Teething for so long?!

[Carrie~Ryan~Adam]

I fear I'm starting something bad with my DS. After sleeping through the night (12-13 hours) for a month (October), then going back to waking once between 4:30 and 6:00 AM for a feed and (usually) going back to sleep until 7:30/8:00, he started waking earlier - taking 2 hours (or more!) to get back to sleep. The first 4-5 nights I didn't feed him before 4:00, but then a couple nights ago, exhausted, I just fed him (this was about 1 or 2 AM) and he nursed to sleep, but woke when I put him in his crib - happy as can be. I turned on his Ocean Wonders aquarium to keep him company and he put himself back to sleep eventually. So the last 2 nights I've fed him when he woke so we could all avoid being awake for a couple of hours. (My older DS has been also waking us with coughing, so it's been a rough couple weeks!) I'm pretty sure DS is teething, and have tried to give him some Tylenol before bed, hoping to keep any pain away through the first few sleep cycles, which is when he wakes for the first time.

So my question really is: Am I making things worse by feeding him (he does take a full feed)? A week of not feeding but taking 2 hours to calm down enough to go back to sleep (he sucks his finger and thumb to sleep) is more than I can handle. (Older DS would only do this type of thing for a night or two.)

How old is your child? 5 mo + 3 weeks
What’s his/her daily routine?wake about 8AM/BF/nap ~9:30-11/solid & BF ~ noon/nap ~1:15-3:00/BF ~4:00/short nap ~5:00/BF + bedtime routine ~7:00, asleep ~7:30 PM
What’s nap routine?Hold for about 5 mintues (wind down), take to room, turn on fan (white noise), close blinds & curtains/turn on CD, sing song, put it crib nodding off
How long are naps?40 min - 2.5 hours
What's bedtime routine? Time?BF, wash/bath, dress, story, lights out, song, put in bed; start about 7:00
Do you bottle or breastfed??breast
How much? or how long?5-10 minutes
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)usually one side per feed
How many wakes per night?now - 2
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?very mad - if no feed, up for 2 or more hours - alternating between crying and thumb sucking the whole time
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?crying
What have you tried to settle??patting makes him madder; pick him up and in different ways to calm down
What do you do for A time and how long is it?daytime A time is 1.5-2 hours various ways
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?pretty sure he's teething; started solids about 3 weeks ago (after night wakings resumed)
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)yes; 1/4 cupe one time a day, plus a veggie one time a day
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?finger/thumb combo
Do they have a lovie?not really

[Colin Macs Mom]

If he is taking a full feed and it's not affecting his daytime intake then I wouldn't worry about it. I would guess that he's getting his 6 mo. growth spurt a bit early. A couple of things that I notice though...

put it crib nodding off

I would try and put him down as awake as possible. That way he will truly know how to sleep independently and fall asleep on his own.

Also, the solids may be contributing here. When do you give them? If it's later in the day he might be getting gas and tummy upset/cramps at night.

[Kimberly®]

I agree with PP try to keep solids at the start of day when you first begine so any tummy irritations will be gone by bedtime.
Solids wont make your LO sleep better at night, quite the opposit in fact, it usually makes sleep worse.

[Carrie~Ryan~Adam]

I would try and put him down as awake as possible. That way he will truly know how to sleep independently and fall asleep on his own.

When he's tired, but not fussy, I can do this. But when he's too tired, it doesn't work - he just cries and cries. What happens is that my holding him to get him to calm down and relax leads to him sucking his fingers, which puts him to sleep. As he gets older, this happens less and less often.

We have been doing solids at dinner time (about 1.5 hours before bedtime). But since his waking is so inconsistent, I'm not sure that it's causing the problem. But I'll take more notice to see if that may be an issue.

Anyway...last night was much better. He made some moans about 40 minutes after he went to sleep, but got back to sleep on his own and didn't wake again until 4:30.  Fed him and he slept until about 7:40 (a little earlier than usual, but big brother was being quite rowdy this morning!). I did see the tooth popping through yesterday, so hopefully it's the end of that for now. Also, it's not the normal first tooth, it's the bottom left of left-center tooth. Hopefully the rest of his teeth won't cause him so many problems!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sounds like then you should be very careful to put him in bed before it's too late and he's overtired. Glad to hear the tooth came through, but if you figure out how to make them not cause so many problems let me know!!   

[Kimberly®]

I agree try moving bedtime a little earlier so your Lo isn't overtired. Try 7pm rather then 7:30, a half hour can really make a difference.

[Carrie~Ryan~Adam]

We try to make bedtime whatever time he needs it to be. I learned about putting LOs to bed early with DS1. It is much hard to keep a baby on his own schedule with another child around. And just when you think you can't stand something, it changes! Thanks for all your thoughts! There is always something to consider.