not happy with two choices

I've posted before that my once-happy-sleeper DS has stopped STTN completely since Christmas. At first it was a midnight waking...then midnight and 4 am...now it's like every three hours. DD is still sleeping fine (except when I wait a bit too long before getting DS to see if he'll settle himself and he wakes her, but usually she sleeps through his fussing). I know it could be any combo of things...doctor said night terror/arousal confusion for the midnight wake, he's teething, he's learning new things and probably trying them out...whatever the reason:

Last night, I accidentally fell asleep nursing him at midnight...and he slept peacefully beside me all night until I woke up this morning. I'm afraid of co-sleeping for SIDS reasons so this isn't really the solution I want...but he slept! Not nursing or anything, just next to me. I carefully scooped him up to put him in his crib when I woke up and found him, and within 10 minuted of being alone in his crib, he was awake and crying.

I'm not into CIO so I really don't want to hear that as a solution to his night wakings, and I'm pretty scared to co-sleep, so does anyone have another recommendation? I've been just getting up with him as needed and either trying to pat, rock, or nurse him to resettle him, whichever works, but I'm exhausted again after a month of this.

 

Don't be scared to co-sleep. I did with all of my kids and it was wonderful for all of us. We all slept better.

Co-sleeping is not for everyone, but do not let the worry of SIDS stop you if it works for you. There are many who will say that Co-sleeping actually helps prevent SIDS.


ETA - A Co-Sleeper like this one next to your bed may be a solution for you.

 

They also have the co-sleeper here

 

He may be a little bit too old for this since he is 6 months, but my children were like that too, and if someone was holding them, or they were in bed w/ me they slept fine.. I resorted to rolling blankets up tight and putting them on either side of the baby, so they would feel comfort, like someone was there. That worked for a while.
Also, if he is able to roll over, they say if they are able to roll over then they should be able to safely sleep on their tummy. . . this was a life saver for me as well. ALL of my children slept MUCH better on their bellies.

Edited for spelling

 

My DS is doing the exact same thing! I did end up co-sleeping with him, but now that's not working either. His reason for night waking is gas though and I still haven't found any solution for that. I've been trying to get him out of my bed for awhile, and what I do now is put him to sleep in a co-sleeper next to my bed (he's still swaddled also). When he wakes up I keep him swaddled and usually just nurse him in bed beside me, sometimes I will doze off, then I just put him back in the co-sleeper. So he's spending most of his time there. He's still waking up constantly though and I also am not sure what to do about that. CIO is not an option for me either b/c I'm not sure if he's hungry either not. I don't think I ended up helping you at all. :huh: Anyhow, GL!

 

Thanks for all of the answers...it's good to know I'm not alone with this. I think they were just such good sleepers from the beginning that now I'm just thrown for a loop! I can't afford to buy a co-sleeper right now (counting every penny so I can stay at home a little longer!), but thanks for the idea. Maybe I can look around on craigslist or at a mom's sale, though. I'm not sure about tummy sleeping because he always pops up and tries to crawl when he's on his belly. It might get him even more worked up. Maybe I can try it for a nap. He does roll over, so if he's unhappy, I guess he'll just go back to his back. My DD sleeps happily on her side every night now that she's figured out how to do it!

The weirdest part of it to me is that he's just such a happy baby all day...he rarely cries, always laughs and smiles...but once the lights go out, he's like a different baby. He cries without even opening his eyes (which is why we thought arousal confusion). If I can get him to open his eyes and look at me, he usually calms down (and even smiles, the big goof!), and many times he'll fall asleep on his own in the crib. It's just that most of the time he just won't open his eyes...just cries and roots until I lay down with him and let him nurse. It was so nice to see that he had a peaceful night last night...

 

Now I haven't actually ever been able to co-sleep (not once!) so I might be giving bad advice but I would co-sleep. I wish I could co-sleep! Whenever I try I can't sleep, I'm too afraid of rolling over on the baby or the baby falling off the bed, so I can't relax. And now that my girls are older they think being in my bed means it's play time, so there's no chance!

 

I was always scared to co sleep and still am. I even saw an article about the percentage of suffocation deaths of babies rising due to co sleeping. They don't die of SIDS it's actually the parents body suffocating them. Not worth it in my opinion, but I know everyone is different.

Does your DS take a pacifier? The only thing that ever worked with my boys was the soothie pacifier. Around 11 months I was getting up twice a night to give it back the them (fell out of crib), but it was a lifesaver. Now one DS still uses it (but only for sleep) and the other could care less and goes to sleep on his own.

Good luck. Mine didn't sleep through the night until at least 8 months and then the teeth started coming in. It's rough, but you'll make it through.

 

I'm one of the anti co-sleeping people also, for the risk and the fact that I'd rather promote good sleeping habits.

Maybe he just developed a bad habit because he started waking up and you went to pick her up... Does he really cry that you can't leave him in his crib for a bit to see if he will fall back asleep? DS still wakes up at night sometimes and babbles for a while but goes back to sleep.

 

what about trying super short nursing sessions? say 2 - 3 minutes rather than letting him nurse till he falls asleep? maybe that way it will become less worth while for him to wake & he'll go back to sleeping. that's what i'm doing with Riley right now - i've been slowly shortening her night time nursing session & now we're down to 2 minutes at a time. i'll be dropping the session completely tonight & if she wakes at her usual time (which i'm expecting) i'll give her 15 minutes to see if she'll settle, if not, i'll go in & pat & shush for a couple of minutes & then repeat as necessary. i don't know if you consider that CIO or not though so i don't know if it'll work for you. we've also temporarily seperated the girls for this process because Danika wakes up if i go in the room but if i don't go in she STTN. Riley sleeps in our bedroom in a pea pod and we sleep in the living room on the futon. i can't wait to get back in my own bed! :lol: