6 month old suddenly getting up every 2 hours- HELP

[emmababy]

It is great to hear a different perspective! I feel like people think if I don't cio then my baby will never sleep ever, or that he will always want to nurse. If he wakes up once a night I am okay with that. He eats and goes right back to bed.

I figure he is a baby for such a short period of time, I want to love on him as much as possible. I tried CIO and maybe he just isn't ready.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

It is great to hear a different perspective! I feel like people think if I don't cio then my baby will never sleep ever, or that he will always want to nurse. If he wakes up once a night I am okay with that. He eats and goes right back to bed.

I figure he is a baby for such a short period of time, I want to love on him as much as possible. I tried CIO and maybe he just isn't ready.

People told me that if I kept nursing my son to sleep he'd do it forever...not true. At about 9 months he started sleeping through and went to sleep much easier. I rocked him to sleep every night for his first year and everyone says that is wrong...bad habit. But he is a GREAT sleeper. So dont listen to everyone. Hopefully you will find what works for you and your son. Just hang in there!

 

[justhat]

FWIW, I nursed my son to sleep till he was 21 months old and he never woke up overnight, nor had trouble sleeping. He loved his milk before bed and also loved his sleep. In the event he did wake up and I nursed him (on vacation, he was sick, etc.), he went right back to sleeping all night when we got home, he got better, etc.

My daughter, however, did not nurse to sleep past 15 months and was a terrible sleeper, as I've said. In fact, I cut out the bedtime nursing and overnight nursing at the recommendation of the sleep team and not only did it not make her sleep any better, things were worse cause then it wasn't just a quick nurse back to sleep. She was upset and irritated and we all lost more sleep than necessary.

He might truly need the overnight feeding for his growth (my nephew needed a bottle overnight till 9 months, then spontaneously stopped waking for it), or he might not be able to get in a deep enough sleep to actually stay asleep all night. He'll eventually outgrow it. How many 5yos do you know who wake up all night long?

And here's a story that might make you feel a bit better. Same time my daughter was waking like your son, my friend had a baby and at 9 months old she did CIO with him in that she'd put him to bed at 6pm and shut the door and that was that for 12 hours. He could scream all he wanted and she wasn't going in. Obviously after a period of time he gave up and started going to sleep and not crying, or crying overnight. She bragged about her son and how I should do that, my kid would never sleep, blah, blah. Now, we had tried CIO, but no way was I letting my kid continue to cry till she vomited everynight. It was inhumane.

Anyway,that little boy is now 4yo. For the past 1.5 years he has not slept an entire week in his bed all night. He needs his parents to lie down with him, gets up and goes in their bed overnight, won't go to sleep, etc. And he's not a baby anymore so no sticking him in the crib and leaving. He gets out, walks around, etc. My daughter, however, has been sleeping for 11-12 hours a night, in her own bed, going to sleep after just a story and song, every single night since 2.5yo, same age this little boy stopped. Now, it could be a fluke, but it could also be that my kid felt more secure than hers since I didn't just stick her in the crib and leave for 12 hours regardless of her needs at the time. And that's not a knock against CIO, cause like I said, I did CIO, but just that some kids might need more reassurance than others.

 

[deva]

When you say rules of CIO, what do you mean?

I have been consistent with it. I would wait every 10 minutes, go in rub his belly, put his nuk in and leave. But after over an hour of crying, I am exhausted and he is crying so hard I feel bad. Other than this, he is the happiest baby I know.

I'll admit it's been a while since I read the infamous "Ferber book" and that's one I don't own a copy of, but they had recommended guidelines about stretching out the time before you went back into the room - something like 5 mins, 10 mins, then every 15 mins (until asleeep) the first night, then 10, 15, every 20 the second night.

I think where parents really run into problems are situations where they are not consistent with their sleep rules (of whatever method they are using). For example, they are working the intervals, but then eventually cave into the crying, give up and go back in and hold/rock/nurse to bed. This does no good at all because the baby has no consistency (and everyone is tired and miserable after hours of crying). One of my favorite quotes from the Weisbluth book was something like "start as you mean to go on". They don't necessarily favor, for example, putting into crib awake and allowing to fall asleep independently over rocking to sleep, but they do want you do the same thing EVERY time.

I would never recommend leaving a baby until he or she vomits (clearly this would be too upsetting for any parent) and I think many people misconstrue CIO to mean shut the door and leave till the sun comes up. There are lots of books that address independent sleeping in addition to the Ferber book (Baby Whisperer, Sleepeasy Solution, and the previously mentioned Healthy Sleep, Happy Child) and if I recall correctly they all suggest some intervals of reassurance. Point being, if you are OK with letting him cry a bit and are consistent in your responses, know that you should see some positive results. (I believe one guideline many of them use is 12 weeks and 12 pounds as readiness for a full night of sleep).

That being said, I know there are parents that just don't want to do CIO. I was never one who wanted to share my bed with my kids and had seen too many friends with kids who were way too difficult at bedtime and through the night (mom in the room over an hour waiting for them to sleep, up every 4 hours for a bottle when the child was over 1 - the list goes on and on)

I also know (from personal experience) that some babies can be just a bit "trickier" than others. After having two very easy going great sleepers/nappers, I thought I knew the answers. DD had other plans. She just didn't get in the groove as easily with naps, didn't sleep through the night until about 4 months and stirred a bit more when going down.

I think all the posters here can attest to the fact that there are a lot of options and you need to do something that feels right for you. From my personal experience the advice I can offer is that if you're ready to do CIO consistency is key. If you're not ready for this yet and are OK with nursing once a night I say just do it and go back to bed (spare yourself the hour of agony and get some necesary ZZZZZ's). Hopefully he'll grow out of it and just start sleeping through the night on his own.

 

[justhat]

I just want to clarify, in case anyone thinks I left my baby to scream all night, hence the vomiting, that wasn't the case. We did the 'wait 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, etc.' technique. 5 minutes she was still screaming. 10 minutes still screaming. 15 minutes still screaming. By the time the 20 minute interval came, she had vomited in her crib. So then we're in there changing her sheets, and she's back in the crib, back to the pattern. And again, around 15 minutes she'd vomit. Obviously that wasn't the way to go. But being young, first time parents, we listened when the dr said to keep trying, that she'd give in. She didn't This went on for 3 weeks consistently, every single night, when she was 8 months old. And we didn't give in or end up with her in our bed any of those nights or anythign like that. Obviously when she vomited we had to take her out and change her clothes and bedding, but then she went right back in the crib and we resumed the intervals of crying/waiting. Even when it went on and on literally all night long, with my daughter sleeping 5 minutes at a time, then waking and screaming again.

Also, with my daughter, after crying so much for so long, there was no way she physically could sleep. Her body was just so worked up she couldn't just shut down and relax.

So my point is that sometimes, even following the CIO methods to a T, your child just isn't ready to sleep all night.

 

[emmababy]

Again thanks for all the updates! He finally cut his first tooth, and the second one is close behind. The last two nights he has done great. Tuesday he slept until 7:00 and last night he slept until 5:30, nursed and slept till 7. So thanks!