Help! My baby is waking ALL night!

[meow]

I'm going a bit stir crazy and I feel like I am really failing at helping my poor little baby to get the sleep he needs... and I'm pretty exhausted myself!

He's never been a long sleeper and the most he has slept at a stretch is 4 hours. I could cope with that though cause it was just feed and back to sleep and he was clearly hungry so all well and good. The stretches have been getting shorter and shorter though and lately we've been going more like 2-3 hours between every wake/feed.

I was trying not to feed him every 2 hours but settle him and feed every second time he woke (so 4 hours between a feed). This mostly worked unless he cried and then I would feed him assuming that maybe that was why he woke up. Even without feeding every 2 hours though he still wakes up. We cosleep and use cloth nappies so I've tried disposables in case he was feeling wet, I've tried different layers of clothing in case he's hot/cold, I've tried putting him in the cot (next to our bed) in case being in our bed is somehow waking him or he prefers the tightly tucked in sheets of his cot... none of that seems to be working. He is still wrapped in a muslin as he wakes after a few minutes with his arms out and he has a dummy but he generally spits this out when going to sleep and isn't a huge fan of it overnight so I don't think he wakes because it's come out as often he wont even take it if I try to use it to resettle him.

He started solids a week ago and the sleep has been getting steadily worse till last night he woke up about every hour (he had apple for the first time yesterday). I would think it could be solids and an upset tummy but how do I fix that? He is doing baby led solids and barely actually eats anything and I only feed him at lunch time to give him time to digest it. And besides he's never been a good sleeper- he had a shocking week before starting solids and I thought he was hungry!!

I need ideas. I feel like I'm all over the place popping him in the cot and in bed and feeding or cuddling or doing god knows what through the night. I'm so tired. What should I try?

Oh, he's also rolling heaps in bed so I'm thinking it's time to get a sleeping bag- but then what happens to the wakeful arms?

Thanks

[kelebek]

Hi Ren,

This may not be what you want to hear but your little one sounds just like my DS, he has never been a great sleeper. My DS only ever slept about 3 hrs straight though, I still have to wrap him for the same reason & he has never taken a dummy. We started solids a few weeks ago now & we are doing the BLS thing as well. In the last 2 weeks is definitely worse, at times waking every hour to 90 mins at it's worse. Turns out he is teething but it took a while for the teeth to show for me to know that is what is wrong.
In the last couple of days I can also see he has developed, he now likes being on his tummy more & is generally more active & 'talking' more.
So I put the restless nights down to teething & he is going through a new developmental stage which does cause them to want to wake more. Last night he has started to go back to his routine but not fully there yet. I have been sleeping when he has been through the day to be able to cope.
If anyone else has some ideas I would be interested in hearing them.
I know how hard & exhausting it is, is there anyone who can help you?

[meow]

Funny you should say that- I forgot to say I think it might be teeth. He was the same last time he got teeth (at 4.5 months) and I've been wondering if that's it as he's biting things quite frantically lately too. We gave him panadol the night before last as he was screaming so much we just couldn't settle him but he still woke up a lot so I didn't bother last night as I don't want to give it if pain is not the problem. I'm so confused.

Hope you get some sleep too!!

Hi there,

nightwaking gets really common between 5-7 months (just have a look at how many other posts are saying the same thing!), as apparently sleep cycles become more pronounced at this age, and if they have been relying on mum and dad to settle them to sleep, they now need this at each waking. We were in the same boat, here's what worked for us. Good Luck!

[Ezz]

Lots of mums in my mum's group (including me) went through this around the 6 month mark. I guess that's not very encouraging, but at least you know you are not alone! Generally DS will go through periods of terrible sleep (feeding very frequently) and will then go back to sleeping longer stretches.

I doubt that your DS is hungry every 4 hours - but he does like the comfort of being BF. We sometime resettle with water overnight, or use the dummy, or just bring DS into our bed for a cuddle (he normally sleeps in a cot).

I toyed with the idea of getting rid of the wrap (and tried for a few days), but then went back to wrapping, because DS wouldn't settle without it. I just kept wrapping him, and teh novelty of rolling in his cot wore off after a week or so. (but if you call Karitane or Tresillian they will both tell you to stop wrapping). I have gotten rid of the wrap about a week ago & DS was ready for it this time - sleeping much better.

[meow]

Thanks girls. I've pulled out "The no-cry sleep solution" and "Sleeping like a baby" today and I think it's time to get a little more proactive about helping him sleep. I have been rocking him to sleep and it talks about that in "The no-cry sleep solution"- like you say Dee I think it may be what's stopping him resettle even though it didn't used to be the problem. I covered our window to make it darker in the bedroom and just settled him in his cot unwrapped with no fuss so that was exciting! He only did one sleep cycle but baby steps huh? The talking thing sounds really interesting too Dee- thank you! Might give that a go- so great it worked so well for you.
I hope the rolling novelty does wear off Ezz! I don't mind feeding him every 4 hours cause he's still so little- but waking every sleep cycle is bit much LOL

[Trillian]

I feel for you Ren, I really do. We had a few shocking months with Alister from the time teething started at about 6mths to 9.5mths. We were lucky to get an hr solid sleep from him at the worst of it. What worked for us was going back to wrapping, co-sleeping and cutting out a lot of solids and using only low GI foods. Alister has reflux though so most of his sleep issues were gut related as well as teething, but since we worked it out we've been fantastic in the sleep department. We did have a wild week 2weeks ago, but he cut another tooth. have you tried any Brauer's products for him? The teething and colic one worked well for us.

[ohmygodimamum]

my 1yo still wakes several times during the night, and my 2yo still wakes up about 1am then has to sleep on the couch or in our bed...**pulling hair**