Restless, Long Nitewakes

[saree's mom]

I havent been here in soooo long so I shouldnt complain, but....I am! 

Lately saree has been having these long nitewakes she sits up, when i lay her back down she just lies there not falling back asleep, tossing and turning , till she sits up again crying, other times she just keeps sitting up. Many times im just too tired and we take her into our bed which used to help get her back to sleep. But lately even that isnt working. She just keeps getting up onto her knees to crawl. She was up last nite for over 2 hours!!!
Why is she so restless, can it be from teething, like perhaps she is uncpmfterable but not tremendous pain so not crying, crying?
I watch her lay herself down with her eyes heavy bec so tired and she is struggling to settle herself. Dont know what to do, dont give her tylenol bec im very unsure if its teething. Any ideas or suggestions. Help!!

[momofclaire]

Has she just started crawling?  Developmental things like that can do a number on sleep.  She could be teething and that always ruins a good night sleep.    I would give her a dose of tylenol, I prefer motrin, to see if that helps one night.  Are you going in to her before she cries?  If so, I would say don't go in unless she cries.  Doing so may interfere with her learning to put herself back to sleep. 

How is her sch?

[saree's mom]

She has been crawling a good few weeks now and she is on the floor alot during the day so she is getting her "practice" in starting now with pulling herself up, so im not sure what it could be attributed to. I guess i can try th tylenol/motrin and see what happens though i hate to give it uneccesarily.
So last nite she was better, but not like she used to be.
Went to sleep beautifully like she always does. Woke up at 12ish or 1ish not sure and DH went to her, few minutes later he brought her to out bed  I know bad BW parents. Anyways she went back to sleep in our bed pretty quickly she didnt jump around like she ususally does. Woke up an hr earlier than usual and was hungry so i BF and get her back to sleep and woke an hr later than ususal.
Dont know what to make of it.

[momofclaire]

I would try the tylenol.  Unfortunatly at this age the only real way to see if it is pain is to give them meds and see if it helps.  To bad they can't just tell us. I will say that if you keep brining her into your bed you may have a bigger problem later on, but you know this already

[Colin Macs Mom]

Awww, Rachel I'm sorry. I was wondering where you've been lately.

starting now with pulling herself up, so im not sure what it could be attributed to.

Pulling up was the worst milestone for us in terms of sleep. By far!!! The only thing that helped (besides time!) was to put him in his playpen and let him have at it. All day, for about three days actually. It was literally all he wanted to do, so that's what we did.

[saree's mom]

I know im re-enforceing bad behavior but im sooo tired.
Now with the holidays her sleep has offically been shot to hell.
I cant get her back to sleep in her own bed anymore, everytime i try to walk away when she is calm and quiet for like 10 minutes she starts crying and sitting up till i come back. It takes her forever to fall asleep at these NWS (this is the point at which she ends up in our bed), do I just set up camp and wait for her to fall asleep with me by her side, sometimes hand on her back. Wi/wo doesnt seem to be working it just gets her worked up when she sees i left.

Jess - just saw the new avator pics, yummmmmmmmmm! 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Do you think it could be separation anxiety? Does she show any signs during the day?

Jess - just saw the new avator pics, yummmmmmmmmm! 

   He's been so darn funny lately I had to make a new avatar 

[saree's mom]

Loving the Easter pics!
Cant believe he actually let you put the sunglasses on.
I bought her a precious sunhat for the summer and i see it was a waste of money, she pulls it right off.

You know it could be SA, i thought the clinginess was from teething. But maybe im wrong, i try to be reassuring and praise her when she does something independant. What more can i try?

[Colin Macs Mom]

OMG he's obsessed with those glasses, I'm so glad I bought them. They're too big for him but he loves 'em anyway   

I'm betting on the SA - she's at that age where it usually appears. She's learning object permanence, that something is there even if she can't see it, or just because it goes away doesn't mean it won't ever be back. Play a lot of peek-a-boo, that helps cement the idea. When you play with her, tell her that you are going to get up and go XYZ but will be right back. That sort of thing. Give her lots of reassurance and comfort!

[saree's mom]

It makes a great pic and gives a good laugh, kinda looks like the shocked smiley guy. hehe. Which reminds me, i must upload my pics....

IMO I think she understands object permanence. She still goes after something i hide from her and i dont play hide and seek so often but I have been doing it for months now. I could be wrong, so I will keep trying.
Over the holidays she was running around with the kids playing with them, it was so cute, she barely glanced my way. I guess things would be better of i was 2 and half feet tall. 

[Colin Macs Mom]

ROFL - yeah, being 2.5 feet tall might change things!

I wonder if maybe she understands object permanence with things but maybe not people? I don't know if that's possible. 

[saree's mom]

I hear ya, you may have a point. I try to cheer her on when she plays nicely by herself.
In the morning when i was getting ready I used to call to her from the bathroom so that she would hear me and be reassured. Now she just crawls after me, its cute, although the privacy would be nice. I leave the door open a crack to hear her and 2 min later I see a little hand poking thru the door trying to open it to get in.   

So leaving her to do XYZ would prob be fruitless. But for example today she woke up pretty early so after she BF I put her back in her crib with some toys and she played there for more than half an hr. When I came to her I gave her this huge smile and hug and told her how proud I was of her. (I really was, 30 min of sleep is GOLD.)

[Colin Macs Mom]

   you crack me up Rachel.

[abbysmomma]

Hey Rachel!!! I missed my NW buddy! Holy smokes, I can't believe Saree's already 10 months. Where does the time go? I have no advice but when I get these runs of extended night wakings (times when she's just awake for no apparent reason, just rolling around not crying etc) I get a tooth at the end of it. And really, medicine doesn't really seem to help since she doesn't seem to be in pain. I just have to wait it out. And hope she goes back to sleeping ok afterwards. But i know it will come. She actually slept through the night for the first time ever a few weeks ago! It was only once, but at least it happened.

When she's like this, i just stay beside the crib and usually end up falling asleep hanging over the side. If i brought her to bed with us, it'd be play time for sure! i'm kind of thinking of riggin up some kind of pillow contraption for me to lean on the side of the crib. She'd probably pull it down and eat it though. 

Anyways, pop by more often!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hey Aeri!!!! Here we are again, the three of us 

[abbysmomma]

Heehee... i was missing it Jessica! 

[Colin Macs Mom]

me too!!!   

[saree's mom]

Lol...me too!
Aeri, that pillow contraption sounds like a great idea, when you figure out you can sell it here on the BW website, i know i would buy one! 

Jess, i tried to put saree back into crib again this morning to play but i wasnt so lucky only 15 minutes.

Aeri - what ur saying abt waiting it out makes sense, it is just so hard what with work and all to miss out on sleep.  I know i need to have a little more patience with her 
But she did thankfully sleep thru thr nite last nite for the first nite in a couple of weeks.
my cutie...must upload new pics of her to show her off...

[Colin Macs Mom]

YAY SAREE!!!!

[abbysmomma]

i know it's easier for me to say to wait it out since the next morning when she naps, i can nap too.    I'm sending extran {{{patience}}} your way. And yes, i need new pictures!!! Hooray for Saree!

[Colin Macs Mom]

I STILL nap on the weekends when Colin does so don't feel bad about doing that! We gotta survive!

[saree's mom]

I know I try to nap on the weekends and then DH wants to know why i sleep so much and that i should go to bed earlier at nite. 
Men...
Aeri - thanks for the patience vibes, im pocketing them 

Jess - havent asked in a while, hehe, whats the latest with colins teeth?? 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Funny you ask now about the teeth Rachel!    His top two one-year molars are through, and now we're waiting on the incisors and bottom two molars, all of which are RIGHT-THERE. The last couple of weeks have been rough at night, especially since he has a cold on top of that. 

[saree's mom]

Oh man, your telling me I have more than another year of this before they're through?? 
This is nuts!
Saree woke up twice last nite before 11 pm, she was sitting up half asleep, but wasnt mantra cry unless her new mantra raises in pitch 
I put the paci back in and she laid back down, completely asleep in seconds. Second time, when i went in, i was attempting to put paci back in when she toppled over and just caught herself bec she was sitting while pretty much asleep, what the hell?! She is so funny. All i needed to do was re-insert paci. Shouldnt complain though, not always that easy.
Then at 4am she woke again and DH went to her, next thing i know he brought her into our bed. 
I told him no more, so he says then u go take care of her, she was crying so hard.....MEN! You think we need more patience??

[Colin Macs Mom]

Tell me about it, my DH also has far less patience with DS at night than I do. Odd because normally he's the patient one and I'm NOT!

Oh man, your telling me I have more than another year of this before they're through?? 
This is nuts!

I'm definitely not a good example of what to expect so don't worry. He's just now getting his one year molars at nearly 20 mo.      He's also a very slow teether because he has dense bones so it takes longer for them to move.

[saree's mom]

oh ok phew well then lets hope saree is a fast teether 
She has 4 so far, how are we doing ??
Btw anyone know where i can fond online percentile chart to see where she is in height and growth?
Aeri - does abby have any teeth yet?

[Colin Macs Mom]

Well she has 4 more than Colin had at that age! 

[abbysmomma]

yup, 4! two top, two bottom. hmm... wasn't there a post a few days back about new WHO bf growth charts? lemme see if i can find them....

[abbysmomma]

here it is. http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/weight_for_age/en/index.html

[saree's mom]

Here is the latest...

I am having a very hard time with getting saree asleep and there is def accidental parenting happening here.
With her newly acheived milestone of standing up, i cant seem to get her to lay down long enough to relax and fall asleep. As soon as i leave the room she is up and crying for me, when i come in she just wants to play and if i lay her down she is trying to get up again unless i physically hold her back which i hate doing but dont know what else to do. When she finally lays down she is constantly looking up to see if im still there, which means i really cant leave unless she is three quarters asleep, unless i put her down when she is half asleep which means she was lying on me , i know bad bad.
So in order for her to really relax not only do i have to stand beside her crib i have to keep my hand on her both so that she knows i havent left the room and also so keep her from trying to stand up. Even standing further away or sitting on the crib wont do it bec she will constantly get up.
Phew!
So there is my problem,  I am desperate for some advice the same thing happens if she wakes at nite which is how she sometimes ends up in my bed, becuase it will take her a long time to settle down enuf to fall back asleep (which requires heaps of patience, something i lack between the hours of 2 and 5 am) 

Please someone help me out here. I am at wits end. I really am feeling myself lose patience after a while and i am not being as gentle as i should with her when telling her to lay down     

Should i post this somewhere eles??

[Colin Macs Mom]

I had the exact same problem with Colin around that age. The pulling up/standing milestone is totally brutal. What we did was PU/PD without the PU. It actually worked quite well which surprised me since PU/PD never ever worked with him.

Does she get lots of time during the day to practice?

[saree's mom]

Yeah she does, she is pulling herself up more than letting herself down. I think she is still working out that part 
But in the meantime i do th PD, but its still not so good. Bedtime takes a long time and she starts off playing around like its a game (which im sure she thinks it is) constantly turning over, pulling out paci to babble, crawling around crib. And unless i walk out for a few minutes to let her cry and see that i mean business i feel like im not getting anywhere.

How did u do it? As soon as u did PD with colin, he stayed down? Did u walk out or stand there. She doesnt really let me leave.

Bedtime used to be such a dream with her. 
I was so proud. Not anymore. 

[Colin Macs Mom]

No way did he stay down.     He did the same thing, like it was a game. It was totally maddening. What helped was sticking him in his playpen all day long (it's not as awful as it sounds, it was what he wanted) and letting him get up and down to his heart's content. For about three days that was literally all he did.

[saree's mom]

lol what a cutie 

i do try that, but she wants out after a short while.

Gotta speak to my sitter today and see if she is doing the same thing during naps. And tell her to give her playtime in crib.