Sleep Issues

[Natsku]

Glad she's ok and sleeping better now!

[parentologist]

Originally Posted by psurangers11

Hi there,

This has been a more recent development for our baby and wanted to see if others had similar experiences and hoping that maybe it's just a phase or something.

Our baby girl will be 10 months old tomorrow (amazing how quickly it goes by!). We've been spoiled that after about 6 weeks old she started sleeping 10-12 hours per night with the occasional waking up in the middle of the night for a diaper change or just comforting her to go back to sleep.

The last few days though she's begun doing something that she's never cared for before, and before bedtime she actually likes to have her head on your shoulder and rocked to sleep. This is no problem at all.. in fact my wife and I feel even more connected to her because it gives you that warm loving feeling inside.

HOWEVER, last night she woke up multiple times... each time it wasn't even crying she was just making noise. It was one of those things that in the past she'd just make herself go back to sleep. When it starts to carry on we usually get up to rock her... and last night as soon as I took her out of her crib and put her on my shoulder she was literally snoring in my arms within seconds. After about 5 minutes I go to put her back down and she wakes and starts crying. This went on and on for quite sometime.

Makes me wonder why the sudden change... and lately she's been napping less and less so I'm just not sure where she's even getting the energy at the end of the day to constantly keep waking up! We both refuse to even bring her to our bed... we'll pay for trying to "correct" one habit by supplying her with another!

Anyone else have similar experiences? How did you deal with it, and did it last long or just chaulk it up to another "phase" in her quickly growing life!

Oh dear. You have got a problem now. What happened is that she got into the habit of being rocked to sleep. Once she got used to that, then every time she wakes up at night (and we all wake up about every 90 minutes, but just fall back asleep again), she looks for someone to rock her back to sleep. In fact, it sounds like she's looking for someone to hold her so that she can sleep. Imagine if someone had taken away your pillow after you had fallen asleep. When you woke up, you would want your pillow to fall back asleep with, so you would get up to get it back. You and your wife have become the pillow.

What you have to do is train her to fall asleep under conditions which she can reproduce on her own during the night. That means you must put her down in the crib awake (but ready for bed) and leave to allow her to fall asleep on her own, in her crib, without anyone present and certainly without anyone rocking her to sleep. Start with putting her down this way for naps during the day, and then when she can fall asleep on her own, do it at bedtime, too. It's not going to be easy. Honestly, in my opinion, the quickest way through it is to just let her "cry it out", but you may not have the strength to let her cry. What I DON"T recommend is the Ferber method - where you let her cry for increasingly longer periods of time, going back in at ever longer intervals - because all it does is train her to cry longer and longer. You can theoretically train her to cry for hours on end with the Ferber method.

If she's been sick with a cold recently, I'd take her to the pediatrician first to get her ears checked. Ear infection pain can be worse when you lie down, so she might be crying when you lay her down because of ear pain. Once the pediatrician says her ears are fine, then you can start with the sleep training.

A good book about sleep issues is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT by Dr. Jodi Mindell. Talks about sleep issues from infants to adults. She doesn't like the cry it out method, though.

[germaine2626]

Originally Posted by parentologist

Oh dear. You have got a problem now. What happened is that she got into the habit of being rocked to sleep. Once she got used to that, then every time she wakes up at night (and we all wake up about every 90 minutes, but just fall back asleep again), she looks for someone to rock her back to sleep. In fact, it sounds like she's looking for someone to hold her so that she can sleep. Imagine if someone had taken away your pillow after you had fallen asleep. When you woke up, you would want your pillow to fall back asleep with, so you would get up to get it back. You and your wife have become the pillow.

What you have to do is train her to fall asleep under conditions which she can reproduce on her own during the night. That means you must put her down in the crib awake (but ready for bed) and leave to allow her to fall asleep on her own, in her crib, without anyone present and certainly without anyone rocking her to sleep. Start with putting her down this way for naps during the day, and then when she can fall asleep on her own, do it at bedtime, too. It's not going to be easy. Honestly, in my opinion, the quickest way through it is to just let her "cry it out", but you may not have the strength to let her cry. What I DON"T recommend is the Ferber method - where you let her cry for increasingly longer periods of time, going back in at ever longer intervals - because all it does is train her to cry longer and longer. You can theoretically train her to cry for hours on end with the Ferber method.

If she's been sick with a cold recently, I'd take her to the pediatrician first to get her ears checked. Ear infection pain can be worse when you lie down, so she might be crying when you lay her down because of ear pain. Once the pediatrician says her ears are fine, then you can start with the sleep training.

A good book about sleep issues is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT by Dr. Jodi Mindell. Talks about sleep issues from infants to adults. She doesn't like the cry it out method, though.

Great post.