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5mth old, teething? Not sleeping! Help?!?!

13 replies

CaptainNemo · 23/01/2010 19:41

I'm reallly hoping the collective wisdom of mn will have some tips for us and DD1 who is almost 5 moths old....

She has always been a pretty good sleeper at night. She started going from about 11pm to 5am on a reasonably regular basis at about 7 weeks. I realised how lucky I was, and prayed it would last!

However... for the last week or so she's been waking anything from 3 times a night to every hour, and it's doing us in! Especially as I'm now working the odd day and will be back properly next month. I'm pretty sure the problem is teething. She's red cheeked and dribbly and likes biting hard on my fingers/her bib etc if they go in her mouth. She's now 21 weeks old.

We have an ok bedtime routine I think. She generally sleeps in the evenings now which is a relatively recent development. She has a bath at about 6.30 then a bottle in her sleeping bag in the nursery with low lighting and then bed. She still tends to go down ok and to sleep during the evening though we may have to go in once or twice to put the dummy back in. We're still dream feeding her at about 1030-11pm as we've found that if we don't she wakes for a feed soon after 11 but if we get to her before that we can often dream feed her and put her down again without waking her at all.

But it's after that the problems start... She's often waking at about 3.30 but it can be as early as 0030. She'll generally go back to sleep if we put the dummy in but once she's woken for the first time she seems to wake every hour for the rest of the night. I've tried Ashton & Parsons powder and Teetha which seems to help during the day, and even calpol when she woke the night after her jabs, but nothing seems to make any difference.

We don't generally feed her before 7am although there have been a couple of times when we've got desperate and given her her first feed at about 5.30am.

I'm not convinced that the waking is due to hunger as she often doesn't seem that fussed by the first bottle of the day and I would have thought that if she was waking due to hunger she wouldn't settle with just the dummy? Even if it is only for an hour....

She's definitely not taking, or seeming to want, extra food during the day.

Sorry for the long post, just thought if I'm asking for advice you needed all the information! Only other things are that she has gaviscon in her feeds for reflux and that her final feed is hingry baby formula. She has 5 feeds a day. She was mix fed for the first 12 weeks so has been on formula for a while, so it's not that.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have!

Nemo

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
JaynieB · 23/01/2010 19:43

If you think its teething, try some pain relief? Nurofen lasts a bit longer than calpol so good for night use.

CaptainNemo · 23/01/2010 20:20

Thanks JaynieB, I'll invest on monday! Only concern is that I think someone told me it's quite constipating? which is a bit of an issue as DD is already on gaviscon which has that effect as well, poor poppet!

OP posts:
LeninGrad · 23/01/2010 20:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 23/01/2010 22:19

Our DD has been doing a similar sleep pattern for the last few weeks. I've been up every 2 hours or so and she does feed but not for long. Last night she woke at 11:30pm and I managed to shush her back to sleep (not sure how, but I think I was half asleep and not wanting to get up!). Anyway, not sure how things will get back to 'normal' (one waking about 4am) so we're just riding it out too. On the plus side I'm only up for 20mins or so and managing to get straight back to sleep.

Advice I've had is that it's a big developmental growth spurt that's causing the sleep disruption. DD is also teething but she doesn't seem to be in pain at night and Calpol hasn't helped (usually makes her sleep really well).

Feel better knowing others are also going through this and I hope you're back to your old sleep patterns soon.

CaptainNemo · 23/01/2010 22:58

Thanks Lenin & CrazyHorse, it's good to know we're not in this alone! A friend of mine has just suggested by email that maybe the teething is a sort of red herring and that maybe it's more of a dummy issue, that she's sucking for comfort and waking when it falls out. I think she could be right, although it's a bit odd because she's able to go down initially without it and also able to go down awake, but then later on she seems to cry if she doesn't have it. Strange baby! Have no idea what to do about it though. Think I'll try offering her my knuckle tonight and sitting it out, thanks Lenin. Thing is, it sounds much easier to say that now than I suspect it will at 3 in the morning, when I know I'll be desperate to just shove the dummy in and get back to bed sharpish! Oh dear!

OP posts:
teaandcakeplease · 23/01/2010 23:04

I haven't read the whole thread but with both of mine, I always start with Bonjela teething gel, if that doesn't help and they wake up 45 mins later still agitated, then I break out the heavy duty stuff if I am sure it's teeth

I love the Teetha sachets but at night you want to be sure the old gums are nice and numb for them and you . There's a time and place for the old teething gel

When the LO wakes at 3am ish give the teething gel first to numb the gums and then the feed to help them fall back to sleep again. Or if they do not have a middle of the night feed just the dummy. That then should last for 3 hours ish I used to find...

HTH

CaptainNemo · 23/01/2010 23:07

Thanks teaandcake, I'll try her with some bonjela tomorrow then use it tomorrow night if it's gone ok during the day. Will keep my fingers crossed. Luckily it's DH's turn tonight so hoping to catch up a bit...! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

OP posts:
teaandcakeplease · 23/01/2010 23:16

I always found in the day they seemed OK and over night the teething seemed so much worse, in fact I keep the tube by my bed and if called next door I always take it with me and apply nowadays if in doubt.

My second child is now having his molars through, OUCH!

PandaEis · 24/01/2010 01:37

hey nemo

poor T and poor you and DH

DD started teething at around 4.5-5 months and the best thing we found was ashton and parsons powders. these are supposed to stop the tummy ache that goes alongside teething. this with calgel/bonjela teething gel helped soothe DDs gums so we could all get some sleep

either that or earplugs just a joke

newkiwi · 24/01/2010 05:18

I attended a sleep seminar which outlined the idea that babies sleep changes at around 5 months. At this point the suggestion is that babies start to have sleep cycles of around 1 to 1.5 hours. They will wake slightly after each cycle and need to be able to self settle so they don't keep waking you up.

So some things like dummies, rocking them to sleep can be a problem as the baby needs you to provide them at 3 am.

There is some really useful info here:

www.thesleepstore.co.nz/Sleep+Information/Babies+4+to+12+months.html

Can your baby put her dummy back in her mouth yet? We put ours down surrounded by a ring of about 5 so she can always find one in the night.

HTH

LeninGrad · 24/01/2010 10:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dycey · 24/01/2010 12:16

I would wonder if it is the dummy? It was with my DS and caused absolute havoc with his sleep from 10 weeks til I took it away at 5.5 months....

teaandcakeplease · 24/01/2010 14:21

I have one child who needed a dummy and one who sucks his thumb and both did this at this age and needed teething gel. Who knows? Keep trying the suggestions though from everyone and maybe one will work for you.

Although interestingly enough my boy who sucks his thumb sleeps better now with teething at 12 months than his sister did by this age. But certainly at 5 months they both did this.

We're all keeping our fingers crossed that she starts to sleep well again x

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