Newly aquired night waking habit

Hi all. I know I don't post here much or know anyone well here but I have
received awesome advice in the past and I have no one else to ask these
silly
questions.
My DD is five 1/2 months old EBM and formula fed, and I have come to the
conclusion that she is
teething so my doc recommended Tylenol just before bed. I have been giving
her that for the last two days, so I don't think her teeth are bothering
her. Up until about two weeks ago she slept from 7:30 pm straight through to
7:00 am. (The bliss!) Now she is waking every hour or so and staying up
sometimes, crying, for two to three hours. I am absolutely exhausted and
frustrated. I want to deal with her in a loving way that doesn't encourage
"bad" sleeping habits. ( My five yr old started sleeping through the night
at three years. I DO NOT want to do that again!) I figure ,and forgive me if
I'm wrong, but if she can sleep thought the night on just BM at three weeks
surly she can sleep with a belly full of rice cereal and a bottle before bed
at almost six months. When she wakes she only drinks 1-2 oz. anyway so I am
sure she is not hungry. Why would this start all of a sudden?
So, how do I encourage her to sleep again (at least six hours straight)
without creating a need to be snuggled ( as much as I would love to, I am
not a happy mommy with no sleep) and coddled and fed 2 oz. to get back to
sleep every one to two hours? Is this normal? and Will she ever sleep
through again? Any advice would be good right about now.

Thanks!

--
Shana

J.R. 5 yrs.

K.B. Feb. 27 '03

In article ,
"Shannon and Sheldon" wrote:

Hi all. I know I don't post here much or know anyone well here but I have
received awesome advice in the past and I have no one else to ask these
silly
questions.
My DD is five 1/2 months old EBM and formula fed, and I have come to the
conclusion that she is
teething so my doc recommended Tylenol just before bed. I have been giving
her that for the last two days, so I don't think her teeth are bothering
her. Up until about two weeks ago she slept from 7:30 pm straight through to
7:00 am. (The bliss!) Now she is waking every hour or so and staying up
sometimes, crying, for two to three hours. I am absolutely exhausted and
frustrated. I want to deal with her in a loving way that doesn't encourage
"bad" sleeping habits. ( My five yr old started sleeping through the night
at three years. I DO NOT want to do that again!) I figure ,and forgive me if
I'm wrong, but if she can sleep thought the night on just BM at three weeks
surly she can sleep with a belly full of rice cereal and a bottle before bed
at almost six months. When she wakes she only drinks 1-2 oz. anyway so I am
sure she is not hungry. Why would this start all of a sudden?
So, how do I encourage her to sleep again (at least six hours straight)
without creating a need to be snuggled ( as much as I would love to, I am
not a happy mommy with no sleep) and coddled and fed 2 oz. to get back to
sleep every one to two hours? Is this normal? and Will she ever sleep
through again? Any advice would be good right about now.


I'd try orajel for teething pain. Rub it on her gums when she wakes up.
Might help more than Tylenol.

I agree she should be able to go back to sleeping through. My guess is
that the teeth are making her uncomfortable, so I would continue to
treat that. It also might be that the waking up is becoming a habit, and
she just has to relearn how to sleep. Do not feed, do not coddle, do
not snuggle. She's not going to learn not to expect those things unless
she stops getting them. Apply orajel if you want, or another dose of
tylenol after 4 hours. Pat or rub her back, say "it's okay, it's
sleeping time" and leave her in her crib. Let her cry, go in to reassure
her periodically, but leave her in the crib. Play quiet music if you
want to try that; we usually play music for DS at night.

Maybe think about finding some soothing thing you can leave her with,
e.g., is she developing an attachment to a blanket or toy? Is there some
special thing she likes to snuggle with? You might want to start
encouraging that by putting her to bed with the same object every time.
5.5 months is when I started giving DS the cotton knit blanket he loved
- I deemed it too thin to be any sort of hazzard - and he still snuggles
it all the time at 2.5 years old. Before that, he liked having a cotton
cloth diaper in his bed.

I wouldn't suspect an ear infection unless she's recently had a cold -
DS used to get ear infections about 1.5 weeks after having a cold. And
if she's 5.5 months, then you've got a 6 month checkup coming up soon;
the doctor can check then. Then again, if this goes on more than 3 more
nights, I'd probably be bringing her in to check.

- Lynn

"Shannon and Sheldon" wrote in message
news

"Nan" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 02:42:13 GMT, "Shannon and Sheldon"
wrote:
So, how do I encourage her to sleep again (at least six hours
straight)
without creating a need to be snuggled ( as much as I would love to, I
am
not a happy mommy with no sleep) and coddled and fed 2 oz. to get back
to
sleep every one to two hours? Is this normal? and Will she ever sleep
through again? Any advice would be good right about now.

Thanks!

Have you ruled out a possible ear infection? My dd would change her
sleeping habits (translation: wake up a lot) when she'd gotten an ear
infection and I had no idea she had it.

Have her naptime habits changed any? At 5-1/2 months she could also
be hitting a growth spurt, which can definitely alter sleep habits.

Nan


Is there any way to know withi out seeing the doc whether there is an ear
infection?
Her nap times have changed some but just in the tines taken not the
lenghth,
really. She's always been a fairly unpredictable day-sleeper.
Btw thanks for the reply!

s




Other symptoms include irritablility, fever, lethargy and ear pulling,
though these are not always present.

S

e.g., is she developing an attachment to a blanket or toy? Is there some
special thing she likes to snuggle with? You might want to start
encouraging that by putting her to bed with the same object every time.
5.5 months is when I started giving DS the cotton knit blanket he loved
- I deemed it too thin to be any sort of hazzard - and he still snuggles
it all the time at 2.5 years old. Before that, he liked having a cotton
cloth diaper in his bed.

The two things she really likes right now have rattles in them and I am
afraid to take them out as I am not a seamstress by any means and I am
afraid I would ruin them. The rattles seem to wake her enough to make her
want to play. The blanket with a bears head I bought to make her lovey she
doesn't want anything to do with and I bought two! Just in case I lost one.
So now I have two blankeys that she doesn't like. I do want her to have a
lovey but I'm not sure what is "appropriate". Any suggestions on how to get
her attached and to what?

s

Yip just as we thought. It's an ear infection. Poor baby. I feel so mean
trying to get her to settle in her crib. She was crying but she would settle
when I picked her up so I thought it was just that she wanted to be held.
Gosh I feel like a terrible parent and all she wanted was comfort 'cause she
was in pain. I am so scared to have another child with very poor sleep
habits that I was trying to sllep train her while she was sick! Honestly I
was up every one to two hours with my son until he was three and then the
smack came down (LOL)! I had just had enough and I "Ferber-ised" him! I wish
I could decipher her cries like some parents say they can with their babies.
Then I would know whats wrong. We are doing sign language, so maybe that
will help soon.
poor baby.....

s
"Shannon and Sheldon" wrote in message
. ca...
Hi all. I know I don't post here much or know anyone well here but I have
received awesome advice in the past and I have no one else to ask these
silly
questions.
My DD is five 1/2 months old EBM and formula fed, and I have come to the
conclusion that she is
teething so my doc recommended Tylenol just before bed. I have been giving
her that for the last two days, so I don't think her teeth are bothering
her. Up until about two weeks ago she slept from 7:30 pm straight through
to
7:00 am. (The bliss!) Now she is waking every hour or so and staying up
sometimes, crying, for two to three hours. I am absolutely exhausted and
frustrated. I want to deal with her in a loving way that doesn't encourage
"bad" sleeping habits. ( My five yr old started sleeping through the night
at three years. I DO NOT want to do that again!) I figure ,and forgive me
if
I'm wrong, but if she can sleep thought the night on just BM at three
weeks
surly she can sleep with a belly full of rice cereal and a bottle before
bed
at almost six months. When she wakes she only drinks 1-2 oz. anyway so I
am
sure she is not hungry. Why would this start all of a sudden?
So, how do I encourage her to sleep again (at least six hours
straight)
without creating a need to be snuggled ( as much as I would love to, I am
not a happy mommy with no sleep) and coddled and fed 2 oz. to get back to
sleep every one to two hours? Is this normal? and Will she ever sleep
through again? Any advice would be good right about now.

Thanks!

--
Shana

J.R. 5 yrs.

K.B. Feb. 27 '03

wrote:

Yip just as we thought. It's an ear infection. Poor baby. I feel so mean
trying to get her to settle in her crib. She was crying but she would settle
when I picked her up so I thought it was just that she wanted to be held.
Gosh I feel like a terrible parent and all she wanted was comfort

You know what, I am actually *glad* that it is an ear infection, because I went
through the same stuff for months with my son and it *wasn't* anything that
could be fixed, and both of us were miserable. So I'm pretty happy that your
problem is probably going to be over with soon. Don't beat yourself up about
it.

--Helen

That's funny "cause I just told a friend that I was actually glad that I
know what it is now. I'm almost happy that it is an ear infection. They put
the amoxicillian in a tropical fruit punch kind of syrup and DD hates it but
at laest she is on the mend!

s


"Nan" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 19:02:33 GMT, "Shana" wrote:

Yip just as we thought. It's an ear infection. Poor baby. I feel so mean
trying to get her to settle in her crib. She was crying but she would
settle
when I picked her up so I thought it was just that she wanted to be held.
Gosh I feel like a terrible parent and all she wanted was comfort 'cause
she
was in pain. I am so scared to have another child with very poor sleep
habits that I was trying to sllep train her while she was sick! Honestly
I
was up every one to two hours with my son until he was three and then the
smack came down (LOL)! I had just had enough and I "Ferber-ised" him! I
wish
I could decipher her cries like some parents say they can with their
babies.
Then I would know whats wrong. We are doing sign language, so maybe that
will help soon.
poor baby.....

s

Don't be too hard on yourself. I've never been able to know either of
my children's cries, either.

I'm glad it's something that will hopefully be over with soon!

Nan

Shana wrote:
That's funny "cause I just told a friend that I was actually glad
that I know what it is now. I'm almost happy that it is an ear
infection. They put the amoxicillian in a tropical fruit punch kind
of syrup and DD hates it but at laest she is on the mend!


I'm glad it is all figured out and she'll feel better soon. That tropical
fruit stuff is the worst IMO. It even smells sickly sweet. I got it once
and now always just double check to make sure I don't get it again. Hunter
got it, the poor kid hated fruit, wouldn't even drink juice, and I had to
force that stuff down :-P.

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

lynn wrote in message ...

I don't give him medicine very often, honestly, but he always loves it.
Anyone else have a kid like this? Anything I should do, besides keeping
the bottles out of reach?

- Lynn

All three of mine are like this. Right now we have a round of strep
going through the family and they're more than happy to take the
bubble-gum flavored amoxicillin. Heh...*I* have strep too, and I'm
taking amoxicillin pills. My oldest (almost 8) thinks I got ripped
off. "How come you don't have the pink stuff when you get big?"

What I do in the case of other over-the-counter medications is to
stress - even at 2 or 3 - that medicine is not like candy and that one
shouldn't *always* take medicine. My older children seem to understand
the seeming contradiction that some medicine when you're really sick
is *good,* and too much medicine is *bad.*

I also ask them to wait a bit - to see if the headache or cough goes
away, to see if a glass of water makes them feel better, to lay down
on the couch for a minute or two to see if they get better.

And I try to make over the counter medicine a nighttime thing only
(also a delay tactic.) So if one of mine complains of a headache at
5:00 p.m. and I think it's a medicine-as-candy ploy, I just tell them
that if they still have the headache at bedtime I'll give them some
medicine.

It sinks in after a while. In fact, the first day of amoxicillin with
my youngest (almost 3) was spent impressing upon him that he couldn't
cling to my leg and beg for more medicine in the middle of the day.
That mom and dad were in charge of the medicine. After that day, he's
been fine with it. He even sees it in the 'fridge and doesn't drag it
outas a "snack"...like he does the yogurt and the cottage cheese and
the butter and...

-Bev

This is the problem I have with those new gummy bear vitamins. I don't know
if you all know what I am talking about but, as the name suggests, they are
vitamins with iron, in gummy bear form. They look like candy and children
think they *are* candy. Here they come in a regular cardboard box with
cellophane wrapping. Not very child proof IMHO, and altogether *too* child
friendly for a drug which *could* kill.
Whew! I feel better now---Had to vent! LOL!

s


"Cindy Kandolf" wrote in message
...
lynn writes:
| I don't give him medicine very often, honestly, but he always loves
it.
| Anyone else have a kid like this? Anything I should do, besides
keeping
| the bottles out of reach?

Oooh, yes! My kids love the cough medicine we use - it's anise
flavored, so sort of like black licorice, and quite sweet. Both will
start asking for it as soon as they have any kind of minor cough.

When Kenneth was small, I opened a new bottle of paracetamol liquid to
give him for a fever. (Paracetamol is the European name for
acetaminophen, like Tylenol.) He took the spoon out of my hand and
licked it clean. I checked the bottle - they'd changed from grape
flavoring, which he didn't like much, to strawberry, which was
apparently very tasty.

We have all our medicines in a locked cabinet in our bedroom. Other
than that, I don't think there's anything you can do except to stress
that even if they taste good, they're medicines, not candy.

- Cindy Kandolf, mamma to Kenneth (9) and Robby (3)
****** Bærum, Norway
Bilingual Families Web Page:
http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html