My 6 month old who slept through the night beautifully for a few months is suddenly waking at 2-3 a.m.?

Question

She doesn't wake up crying, but is just awake. I try to let her go and see if she goes back to sleep, but sometimes when I walk in, she has her head up and is WIDE AWAKE. If I let her go after she sees me, she will wimper around and start to cry. I will not do the cry it out method, as I'm opposed to that at this young of age, and I've never had to even worry about her waking up crying because she just doesn't. Is there a hint you might have to help her sleep longer? Am I putting her to bed too early? She seems to be sleepy around 7-8 ish. If I waited longer, she's fussy. Is this just a stage? A development thing perhaps? Thanks Signed, Very Tired Mommy

Answer 1

Ah, the famous "6-7 mo wakeup call." For some reason, a lot of babies just go through this stage around this period where they are UP. A lot of times it's triggered by a milestone, such as learning to pull up or crawl.

Keep doing what you're doing - do you use a baby monitor? If so, use that to keep tabs on her and only go in if you absolutely have to. Try hard not to get in the habit of going in to her, as she will quickly learn that she can get you to do that, and will not focus on self-soothing and going back to sleep.

Does she have a crib toy or something else she likes that will keep her happy and quiet in her bed? My 9 month old son has the Fisher Price Aquarium (old style) and will play with that sometimes in the middle of the night, until he falls back asleep.

Is she a binky baby? Sometimes they can't find their binkies and need a little help getting it back in the mouth. My son is and we scatter a couple of them around the crib so they're available for easy use.

Take heart, this should pass within the next couple of weeks.

Answer 2

Is she going through any developmental milestones right now? Learning to crawl or sit up on her own? A lot of times baby's sleep patterns will be disrupted due to the baby being so excited about practicing this new skill. I would say, if she is sleepy at 7-8pm, then definitely put her to bed. I put my 4 month old to bed at around 8pm every night and he sleeps until 6-7am. He had a spell where he would wake up at 3am on the dot, every single night, no matter what time we put him to bed. He wasn't hungry, his diaper was dry, he didn't want to be rocked...nothing was wrong... SO, we eventually decided to just peek in the door, and not let him see us, to make sure he was okay, and then let him cry it out. It only lasted for a few minutes the first night and became less each night following. Then by around the 3rd or 4th night, he simply didn't wake up. I am not normally a huge fan of crying it out, but sometimes it is the only thing that works (for us). No matter what you choose, hang in there, it will pass! Good luck!

Answer 3

you may find your little one changes her schedule several times. My daughter slept all the way through the night from day one, then at about 7 months, she would wake at 5 am for a bottle and diaper change and then back to sleep till 9:30-10

Now she's 14 months, some nights she sleeps all the way through and then there are nights like last night where she woke up 1am and then was wide awake again at 3:30 am..

It doesn't seem to matter what time she goes to bed at either. I agree with the person who mentioned cereal. We give our daughter cereal and a bottle before bedtime and have found her less restless generally at night because of this.

I think we're all tired mommy's! But seeing my daughter's smiling face in the morning when I get her out of her crib, gives me a warm feeling inside.

Answer 4

She could be cutting a tooth. Crying or not, don't go in! They need to learn how to fall back asleep on their own. If you go in every time she wakes up, she will expect it and it will be hard for you to break that. Even if you only do it one time. I have 4 children. I put all of them in bed while they were awake or are getting sleepy. Try and put her to bed at the same time every night. Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Dear VERY TIRED MOMMY,
Yeah...it's just a phase. The bed time isn't the issue..she's just very alert and wants to look around. Does she eat cereal yet? Cause if you feed her cereal from a spoon it may fill her belly a bit longer, which will help her sleep longer... Good luck... SIgned AN also very tired Mommy * my 2.5 yr old keeps waking up at 3 am...

Answer 6

My second child did this also. It was a stage. Just when i thought i had her sleeping all night something would change. i know it is so hard to let them cry at this age because you feel guilty. Maybe it's her teeth or something. Try giving her Tylenol a couple of nights to see if it makes her rest better. Not every night or anything but, maybe it will help. My first child didn't fuss with teething at all so, even if she isn't fussing maybe something is still bothering her. Do you have a monitor to listen to her instead of walking in to check on her???

Answer 7

My son's only 3 months old, so not the same age as yours, but perhaps this observation will help. My ds sleeps through the night routinely. The only times I had a problem was when he didn't nap during the day (happened on the first day in daycare.) This is consistent with what I read in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Is your daughter getting her regular nap?

Answer 8

She is sleeping 7 hrs at a time at night, which is pretty good for this stage.
Probably your best bet would be to give her cereal before bed and put her to bed a little later.
Either that or just go to bed when she does.

Answer 9

i can relate to this too my baby slept from 12 weeks all through the night but is now waking at 4 am and ive tried to put him in bed later hes even gone to sleep at 11pm but still wakes up i would say just stick to this routine she will get back into it best wishes

Answer 10

My son did the same thing. I had to learn to not go into the room just listen to his monitor. About 90% of the time he would go back to sleep - if they see you they want to be with you. Although at about this time I had to start feeding him more to have him not wake up hungry.