Our baby was such a good sleeper until last week.
She slept through the night at 3 months, and more of less kept to that until she was 5 months. Maybe once a week she'd wake up for a night feeding and fall back asleep. The rest of the time, she slept for 7-9 hours straight, and in her own bed, a bassinet in our room.
Suddenly, last week -- just a few days before I went back to work -- she refused to sleep unless I was holding her. She screamed and screamed and screamed. At first, I thought it was something else, like teething or gas. But I've ruled those out -- as she stops crying the SECOND I pick her up. Plus, she's shown no signs of pain or discomfort during the day.
Usually, she gets a last feeding at around 10pm, and gets really sleepy in my lap. I then carry and rock her a bit, but it only takes a few minutes. Then I put her in bed -- sometimes she's already asleep, sometimes she's almost asleep and I "hush and pat" her.
Why this worked for two months -- and then suddenly stopped working -- I don't know.
For two nights, I did hush / pat, and then "pick up put down" to no avail. The second she hit the bed, she screamed and screamed and got herself so worked up that nothing would calm her except getting picked up again.
The worst thing is that , around 3 am, I give up. After all, my husband and I both have to get to work the next morning, and we have no amah at night. So I bring her into bed with me, and she sleeps beautifully.
The only problem is that I don't want to make a habit of co-sleeping, or getting her dependent on only sleeping when she's rocked in my arms.
What do I do?
I thought about hiring a night nanny to help us do sleep training, but I think they have to be booked far in advance.
She slept through the night at 3 months, and more of less kept to that until she was 5 months. Maybe once a week she'd wake up for a night feeding and fall back asleep. The rest of the time, she slept for 7-9 hours straight, and in her own bed, a bassinet in our room.
Suddenly, last week -- just a few days before I went back to work -- she refused to sleep unless I was holding her. She screamed and screamed and screamed. At first, I thought it was something else, like teething or gas. But I've ruled those out -- as she stops crying the SECOND I pick her up. Plus, she's shown no signs of pain or discomfort during the day.
Usually, she gets a last feeding at around 10pm, and gets really sleepy in my lap. I then carry and rock her a bit, but it only takes a few minutes. Then I put her in bed -- sometimes she's already asleep, sometimes she's almost asleep and I "hush and pat" her.
Why this worked for two months -- and then suddenly stopped working -- I don't know.
For two nights, I did hush / pat, and then "pick up put down" to no avail. The second she hit the bed, she screamed and screamed and got herself so worked up that nothing would calm her except getting picked up again.
The worst thing is that , around 3 am, I give up. After all, my husband and I both have to get to work the next morning, and we have no amah at night. So I bring her into bed with me, and she sleeps beautifully.
The only problem is that I don't want to make a habit of co-sleeping, or getting her dependent on only sleeping when she's rocked in my arms.
What do I do?
I thought about hiring a night nanny to help us do sleep training, but I think they have to be booked far in advance.