That's how many hours of sleep I got last night. It's not enough.
Landon went to sleep at 8:30. I went to bed at 11, but it takes me a long time to fall asleep, so I was still awake when he started crying at midnight. I went in to check on him, saw that he was fine, and decided we were not getting in the habit of eating in the middle of the night (his 17 lbs. and large belly are more than capable of going longer than that), so I gave him a few pats and went back to bed. Normally Landon will fuss a little and go back to sleep, but last night he cried, fussed, and yelled until we finally broke and fed him some bottle at 3am. He took a few sucks and fell asleep, only to wake us back up at 6:45am. I have no idea what was going on with him- he obviously wasn't that hungry, his diaper was fine, the crib was fine- he was fine! You could tell he was trying to settle and he'd even fall asleep while one of us was patting his back, only to wake up crying less than 5 minutes later. Is he teething? Is he trying to kill me?
I've had 2 cups of tea and my eyes burn every time I close them. He greeted me with a giant smile when I blearily shuffled over to his crib 6:45- it's a good thing he's so cute.
Hang in there. We have to feed Bear cereal right before bed to make sure he makes it through the night. Most of the nights he woke up at that age was due to hunger or an ear infection (the pressure increases when he lies down). He was also fussy for awhile before the first tooth popped through. A little orajel or Ibuprofen usually worked to get him back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteYou poor guys! I have no advice, but that really stinks. We've had lots of bad nights with no explanation too. Sometimes I just give in and gave him some Motrin or Tylenol and usually that lets us all get back to sleep for a while.
ReplyDeleteThat happens to us too sometimes. He may be teething. Usually some baby motrin or tylenol would work, along with some orajel or anbesol for good measure.
ReplyDeleteDoes Landon enjoys baths? When my nephews won't stay asleep, my sis gives them a warm bath and slathers them in "sleepytime" lotion and that knocks them out for the night! Not sure if it soothes them or wears them out, but sis says that the 30 mins it takes to undress, bathe and re-dress them is nothing compared to hours of screaming at night!
ReplyDeleteI have been there and it is so terrible. I think you are doing the right thing to stay strong and not give in to feeding him because although it may work in the short term it is sure to become a habit for him. I think a little prophylactic tylenol or motrin can't hurt, especially if he is showing other signs of teething like drooling and chomping on everything in sight. But when he does wake up at night try to make your soothing as routine and uneventful and possible so he starts to get the drill that nothing exciting will happen when he wakes up. Even so, with teething and crawling and other skills right around the corner this waking up thing could get worse before it gets better. It sucks, and it does feel like he is trying to kill you. Try and squeeze in a catnap yourself. Good Luck
ReplyDeleteyes, that must be the reason babies are so cute...because I hate to think what would happen if they weren't :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like the dreaded four-month sleep regression. You'll both get through it, but it pretty much sucks. In the meantime, reading some of the posts on Ask Moxie (www.askmoxie.org) will remind you you're not alone. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain! I thought of you last night at 3:30 when I was up for the second time- 3.5 is not enough!!
ReplyDeleteJust a thought - my doctor told me that her daughter started to wake up every two hours, after having been sleeping all through the night, when she went back to work. She thinks that the kid was trying to make up for lost time with her mother during the day.
ReplyDeleteTeething seems very likely at this age. Also, if he has recently learned to roll over he might be trying to do that and getting frustrated. Or, he just wants more attention. It is hard to figure out, but you will eventually. I hope you can squeeze in a nap somewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is teething. Or a growth spurt. Or both. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard at this age because you can tell that they want to go to sleep, but something is keeping them up. We had this fun a few nights ago with Cooper, except I gave in and gave him a bottle of water so that he wouldn't think that getting us up would equate to a yummy warm bottle of milk. Just for good measure, I gave him some tylenol. Not sure which one did the trick, but he went back to sleep after about 2 ounces of water. Hope it's just a one-night thing!
He IS trying to kill you. It's a secret baby conspiracy. We mothers just can't resist their powers of cuteness, though.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, that definitely sounds like teething.
Aaaaaaand also just be glad he doesn't do this every night, because my son woke up like four times a night for the first eight or nine months of his life. After that many nights with 3-4 hours of sleep, I was pretty sure I actually was going to die.