5 Month Old Wakes Every 30-60 Min! Help

It could be so many things. He could be having issues with digestion of the new foods (gas is common in the beginning and can be painful). The teething could absolutely be a factor. But also, he could be going through some developmental stuff, like learning to crawl. When they do begin to get those skills, they wake up and "practice" them at night and have trouble falling back to sleep. It could even been night terrors, which isn't uncommon to start at his age.

The first thing I'd assess is his diapers: Is he having regular bowel movements? Is he more gassy? If that's the case, it's the food and you should maybe put off the solids for a week or two to see if it helps. If it's not that, all the other stuff is just developmental and you have less control and just have to ride it out.

Good luck,
M.

S.,

Sorry to report that your teething issues are only just begining. It might be some new teeth or a growth spurt that's keeping him up. Since he's also having trouble during the day call your pediatrician to rule out any other problems like an ear infection.

Good for you for not letting him cry it out. Its so much better for the baby.

Good Luck.

you have gotten great advice. growth spurts, new activities, introduction of new foods(i do agree to wait on solids till 6 months, 7 months optimim for a breastfed baby), pain(make sure no hairs are twisted around the toes). i would also def consider either teething or ear infection pain. when babies are transitioning thru the sleep cycle, if there is pain when he is in light sleep, he would wake up screaming. its more like a pain scream. when you comfort him, he feels safe and is exhausted, so he drifts back until he gets to light sleep again.

the only other thing i can think he is screaming because he is tired but getting woke up somehow. does he startle at all in his sleep. pacifiers def help with this(although daughter #2 refused one:( as when they get in the light sleep, they start to suck and soothe back down. white noise is also a help. maybe not a full swaddle, but he may need to feel more secure as if he is being held. your concern is keeping him asleep.

also, the fact that he is not getting good naps can def be the problem. sleep begets sleep. and its always better to get him asleep before he is truly tired.

the fact that he wakes during naps all of a sudden, i would def suspect something going on. and 6 times a night is not normal. i highly suggest to stay away from an crying it out techniques. having a baby whail so they pass out from exhaustion is not "teaching", it shows the baby that his needs will not be met. there are numerous studies documenting the ill effects of cio, however there are NO studies to show any ill effects of NOT letting a baby cry. they are young for such a short time, if you live to 90, a year or two of comforting your children will seem so insignificant in terms of time. this will pass before you know it.

He could be going through a growth spurt. Whenever my son has been real fussy or his slepp patterns are outside of the norm, he has gone through a spurt. The teething can have something to do with it as well. My son just cut his first tooth this weekend and it was a struggle, but doesn't last as long as a spurt. pay attention and in the next couple of days if he seems HUGE...thats what you dealt with.

Plus with him getting older his naps are not going to be as long...he will want to be active more and interact more.

Hi S.,
I just wanted to add my 2 cents - my son started teething in Sept of 2007; 1st tooth didn't break through until April of 2008. Every time a tooth comes through, he starts teething again. Now we are suffering through the molars. We have brought him to the ped 4 separate times thinking he had an ear infection and every time we were told that he is just teething (how embarassing for us to keep bringing a healthy baby to the doctor!) Recently a coworker told me that when she was 20 years old she went to the dentist in excruciating pain, to find out that she was teething!! Can you believe it? I don't know why or how, but she had a molar coming thru at the age of 20. She told me that the pain was just horrible and that she feels bad for babies who go thru it. When your son is 6 mos, you can start giving him motrin; it's supposed to really help with teething. I'd rather not drug my son all the time, so we have gone thru LOTS of teething tablets (all natural). You can find them at CVS, WalMart, etc.
If you are firmly against CIO, then I recommend the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. I bought the book after I let my son CIO and realized that letting him cry just doesn't work for him (actually it made his sleeping habits worse). I hope things get better for you! Great job sticking with the breastfeeding!
Best of luck!

It sounds like tummy troubles. I would consult with your doctor. Also try not giving him the pureed foods and go back to cereal and let his tummy have time to relax. Add foods one item at a time so you can tell what might be the issue.
Teething can also be complicating things. My son would always get an ear infection when he was cutting a tooth. Once he got all his teeth the ear infections stopped. So that is something you might want to consider as well.
Try going back to basics with the diet for a couple of weeks and see if that helps. Let us know how you do.

Have you had his ears checked? If he has an ear infection, lying down becomes more painful than being upright.

Hi S., whenever my kids started waking up like that, 9 times out of 10 it was because they had an ear infection. I could be completely wrong, but you might want to rule that out.

Hi S.,
I'm reading all I can about sleep patterns now, because my DD is 5.5 months and teething. She, however, has never slept through the night. Lucky you! Anyway - all I've read - including Peggy (O'Mara?) NATURAL FAMILY and Dr. Sears Baby Books and AP books - it's normal. They usually pop two teeth at a time, but the other ones are coming - cause #1. He's eating - his life is changing - cause number two. He's about to go through the separation anxiety phase - growing, realizing you are two people, him and mommy, cause number three. he's about to learn babblliiinngg skills, sitting skills, crawling skills, causes number 4,5,6. There are thousands of reasons - i FULLY SUPPORT your going to him and picking him up, patting him, rocking him, soothing him. it's clearly what he wants and needs. Please please please don't succumb to the cry it out method. it's traumatic. Hang in there - you're doing great so far. This phase won't last. (that's what I keep telling myself!)
C.
Daugher of Emma, 3/22/08, exclusively bf, sahm

i'm sorry to hear that you're also going through this! my daughter just turned 7 months old, and we're facing the same situation! i wish i could help you, but we're also looking for answers. we may try to have her cry for a bit longer to see if she'll fall back asleep. i know it's not a growth spurt since it's been a couple weeks of this.

good luck! don't forget to try and nap as well!

Could be his teething, could be a growth spurt, could be the solids arent sitting well in him. The AAP recommends starting solids no earlier than 6 months because their bellies arent ready for them yet, so it could be that he's having a hard time digesting them and is uncomfortable. Or it could be none of those things. If you want a gentle method that doesnt involve letting your baby cry, try The No Cry Sleep Solution. See if those methods work. You are NOT creating bad habits by soothing him no matter what the cry-it-out advocates say. You are just responding to and nurturing your baby, which is what youre supposed to do as his mother. So hang in there and keep loving him with your milk and your responses. It teaches him that he can trust you to respond when he needs you, even when you're tired and at your wits end. Thats a wonderful thing to teach your child! *hugs*

my 8m old did this a few months ago. she was waking up once during every hour, and was wide awake between 3-4am (not terribly unhappy, just ready to play). i also only had her cry it out once (because i was beyond exhausted) but the other times took turns with my husband rocking her back to sleep. i wish i could tell you there was something that made it end, but all of a sudden (probably about 2 weeks), it just peetered out. i dont know if it was teething, eating, or what, but it ended just as quickly as it started. 1 night she only woke 2 times, then maybe 1 time, then through the night no problem. hang in there -- chances are he just needs a little more tlc for a bit. good luck!

He is at the age where naps become difficult. I think you need to start a specific sleep schedule now that he is old enough that he can start learning to fall asleep on his own. It sounds strange but the earlier they go to bed, the longer they sleep at night. Have him wake up around 7 am, take a 9 am nap, a 1pm nap, possibly a 1/2 hour nap around 4pm and then bedtime at 7pm. If he wakes up early from his nap, let him stay in the crib until an hour is up. If he starts to really cry (not whine or babble), go in and check on him. My son often poops during naps and wakes himself up, but if that's not the problem, let him know that he has to rest for an hour by making him stay there. at night, it's still acceptable for him to wake up 1-2 times at night for a feeding. I exclusively breastfeed too so my son still wakes up once around 4 or 5 (he's 7 months). You can also get him a tiny security blanket (we found one about 12" x 12" that he loves to hug and chew on) or a little stuffed animal that you can include in his sleep routine and make sure you have a consistent sleep routine for naps and bedtime- bath & change(if needed), dim the lights in the house, read a story, breastfeed, rock or walk around with him for a few minutes, maybe sing the same song to him every night, and put him down with his security blanket/stuffed toy. And if he wakes up at night, be sure to keep the lights off as much as possible so he goes back to sleep easily and don't play with him or talk to him. Just get him changed, feed him, and put him back down. Otherwise he will think of it as playtime and wake up just to see you and play with you. I also suggest that you buy Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. Yes, this is one of the cry it out methods, but it also has lots of good advice and other methods that work well for people who don't believe in that. It explains how sleep works at different ages and why it is so important. We didn't do the strict cry-it-out method in the book. We never let him cry for more than 10 or 15 minutes, and if he started crying hard, we went in to comfort him. You also need to differentiate between whining & crying. Don't go in and pick him up the second he makes noise. Let him stay in there for at least 5 minutes and see if he falls back to sleep on his own. Luckily, it was much easier than we thought it would be. It only took about 3 nights before he fell asleep on his own without crying at all and those first nights he cried maybe 10 minutes at the most and it was never any hysterical crying. We were able to get our son to fall asleep on his own with minimal crying, and he stays asleep until 5 or so and then eats and goes back to sleep again. If we are staying over at someone else's house, he sometimes fusses before bed, but for the most part he does really well. And he started out as a newborn being a really difficult sleeper with some colicky behavior, so this does work even on those kids who are tougher. On nights that he does wake up, it is usually only when he has teething pain or something like that, and I feed him and he goes back to sleep easily on his own. If that is the case, a dose of Tylenol before bed should help him to sleep longer. Your son may be getting his second tooth. My son got his first two within two weeks.