Sleep help for a 5.5 month old

[soozy87]

I am not sure what the right solution is to this problem. Our five and half month old will go to sleep just fine, for the last 3 weeks or so there is no crying. We swaddle him, put his pacifier in, tell him goodnight and then leave the room. The pacifier falls out (almost right away) before he goes to sleep and then we will look on the monitor a few minutes later and he is out. Which is great. But then he has been waking up 6-8 times a night from 11:00-6:30 a.m. We had gotten to the point of no wake ups until 6:00 a.m. for a few nights. My H put him to bed last night and didn't put the pacifier in at all.

When he wakes up in the middle of the night we pretty much just go and put his pacifier back in. Which is probably bad but neither of us has the will to listen to him cry.

We have changed a few things in his routine - I have been nursing him much more than I used to - rather than 1-2 times per day and the rest of his food being pumped milk it is the other way around. He also now has a pretty set bedtime when we are home, before we were just putting him down when we went to bed around 10:00. We have also stopped feeding him in the middle of the night because he was STTN.

Any ideas to help him not wake up so many times every night? 1-2 would be fine, but this is just getting terrible.

[fortnightlily]

Try giving him Tylenol one night in case it's teething?

Are you still swaddling is arms? Maybe he's ready to have more freedom of movement.

[soozy87]

Apr 17, 2014 9:54:47 GMT -5 fortnightlily said:

Try giving him Tylenol one night in case it's teething?

Are you still swaddling is arms? Maybe he's ready to have more freedom of movement.

We do swaddle his arms in. I tried keeping his arms free 2 nights ago and he screamed his head off when we put him down at 8:30 until I went back in and put them in.

[Deleted]

It could be teeth so ditto the Tylenol.

Also, are you sure he's still not hungry? Both of my kids were/are decent sleepers but it always went to hell if they were the least bit hungry. Usually feeding them on the first wakeup avoided at least another 2 or 3 wakeups. Probably not the best either, but we all need sleep and 15 minutes is easier than listening to crying/up every hour/no sleep at all.

And really it could just be a phase. Babies do the weirdest things. Next week it'll be different.

[lolo]

Has your baby just developed object permanence?

[spanikopita]

It sounds like a sleep association with the paci. Have you read Ferber?

[kitty]

I'd feel/check his lower gums for signs of teeth and try ditching the paci over a weekend.