In the last few days Kaitlyn has been a pain in the butt at night. I know its because shes teething because she is irritable, excessively drooling and LOVES her teething toys right now. And as soon as I give her Tylenol and/or Orajel shes fine. But i've read that teething shouldnt irritate a babys sleep. She has been waking every every hour or two for the last few days. Shes never slept through the night but has never woken up this much. As soon as I give her a pacifier or feed her if its time she goes right back to sleep. The other night I didnt give her tylenol before bed so she woke up cranky at 10:30pm so I gave some to her and put her in bed with me and DH for half the night until she woke up at 2:30am wanting to play. The doc says she should be able to sleep through the night by now. I dont know if I should start ignoring her or what I should do but its getting out of control.

Any suggestions?? TIA

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 12:18 pm:

Follow your mommy instincts and do what you feel is right. Many babies aren't sleeping through the night at Kaitlyn's age. I would have to disagree about teething not disturbing sleep. LOL! It did for both of mine, that's for sure!

As far as the sleep issue, again, do your own research and take an approach that feels right for your family. Different families have different feelings and opinions about crying it out, attachment parenting, etc..

By Eve on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 12:50 pm:

That's a tough one! When DD turned 6 months old, I tried the Ferber method of letting her cry it out and it worked. The thing no one told me was that I would have to keep doing it whenever she needed it. I had a tough time with that! Now, my DD, almost 3 is in bed with us. We have never been able to get her completely out of our bed. It has been a mixed bag. It's wonderful, I love the time with her, but not having a lot of alone time is the bad part.

So, my advice would be what Trina said. Trust your instincts and do what feels right for you. I will tell you, it's easier to get it done now, than waiting until your DD is 3 like mine! LOL!

As far as teething and such. There will always be teeth coming in, or a cough, or a runny nose or something to keep you from letting her cry. I always seemed to find an excuse! LOL! Good luck, I hope it gets better!

Oh yeah, wanted to add that there are things you can do that are in between just letting her CIO and taking her to your bed. You can always get a chair and sit with her when she wakes up, but don't talk to her, but let her know you are there are she is safe. Maybe keep trying to lay her down. It's so tough, I know. For us, that area was the most difficult to deal with. Thus, we have a 3 year old in bed! LOL!

By Mommymindy on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 01:02 pm:

"They" also told me that teething doesn't cause a fever. I agree, just do what you feel is right. My daughter is 1 now & can comfort herself back to sleep on her own (rocking herself now-lol). My other 2 never slept in my bed when they were little but now (they are 3 & 4), they're in our bed about 4am every single morning!

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 02:38 pm:

Our kids haven't ever even asked to be in our bed. I guess I'm glad for that. LOL It's just never been one of our options for them.

We did the CIO thing between 6 and 8 months. The only time we would not do the CIO thing is if the baby was sick. Then, we would be right there with them to comfort them.

I know it's tough. They look so sad when they cry. Like Trina said, trust your mommy instincts In twenty years, Kaitlyn will be asking you what the heck is she supposed to do with *her* baby that is keeping her up all night ;)

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 06:46 pm:

Only trouble with crying it out, is one time, Sarah had tried to slide out of her crib on her tummy, just like she got off our bed. She was stuck with her legs sticking out of her crib. Another time, she had thrown up. She was older at those times, though.

By Insaneusmcwife on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 07:10 pm:

Have you tried the teething tablets?

By Momsmyteacher on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 09:56 pm:

I was never able to ignore my children when they were crying in bed. I would watch them for about five minutes from the door and then would go pat their backs or bottoms till they fell asleep.
I never allowed my firstborn in our bed. I'd heard it was not a good thing to do as they would stay in that mode and getting them out again was not an easy thing.
Welll.. Hubby convinced me to let the second chld come in at night when he woke up and therefore I could just go back to sleep. That sounded great to me so we let him come in because I was tired of fighting DH over it and just plain tired. Well ok that was four years ago! Guess what? Now they both get in our bed!
Okay now i'm thinking I'm going to post ann on this one!
Well my reason for writing this was to tell you if you value your alone time with your man, put that baby back in it's bed! I put in many hours with my first, standing there half asleep patting her back while she laughed at me. But I always had my bed to myself. Now it has been wonderful cuddling and being close to my kids this way and it's a great time to just be together without all of the stresses of the day miring you down or making you snap, but you know .. when you want to be with DH, just try putting them in their rooms!!! Spend the night next to their crib falling asleep if you have to, in the long run it's worth it! I love my cuddlies but I love my hubby too!!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 10:46 pm:

My kids were only part-timers in our beds. Thunderstorms, anxiety about a new school year coming up, bad dreams. Never all night. Both had their turn at seeming to come at a certain time in the night. One summer, older one spent the summer sleeping in our room in a sleeping bag on the floor. She was totally freaked by thunderstorms and wanted to be close by if one happened. She was 3 going on 4 (August birthday). She was allowed in our bed during actual storms, otherwise she slept on the floor. We didn't have air conditioning in that rental, so it would have been too hot to have her their all the time. In the fall, she went back to her room and she never needed that again.

By Boxzgrl on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 10:11 am:

Well, Kaitlyn has never really slept in the bed. She did until she was about 2 1/2 months old and had no problem being in her crib. But I was too tired to stay up with her the other night because DH and I had just driven back from Vegas (Grandma was watching Kaitlyn) so that was her first time in my bed since she was 2 1/2 months old. Most of the time I have the mommy instict to let her cry but then I just lay in bed and think of all the things that could be wrong with her until it drives me crazy enough to get up. She seemed to do better last night so we'll see how the future goes.

Kristie- I havn't tried the teething tablets but with the Tylenol/Orajel combo she seems to do fine.

By Mommyathome on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 12:01 pm:

Here's a suggestion our doctor gave us with our first regarding the CIO method:
Get the baby ready for bed, create a nighttime routine. Put the baby in the bed, say goodnight. After she falls asleep, if she wakes up crying, go to her door and tell her *it's ok, mommy's right here, go to sleep*. This reassures her that she's not alone, plus gives mom or dad a chance to peek at her and see that she isn't entangled in the crib bars etc. If she keeps crying, wait 10 minutes and go back again and do the same thing. If she keeps crying, wait another 10 minutes and do the same thing again. IF she still doesn't stop, wait it out for 15-20 minutes and go back again. Continue this until she's asleep.

This way, she learns that she's not alone, that mommy loves her and that it's bedtime. She also will learn that just because she cries and cries doesn't mean she's getting out of that bed!

We did this with all of our kids. It took our first (she was our guinea pig, so to speak LOL) about 3 nights to figure things out. Before we started this CIO routine, she was awake 4-5 times a night and she was over 6 months old. She's slept all night every night since then!

By Boxzgrl on Friday, November 21, 2003 - 03:57 pm:

That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try it. But did you ever wonder if she was hungry in the middle of the night? How do I know she can go the whole night without the bottle?