a hard thing and can contribute to ear infections. my daughter had a TON of them before age 2.... just a thought if you haven't already tried it. make sure your ped knows whats going on too

Do you stuff him with a meal before bed? Something like a big bowl of oatmeal. I would try that. and while giving him water might deter him if not you may end up just letting him cry it out for a couple nights. he has trained you now to get up and of course he would much rather mommy sooth him back to sleep than do it himself. I would not give bottles every hour he is hungry.

we had the same problem with our now 2 year old. basically all we could do was let her cry herself to sleep. nothing else worked. after about a week, she stopped waking up in the middle of the night. all we did was change her diaper and put her back in her crib. our doctor told us there wasn't much else you could do for them, but to let them cry, as hard as it is.

My first guess is that your son is going through a learning spike...my daughters have observed in their sons ( 3 yrs and 1 yr) that as they start learning new skills, they seem to have trouble sleeping. For instance, my 1 year old grandson has just really conquered the skill of walking and his sleep has been really eratic for the past week or so. The last time that this happened ( about 6 weeks ago) he suddenly started really "catching on" to the signing that our daughter has been teaching him. It is almost like their brain goes into overdrive and it just can't settle down at night to let them sleep.
I do not agree with the idea of allowing a child to "cry it out"...a child is crying because they need something...food, a dry diaper, or they simply need YOU...their source of comfort and support. Can you imagine how terrifying it must be for your son, who really hasn't completely developed a sense of "self" yet ( he still thinks of himself as an extension of you!!!) to be left alone to cry and call for comfort and not be responded to? I just feel like this is a stage that will pass so quickly...and you can help him most by responding to his needs and his calls at night. I know it is hard to be tired and sleep deprived....I have done that myself with my own children. But it is part of the "job description " of being a parent.
I think you husband has the right idea...snuggle and "baby him"...he IS...after all...a baby!! :-)

I don't have a way to make him sleep if I did my 10 mo would be sleeping all night not nursing every 3hrs..lol (look out if he doesn't get his milk) Tell your husband to get up with him everytime he wakes up and put him back to bed if he doesn't want baby to cry. Start on a weekend or the night before he has a day off. He also may just need 2 naps now they start to need less and less sleep the bigger they get. His mouth also hurts really bad so maybe try some Motrin or Tylenol if you think that's what it is. I am exhausted too so I feel your tiredness! Good Luck

A. - I understand so much of what you're going through! My 10-month-old DS has been going through these sleep changes his whole life so far. We had him sleeping through the night (5-6 hours) at 7 weeks, and thought things were going to just go perfectly after that. Boy, were we wrong! Some of the things we've done is to go in there, give him back his binky if he lost it, and rub his back or neck or head. If that doesn't work and he doesn't calm down, we pick him up and calm him in our arms right next to the crib. Sometimes I think he's having trouble breathing because of a stuffy nose, sometimes I think it's an ear infection (and a few times that's definitely been the case), sometimes I think his teeth really hurt, etc, etc. And then he can go 1-2 months with sleeping for 10-12 hours straight! But then he'll revert back. One thing we've never done is feed him when he wakes up, as I was so afraid of starting that habit, knowing that at 7 weeks he could go 6 hours without eating. Others have said they go through growth spurts, and sometimes do actually need to eat more, but I've never nursed or given bottles in the middle of the night. Just my method.

My best advice for what has worked for us is to be consistent in nighttime routine (e.g. bath, book, eat, bed), put him to bed at the same time every night whether he goes to sleep right away or not, get up with him and soothe him with as little intervention as possible during the night. We've tried to let him cry it out for a few minutes at a time, and sometimes that works. But when he gets past the point of just whining/crying into full-on crying, we go in immediately. I have no opinion on others doing the CIO method, but I just haven't done it.

I wish you the best - this is such a tough age when they can't tell you what's wrong!