Hi mamas!
My baby girl (5 months old) is having trouble falling asleep at night and will nurse 3 or 4 times in a 2 hour period before really being "asleep" for good. It surprises me, it's frustrating, it's adorable, it's endearing, and it's infuriating. The hardest part is that my 4 year old waits, sometimes patiently and sometimes not, for me to be done with her to get his bedtime routine attended to. Sometimes I finally finish with her only to find him passed out already.
I can't start him any earlier, and she doesn't tolerate me putting her routine off until later. She is genuinely tired at 7 or 7:30, but doesn't actually knock out for the night until 9 - 9:30, sometimes 10.
When it first started I thought it was just a passing thing or a growth spurt but it's been 6 weeks? 8 weeks? More? I can't remember anymore, it's been a really long time now.
She also wakes up 2-3 times in the night to nurse, which I also thought was a growth spurt, but it has continued long beyond her actually sprouting. Previously she was consistently sleeping a 6 hour stretch.
These are two separate issues that I'm not sure how to handle. Are they normal? I've been trying to be relaxed about them, should I be? Should I be trying to establish a better nighttime routine with her? How? (I've tried baths before bed and it doesn't seem to make a difference) I'm starting to become seriously sleep deprived and crabby...
I read someone say teething can cause an increase in night feelings. She has two teeth already - could that be part of it? She seems to have been teething since birth, got both teeth at 4 months.
Thanks, all.![]()