5½ month old crying during night

[KatO79]

Hi so I have a 5½ month old (he'll be 6 months on April 5th) and he was otherwise only waking once a night between 3-4 AM for a feed then sleeping for about 3 hours before getting up for the day. Now after that feed he'll cry every hour but after 2-3 minutes, he'll stop so I assume he's sleeping. Then he'll do it again 1 hour later. I don't know if I should try and not go get him for that feed at 3-4 AM because I can't tell if it's a habit or something he needs? He btw started eating porridges and gruel at about 4 ½ months and gets a nighttime gruel before being put to bed at bedtime.

He has also started doing this during his naps. Today for his morning nap he cried after about 2 hours, I tried waiting and he stopped after a few minutes but then 5-6 minutes later he started up again. Went in to check on him and as soon as I rocked him very gently for a few seconds, he fell asleep again.

It all makes me wonder if I've somehow started teaching him bad sleep habits? Any advice????

 

[rose.]

He could be teething - both mine have had disrupted sleep due to teething pains. It can start weeks or even months before the teeth actually come through. If he's not very distressed and settles himself then I'd carry on as you are, leave him for a few minutes then go in if necessary. I would probably be led by him and feed him at 3-4 if he carries on waking up for it. My son didn't stop night feeds until 11 months. I am not sure what time you put him to bed but I used to find with my son that he would sleep best for the first 6 hours and then after that he would wake regularly, I suppose as he became less tired. He did this until he stopped his night feeds. Haven't got to that stage with my daughter yet, she was a good sleeper until a couple of weeks ago and now she's waking lots so I assume the teeth may soon come through!

 

[rose.]

Oh - also - depending on what time you put him to bed, a dream feed might help you to stop the 3-4am feed if you want to. Once my son started going to bed early around 7-8 I used to feed him at 10-11pm when I went to bed, then I got a longer stretch before he woke me up again. That might also help to get him out of the habit of waking regularly in the early hours.

 

[KatO79]

Thanks rose.!

Technically he's put to bed around 10-11 PM after he's been up for about 1 hour getting his nighttime gruel. Before that gruel, he'll have slept 3-4 hours. Not sure if I should give him his gruel before? It's given so both him and I get a longer sleep during the night.

How long should I wait before going in, approx.?

Oh and a dreamfeed might be difficult as he's sleeping in a cradle in his own room. We moved him about 1-1½ months ago as we all 3 were sleeping badly at one point and it actually did help.

 

[MindUtopia]

At that age, I assumed that any crying needed a response from me. It was much more important that I was responsive during the nighttime and also that we all got a good sleep than stressing about any 'bad habits' (in my experience, being responsive didn't create any whatsoever, but it did ultimately make night times easier and less stressful on all of us). Usually a cry around that age meant she was hungry and a feed got us a good chunk of uninterrupted sleep after, so I didn't hesitate to respond right away, feed her and get her back to sleep quickly so we all got back to sleep. That worked well for us and she dropped the night feeds on her own with no fuss when she was ready. Hourly waking and crying did also correspond with teething, in which case, calpol once or twice during that 12 hour period helped, as did feeding. For a couple weeks when she was most uncomfortable, I was feeding her small amounts every hour or two all night. When the teeth popped through, that passed and she was back to waking only once a night for a feed. You've been offering solids for awhile now, but I also found that when we started solids (at 6 months), it also caused disrupted sleep as her tummy adjusted to all that digestion. I could literally hear her stomach gurgling and churning most of the night through the worst of it, so starting solids can cause what you're describing as well in some babies. I did the same though, responding as needed and offering feeds if she wanted them, until she adjusted and seemed much more comfortable. As you can see, I don't believe in this bad habits business and for all our co-sleeping, not leaving to cry and feeding to sleep, we never had any 'bad habits' and she grew into sleeping well on her own and dropping feeds when she was ready. Personally, I think we all ultimately got more sleep that way rather than the constant wake ups, which I find it difficult to fall back asleep after.

 

[KatO79]

MindUtopia ok I forgot to mention that I did try this morning giving him a feed after he he woke up at around 6 AM and he barely ate anything before falling asleep again He then woke about 1 hour later again. So it doesn't seem to be very hunger motivated, at least not after the 3-4 AM feed. I live in Denmark so will have to see what I'm allowed to use here without a prescription for teething. It's just odd that it's during the last part of the night he does it and not before that feed. And my son was otherwise sleeping at least 2 hours, most of the time 3 though, after that feed so this is a sudden change. I would think if it was the porridges/gruels, he'd be doing it since we started but he hasn't

 

[blablamana]

Could be teething, Thomas has been grumbling and mumbling about in his bed and more fussy during naptime because of it. Still no teeth out yet, just mean and sore bumps on his gums... We always go in immediately.

How many hours of sleep during the day does he get? We keep Thomas at about 3-4 hours of sleep during the day, which helps him sleep through the night.

Other than that, maybe give him the gruel a feed before the one you are doing now? It should still help him sleep because of simply extra calories.. This gruel before bed might be too heavy for his tummy?

 

[xdxxtx]

Sometimes, my babies just wake during the night and need to expel a little bit of energy so they can go back to sleep. My fourth-born still does this sometimes, and he turned 1 last month. He will wake at some point between 10pm and 1am and cry for 2-5 minutes before going back to sleep. When he was much younger, he did this much more frequently. If I feel my baby is capable of self soothing, I will wait about 10 minutes before going in and helping to soothe the baby. I wait quite a while, but I found with my third- and fourth-borns that if I went in right away, they cried more often and for longer.

With my first- and second- borns, I'd go in right away and just rub their backs, and they'd quiet right down and go back to sleep.

So, I guess my answer should be, "it depends on the baby."

 

[KatO79]

Hi blabla Alexander has no bumps on his gums as far as I can tell My health care provider is leaning more towards him being in a leap which actually fits in with what the Wonder Weeks app is saying. These days he's sleeping less during his naps as well. He used to sleep 2-3 hours for his 1st nap (most of the time 2½-3 hours), normally 1-2 hours for his 2nd nap and about the same for his 3rd. These days his 1st nap is 1 hour before he starts up the crying every hour or so and about the same for the other naps. They'll last 2-4 hours before he's up for 1-2 hours at a time (depends on how well and long he's slept). The gruel is very watery, it's made of 1½-2 table spoonfuls of millet flakes, 2 dl of water and then about 6 spoonfuls of formula powder (Nestle Nan H.A. since Alexander is at risk for allergies because of his eczema) using the spoon it comes with for dosage. He's supposed to be getting it by bottle but for some reason refuses to take it by bottle so he's getting it spoonfed atm.

xdxxtx ok I guess I'll have to try a couple of things out and see what works for him