Why's this happening & how to deal with it?

[MissSteph]

Hi everyone,

WARNING - Quite a long story!

I am new to this forum and am looking for some advice on what to do with my DD who is 6 months old.
She WAS a fairly good sleeper at night.. Well lets say on and off. She would sleep through for 1 week then stop and so on. Now for the past month she has been waking several times a night and I can usually give her a dummy to fall back asleep along with using a lullabub. We had a great routine going too. Now for the past 2 weeks I have noticed it getting worse as each night passes. Lately she has been waking every hour without fail! Anywhere from 11pm onwarnds (sometimes even before that) and once comes 4am it's impossible to re-settle her and on the rare case I do settle her it's after a long battle! So I started to give her a bottle at 4-5am in hopes to go back to sleep but it isn't certain she does. The past 2 nights she hasn't. I was giving her a dream feed also but stopped that seeing as it wasn't making a difference. I started her on solids about 2 weeks ago and this week have started her on 2 meals a day and although she eats it, it just does not make a difference what so ever! My CHN said at around this age they are more "alert" and are more interested in the world around them rather than sleeping but surely waking every hour at night has nothing to do with that? When I look at my daughter she is just sooooooooooo tired! I can't somplain about her day sleeps so that's 1 good thing. She usually has 2 or 3 1-1.5hr naps.

I just don't know what to do anymore. I thought she'd be over it now seeing as it's been a month but it just seems to be getting worse. I am extremely lucky if I get 5 hours of broken sleep in a 24 hour period and frankly I mentally and physically cannot function with such little sleep anymore. I know she can sleep through because she use to do it and I think she's only wanting the early bottle as comforting after waking up so frequently. She can't possibly be hungry because she's now eating more than she ever was.

Has anyone else been through this? What was the outcome?

Confused mum :confused:

[wild at heart]

hey there! welcome to the forum.

Just from briefly reading your post, it does sound like she is becoming more and more alert- maybe coinciding with reaching devleopmnetal milestones.

A few things I can think of (having been there with ds1 i am just recalling what they said to me):

Sounds like she may have a bit of a negative sleep association with the dummy- ie needing it to go to sleep and when it falls it she wakes. Its likely that it has started now as things don't become major issues with dummies etc until around 4 mnths old. Could you try eliminating it or limiting it's use?
If you are concerned about how much milk she is taking, can you feed her her milk during the day in a quiet spot without distractions?
Maybe check she isn't becoming too overstimulated- maybe watch for tired signs then read a story in her room then put to sleep.
Have you spoken to the CHN about settling techniques. There are lots of settling techniques you can try to help her sleep more. I don't want to tell you which way to try in case it creates too much confusion. I personally have had success iwth CC, but I am not going to tell you to do it if that's not waht feels ok for you iykwim.
At her age she probably needs to ahve at least an hour of sleep- so maybe use your settling techniques to try to put her back to sleep if she wakes up before an hour of sleep during teh day. ONce the day sleeps become better the nights are so much easier.
Babies self-regulate how much they will eat so maybe, you could try her on more food if you think it was appropriate for her.
is she warm enough?
are her legs getting caught in the bars of the cot?
Is she falling asleep on the bottle, if so she may be wanting that to help her get back to sleep?
have you got a good bedtime routine, so she knows it is time for bed? ie solids, bath, milk in lounge then bed?

sorry.. just trying to think of some ideas. I would ask your nurse to help you with some settling techniques or you can look online on the raising children netwwok website which has different strategies.

i am NO expert, but have been told lots of things, and just thought I would share them with you... good luck!!

Keep posting so we know how you go..

[MissSteph]

Thank you for your reply!

She always spits out the dummy just as she is about to nod off into a deep sleep and doesn't generally cry out during the day for her dummy or anything. She is a great day sleeper, I can't complain about the day sleeps at all and she self settles at night when it's bedtime. I give her a bath, massage, cuddles & kisses, bottle then pop into her bed and walk out of the room and she falls asleep on her own which is excellent! Just a shame she keeps waking. She's warm and has all body parts inside the cot :p hehe. I haven't done anything different to her routine to make her wake up so frequently at night. I have noticed however that the past couple of days she has become increasingly hungrier! She's gone from 5 bottles a day (210mls) & a cube of fruit for breakfast to 5 bottles a day (210mls) & 3 meals a day which are roughly around half a pot of baby food in a jar or 2-3 large cubes of fresh fruit and veg. Maybe I should start introducing a dream feed again? Her cheeks have been rosy red lately aswell so I think her teeth may be moving around again. She has been teething since she was 2 months old but keep coming up then going back down again :hair:

[Nomsie]

Hey there,

I certainly have no answers for you, but just wanted to let you know you're not alone.

I used to have my boys down to 1 or 2 wakes a night, where I would feed them and put them back to sleep.

But now, just like your DD, they are waking around every hour or so, or seemingly at the end of every sleep cycle. It brings me to tears just thinking about spending yet another night like this, but I really don't know what else to do. We are booked in for a sleep school day stay at the end of this month, and it can't come fast enough. I too am mentally and physically exhausted.

My boys sleep patterns started really deteriorating just before 5 months old, and has been getting worse and worse ever since. They are 7 months on Sunday.

Keep your head up though! :)

[wild at heart]

Thank you for your reply!

She always spits out the dummy just as she is about to nod off into a deep sleep and doesn't generally cry out during the day for her dummy or anything. She is a great day sleeper, I can't complain about the day sleeps at all and she self settles at night when it's bedtime. I give her a bath, massage, cuddles & kisses, bottle then pop into her bed and walk out of the room and she falls asleep on her own which is excellent! Just a shame she keeps waking. She's warm and has all body parts inside the cot :p hehe. I haven't done anything different to her routine to make her wake up so frequently at night. I have noticed however that the past couple of days she has become increasingly hungrier! She's gone from 5 bottles a day (210mls) & a cube of fruit for breakfast to 5 bottles a day (210mls) & 3 meals a day which are roughly around half a pot of baby food in a jar or 2-3 large cubes of fresh fruit and veg. Maybe I should start introducing a dream feed again? Her cheeks have been rosy red lately aswell so I think her teeth may be moving around again. She has been teething since she was 2 months old but keep coming up then going back down again :hair:

could you add more food- maybe you could feed her until she has turned her head away?

have you tried any of the homeopathic teething treatments- brauers teething relief or hylands teething tablets?

[authenticbabe]

My DS has been a terrible night sleeper so when i noticed it getting worse, i couldnt think of what was causing it. It wasnt till a little toothy peg decided it would show it face, that i have now realised it was that. Like your DD he was a great day sleep, but come nights it was like a little monster came out in him. On our worst night it could be upwards of every 20-40mins. NOW he still wakes a couple of times, but nothing compared to before hand. At the risk of people telling me im wrong, I was advised to give him some nurofen on his really bad night, just once to see if it made any difference. Im not suggesting you go drug her up, but im just offering a suggestion.
Good luckwith everything and i hope she starts sleeping better for you soon:hugs:

[MissSteph]

Well last night I put her to bed around 20mins ealier and gave her bonjela and a dream feed at around 8:30-9pm (I went to bed early, I was just so exhausted!) she only ate 80mls though but didn't wake till 2am! then went back to sleep till 3:15 then back to sleep gain till 6 then I gave her a bottle. I'm not sure if it was the ealier bedtime, the bonjela or the dream feed that made her sleep a tiny bit better but?

I haven't tried brauers but am seriously considering it! And I feed her until she turns away. She's such a little pig :rolleyes:

I was thinking about a day school but when I was looking into it her sleeps were getting better but now they are bad again I might look into it a bit more.

I use to give her panadol every night before bed when her teeth were bothering her.. Should I maybe do this again? Giving her panadol once everyday isn't going to harm her?

[Nomsie]

Congrats on a better night.

Be careful about giving panadol too often- it can affect their little livers. Try the brauers, or even Hylands teething tablets :)

[em1984]

oh god I could have written your post word for word. Like others have said, my boy was a great sleeper till about 4.5 months. Now at 6 months it is just getting worse and worse. The thing is, he's day sleeps are getting better/longer?! Im slowly loosing the plot and just have a permanent headache, its awful. Sorry Im no help to you, but i am in your shoes and seeking any advice anyone can give. Last night I was up pretty much every hour with a screaming match and 3.30 till 5 this morning as I was trying not to feed him to sleep. I think this is where our problem has come from in that I have fed him to sleep and now this is his sleep association, so anytime he wakes he needs to be fed back to sleep. aarrgh

[MissSteph]

I'm so sorry to hear yopu are experiencing the same thing, but it's good to know that i'm not alone!

I went to the chemist to get some baby panadol and the lady flamed me when I asked if it's ok to give it to her once a day until her teeth stop hurting (1-2 weeks??) so I now know never to ask that question at a chemist again!

[authenticbabe]

I use to give her panadol every night before bed when her teeth were bothering her.. Should I maybe do this again? Giving her panadol once everyday isn't going to harm her?[/quote]

I was told to give them nurofen over panadol only because it is an anti inflamitary (sorry spelling:p) so as well as helping with the pain it should stop the inflamation as well.
After posting here that my DS sleeps better now, i too was up every 40mins last night...grrrr i knew it would bite me in the bum !!!!!

[MissSteph]

I went to the chemist especially to get nurofen but the lady said nurofen strips the lining of their tummies :confused:. So I got Dymadon (spelling?) and tried giving her some tonight and about 10 mins later she did this huge vomit sound and out came clear stuff (think it was a heap of saliva because the dymadon is white in color).

Ouch, I hate saying how well they're doing and they do a turn around! So unfair!

[authenticbabe]

ohh no i hope shes ok now. I didnt kno that about nurofen, and the chemist told me to get it... grr wish they would all get there stories straight, will be doing some research on it now, thanks for letting me know