BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: Ryan&HollysMom on September 09, 2006, 23:37:38 pm
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How old is your child? 5 months tomorrow
What’s his/her daily routine? 7:30 am BF
9:00 am Nap (between 45 min. and 1 1/2 hour)
10:30 am BF
12 pm Nap (usually 45 min. sometimes longer)
1:30 pm BF
3:00 pm Nap (same as 10:30)
4:30 pm BF
5:45/6 pm catnap (usually 25-35 min in the swing)
6:30ish BF
7:15/7:30 bath, ready for bed, top up BF
8:00/8:30 asleep til the morning
he sometimes stirs around 6 or later, but usually just chats with himself then dozes off to sleep again, or sometimes he's up by 7ish and i'll feed him a bit earlier, depends.
What’s nap routine? usually just go upstairs, hug, into crib with soother or thumb, and off to sleep without crying (he does whine himself to sleep about 30-40% of the time, will then take about 10 minutes)
How long are naps? see above
What's bedtime routine? Time? see above. he gets a bath every other day, whether he does or not ,we go into his room and get into pjs, then last BF with music, then off to bed with soother or thumb while awake. usually asleep within 20 minutes or so, sometimes longer. often chats for a while, then whimper, then maybe a 10 second cry, but rare, then asleep. i go in to his room at 10 when i go to bed and remove soother from around his head, then shut the door. there's a nightlight on, and the music shuts off by itself at the end of the cd.
Do you bottle or breastfed?? Breast
How much? or how long? 5 1/2 times each day, for about 20-25 minutes (he's a slow one)
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) one side, he's always full after that (spits up a lot, maybe 1-3 times a day)
How many wakes per night? normally none
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? problem of last night explained later
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? don't go into his room if just fussing, cause he's very good at selfsettling, usually. will go in if big cry to make sure he's alright
What have you tried to settle?? normally i would pick him up, make sure it's not a burp thing, maybe check the diaper, then usually wait til calm, then off to bed with soother or thumb.
What do you do for A time and how long is it? depends on lenghth of nap, usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. play, go outside, sing and dance, read lots of books, playgym, infant seat nearby so i can get stuff done - he's always very happy and smiles a lot, and interacts, loves to talk to us - very easy baby usually
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? that's the issue
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) no
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? soother, though he doesn't have it at night if he wakes up and does okay without it, it's more of a sign to him that it's bedtime. i let him sleep in the swing for his catnap.
Do they have a lovie? what is that?
okay, so here's the problem we have: we just can't seem to figure out why he's crying. i was a nanny (when i was younger) for a baby, and seemed to figure her out better than my own son. he woke up at 11:15 last night, screaming. this had happened once about 2 weeks ago. then i gave him tylenol cause i thought it was teething, and he was back asleep for the rest of the night after 15 minutes. maybe a bad dream? anyway, this time i picked him up and he fussed and cried and screamed like in pain, usually all crying is stopped by me picking him up. i checked for burps, diaper situations, etc. nothing... gave about 1/2 dose of tylenol, and gave him soother, and he went back to sleep, took about 30 minutes. at 2 am he was up again, couldn't soothe him at all. i thought maybe growth spurt, he seemed really hungry even though he didn't eat less the day before than he usually does. so i fed him and he seemed into it, though after he just kept screaming. he doesn't shove his hand in his mouth at night when screaming, but he does all day long, along with lots of drool. was also not fussy the day before. i basically kept rocking him to calm him down. eventually dh took over, cause i couldnt figure it out. he went back to sleep around 4!! we let him cry it out, as nothing we did helped, and it took about 20 minutes for that once we left him alone. then up again at 5:30 for an hour, same spiel. this time he seemed more alert, less screaming, more ed off that i was leaving him again. nothing i did helped (no feeding this time), and he cried it out - took about 15 minutes.
he's not ussually like this!!!!! i don't want to ignore his crying if he's in pain and needs to be soothed, or if he needs to eat, though i don't know if he actually did have to eat last night. but if he's getting into the age of testing us, and just gets a kick out of us appearing by his bedside at night, then i want to put a stop to that asap, right? why can't i figure out why he's crying? the cry sounds like pain, but could be being angry that we're not playing at 2 am.
during the day today he was more fussy, though probably due to being tired.
help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just don't want to feel like an idiot, and come up with a battleplan to follow if this happens again tonight.
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Hi Claudia,
I'm sorry that things have been so rough lately! But please, please don't let him cry it out. He needs you, and needs to know that you will be there. If you leave him like that you break that trust and I don't think that either of you wants that. I know it's hard - my DS screamed all the time until he was something like 6 mo. due to his reflux. It was a hell that I can't even describe.
But speaking of reflux, do you think it's possible that he might have something like that going on? I'm wondering if he eats so slowly because he's soothing the reflux and screaming in pain from that or heartburn. Could he be teething?
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my ds has started to wake at night crying, and i have no idea what is wrong with him. the weird thing is with my ds is that when i leave the bedroom to go and get him a bottle, by the time i go back up he has gone back to sleep. odd!
i do think with my ds it is his teeth, that are diturbing him, oh and i often have to rescue him when he has rolled onto his tummy and cant get back onto his bak. i must say i find this quite amusing as he just looks so cute. i hope things sort them selves out soon. x x x
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dear leighanne and jessica, thank you so much for your replies.
jessica, i hate leaving him crying, i just want to make that clear. it's absolutely heartbreaking. makes me want to be sick. what do i do though if he cries, and nothing i do for him is helping?
and what do i do when he calms down on my shoulder, but starts crying again when i put him down cause he doesn't want to be left alone? i guess it could be the reflux again. he used to have that, but doesn't anymore, or so i thought. we had a crib wedge and i used rolled up towels one on each side so he wouldn't roll down the incline. i took that out when he started rolling over, don't want him to get stuck on them or put his face into them and suffocate, or something like that. they just had me worried. if i put the wedge back in, how do i keep him from rolling downhill?
at what age would babies be more calculating with their cries, where they don't actually have a need, just want to play? how do i know it's that, when it does come? i'm just so puzzled, you know?
leighanne, my ds also rolls from back to tummy, and hates it there. he then needs my help to roll back to his back. it is funny to watch.
also, i'm happy to report that last night he was back to normal and slept all night. woohoo!!! though now i'm nervous, cause i guess a night like that could come back anytime. my top priority is his wellbeing, and his sleep. if he needs me, i WILL be there for him, i just feel so helpless sometimes, and i also feel like i need a plan so i respond in the same way every time it happens so that it's predictable for him.
thank you guys,
claudia
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i do hope someone can come along and give you a few ideas as what to do. i am like you and would just like to know or have some reassurance as to what i am doing is the right thing. (i think this is what you are trying to say, or would like)
i am sorry i cant help out. nut my ds slept well last night i only had to rescue him off his belly twice lol. i hope things get better for you.
((((((hugs))))))))
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Claudia,
The rolling is probably contributing to the wakings - that milestone is terrible for sleep unfortunately. Glad to hear that last night was better though!
jessica, i hate leaving him crying, i just want to make that clear. it's absolutely heartbreaking. makes me want to be sick. what do i do though if he cries, and nothing i do for him is helping?
and what do i do when he calms down on my shoulder, but starts crying again when i put him down cause he doesn't want to be left alone?
Just be with him. Even if he's crying and it's awful, just be with him - he needs to know that you will support him and be there when he needs you. But are you sure that he doesn't want to be left alone? I just wonder if maybe being held (assuming it's upright) makes him feel better.
If the wedge doesn't work because he rolls off, you can try putting a book or something like that under the mattress. then you still get the elevation but you can choose how much.
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had another good night.
so far he hadn't rolled over at night, just as he was going to sleep, and then this morning, but it was get up time anyway. just now i went in to check on him though, and he was peacefully asleep on his belly. should i leave him? i turned him around tonight, cause i think he needs to learn how to flip the other way first. but what if i don't know that he's rolled over? is there a danger of him suffocating?
you're right about the being with him. it makes me feel best too. he's still so little. i think i should trust my gut a little more. though i think i'll wait til he cries, cause he makes a lot of little noises, and usually he's okay without me there.
thanks for the ideas and the comforting words. really, i should be happy, this was the first night in weeks that he woke up, and i guess if it happens every so often it's okay. many people still deal with nightfeedings at this age.
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That's great!!
Some people might disagree with me here, but I found at that stage that if I tried to roll my DS over and make him sleep on his back, he would just roll back over on his tummy and then he's awake... and you see how the cycle goes. BUT, if you know he's tending to sleep on his tummy you should definitely be checking on him and make sure there's nothing in the crib like a pillow or stuffed animal that could be a hazard. Before long he'll learn to roll the other way as well.
Trusting your gut is important - we moms have such poweful instincts and connections to our LOs. :)