6 Month Old Still Thrashing About at Night

My son is 6 months and is active in the crib, has been since birth. We too swaddled him, but by 3 months he could get out of it. One book I would recommend that has helped us so much with our son's sleeping (he only wakes up once in the night) is called "the secrets of the baby whisperer." Every mom should read it. It teaches us as parents that we have to teach our children how to fall asleep and stay asleep, peacefully. I am confident it could help! Go get it today!

Sara, my daughter still does this and she is 11 months old... about 99% of the time its her cue for being hungry/thirsty...especially when she starts whipping her head from side to side.... basically, its my
que that she wants to nurse.

The fact that you are still swaddling him is probably contributing to his thrashing. You should have stopped at 2 or 3 months max! Babies need to move around in their sleep and it can hamper their development if they are not allowed to. Stop swaddling and I bet you will see a dramatic change in his behavior at night.

My experience with thrashing is through a friend of mine who took drastic measures in her home in conjunction with the medical advice received from her physicians. My son experienced severe ear infections as well and it started at 7 months and went away after 14 months old because his condition was related to the development of his eustachian tube. The treatment prescribed was continual antibiotics which then caused his adult teeth to become susceptible to cavities. I can tell you that in my case, all the medicine did not help the ear infections. I found warm compresses soothed my son until he was able to sleep. It was a long road but after 14 months it was gone as fast as it came.

In regards to the thrashing, my friends daughter suffered from thrashing from infancy. Sleep was obtained quickly because she found that there were environmental allegeric reactions contributing to the child's sleeplessness.

At six months old, everything in the child environment is maximized because of the child's body weight. Please do not ignore the symptoms by letting the child grow out of it. This is advice that I received so many times with my children. I do have many suggestions that include trying very simple solutions. If you are interested please email me I would be happy to share what I found.

Email me at ____@____.com Put Mamasource in the Subject Area so I will know who is emailing me.

Hang in there, S.! Someday it will get better. Slow, baby steps, but you will get there.

Hi S., It sounds like it might be night terrors, or perhaps some other physical issue. After a thorough medical workup, you may wish to try having him sleep with you and see if that helps. If it does, and you don't mind having him in your bed....problem solved! You can check out www.askdrsears.com for medically/psychologically sound advice about co-sleeping. Love, J.

Was he active like that in the womb? Usually their patterns and movements are the same once they are out in the world. In your son's case he could be uncomfortable because of the reflux. After you see the ent you'll be able to work with him/her and your family doctor to see what you can do to make your little guy feel better.

I assume you have discussed this in depth w/ your PED. I would discuss the possibility of a referral to a pediatric sleep d/o specialist. This may be overkill--but discuss w/ PED. This does seem quite severe and waking up every 30-60 minutes is not normal. You must be exhausted. Second, I think 6mos is quite old to be swaddling. Could it be that he is now reacting to the swaddle and trying to get out? Finally, I'm not usually an advocate of co-sleeping, although respect people's decision to do so. But perhaps this is a child who really needs the comfort of other bodies. It may help you get more sleep.