Seriously feel so alone on this...anyone else in my shoes?

Question

Any other working mommies whose babies (8,9,10+ months) still not sleeping through the night? My 10-month old was doing relatively well (only waking once a night to feed) until he started teething again. Now he wakes up at 1am, 4am, and 6am. I get up for work around 6am, but I never EVER seem to get a good night's sleep because I'm always on the edge, wondering when he will be waking up. My husband rarely gets up because for 9 months I was bf and he is so used to me getting up and doing everything. I feel "bad" because he has to get up at 5am to go to work, to adjust to the daycare schedule. I still feel like all of the responsibilty is on me to do all the work. My co-workers are starting to comment on my erratic behavior at work and how tired I am all the time. Don't know what to do to get this guy to sleep through the night!?!??!?!

Answer 1

Please have a heart to heart talk with you husband about this.  If you both work, I think you are both supposed to take care of your child.  When my kids were that age, I made sure they had lots of playtime to wear them out, tylenol and a warm bath.  For you, stay away from caffine and have a baby monitor.  sometimes they wake up and will just wimper and fall back asleep.  It does pass and things do get better around age 7.  lol  Good luck,,,

Answer 2

i had this problem with my daughter until she was 5 mos. then i tried feeding her every hour from 6ish pm on or up the feedings. cluster feeding (the baby whisperer) i reccomend this to refer to. when your baby wakes, make him/her wait as long as he/she can until you feed. (i'm not saying to wait until screaming). this way you are encouraging longer intervals between feedings and avoiding  a possible developing habit. i also added rice cereal to my daughters final bottle of the evening. try a dream feed too. this always works. i have a newborn and will be going through this all over again. your baby maybe teething and going through a growth spurt.  

Answer 3

Stop worrying so much about if, and when he will wake up, and enjoy your sleep, as long as he is enjoying his.

Answer 4

Here is my suggestion:

Play with him until he gets sleepy, and irritable

Feed him a jar of Baby Food

After he eats his jar of Baby food give him a warm bath

After the warm bath give him a baby massage- Make sure you put a calming lotion on him ( You can find calming lotions at Walmart)

Then, read him a story and dim the lights

*Give him some infant Motrin- Motrin is better than Tylenol because it helps with Inflammation from the teeth coming in. Call your Pediatrician and get the correct dosage and make sure its ok to give to him.

Then, Put some baby Orajel on his gums

And finally, give him a full bottle and put him down to sleep.

I hope this works for you.I know teething is a PAIN! But, this to shall pass! Just keep your head up!!!

Answer 5

i just quit my job about 2 months ago to stay home with my 9 1/2 month old.

as everyone tells me sleep patterns in babies change all the time. some don't sleep through the night until after 12 months.

my son has normally slept through the night and has gone down without a fight since he was 2 1/2 months old. just this past month it has been a constant battle to get him to go to sleep. the other ight i was up literally until 4am with him. he just refused to go to sleep. i dont know what i would ave done if i was still working.

since you say your work is suffering and people are making comments about it, then you need to talk to your husband about helping you out. yes he gets up early, but it is still his baby and his responsibility.

there is nothing you really can do to make him sleep though the night. he'll do it when he is ready, as frustrating as that is,.  

Answer 6

Um Infant Tylenol worked great with our son during teething.... maybe try those teething tablets also. Ask your doctor before giving him the Tylenol to see how much you should give him, or the Pharmacist.

Answer 7

I don' have much to say.

My son is 16 months and still wakes up more than 3 times a night.

Answer 8

If you are still breast feeding, pump for the weekend feedings and have your husband have weekend duty.  I know he works too but you need your sleep in order to take care of your little one.  

Answer 9

I am so there my baby is 9 months old and breastfed and she is doing the same thing...I doubt her is teeth as she already has 7 teeth...but I have no idea what to do either...I know it's all part of having a baby and all but??? You have to get some rest to be productive as a mommy too...I just wanted you to know you are not alone I am in the same spot....

Answer 10

My daughter is 11 months and still wakes nightly...so I can't help you because I don't know what to do either! lol  Its depressing I know.

Answer 11

Okay Rosie...listen carefully...one word that has saved my life...Starbucks!

I just wanted to let you know that I so feel for you. As one working mom to another I know how hard it can be to get through the day when you have not slept.

Ben didn't start sleeping through the night (at all) until around 6 1/2 months...but then about a month later he seemed to have forgotten how. Now it is really hit or miss. Some nights he will go down at 7 and not wake for 12 hours. Other nights he is up every hour. You just never know what you are going to get, which makes it hard to feel rested even on the good nights.

I have gotten a little crabby at work at times (understatement). Sometimes just doing some deep breathing behind closed doors helps....and Starbucks.

Edit: My husband and I have what we call the 2AM rule. If Baby wakes before 2AM I will get up with him. If baby wakes after 2AM hubby will get up (and then bring him to me if Baby needs to nurse). My husband will normally sleep right through his time without hearing a thing...so I have resorted to turning the volume on monitor up all the way and putting it on his side of the bed.

Answer 12

At this time his stomach is big enough to where he can fill it up and be satisfied throughout the night. He is likely waking and is unable to put himself back to sleep, he misses you and wants to spend time with you, he is comforted by you, he is used to you putting him to sleep.  He is probably not hungry but that is what he is used to. Try to let him cry it out or try to put him in his bed before he falls alseep so he will get used to falling asleep without the use of your breast.. You aren't going to feel any better until you start to get a full night sleep. Your baby will also feel better then as well.

Here is website for help

http://babyparenting.about.com/od/sleepi...

Answer 13

Why is he waking up? Sounds like it has become a habit since he was sleeping and got used to you comforting him while he was teething. My son did this a few times and i'd have to reteach him how to sleep. I would try letting your son stir and cry a little, maybe put a cup or bottle of water in his crib, and try not to go to him unless he is hysterical. I know, it can be and will be hard to hear him call you but he has to learn he's ok on his own. Good luck.

Answer 14

I had this problem.  I finally ordered the sleep sense program by Dana Obleman.  My son had just turned one year and was still getting up at 12, 3, and 5.  I was so exhausted.  This program gives you many alternatives if something doesn't work.  Google it.  I will tell you what worked for me though.  I did have to get my husband involved for 3 nights.  That's literally all it took.  The first night my son woke up as usual and instead of me going in his room I sent my husband.  He gently layed him down and patted his back and left.  His job was to keep doing this every so many minutes, i.e. first 5 then 10 then 15  and finally after 30minutes of crying my baby went to sleep.  The second night we did the same thing, except our son only woke twice this night and only lasted about 15 minutes.  The third night same again but he only woke once and lasted 4 minutes.  After that we never had any more trouble.  If he is teething I usually know and give him infant tylenol before bed.  Normally it works and if not then I comfort him in the middle of the night by rocking him a few minutes.  The important thing when using this approach  is to 1. not offer any milk or other liquid and 2.  try not to pick him up.  The idea is to teach him how to self soothe when he wakes at night.  I will say that those 3 nights were heart breaking listening to him cry but in the end it was worth it.  My son was more happy go lucky all the time and seemed to start meeting milestones much more quickly.  Try to think of it as you are helping your baby and he will be much happier in the end.  

Answer 15

Good on you for talking openly about this and asking for help.  Do you know the phone numbers of any support services such as Parentline or a 24-hour Parent Help Line (I'm living in Australia).  Have a look in your phonebook, they are well worth the phonecall.  Try visiting websites like www.relationships.com...all the best.

Answer 16

i think you need to take turns with your husband.  my bf takes care of our son on his days off.  i barely do anything seriously.  he lets me sleep in and sometimes i even take naps.  he is really good about giving me a "day or two off."  

is he waking up at night for a bottle?  if he is you can break the habit by waiting as long as you can stand to give in to the bottle.  i did this with my son when he was younger and he eventually started falling asleep before the bottle.  he stopped waking up after a week or so. (this was in one of those 1st year books)

there are times when babies wake up again.  usually because of illness, teething, etc.  my son has slept through the night since 3 months... but now at 17 months he is waking up again... i think it is because he has more teeth coming and his gums are swollen looking.  the teeth are about to cut through.  tylenol has got us through the worst teething days.  i only used it for extreme cases where he would be crying non-stop.

try to keep his schedule as normal as possible too.  my son slept from 10pm-8am with a nap from 12pm-3pm (or a little less).  on the days we stayed out during his naptime it would mess his schedule up for a couple days at a time.  

as someone else suggested... don't run to every cry.  see if the baby will stop first.  sometimes my son would cry for a minute then he would fall asleep again.  i learned to wait and see if he really needed attention.  

i hope this helps.  good luck!  

Answer 17

It's hard.

You're not alone.  I agree with letting him cry a little unless he becomes hysterical.  I don't believe babies can wake out of habit, but putting himself back to sleep is a habit that he CAN learn when he's ready.

One of my twins has been awesome at this since, gosh, 4 or 5 months old.  The other one still struggles with it sometimes.

I know I have to get out of bed when she wakes up crying because if she's crying then she's not putting herself back to sleep.  Blah.  I hate it.

It doesn't happen every night.

Give it a try.  Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll learn to self-soothe.  I hope you are because it's nice.  I'm just happy both of my twins don't need me to help them get back to bed.  The one who cries gets totally hysterical and then it takes forever and a day to get her back to sleep.  

I would get your hubby to help, though.  Just because he gets up a little earlier, big deal!  He should still help since you work too, damnit!  Either that or inform him that you've decided to be a SAHM so you can nap with your baby.

Answer 18

my son was sleeping through the night well then he got sick and started waking up and i'd put him in our bed.  

well he would roll around all night and keep us up.  my hubby said dont pick him right up let him fuss for a minute to see if he falls back to sleep.  i did and he went right back to sleep and it has not been a problem since.

he seriously fussed for 1 minute. not sure if that will work for you.  he's almost 10 months

Answer 19

Try giving him some rice cereal for his last feeding before you go to bed.  It worked for me.  My daughter was waking up every 3 hours.  With the cereal, she'd sleep 6 to 7 hours.