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The mysteries of a five-month old's sleeping patterns
My son Lucas Emilio has been a champion sleeper until now.
As a newborn, he slept in three and four hour stretches overnight. As he has grown, he has given his mommy and daddy (admittedly, mostly mommy) stretches of up to six hours straight.
We have been overjoyed with how well Lucas has slept, especially since my three-year-old daughter, Ana Isabel, never slept for more than two hours it seemed for the first six months of her young life.
But now, Lucas has taken a turn and has started waking every two hours. And that's driving my wife and I a bit crazy.
We can't figure it out. We're almost to the point where we will let him cry it out. We did that with Ana. It was hard. But it worked.
We're perplexed as to why my son would seem to be regressing with his sleeping patterns.
Any idea on why this may be happening or suggestions?
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Comments
I was told by my grandmother when this happened with all 4 of my children that this decreased sleep and increased fussiness was usually an indication of a growth spurt. I took from this that my children were probably more hungry than usual and were waking more often to be fed. After a week or so of increased feedings they settled back into a more normal routine. Don't know that this is true for all, but it did seem to be the case for me. Good luck!
Posted by: caroline | September 25, 2008 11:02 AM
A change in sleeping pattern is usually due to hunger at that age. I remember when this happened with our first born. I fed her as usual and put her to sleep. She awoke instantly crying. I rocked her, soothed her, put her down to let her settle herself down to sleep. But to no avail. I tried burping her again, I checked for fever, for teething, for gas, but found no reason for her upset. We were upset. I paced the floor, felt so helpless. Finally, I took her from her crib, and gave her more bottle. She settled down and after a couple of ounces, fell asleep. It was that simple. She was hungry. When I told my mother-in-law, she said she had the same with my husband and she had called the doctor. His suggestion was to first try to feed him more. She did and it worked.
Posted by: Nana | September 28, 2008 2:17 PM