My 6 month old was only getting up once at night to eat, around 3am after being put to bed at 7:30pm. I figured that was normal and every once in awhile would sleep straight through. I thought we were headed in the right direction and it wouldn't be long until he slept through the night every night. Well, then he got an ear infection and was getting up at 3am like clockwork. Then the holidays came and we travelled. Well I hated to let him fuss at night when others would be disturbed so he started getting up at 12:30a and then at 4am! Now we are home and battling getting back to our longer sleep stretch but I am having a tough time because he will cry/scream for over an hour! Help! What should I do!? He is getting up at 12:30 or and then at 3or 4am! My pediatrician agrees he should be back to his 6 hour stretch bur need advice on how to get there again without waking up the whole house. Thanks!
I tend to agree with Gidget. He may be hitting a growth spurt and just is hungry. Try feeding him some milk or formula (whatever you use) and see if it helps. If it is a growth spurt, he will eventually fall back to sleeping through the night. If it isn't a growth spurt you will know pretty quickly.
What is his mood when he wakes up normally? Like from a nap or in the morning? I ask because I learned that when my son woke up in the middle of the night or shortly after going down for a nap, he was just uncomfortable. Maybe his arm or leg fell asleep from laying on it funny or he was too hot, bad dream, something like that. I did feed him in the middle of the night at first when he woke up crying and he would eat and go back to sleep. Then I started rocking him and not feeding him and he would go back to sleep. After a few times doing that I waited to see how long he would cry and realized it was only for 5 minutes or so and he would just go back to sleep on his own. In the mornings or after a nap he never cries when he wakes up. Just talks to his seahorse or his blanky :)
Put ear plugs in everyone's ears. Make his bedtime a little later - 7:30 is pretty early. Then batten down the hatches. No feeding him at 12:30. Only at 3:00. When he's crying at 12:30, I would not go into him. It will take several nights of crying, but he will eventually stop waking for this. When you have it in you to drop the 3:00 feeding, do the same thing. I would consider getting his bedtime eventually to 9:00, so that it is easier on him to transition to sleeping through the night on a consistent basis.
Also, since he is old enough for cereal now, you might consider giving him some cereal before bedtime to help hold him. That is easier to do if you are putting him to bed later.
Other than letting him cry some, I don't know how you are going to do this.
Good luck!
Dawn
I would feed him and help him get back to sleep. It could be a growth spurt (very common at 6 months). It could be that he's still a little "off" from all the holiday excitement (I know my kids are). He could be not feeling quite right. I really could be so many things.
He needs you. He needs you in the middle of the night, and it sucks because you need your sleep too, but he needs you to be there for him. It won't last forever. He'll get back into his routine soon. For now, just be there for him.
Please keep in mind that there might not be anything you can "do," exactly, other than be patient and respond to his needs. Many of us had kids who didn't sleep through the night consistently until 18 months! We didn't necessarily do anything wrong. It's just the way it goes.
Hang in there!
