sleep regression? | Imamother

mbg

Wed, Jun 10 2009, 9:25 pm

until about two weeks ago my three month old daughter was waking up maybe once a night between 3 and 5 am, to nurse, but otherwise sleeping from 8:30-7 or so. (actually, I think she would wake up sometimes and then fall back asleep, since I would find her twisted to look at things in her crib...). she was sleeping in our room and she started waking up many nights when we would get ready for bed, so I moved her out.
but now the past week or so she's been waking up maybe 3 times a night, or more. she will eat but not a lot - ie, in total not more than she would eat all at once before - and sometimes will go back to sleep almost instantly with a pacifier. she seems to have lost the ability or desire to put herself back to sleep. I've heard it's common for sleeping to get worse at this age. but still... advice?
also, I have a feeling part of the waking is because she started with a babysitter and sees less of me (though still a good two hours in the morning and three before bed) - can a baby this young process that and wake up at night to see her parents (her father too was home and is now back at work...)? I feel bad trying to stop it if she is just waking up to be with us but it lowers the quality of our interactions during the day when I am shuffling around in a daze...

Stepmum

Thu, Jun 11 2009, 1:57 pm

I can totally sympathise with you, OP. My baby's 4 and a half months old now. She was getting into a decent routine, sleeping up to 7 hours at a stretch, but the past few weeks she has been waking up every 3 hours, and on a bad night every 2 hours! She's also decided that 5am is a good time to wake up...

I'm shattered, and would also appreciate any advice. I guess the only thing keeping me going is that you don't see many teenagers waking up at 5am!

zigi

Thu, Jun 18 2009, 12:11 am

all my kids at about 3-4 months regressed in sleeping they used to go for a really long stretch and then they started waking up again every 3-4 hours

try to make it as boring as possible when your baby wakes up at night. don't talk to her or look her in the eye it will make her excited to see you. just feed and put back to sleep. is your baby waking the same time every night or different times. if its different times it might mean that your baby is hungry. if its the same time every night its a habit. so try to wake-not fully awake though- your baby up an hour before she would wake up on her own and put her back to sleep if you do this 3 nights in a row it will break the habit.

rkade10

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 2:33 pm

Bump? This describes my almost 5 month old DD to a T. She also started recently at a babysitter (though only half a day). Since she was born I've always made nighttime waking very boring - no playing, not much talking, just feed and straight back to sleep, and it used to work wonderfully. Now she's waking up every couple of hours and not always going straight back! I'm getting very very sleep, anyone have other advice?

elliegator8

Wed, Jan 14 2015, 4:22 pm

@ rkade10 I was also going through this recently, and I started having my husband take care of the baby during the night instead of me, and the baby got bored with that quick enough and just stopped doing it. Big difference from when the baby would see me or my husband during the night. My husband was a little hurt lol but we are happy to get some long stretches of sleep now.

luppamom

Thu, Jan 15 2015, 2:56 pm

elliegator8 wrote:

LOL! That one is so original!

I think this is the age that they need to be trained. Training is more than not talking to them or playing w/ them etc. If they're not sleeping on their own, they need a method. Elligator, I love your method Smile

I noticed w/ myself and a lot of ppl on here, that babies start to wake up more and are harder to put to sleep at this age. In my baby's case, she just got harder and harder until I got fed up. I needed s/t that worked fast, so I did CIO based on recommendations on this site. I bought Ferber's book to make sure I was doing it right. Getting rid of her paci at night also helped. (Paci fell out and she woke up from a sleep cycle like we all do, but didn't fall back asleep b/c she felt different, so instead screamed until she was fed.) The sooner you pick a method, the better off you'll be.

MMCH

Thu, Jan 15 2015, 3:29 pm

I remember with my babies, that 4-5 months could be a big growth spurt, where they want to eat a lot more , or are growing more and are slightly uncomfortable.

I dont think babies that little are waking up to "spend more time with you"
but have you asked babysitter if she does anything different? Like does she pick up baby while sleeping? or rush in(which babies totally sense btw)?

I had a babysitter who was the sweetest woman, but wouldn't listen to a word I said in terms of sleeping. she loved to cuddle with my baby, and hold her all day and rock her to sleep, and make it 10x harder for me during the night time. (bh she was sweet and loved my baby which I of course was thrilled about)

luppamom

Thu, Jan 15 2015, 4:45 pm

MMCH wrote:

Yes, I doubt they wake up b/c of this. They don't go to sleep b/c of this Smile

But, once they're awake enough (when they wake up) then it's the same thing b/c they need to go back to sleep!

Ferber mentions that babies sleep terribly w/ pacis b/c basically, people (all of us) have sleep cycles and we slightly wake up at the end of them but go back to sleep b/c we're comfortable. If a baby went to sleep sucking s/t and it's not there, then that can be very upsetting. It's like us waking up (slightly) and there is no pillow. We'd probably wake up enough to get a pillow and if we can't find one fast enough, we would probably have to resettle ourselves in bed. A baby does the same thing. I saw this w/ my baby first-hand and now that she doesn't get a paci for bed, she's sleeping much better b"H, bli ayin hora.

For the future, I think I would stop giving a baby a paci before bed/nap once they are reaching 4 mos. Much to let them learn w/o it.

ETA, I think the husband thing makes sense if she's the one that feeds the baby. If the baby wakes up and sees Mommy that equals feed me (and likely a nice cuddle as well)! if it's Daddy, that means no food, much less interesting and probably not worth waking up for.