My son is almost 4 months old. He's been in a pretty good sleep routine since he was about a month old. Around 8:30-9:00 he eats (now he's on formula), gets swaddled and goes to sleep. He'll sleep until around 3 and until 3 weeks ago he would eat and go back to sleep until around 6. About 3 weeks ago, when I would go into his room when he cried I started to notice that he wasn't even awake which made me realize that he wasn't hungry. So I started to give him his pacifier and taking him out of his swaddle blanket and flipping him on his belly. I never pick him up. He's starting to roll over now so I feel OK about letting him sleep the remainder of the night on his stomach. But now once I get up and do this at 3:00 he'll cry again in an hour for his pacifier so I am getting up constantly from 3 until 6 when before I would just get up, feed him and get to go back to sleep. I'm not sure what to do. I feel bad letting him cry it out because he's in the swaddler and I feel that I can't expect him to self soothe if he can't move. We've tried getting rid of the swaddler but he slept terrible during the first half of the night and we didn't even get the six hours of sleep. Swaddling him was the only way he would sleep on his back. The other thing that is really frustrating about this is that last week he slept straight through the night 6 nights in a row so I know he can do it. Should I try to get rid of the pacifier? I think he's too young to do that. It seems like now that he can move around more he has a hard time getting comfortable and is restless. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
I say ditch the paci. and the swaddler but not at the same time. Do 1 first then the other. I hate paci's and don't see them being fit for babies. My son was paci. and swaddler free!! If it's a habit to break don't start it at all.. I'd let him CIO the first time w/o giving him his paci. just stay in bed and hope he goes back to sleep.. Just my opinion..
My advice is to ditch the pacifier. There's no such thing as "too young to do that" for any child. We didn't believe in them, so we never offered them to our kids. However, our son was hooked on it after major surgery as an infant (easier for a nurse to stick the thing in his mouth and walk away than to calm his fears). We tried to wean him off it gently, but that just made things worse. Instead, we found that cold turkey was the way to go. In a few days (and, no, they weren't easy days), he learned to sooth himself and we were back to happy little boy :)
The only thing I can think of is don't take him out of the swaddling blanket or roll him over. Just give him back his binkie and pat his belly a few times. When you roll him over and remove his blanket, maybe you are disturbing his sleep more than you are helping. I know that when my son would get tangled in his sheet I used to straighten it out thinking he'd be more comfortable, but that always made him wake up in an hour or so. Now I just let him stay wrapped in it and he sleeps fine that way.
You may want to just skip the pacifier. My son never used one. The few times I tried (thinking it would be helpful) it worked great as long as it stayed in his mouth (which was not long). Once it fell out he would start crying again. After a few tries I gave up & stopped trying to use it. He never missed it. I would take a few minutes longer to get him to sleep, but then he would stay asleep much longer.
First question: if the swaddler works, why go through the whole routine of pacifier and flipping over? I agree with the other poster about the "game" of losing the paci; at this age they can't put it back in themselves, so unless you want to do this forever, it's probably time for him to either figure out how to put it back himself (can you unswaddle his arms?) or to stop using it. Second: are you sure he's not hungry? He could be having a growth spurt or something. Just because he slept through last week doesn't mean he's always going to at this age (my son slept through once at that age, once again 6 weeks later, and not consistently until 7 months).
I feel like if they can't go back to sleep for a long period, they probably have some unmet need. If not hungry, have you ruled out teething? My son sleeps worse in the second half of the night when he has mouth pain.
Third, I agree with the poster who says he needs an earlier bedtime (although 6/6:30 may be too early), try moving him towards 7:30/8.
FOOD FOOD FOOD. the trick to babies sleeping through the night is eating their maximum capacity all day long. 99% of the time, this will solve you problem. Make sure whoever is in charge of him all day, feeds him as much as he will possibly eat. All day, not just right before bed. After a few days of this (it takes time for it to register), he won't wake up at night. Kids won't overeat, but they will undereat enough to get hungry at night causing light sleeping and crying etc. Use the opportunity of feeding him more to ween him from the swaddler, he's getting old enough where the more sleeping aids you use, the more he'll need. He will sooth himself to sleep when he's totally full. Play it by ear with the pacifier, every baby is different. My son was done with it at 2 months. There's no real age for everyone. Good luck, I hope you get some solid sleep soon!
I would bet he's hungry. When he wakes up and cries at 3 or 4, change his diaper, give him some formula & put him back in his crib, swaddled.
Hi K., I would try a couple of things, first get rid of the swadler at 4 months he should be moving around and probably wants to at night. Also you might want to try one of the "weggies" and try letting him sleep on his side or just lay him down on his belly. I know that current thoughts are that children should sleep on their backs because of SIDS, but when my oldest was a baby "they" insisted that babise sleep on their bellies, then three years later it was side sleeping, then a few short years later it was back sleeping. I think what ever is most comfortable for you child is best. Espically once they start moving around and rolling or crawling. Your right about not picking him up if he is crying and still asleep, just try patting him on the back for a few minutes as well as giving him back his pacifier. Don't worry with the pacifer just yet. Get him sleeping through the night (yes it is possiable, mine were all sleeping through OUR night (11pm to 5am) at 8weeks old) before you tackle that one. Just try to get rid of the pacifier before he's two! Good luck & best wishes!
k.
Hi K.
I would try feeding him at 3 when he wakes cries. He may be hungry even though he doesn't seem awake. That just may be why he can't get quite settled back to sleep. Sorry I don't have any other ideas.
Hi K.:) I went through almost exactly the same thing you are going through with my first son. He was a good sleeper but he also LOVED his pacifier and when it would fall out he would cry and we would run in and put it back in. This "game" lasted until he was close to two years old when we finally decided to take it away from him. If you can take it away from him now do it. I would feed him instead, he will eventually not wake up for the feedings. It will all work out. I thought I would never sleep through the night with my second son who started sleeping through the night without a feeding at 7 months. He is now 13 months and sleeps solidly from 6:30pm to 6:30am. Hallelujah:) Very best of luck to you K.. leah
