Baby Sleep Help - Natalie's Response

Mum Zone's resident Sleep Expert Natalie of Sleep and Settle is available to answer some of your questions about settling your baby and more.

Topics include: Sleeping and settling, moving from bassinette to cot, cot to bed, breastfeeding/formula, solids, floorplay for babies and play for toddlers/children, wrapping/sleeping bags/dressing baby, behaviour/tantrums, what's normal? bedroom environments, music, lights, entertainment, mattresses, mattress protectors, sheets, unsettled babies and the 0-12 week afternoon arsenic hours, reflux/colic, teething, worms, toilet training, night terrors/nightmares, the older child issues 5-10 years and single parenting/separation/divorce.

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Reader's Question

I have an 8 month old son who has been a terrible sleeper right from the start. Over the months we have managed to fix his naps - he will now almost always go to sleep straight away, and sometimes for 2 whole hours. After that was sorted, with months of awful screaming nights, we finally managed to get him to go to sleep at bedtime with few hassles. He usually sleeps through the night - but from about 1am.

You see, he goes to sleep fine after his bath and everything, at around 7.30ish, but he treats it like a nap. That is, he wakes up after an hour or 2 and refuses to go back to sleep.

It wouldn't be so bad if he just lay there talking to himself, but he wants to be up so he cries and cries for hours. Anywhere from 1 - 5 hours everynight from about 9pm. We have tried everything: let him cry, we go comfort him, we feed him, we give him Brauer Calm, we give him hugs, we play music, we have the light on, the light off, we burn lavender oil, we give him chamomile tea... we have tried everything, it seems, except to give in and let him come join us as we watch tv or read or whatever.

And all the different methods we've tried, we have given them at least 2 or 3 weeks before changing and trying something different. It would seem like he just wants our company - but he will still cry when we go in there and sit with him. The only time he stops crying is if we pick him up to give him a cuddle, but then he starts again when he realises its only a cuddle and he is not getting up.

I don't know what to do anymore, I am tired of researching it! I dread the sound of him waking up, as it signals hours of crying - he often gets really distressed by it. And so do I.

Is there a way we can teach him that bedtime after his bath isn't a nap? That he has to stay in bed after that? It is the last remaining sleep issue we have with him, and I am desperate for it to be fixed.

Natalie's Response

Hi,

I appreciate that you are frustrated and tired. My answer is very general without further baby history.

Consider the following:

• It is not normal for your baby to cry for hours and appear to be in distress, I would offer cuddles as often as needed and use a gentle approach. So let's investigate some options.
  
  
• I would look into teething at his age and possibly an earache. Children are easily distracted away from their pain and can go to sleep day and night when tired but cannot sleep for long periods in the night if in pain because there is nothing to distract them. If teething offer neurofen at dinner time with food to see if that takes the edge off the pain. Being under 9 months and assuming he is having night feeds around 11pm, 2-3am and/or 5-6am you could offer him some pain relief at 6-8 hours after the first dose. Teething can cause runny noses and it is also really common for babies to get an earache lying down frequently and the discharge from the runny nose running into the ear.
  
  
• Around 8 months it is normal to start offering a wider variety of food groups. He could have a pain in the belly digesting new foods. Make sure he isn't having any cows milk and stop any yogurt or cheese for a while to see if this helps. Also no spicy foods.
  
  
• If your baby cannot self-settle to sleep they cannot self-settle back to sleep. If you would appreciate a gentle self-settling strategy I have sleep packages available at www.sleepandsettle.com.au Self-settling is putting himself to sleep without props. Props are dummies, rocking, cuddles, pram and car rides, walking the hallway until he is asleep etc.
  
  
• I encourage a wrap or sleeping bag for all sleeps, sheets tucked in tightly, no night light, a gentle heater on if cold. A dark room for all sleeps, background noise on in his room in the day and you could try 'Music for Dreaming' on in his room on repeat overnight.
  
  
• I suggest a 7pm bedtime and day sleeps at 9-10am and 1-2pm.
  
  
• Milk immediately before solids at meal times until 9 months. Offer some fresh fruit or vegetables and some protein with every meal. Boiled water can be offered in between meals. Make all of his meals at home with fresh ingredients, no packaged foods or jars of food.
  
  
• Try putting the top you wore today in his cot tied to the side bars. This may comfort him overnight.
  
  
• Was he a reflux baby? Since he gets comfort from being picked up could he be still suffering from reflux and need some medication? Babies don't automatically grow out of reflux because they start solids. All solid food turns to fluid in the stomach and can still reflux back up.
  
  
• Due to the nature of the crying have you considered seeing a paediatric chiropractor? The birth process can be very traumatic for a baby's spine and the spine channels the nerves around the body to organs. If the spine is out of alignment nerves may be pinched causing pain or meaning an organ doesn't work properly. They use a gentle hands approach with babies, no neck twisting.
  

Happy sleeping,
Natalie

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The opinions expressed on these pages are of a general nature and are by no means a substitute for professional advice. Therefore neither Mum Zone or Natalie Ebrill of Sleep and Settle are liable for any actions pertaining to the use of the supplied information.