Narry
04-28-2004, 05:39 PM
Hi! I have a 4.5 month old, and his sleep has gotten from bad to worse. When he was a newborn, he would nurse, and I would burp him, sometimes change his diaper, and I could put him down, and he would sleep just fine. Within the past 3 weeks or so, his sleep has gone down hill.
About 2 weeks ago, I was trying to teach him to fall asleep on his own by putting him down in his crib sleepy, and patting and reassuring him to sleep, and that was going pretty well. He would whine and/or cry for a little while but managed to fall asleep eventually. He actually fell asleep completely on his own for a while. But after his 4 month checkup & shots a week ago, and after a few days visiting my parents house at the same time, his sleep has gone from bad to worse.
The past few days have been the absolute worst. On Monday night (my birthday, of all days) he went to bed at 8pm, and woke up at 10pm, 12am, 2am, 3am, 4am, and was up for the day at 5am. Last night he woke up every hour. No joke. I even tried putting him to bed earlier (since he was obviously tired) and that resulted in him waking at 4am. ARG!! And the only way he will fall back asleep is if he is nursing. I can pull him off when he is just falling asleep, and stick a pacifier in his mouth, but that’s the only way he will take a pacifier. If I try anything else to get him to fall asleep, even holding him in my arms, he will cry and scream bloody murder. I tried sleeping in another room, thinking that maybe he can smell me when he wakes, but that doesn’t make a difference.
I am at wit’s end. They don’t recommend the Ferber method until 6 months (which I never thought I would do, but I am desperate). Do I just continue to nurse him to sleep at all hours of the night? Will that just support an already bad habit? Or is he possible going through something and I just need to follow his cues? I don’t feel any teeth coming in, but he is drooling a lot.
Does anyone have any suggestions at all? I am desperate for a half-way decent night’s sleep.
Thanks in advance,
Narry
Proud and happy (but extremely sleep deprived) mom to Parker, born Dec 17, 2003
About 2 weeks ago, I was trying to teach him to fall asleep on his own by putting him down in his crib sleepy, and patting and reassuring him to sleep, and that was going pretty well. He would whine and/or cry for a little while but managed to fall asleep eventually. He actually fell asleep completely on his own for a while. But after his 4 month checkup & shots a week ago, and after a few days visiting my parents house at the same time, his sleep has gone from bad to worse.
The past few days have been the absolute worst. On Monday night (my birthday, of all days) he went to bed at 8pm, and woke up at 10pm, 12am, 2am, 3am, 4am, and was up for the day at 5am. Last night he woke up every hour. No joke. I even tried putting him to bed earlier (since he was obviously tired) and that resulted in him waking at 4am. ARG!! And the only way he will fall back asleep is if he is nursing. I can pull him off when he is just falling asleep, and stick a pacifier in his mouth, but that’s the only way he will take a pacifier. If I try anything else to get him to fall asleep, even holding him in my arms, he will cry and scream bloody murder. I tried sleeping in another room, thinking that maybe he can smell me when he wakes, but that doesn’t make a difference.
I am at wit’s end. They don’t recommend the Ferber method until 6 months (which I never thought I would do, but I am desperate). Do I just continue to nurse him to sleep at all hours of the night? Will that just support an already bad habit? Or is he possible going through something and I just need to follow his cues? I don’t feel any teeth coming in, but he is drooling a lot.
Does anyone have any suggestions at all? I am desperate for a half-way decent night’s sleep.
Thanks in advance,
Narry
Proud and happy (but extremely sleep deprived) mom to Parker, born Dec 17, 2003