What has happened to my perfect baby???

[BaDaBing]

My 6 months old baby boy has always been a perfect sleeper, he would sleep right through the night besides maybe one dummy spits. However recently he has started night waking and it is taking me about 2.5 - 3 hours to get him to go back to sleep. Is this normal??

He is even taking me about 2 hours to get him to have his morning sleep whereas before I could just wrap him, put the dummy in and turn the music on and he would crash out instantly, now he doesn't :crying:

I think he may be teething but even when I give him teething gel or panadol he doesn't fall asleep. I figure if he was in pain that he would fix the problem??

Can anybody tell me if this is a common phase and it will pass or is he trying to test me. Should I try a control crying technique or something else to nip it in the bud?

I would love to hear any successs stories or suggestions??:)

Sharn

[BaDaBing]

I'm am so exhausted and I hate it that I can't seem to settle him. He just won't give into sleep. I am studying and trying to get everything else done and I feel like I'm loosing it.

[imwatto]

Hey,


I think babies/children are the master manipulaters, at six months old I found my babies (now 8, 5 and three) found the the power they could wield. Obviously not realising how they do it but with teething, and sickness kids discover mum and dad will pick them up and they loved it.


I think this is the time I found hard because my little ones needed to cry in their beds 'for their own good'. They needed to put themselves to sleep. I hated it.

Happy days:banghead:

[misskittyfantastico]

My DD has never been a very good sleeper, but there does seem to be something about that 6month mark:detective: After about 2 weeks of constant waking, screaming everytime we went near her cot, left the room etc etc, things are finally starting to settle a bit.

During really bad times I just give her what I can...I went back to rocking her to sleep in the chair, and the bouncer was my best friend - she was having her day naps (40mins at most - but it's something!) in her bouncer.

My advice would be to relax as much as you can and to focus on how he's behaving now as opposed to how "good" he was in the past - what worked then won't necessarily work now IYKWIM

I hope this helps in some way:)

[Taylors_mum]

Hi Sharn,

My little one has been going through this stage aswell.

There are lots of reasons he could be like this.

Its so frustrating i know :banghead: My DD was just like your son... i would lay her in bed and she would drift off by herself. She is only just starting to get back to that stage now after about a month of being restless.

Like you i just thought it was teething. Then i thought maybe she is growing out of her morning nap. Then i thought it may be a tummy ache.:confused:

You just have to think of all the things that could be bothering him and rule them out one by one. Once you have everything ruled out than its probably what imwatto said and he's "Testing" you.

Once i ruled everything out i would let her cry... she wouldnt cry for long and then realise "ok mummy's not coming to get me" and drift off. It's horrible listening to them cry. She was just doing the fake cries once it got into the serious cry then i was like... hmmm maybe its something else. Its so hard to know what the problem is. Its all trial and error.

I hope your bub setlles down soon.

[Madi]

I'll think you'll find that six months is a common time for babies to change their sleeping habits. It's a big developmental time in their life, their brains are going through huge changes, they are becoming more aware of themselves physically, and of course teething is often a factor.

My perfect sleeper started waking at six months. We moved him into his own room and with a bit of love and patience he started sleeping well again. We never found that he was doing it to be troublesome, it's just another stage:)

It's really hard to deal with I know, especially after getting used to proper sleep!

[veve]

dammit... my son is 5 months and has just started doing this too... I know the feeling sharn... :hugs:

he IS teething :banghead: (2 teeth almost through) - but until he hit that 5 month mark (almost to the day!!) he was a gorgeous sleeper... day / night / wherever/ whenever - now I pretty much have to bounce during the day (I now have a rest with him at 8am .. in the arm chair - my neck muscles are struggling... but the rest of me needs that nap!!!) if I try to put him down .. he immediately awakes and whinges (well... screams really)!! panadol occasionally makes a difference... teething gel occasionally helps... but not really... :(

he used to sleep till 6.30am ... beautifully - now I am excited if it is 5am.. :rolleyes:

oh PLEASE tell me this is just a phase... I can cope if it will end soon!!! argh!!!!

[JE's Mum]

My son is 13 months and was only a good sleeper between 2 and 4 1/2 months. After that, he went through very wakeful periods when he was teething, when there were significant changes in the household (visitors), during major development phases like at 7-8 months and recently when I started back at work. I'm sorry to say that it is completely normal for a baby to sleep well and then start waking again.

When they are little they sleep well because lets face it, they don't know any different. They get older and they start to wake up to the world. They start to care if your in the room during the day so it's not surprising they start to care if you're not there at night too. They are not being manipulative (their brain isn't that developed!) its just part of life for them.

The unfortunate thing is we are led to believe that once a baby starts sleeping, that's it until they leave home! Not true. And its not just babies. One of my closest friends has had three very good sleeping babies but as she says "what goes around, comes around". She now has toddlers that keep getting up at night!

I know its hard. My son still wakes once during the evening and once during the night and occasionally wants to stay awake for hours. But they do get better. I remember when he used to wake every two hours when he was 8 months old!! :eek: I live for small mercies!

[vanillabean]

My little girl Sophie is now 14 months and for the past 2 months wakes every night. Prior to that she had been sleeping all night!! I can fully comprehend how exhausting it is when they have been sleeping through and suddenly start waking again! I have put it down to teething and also I think she may be just in the habit of waking, as she seems to wake at a similar time every night.

[BaDaBing]

Thanks so much for your helpful advice I have taken it on board.:thumbsup:

I have a feeling I might know what is contributing to his nightwaking. Yesterday I limited his day time sleeping to a total of about 3 hrs for the whole day and guess what HE SLEPT THRU!! YIPEEEE:smiliedance:

I realised when he was waking it was like he couldn't go back to sleep for another 2 - 2.5 hours later. He just wasn't tired enough so I thought maybe he was oversleeping during the day.

Who knows perhaps oversleeping is not the problem; with our babies all we can do is try different things until we find an answer... if there ever is one.

Thanks again
Sharn