[Emster]

Woobie's a little over 6 months old. this week he has been waking up after his usual 10pm feed/change. Where he used to sleep the rest of the night thru, now he is starting waking up at about 12:30 and every 1/2 hr to 45 minutes thereafter. I honestly think he's waking up and realizing he doesn't have his "rag" and he gets mad. I'll go in and try to soothe him, but he won't be soothed until I give him the rag. He'll then fall asleep and I can take it from him. I am totally feeding into this whole thing, I know, but I AM SLEEPY! I am afraid to leave his burp rag in there from fear of suffocation--he likes it by his face. What did you guys do? I am not a parent who lets baby "cry it out." I am a parent who loves her sleep! At what point are we able to stop worrying about things in the bed with baby?

[McNally720]

Hi Em--

What I remember is that we used a sleep sack all winter until she was moving around so much that she was uncomfortable--so at about 7months old we had a small blanket covering her bottom half at night. Sometime after that she started sleeping with an array of things, such as pillows and dolls. She's not too attached to any one thing, although she does like a good body pillow! (a regular sized pillow)

Maybe try it out at naptime--position his lovey so that he's not covering his mouth, and see how he does. Then you can see how it goes at night (compulsively checking as needed--but exhaustion will eventually kick in).

I would guess that at 6months he's moving enough to keep himself comfy and breathing.

Sweet Dreams!

[mrsdatabits]

I don't have a professional answer to your question, but I can tell you my experience. DD has always slept with a blanket since we brought her home, and most the time she prefers it to be up over her head! Even if I don't put it up near her head, she will pull it up there herself. Luckily, my MIL crocheted it, so there's enough openness to get air through.

Like the previous poster mentioned, try letting him sleep with it at naptime to reassure yourself how he does. Another thing to try to reassure yourself (and I do it with DD who is also 6 months as a playtime thing) is to take a rag/small cloth and put it over his face - like playing peek-a-boo. DD is able to pull it off most the time and loves this game.

It's also been my experience, both with DD's blankie and the rag we use to play peek-a-boo is that if it gets in a position that she can't get it off or doesn't want it, she'll start screaming/crying really insistently. She'll even start moving her head back and forth trying to get it off. I believe babies have this instinct to just move to keep themselves from suffocating.

So, I second the opinion of trying things out during naptime. You might be surprised!

[SchmennaLeigh]

6 months also poses another growth spurt time. Just something to keep in mind.

[Lilly's Mommy]

My short answer? Ditto on all the above.

Lilly took to a lovey at about 4 months or so. Hers is a little bear head with a small, very soft blankie attached. Both DH and I were freaked out about letting her sleep with it (especially when she started rolling over). Each of us, without knowing the other had done this, mashed the thing up and tried to breathe through it to see if we/she could. It was fine, but I was still worried! The first thing she does with it when we give it to her is to put it over her face. Sheesh! I've heard of other babies doing this too (over the face), so it must be fairly common.

Good luck!

[StorkWatcher]

We went through the same thing at about the same age, but he didn't want a lovey. He was just teething and growing! He would have several night spurts of it, then all would be well in the land of Nod again for a while... We are still going through this (Ummm - several nights last week! And a night terror last night, then up for a sweet baby cuddle at 4:15....)

I wouldn't be surprised if he is either teething or growing, and the rag just helps him soothe himself back to sleep....

Hopefully, it will be over soon (for a few weeks...)

Hang in there! I always feel now like these spurts of sleeplessness are MUCH worse than the good old nights of expected and often waking - I'm not as conditioned to it now!

[pechocha]

How funny Stock! That is happening to us as well! It has been like two weeks of constant waking up at night, at first because Sophie got an ear infection, but now, I don't really know. Last night, she woke up at 1:30 a.m. didn't go back to sleep until 4 a.m. and up again at 5:30 a.m. I need some SLEEP!!! Like you said this is worse than when they were newborns.
Isa

[StorkWatcher]

Sometimes I think these are all sympathy babies - maybe Baby A has a slight sympathy cold because his little friend Megan does (even though he hasn't had contact w/ her lately).

And either Sophie or he is having sympathy wakings!!

[Emster]

Well, here's what happened next. With your comments, I felt more comfortable putting the rag in the bed with him, and he is "cured". Not only is he not waking up every hour, but he has slept through his usual 10pm feed/change EVERY night since. Unbelieveable! In addition, I do agree that it has something to do with teething, because I think one of the bottom ones will be popping thru sometime really soon. Last night I noticed a little red spot on his bottom gum--it looked blood red, but wasn't bleeding if you know what i mean. I don't know how long it usually takes to pop thru after that, do you?

[StorkWatcher]

I never noticed any blood. Just one morning, suddenly, they were there! It's amazing!

And I am SO glad the rag worked. After last night getting up a few times (okay - he'll be one this week - what's the deal???), I think I'm going to try to put a lovey in with him tonight and see if that doesn't help him......

[katlyn]

I am glad that he's finally sleeping thru for you, I never had to worry about mine wanting anything in bed with them, but both my boys used to scare me to no end. They tell you to have them sleeping on their backs and as soon as mine could roll over they would sleep on their tummy, I would roll them over before I climbed into bed, just for my peace of mind . I knew that they would roll back over, but at least I knew they were on their backs when I went to bed. My daughter....well..don't laugh! She slept in a swing until she was 10 months old. We tried the family bed, but that just wasn't possible, we put her in the bassinet, and tried her bed, and she would cry until she made herself sick...so in the swing she went, with a hat on her head a one peice outfit with socks on her hands and feet and blankets covering everything but her face! We laugh about it now, but what a lifesaver it was! We had batteries lined up on her dresser ready to go should the swing wind down LOL, and we had a tape that had the background sound of a heartbeat with lullibies, which we'd have to turn over every 30 min.....running in to catch it before the button popped up....ooohhhh the good ol' days! But it sure did beat lack of sleep and having to change her and her bedding everytime we tried to let her cry it out, I'm like you I needed my sleep too!