Reaching out to moms

[Mouseykins]

My four and a half month old little girl refuses to sleep at night. I have no idea what's wrong as I've exhausted all possibilities.

 

A few nights ago she wouldn't stop crying and was at it for over an hour then calmed down for about 45 minutes and then the crying started again. I finally had enough and strapped her into her car seat at 4am.

 

Tonight the same thing again she absolutely refuses to sleep. All her needs have been looked after and she's been crying for over an hour now and a few minutes ago I caved and put her in her car seat, hoping she'll fall asleep soon.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on ho to get my little one to sleep?

 

Right now I'll try almost anything, it's starting to get a little ridiculous every single night the crying and refusing to sleep.

[hrtbrk]

Gah! That must be frustrating! Could she be teething?

 

I don't have an suggestions other than the generic play ambient noises/music?

[Scarlet Fever]

That's never fun, though I've gotta let you know it's actually not too good for her to sleep in her car seat for extended periods of time.

 

One thing that helped my daughter was to have a fan blowing. I did, however, have to eventually ween her off of the need for the fan in order to sleep.

 

The only other advice I have is try to keep her on a pretty regular routine, naps are pretty important (even just laying her down for a bit will help...sometimes without naps they'll wake back up by time it's ready for bed). If she's not sick or teething, you may just need to let her cry it out (it's heart-wrenching, but sometimes necessary).

[Mouseykins]

I've only used the car seat once because usually she hates it and I don't like leaving her in there longer than necessary, its so awkward and uncomfortable looking.

 

The car seat helped calm her down last night and when I took her out she cried herself to sleep in my arms finally.

 

I did have her on a routine but lately she's changed it.

 

As for the teething I ruled that out, I gave her teething drops and they didn't seem to help. I usually only let her sleep about 2 hours combined during the day, mind you that's all she'll really sleep.

[Kwa]

You poor thing, it's such hard work being a mummy, especially when they are so little and can't tell you whats wrong. I've got 2 little girls myself, so I've been there, done that.

 

Is she going through any developmental stages at the moment? Trying to roll over, crawl, anything like that? Littlies often have sleep disturbance and are generally more irratable while they're trying to master a new skill. Good news there is it usually settles down once they figure out there new trick

 

I would also suggest teething, if you pop your finger in her mouth and feel her gus, are they soft or hard? If they are very hard then that to me would deffinetly indicate teething, give her a wash cloth that you've popped in the freezer for a little while to chew on, paracetomol can also help too.

 

My last suggestion would be, is she hungry? Are you hissi or bottle feeding? I'm sure you've already tried feeding her, but at 4.5 months, she might be ready to start some solids during the day just to top her up. hissimilk/formula should be your babies main source of nutrition until she is 1 year old, but maybe you might want to try uping her day time feeds or introducing soilds if you haven't already (it is generally recomended that you only start of with 1-2 teaspoons of soild food at a time, after a feed, just so their little tummies can adjust - and expect some interesting nappies too!)

 

Anything else I can help you with, just gimme a yell, I know how hard it can be some times!

*Hugs*

[lilshadowdweller]

I'm not a mother but I'd highly suggest fan blowing as Scarlet has already mentioned. Louder noises may actually be comforting to her, as it reminds her of your womb. (Which was noisy!) She's still a newborn technically! Also, it's been suggested that the reason fans help us sleep (or raining, or any other noises which repeats) is because it not only drowns out other noises, but our brains begin following it as a pattern eventually getting bored and relaxed. I've been using fans most of my life, my father has too.

 

I understand how frustrating and desperate it must be for you to just want to sleep and be unable to. I can't function myself and I would attempt anything!

 

If it persists, I'd recommend checking her up with the doctors to ensure there's not any underlying issues. I cried a lot when I was younger because I was in pain (I was lactose intolerant). It took some time before my parents finally discovered why I was crying.

[Mouseykins]

You poor thing, it's such hard work being a mummy, especially when they are so little and can't tell you whats wrong. I've got 2 little girls myself, so I've been there, done that.

 

Is she going through any developmental stages at the moment? Trying to roll over, crawl, anything like that? Littlies often have sleep disturbance and are generally more irratable while they're trying to master a new skill. Good news there is it usually settles down once they figure out there new trick

 

I would also suggest teething, if you pop your finger in her mouth and feel her gus, are they soft or hard? If they are very hard then that to me would deffinetly indicate teething, give her a wash cloth that you've popped in the freezer for a little while to chew on, paracetomol can also help too.

 

My last suggestion would be, is she hungry? Are you hissi or bottle feeding? I'm sure you've already tried feeding her, but at 4.5 months, she might be ready to start some solids during the day just to top her up. hissimilk/formula should be your babies main source of nutrition until she is 1 year old, but maybe you might want to try uping her day time feeds or introducing soilds if you haven't already (it is generally recomended that you only start of with 1-2 teaspoons of soild food at a time, after a feed, just so their little tummies can adjust - and expect some interesting nappies too!)

 

Anything else I can help you with, just gimme a yell, I know how hard it can be some times!

*Hugs*

 

It's definitely a little frustrating at times with all the guessing and not being sure whats wrong. She can roll over almost entirely on her own. She needs a little assistance still. She can't crawl yet, but I think she's trying to, whenever I burp her over my shoulder she inches her way up little by little and sometimes gets her waist in line with my chin. Don't panic, i'm leaning against pillows or the back of the sofa when she does that :) That makes sense that she could be fussy while she's trying to learn to roll over and crawl.

 

She definitely is teething right now, for a while we could see this little white nub under her gums. Currently its receded and is most likely working its way back up. We've been giving her teething drops and they help calm her down, but lately at bedtime she still fights going to sleep.

 

As for her feedings at night she gets 6-8oz bottle of formula. afterwards I'll try nursing her and she'll refuse so I know she's full and I'll keep trying every so often while she's still fussing. I've been giving her about 2-3tbsp of rice cereal every night then she gets her bottle. We're working on fruit right now, and so far she'll only eat banana.

 

The past 2 nights she's gone to sleep without any problems so hopefully she'll sleep well tonight.

 

I'll try a fan in our room tomorrow night once I find it in the attic and bring it down.

 

Well last night we had no problem getting her to sleep. I hope she was just going through a phase and won't struggle with us at bedtime. We also decided to change her formula over to Enfamil Gentalease which is supposed to help relieve gas and fussyness, so we're hoping the new switch will make a difference for her.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Holiday Mousey