New to board - Teething and night wakings, short naps

[jsnbean]

Hi I'm new here. I have a 4 month old daughter, Aileen. She used to sleep great! She started sleeping 7-8 hours a night at 2 months. We would put her down sometime between 9-10 and then she wouldn't wake up until 5 or later.

Length of naps/waking times were erratic, but I just thought that was normal for an infant.

THen a few days before her 4 month birthday she started waking at 4 am to feed. During the day she has been very clingy and crying. She became harder and harder to feed. DH and I were at our wits end. We were completely clueless as to why she suddenly went from a happy baby that slept through the night to this cranky baby. It didn't seem that this could all be due to teething, although that really wasn't helping matters.

So I just read Weissbuth book and I learned I was complely uniformed about how babies sleep and I'm trying to implement a couple of things:
1. Start putting her down earlier. Last night we started at 8:30pm, Tonight we will try 8 pm.
2. Don't keep her up too long between naps! I thought 4 month old babies could be up for 3 hours at at time so I kept missing her sleepy cues.

So far we have had a mixed success:
Last night: Started night time routine at 8:30pm. In bed at 9:15. he woke at 11:30 and was hungry, at 1:30am and she was chewing, so we gave her some Tylenol and she went back to sleep, at 4:30 - Not hungry but Very wet diaper, changed went back to sleep. Then she woke at 5:45 am - She wasn't hungry so we kept giving her her pacifier. At 6 am I gaver her some Tylenol. From 6-7 she stayed in her crib, she would alternate between fussing and being quiet and I would go in and soothe her if she started crying really hard. At 7 she finally ate a couple of ounces and then went to sleep until 8 am.

The napping has been a bit more successful. She has had a hour, 40 min, 2 hour, and 1 hour. (first nap from 7-8 am, last nap from 5:15pm to 6:15 pm).

She actually good about going to sleep on her own, it's staying asleep that is more difficult.

Added to this is her teething which is clearly affecting her eating and sleeping. We've been giving her Tylenol on a regular basis so at least we can partially elimante one variable.

Because of the teething, I'm reluctant to start a full-board CIO/sleep training, so I'm trying to figure out what to do in the meantime. We have to do something, DH and I are exhausted and I spent most of yesterday crying.

Has anyone had a similar problem with teething and sleeping?

Thanks!

Jilda

[MurWin]

Hi Jilda, I don't have much advice, but just wanted to say that my DD is 9 1/2 months old and has had the same sort of sleep problems your daughter has since birth. I am only now at my wit's end and willing to try CIO. I hope you get some ansnwers soon!

[Kristen02]

Welcome to the board! It sounds like you are doing everything right, considering that your daughter is teething. I feel for you having to deal with teething woes already.

When Aileens's not teething, she should be waking no sooner than about 6 hours between going to bed and first waking and then 4 hours after that. The naps sound good. There are going to be shorter ones and longer ones right now, and that's ok. An hour nap is considered restorative, but if there is a 40 minute nap during the day, that's really ok. As long as all the naps aren't 40 minutes.

I believe you are doing everything you can do right now for Aileen, and when she's uncomfortable, her sleep is going to be off track. Her sleep should be back to normal once this bout of teething is over. I hope she's feeling better soon and keep us posted!

[Kristen02]

And I meant to add that I agree with you, she should have an earlier bedtime. An earlier bedtime almost always leads to better night sleep. I know you said you are working towards that, and it will be a good thing .

[jsnbean]

Thanks!

Things are going better now. She is going down earlier, by 8 since I posted and wakes up between 6-7. Most nights she has just woken up once to eat, although sometimes she starts crying and waking up, but if you give her the binky she goes back to sleep right away.

The napping is more erractic. Still have a hard time getting her to take a longer than 45 minute nap. Well one thing at a time.

The great thing is once she started sleeping going to bed earlier, she has been in a much better mood during the day and doesn't seem to be as bothered by the teething.

Jilda