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Parenting

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Original poster

Restless 12 week old - anyone got experience?

7 replies

runtus · 16/08/2006 13:15

Just wondering if anyone has experience of or advice to combat a 12 week old that tosses and turns in his sleep?

He goes down fine at 9pm and sleeps soundly till 4am but then starts really fidgeting, kicking about and tossing and turning in his sleep. I can get him to settle again with his dummy but only really for about 20 min periods and I give up totally about 6am.

I have tried everything to combat the problem (making the room pitch black, upping his feeds before bed, putting him in a grobag rather than sheets and blanket, moving him to his own room so we don't disturb him.......the lot). Nothing seems to make a difference. To be fair to him, he tries as hard as he can to stay asleep but just ends up kicking like a loony!

Am I being unreasonable to expect him to not do it? Can anyeone suggest a reason for it?

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USAUKMum · 16/08/2006 14:00

My two "travelled miles" at night as well. DS still does it (at 2), though less than before. As for DD (5) I don't know, as she doesn't get up -- but by the state of her bed in the morning, she most move a reasonable bit.

Can't say that I've found anything that worked. Is he in a cot? DS seemed to do better in a craddle (they are larger than a moses) he was in until 6 mths. So the sides felt close, but not too close. So he moved a bit, but not too much. The more room they have, the more they seem to move at the little stage at least mine did.

Could you borrow one? Another though is if he is at the end of the weight range of the nappies he is in. If they get really wet at night, mine fidget more. At least DS, DD has been dry at night for a couple yrs. now. So you might try moving up a size.

Bugmum · 16/08/2006 14:22

Twelve weeks is very little! My first thought would be that he wants a 4.00am feed (apologies if you do this and I've misunderstood). The current craze for getting babies 'through the night' seems, well, crazy to me: they need food and comfort very often, and more babies are not going through by 12 weeks than are, iyswim. If my DS had gone from 9-4 soundly at 12 weeks, I would have counted that as going through, tbh, and would have felt fortunate. If you can, I would try to chill about it, and maybe try a feed.

MrsBadger · 16/08/2006 14:32

hang on, you say he's fidgeting and tossing and turning, but does he actually wake up and cry? If not I'd be tempted to leave him to it and see if he manages to resettle himself after the thrashing is over.

If he does wake himself up and cry I'd do as Bugmum suggests and offer him a feed at 4am - it might relax him enough to get back to sleep, and it won't disturb you any more than the kicking does at the moment!

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Dunnyjo · 16/08/2006 15:05

My 13wk baby is exactly the same and i was worried tht he was getting too much seel! lol but his 4am feeds stopped a while ago and he too stirs and kicks about at this time but only if i happen to wake at this time and see him. Without fail we are all up at 7am. If he is not crying then just leve him to it. You would soon know if he was hungry. But if you think and only you would know whatis best give him a feed and put him back to bed. x x x

Original poster

runtus · 16/08/2006 16:21

Thanks for the help, nuch appreciated.

I have tried the 4am feed and it made no difference to be honest. Also tried changing his bum in case that was to blame and once again, no change.

Think we have no choice but to go with the leave him until he cries option, as we have no other! At the moment he doesn't actually wake up but is so noisy and unsettled I thought there might have been a problem I had missed..............rather than being desperate for him to 'go through the night' as it were.

Thanks for the help again!

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UniSarah · 16/08/2006 22:02

If you go to bed later tha he does, have you tried a late feed. Changing his timing at the start of the night might move his restless time later. We did a nappy change and late feed with our lad at that age, it worked a treat and stoped him waking and fidgeting at 5am.
I still do the late feed but have dropped the nappy change after weeks of taking a bone dry nappy off at 11pm.

USAUKMum · 17/08/2006 19:59

Babies do go through a light sleep phase between about 4am - 6am, and since their sleep cycle is much shorter than ours (about 45 min) then they will seem really unsettled. Is there anything making a noise or something at this time that would disturb him?

We used to get an off track cargo flight at 5:15am which woke DS. But a few complaints got it back on track

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