Sleep routine is on its way out the window - help!

[Nicola_G]

Hi there,

My lo is just over 6 months old, is on 3 solid meals per day, is bf and has just last week cut his first tooth, which is I suspect the root of our problems. Nevertheless, I would value your input on why he has suddenly started giving me sleep problems.

Overnight, he has gone from sleeping straight through to waking every 2 hours (I do not feed him, just sh/pat to send him off to sleep again). He can also take a long time to send off to sleep at bedtime, whereas he used to go to sleep at night unassisted (but that was in the days of the swaddle). The other night was awful, took over an hour to get him to sleep and he awoke at 9.30pm! I gave him his df at that time, and then he went back to sleep OK but woke 2hourly through the night from 12am. I gave him baby paracetamol in case it was teething pain at about 2am but didn't seem to help much.

I do sh/pat to get him off to sleep as I have always done, but whereas it used to take only 3-5 minutes for him to go off, it now can take well over 20 minutes. I lie him on his side, insert dummy and pat him on the back. I have found some success with rubbing his back up/down or in a circular motion, so he kind of jiggles in the cot.

With naps, he is consistently waking after 45 minutes, but I generally am successful in sending him off to sleep again. However, with the time it takes to send him to sleep, the length of nap is becoming compromised!

I am fairly sure he is not hungry overnight, as he eats like a horse and is still on 5 bf per day, takes from 5-10 minutes these days. Solids, he would eat a minimum of 6-8 oz each meal, if not more. He is on proteins (chicken, beans, kidney, fish) and dairy (cheese and yoghurt) so I am fairly sure the volume he is consuming is calorie-rich.

His routine is:

6.30   Wake
7.00   E: Bf
7.15   A
8.00   E: Solids
8.15   A
9.00   S
11.00   E: Bf
11.15   A
12.00   E: Solids
12.15   A
1.00   S
3.00   E: Bf
3.15   A
5.00   S
6.00   E: Solids
6.30   A: Bath
7.00   E: Bf
7.30   Bed
~10.00   Df

Questions:

• Why might he have started this disruptive sleep pattern?
• Am I doing anything wrong with the way I am responding - ie will I create more problems?
• Any ideas on anything else I can do to get back on track?
• Am I creating a problem with the back rubbing as opposed to patting? I don't want to get him dependent on it, but I guess I can't see much difference between rubbing/jiggling and patting. Thoughts?

TIA!

[Jaime]

hi!

i think you're just hitting that 6 month patch.  usually they start solids (can cause nighttime waking until they're used to it), hit a growth spurt, and have a bunch of developmental milestones at once.  sounds like he's doing some kind of combination of stuff.  i agree, i don't think he's hungry at night either. 

it sounds like you are responding well, and doing your best to not introduce props.  there is probably no problem with rubbing vs. patting; the idea is to not let it go longer than it needs to - make sure you stop when he is calm (not asleep).