stopped sleeping through

[Belinda1000]

hi everyone
I have a daughter who is almost 5 months old and since she had her needles at 4 months our whole life seems to have turned upside down. She now has stopped sleeping through the night and wakes up starving no matter how late i feed her.The only thing that seems to work is if i feed her when she wakes usually around 3 in the morning. Have tried resettling without a feed but doesnt work. i also started her on solids thinking she could be hungry but thay hasnt worked either.Do i just let her cry in her cot and not get up to her. I would love to have my sleeping through nights back.She prefers to sleep on her stomach now that she can roll over but i have learned to live with that.
She also was having trouble with wind so put her on infacol which worked really well for about a month but now we seem to be sliding back into our screaming routine and it is taking me up to 2 hours to settle her. How much sleep should a 5 month be having during the day does anyone have a routine that works for them.
hope someone has some advice that might help thanks
Belinda 1000

[JanetF]

Hi :) Babies change their habits so quickly! My son is 2 and has never slept more than about 5 hours in a row which is actually what sleep studies term "sleeping through." He wakes, he gets the boob, we both fall back to sleep pretty much immediately. No biggie. Your babe is perfectly normal and if she goes back to sleep after a feed then obviously it's what she needs :) Most babies wake to be fed 2-3 times a night. If you put her cot in your room, or sidecar it, or put her in your bed, you won't have to get up and you probably won't have to help her settle because simply being near you will be enough. I never think leaving to cry is an option because I don't think parenting stops at bed time :)
Try these for some help but really, she's perfectly normal! :D
http://askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp
NIGHTTIME PARENTING LESSON #2: Some babies need help getting back to sleep.

Some "resettlers" or "self-soothers" can go through this vulnerable period without completely awakening, and if they do wake up, they can ease themselves back into a deep sleep. Other babies need a helping hand, voice, or breast to resettle back into deep sleep. From these unique differences in sleep cycle design, we learn that one of the goals of nighttime parenting is to create a sleeping environment that helps baby go through this vulnerable period of nightwaking and reenter deep sleep without waking up.

5. Nightwaking has survival benefits. In the first few months, babies' needs are the highest, but their ability to communicate their needs is the lowest. Suppose a baby slept deeply most of the night. Some basic needs would go unfulfilled. Tiny babies have tiny tummies, and mother's milk is digested very rapidly. If a baby's stimulus for hunger could not easily arouse her, this would not be good for baby's survival. If baby's nose was stuffed and she could not breathe, or was cold and needed warmth, and her sleep state was so deep that she could not communicate her needs, her survival would be jeopardized.

[meshan]

I have just got off the phone to the Maternal & Child Health nurse with the exact same problem. I have had a hellish weekend of hardly any sleep and I know just how you are feeling!

I was told that it is perfectly normal for our babies ( my son is 5 months old ) have 3 feeds a night, a late feed around 10pm, another around 2pm and then one around 6am. Sleeping through at this is age is not really expected.

I was also told not to go in as soon as they wake (except if they are due for a feed) as they will re-settle and somtimes going in just stops them for settling themselves.

Also you need to get some sort of routine going during the day - apparently waking for 2 hours then sleeping for 2 hours. I was told to try putting him down after 2 hours even if he didn't appear sleepy.

I haven't tried any of this yet!!! I am just passing on the advice I was given - its worth a go!

I just keep telling myself this too will pass - we will survive and things will get better!!!

[annsam]

My DS is always changing his habits. He will sleep perfectly for 11 hours for 3 weeks in a row then he will start waking at 11pm every night for 2 weeks and then move back to sleeping through etc etc. Just go with the flo would be my advice.

[xkwzit]

Both my DDs did this too. DD1 never slept through, but at 6 months, started waking twice. DD2 did sleep through from about 5 months but then started waking again at 6 months. I think its pretty normal and corresponds with them doing more (rolling, playing). I just put up with it for a while, this was also the time we started solids and FF (as I was going back to work and couldn't keep up with all the expressing). After they were about 7 months old, I started to settle them at night without feeding and they would go back down. So maybe your little one is genuinely hungry still (little tummy can't hold enough to keep going all night).

Cheers

[AM]

Sounds just like my son!
He slept for 7 - 9 hour stretches from 6 weeks old, until 4 months, then began waking more frequently.
I just did the old, roll over and give him the boob, and he was usually asleep again in minutes, and looking back, I think I attributed it to a fair few things.
Teething - even though it took a while longer for teeth to come through, I'm pretty sure things were moving around, and getting ready for a while, and caused him a bit of pain. We used the Brauers teething relief to great effect.
At about 4 months, he was beginning to master a lot more movement, rolling etc, and I think he would wake himself by being restless, and just needed to be soothed back to sleep.
And they do seem to practice things in their sleep! and wake up.
It sounds perfectly normal.