Baby wakes every 45 minutes at night! HELP!?

Question

My 4 month old has been waking every hour since 3 -5 weeks old. We've literally tried a hundred remedies...nothing works. The ped won't help us...tells me to let him cry himself back to sleep (even if it takes hours)...anyone else deal with this frequent waking?

Ok, I'm a psychologist, and it is a horrible idea to let a child cry it out at this age...so no more of those suggestions please. What if there is something medically wrong that is waking him? CIO method is only beneficial to the sleepless parent...not the child. Why does a 4 month old need to be self soothing again? I would consider myself a lazy parent if I asked for my baby to be independent at this early age.

What I am really looking for are parents whose child had ailments to cause such behavior, as my mother's intuition is telling me something is bothering him. Thank you for responding...all of you...even the parents with CIO advice. Its nice to know people care.

Answer 1

Babies do only have a deep sleep pattern of only 45minutes or so before they rustle around and such. Some babies actually can make themselves go back to sleep while others can not. I had one son who could not sleep for very long at all. I just put him in the bed with me and put his back up against mine and he would sleep a lot longer. Plus you will feel when he starts to come back out of his deep sleep since they start to wiggle. Keep the lights low and a baby bottle close unless you breastfeed. Some babies just get scared when they dont see or feel something familiar to them like mommy or daddy. My son that did not sleep well was my second and I have a total of 8 sons now. I have put everyone of them in the bed with me when little because of this. I do not however advise it if you are a sound sleeper. By no means, do NOT let the baby cry for long periods of time. Fussing around is one thing but crying means something is wrong and that is their only means of communication with you to let you know it.

Answer 2

My son was like that till he was 6 months old. Try giving him rice cereal before bed. Not very watery tho. Try to keep it think. They have cereal nipples for bottles if you don't have one. That worked for us. Good luck. I know how hard that is. At 4 months plain rice cereal is fine. A pediatrician will say NO, but a parent with more than one child, will always say that it is OK. My old pediatrician said not to do that. My doctor said it will help, and it did.

Mine was also doing it because of colic. I put some of those colic tablets from Walgreen's in to his bottle and that helped too. Also rice fortified formula ( if you don't breast feed) is good for gas and colic. All those helped. I think that is why the rice cereal helped him. I am with you on the crying thing. I couldn't do it either. It would make me cry if I waited to long. I don't even do it much now that he is older. Sometimes his diaper burns, even tho I change it every two hours or more. That makes him cry too.

I also was not luck with any of the other things. He hated his swing, his bassinet, and his pacifier. He didn't like anything. LOL. A night light also was a bad idea. It made him sleep worse with it, than without it. He doesn't have a night light now even.

Answer 3

sounds like your baby has gotten used to waking up and either eating or being comforted during the night. This might not change unless you change the habit of getting him. First, you need to know why he's waking up. If it's teething then give him Tylenol before he goes to bed. But since you said that this has been going on for a while he probably just assumes that's what babies do. I know it sounds harsh but your pediatrician is right. You need to let your son cry it out. It may take a few nights but you want your baby to know that night time is for sleeping. My daughter was about his age and she got her nights and days mixed up and wanted to me awake during the night and sleep during the day. (You don't want that.) Her doctor said don't offer her any food her pick her up in the night. They would tell me that you know she is safe and she will learn what night time is for you just have to let her cry it out. A few other things have helped me as well. Make sure you son is in his own room. Also, don't let him nap too too much during the day and definitely not in the early evening. Your son will learn very quickly that people sleep at night. Good luck!

Answer 4

Here's a checklist for you, hope it helps...
Limit daytime naps to no more than four naps, no longer than two hours apiece.
Wake baby up at the same time every morning, 12 hours after you put him to bed.
Develope a soothing bedtime routine and follow it as strictly as possible, at as close to the same time as possible.
Plan a strategy for when he wakes up at night. First check and see if there is a physical reason for him to wake up. Is his diaper wet? Is he hungry? Too hot or too cold? Assuming that there is nothing physically wrong, soothe him emotionally for no more than ten minutes (rocking, singing, whatever, just keep it consistant). Then return him to his crib, tell him you love him and will see him in the morning (use the same words every time). Then let him cry it out. It might take a couple hours the first couple times (it did with our daughter) but after that, he should fall back asleep within a few minutes. Yes, it is heartwrenching. Just remind yourself that the only thing wrong is that he misses you and your need for sleep outweighs his desire for your company. It will take two nights to a week, but if you follow this consistantly, you should see a decrease in night wakings. If possible, split the night into two shifts with your husband, so that you will be able to sleep at least half of the night.

I understand being reluctant to let your baby CIO. After all, he's just a baby right? And it's your job to always be there for him, right? But think about this, you don't want him to always rely on you. As a psychologist, you should know that you're setting yourself up for codependency. You want him to learn how to feed himself, walk on his own, dress himself, ect. And that includes putting himself back to sleep. He needs your help to learn to do this on his own. I understand being worried that there might be something wrong with him physically. I doubt that you will find any help here from random people on yahoo answers though. If you are really concerned about that, I would suggest forking over a ton of money so that they care run all kinds of random tests for something that might possiblly be wrong. In the meantime, please try to understand that letting a baby CIO is not laziness or abondonment, it is a tried and true method that allows for happier, better rested, and more functional babies and adults. Best of luck to you.

Answer 5

have you any idea what the cause is? not too sure what to advise as you don't say if your baby sleeps in your room. Babies do have a sleep pattern which lasts about 45 minutes and some do wake up after that time. is there any way you could 'be prepared' and try being ready for waking and try doing shhh, shhh technique to sooth or rubbing on back to help baby get back to sleep before they have even woken up, do you use a soother, if so can you make sure it is in before baby stirs.

hope it gets better soon, is there a sleep clinic near you? your health visitor should advise

Answer 6

ok I had the same problem and no the ped dont care or understand they seem to think your just over reacting when saying the baby wakes so often right???? well I cant really help cause honestly no one helped me all I can say it my daughter gre out of it at 7months it just stopped she went from waking like 31times a night (no joke) to sleeping the night through in a matter of one day. I am clueless as to what was wrong with her till this day. So I guess my answeris your not alone Sorry its all I got!!!!

Answer 7

Sounds like he has colic. (gassy stomach) I had to deal with this. I had to add just about a tea spoon of flakes of baby cereal to my sons last bottle before I layed him down for bed, this just thickened up his formula so it would stick to his stomach and stay with him a little longer. I also had to give him baby gas drops, as recommended on the package. you can buy those over the counter. also try noise. like a radio, for some reason that helps, of course dont play it too loud in the babys room but enough where it would be comfortable if you were trying to go to sleep. Please do not let him cry, if hes whining thats ok but if hes screaming and crying there is a reason.

Answer 8

When my daughter wakes up at night I feed her and put her in the bassinette. If she doesnt go to sleep I pop a soother into her mouth a couple times. If she contiues to squack or cry I move her into the bed. Usually she goes to sleep but if she continues to cry in bed I put her in the infant swing and let it rock her to sleep while I sleep on the couch.
I follow the same schedule everytime so she know what to expect and I dont give her any other stimulation at night.

she still wakes up every 2 hours, but I breastfeed her lying in bed to get more sleep.

Answer 9

Yes but much later on like 1yr. At 4 months I think I would sit the baby in a baby swing(if you have) and let it rock till it falls back asleep or some soft music. I don't know what you've tried but once they reach a year it's much easier to let them cry it out if you know they're fine. Soother..

Answer 10

I have a 4 month old and he has been sleeping through the night for a 1 and half months because I put rice ceral in his bottle at night. Also if you bottle feed try Dr. Browns bottles. They help with less air