How do you work out why your baby has woken in the night?!

[NoTeaForMe]

Hi,

My 6 month old is waking twice in the night after going through a good stint of waking once or a few nights of sleeping through. We think she's teething again but not terribly at the moment, her bottom 2 teeth came through a few weeks ago so i'm guessing I'm looking at the top for signs of teeth now?! She Is waking any time between 10.30 - 12.30 and is v unsettled, really crying etc. We normally give her some calpol and after a bit she calms and goes back to sleep. Last night she woke at 12.30 and was just unsettled and v v grizzly after 5-10 mins of patting her back she went back to sleep. She is also waking up sometime in the early hours and we think she's hungry so we are feeding her.

We'd obviously love her to sleep through now but understand that it's not likely I guess! My husband us concerned she's getting into the habit of waking up, especially at that 10.30-12.30 time. I don't want to give her calpol if she doesn't need it but how do I know? When she wakes up in the night she's not happy regardless really!

Also, at this age can she just be in the habit of waking? I don't want to leave her to cry, but we do leave her a bit to grizzle after we got up to re-heat her bottle and when we came back she had fallen asleep herself!!

Any suggestions?!

HI there,
we're having exactly the same thing with our 7 month old. We got used to her sleeping through and took it for granted, but for the last few weeks she has been waking and really crying just as I'm dropping off to sleep!
We have been using calpol and nasal drops as she seems to have a permanent cold. The other problem we have is that she loves her dummy.
I'm hoping it's just a normal phase and maybe she's having a growth spurt - I'm just keeping everything crossed for a full nights sleep sometime soon!
XX

I wouldn't give calpol as routine if she wakes in the night. She is only small still - waking at night is still the norm for many babies of this age. A sleep regression where they previously slept & then don't is also common I am afraid.

All you can do is react to her cues as you seem to be with the patting/feeding. She will sleep through eventually but just at the moment there is little you can do to promote this.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. It's only been about 3 or 4 nights we have given calpol and we didn't last night. We have given it to her when she has been really crying. She has settled down after and I'm guessing this must mean she is in pain and it helped as it has no sedative in it! You're right though I don't want to give it too much!!

I find her cues really hard to read in the middle of the night, especially as I am tired I guess!!

It's hard, i just feed my 8 monther back to sleep, least effort but prob not the right thing to do...

I am so happy to see this thread and realise that its not just my DS doing this. He sounds just the same as Alicemac83's DD. We used to have a peacefull night of 7pm - 6.30am sleep, but the waking now normally starts at 11pm and is almost 2 hourly (sometimes more frequently) till he won't re-settle at around 6am. I think this is mainly due to him losing his dummy but also due to trapped wind which wakes him due to pain.
Unfortunately for me I 'made a rod for my own back' as my mother tells me, and I have to rock/cuddle DS to sleep, so often in the night if i don't get the dummy back to him in time, i find myself having to do this to settle him again. So our next stage is to try and wean him off the dummy, but i'm not sure we'll ever get a decent nights sleep with his wind issues! (the HV was thoroughly helpful and just said that some babies are windy)

Noteaforme - If you think the night feed may be more of a habit than need, have you tried offering cooled boiled water instead of milk during the night? I started this when my DS used to cry for a feed but I was convinced he wasn't really hungry and it was just habit - he would take some and then fall back to sleep (being rocked!) after less than a week he stopped waking for a feed (i have still offered it now and again when he cries and i don't know the cause, but he isn't usually interested or doesn't take much, so i reason that its due to his wind etc)

Good luck to you all!

Unfortunately barbie I'm not sure it is habit. She is drinking 7oz of milk and going straight back to sleep, surely she wouldn't if it was just habit? We are weaning at the mo and before this she was having 5 bottles of 7oz in a day. She is still having the same amount it's just one of those feeds is now in the early hours of the morning- 2-5am ish. We're going to up her portion sizes and see how we go!

Bleurgh, I'd love a full nights sleep! Or even only wake up
once! Maybe it's another growth spurt!!

Although I'm sorry to hear you're going through it too, it's nice to hear I'm not alone!

notea I have found that with both of mine, when weaning started they have both been suddenly and obviously hungrier in the night. I think, can't be sure, that it's because of an increased intake of stuff that's filling and more difficult to digest than milk ^but% not necessarily high calorie - I was really surprised how few calories are in some common baby foods compared with milk oz for oz.

Can you squeeze in another bottle at some point in the day? Or offer some really high calorie foods like hummus, avocado, wedges dipped liberally in sour cream??!

If calpol works then I wouldn't worry at all about giving it for a few nights on the trot. It won't do any harm unless you're overdosing or using it for very long periods, I wouldn't think.

If she's drinking 7oz then i'd guess it's not habit.

Narmada is right about the content of some baby foods, i was shocked when i actually looked at the content. I always try to ensure that DS gets protein and carbohydrate for his tea, usually homemade so that i can make sure its packed full of them, as i've noticed a difference and worse sleep patterns when i give him baby jars/packets (which i still use for most lunch times as they are so easy and DS loves them!) but i'm so going to try wedges dipped in sour cream (for me and DS!)

Ooh I hadn't thought of giving her hummus!! Will give that a go!

I will try and get in another bottle but as it is I feel like I'm constantly feeding her so not sure how another one would fit!

Can hear her stirring already....brilliant!!

There is a phase where you feel like all you're doing is feeding them. All I can say is it does definitely pass......and then you get to the toddler stage when you can barely get them to eat a few crumbs because eating is sooooooooooooo boring.

How about offering 8oz at each feed, would that be an ok way to give her ore milk in the day and less at night? Or is that too much in one go?!

If she'll drink it, then i'm sure it wouldn't be too much in one go, the HV always said that my DS would stop when he's full and that if he finished his bottle then to offer him more.

Yes, you can def give more at each feed, good idea. My DS will never take a drop more than he needs - not easy to overfeed him!