Our dear daughter, now nearly 5 and a half months old, has been having a terrible time sleeping for the past little while.  She’s gone from sleeping a 5-7 hour stretch, to fighting to stay down for even two hours.  Desperate for a gentle way to get her to sleep, my husband and are reading the “No Cry Sleep Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley.  The first stage involved, of course, reading the book! As I was extremely eager for sleep, this stage did not take long – I made it my (second to baby) full time job.  My husband and I compiled a list of great tips from the book, and followed our new routine diligently for the first few days.

Something impressed upon us several times throughout the book was that if there is an underlying issue with your baby, it is not the time to start the “No Cry” program, or any other for that matter.  Until the baby’s issues are resolved, she’s just not going down without a fight.  This is something we have found out over this past week, as our dear child’s sleep has deteriorated even further.

After much research, it appears our poor little girl is both teething and suffering from separation anxiety.

Teething

While every baby is different, one of the signs your baby might be starting to cut a tooth will be irritability and a disrupted sleep pattern.  While the first teeth don’t typically emerge until about 6 or 7 months, the process (and pain!) can begin as early as 3 months.  And, once the first tooth has emerged you can expect a new one every 3-4 weeks.  So just when you thought you were getting your child into a particular sleep pattern, its going to be disrupted. Over and over and over again.  Some things you can do to assist your child include providing a teething toy (placed in the fridge, not the freezer!), a frozen wash cloth, or other toy that Baby can safely gum, a dose of children’s Tylenol if it appears she is in a great deal of pain, and lots of snuggles. I’ve also read that babies who are teething get comfort from sucking, so you might expect to be feeding more or providing a soother more often.

Separation Anxiety

You may have already noticed your child playing shy with strangers (our DD went through a phase of screaming bloody murder when in the presence of a new person!), but around five or six months your baby is starting to recognize herself as separate from you.  This, as you might imagine, is terrifying for them.  Now when you leave the room, she fears you may not return.  We noticed that our baby might be suffering from separation anxiety last night (well, its been going on for about two weeks but we identified it last night).  It started with her waking up nearly immediately when I put her to bed in her crib, or if she would sleep, she’d wake up every 20 minutes screaming in what can only be described as fear.  Last night, my husband came into her room to relieve me as I had been trying to get her to sleep for over an hour.  Normally when he picks her up she is all smiles, however last night she started hysterically crying immediately.  Needless to say, it was quite frustrating for him.  He began walking around her room, and everytime he would face her to me she would stop crying instantly.  I asked him to come a little closer, and she reached both arms out to me.  As soon as I took her, she began stroking my face and cooing.  When I gave her back to Dad, she would again start crying.  We immediately ran to our computers to research this, and it looks like she is indeed beginning her separation anxiety phase.

A few things we are trying with her are; not sneaking out of the room when we put her down.  We’re trying to always say “Hello” and “Goodbye”.  Leaving for a minute and then returning, so that she can trust we will always come back.  Snuggling her more during the day; last night I brought the trusty sling out of storage and it was the only thing that eventually got her to sleep. I’ve used it today for naps, and its working well so far – she’s taken two hour long naps and its just past noon!

So, until we can get a handle on the teething and separation anxiety, we will not be fighting her to sleep. Instead, we will be patient, comfort her in every way we know how, and I will continue to silently repeat my mommy mantra: “It won’t be like this for long”.