How old is my son?  5 months, right?   Wait, let me check the calendar.  Let’s see…born on September 28th, 2011.  October, November, December, January, February…that’s it, 5 full months.   So, why has his sleep pattern transgressed back to that of a 2 week old?

For the past week, Davey has been waking up at night, not just once, but multiple times.  Some nights, I will go into his room only to find that he’s lost his pacifier, but his eyes are still closed.   Quickly, I locate the rogue binky, stick it back in his mouth and watch as he drifts back off into dreamland.   Other nights, he’s wide awake after only 3 hours of sleep.   When I pick him up to attempt to lull him back into a state of slumber, he starts rooting around as if he’s hungry.   After a midnight feeding, I’ll put him back to bed only to have him wake back up AGAIN a few hours later!   What is going on with my child?

As with everything in life, if I can’t control what’s going on I start to fret about what the causes are for the changes, the ramifications, and what I can do to remedy the situation, which means I’m perusing the internet, asking other people who’ve been in my situation, or even reading books that I’ve checked out from the library.   Something, somewhere has to offer an answer, a reason, a resolve to the situation.  This morning my mind has wandered to the fact that I’m a stay at home mom as the cause for his restless nights.

Looking back on things, Davey seemed to sleep better at night when I was working during the day and he was going to daycare.  Is this just an adjustment or am I coddling him too much during the day?   Have I disrupted his sleep pattern by being a SAHM?   And all this time I thought I was helping him and me, not to mention the dynamics of our entire family by being a SAHM.

So, let’s say it’s not me being a SAHM, what about if it’s the fact that we’ve decided to no longer give him formula before bed?  I breastfeed my son, but we found that in the beginning he slept better at night when we fed him formula instead.   It seems to be thicker and heavier giving him the sense of feeling full.   Perhaps that’s it and tonight my husband and I should go back to formula as opposed to our stash of breast milk we have saved in the freezer.

Then there’s the fact that he has been sick a lot lately, mostly with croup and ear infections.  Either way, both of these kept his sleep cycle disrupted for almost two weeks.  We had to make adjustments to his bed, when and what he was fed (substituting Pedialyte to help break up the mucus) and antibiotics to get rid of the infections.  I suppose he could still have the lingering after effects of those.

And finally, my sister-in-law has informed me that he could just be going through a growth spurt.   Denise has quickly become my “go-to” living handbook where Davey is concerned.   She is a pediatric nurse and has worked in emergency rooms, with new mothers, with teenage mothers, and children who’ve had pretty much every ailment known possible.   I would be lost without her and I honestly think my pediatrician would fire me if I didn’t have Denise.   Anyways, Denise has told me that babies go through growth spurts, times when they eat more, may sleep more or less, become more active, and a bit more needy.   Is this the case?   I don’t know.  All I know is that I find myself saying a prayer every night to God that he let us all, my husband included, get a full night’s sleep.

One little thing to share with all of you, I follow Parenting.com on Twitter and last night they posted an awesome tweet that can be found on their website with tips to help your baby get a good night’s sleep.   It’s titled:  26 Baby Sleep Solutions.  I may try out a few of these tips tonight.   If you’re experiencing the same problems as I am, then continue reading my blog, as I’ll post more solutions and even take a few moments to read Parenting’s article:  http://www.parenting.com/gallery/baby-sleep-solutions?src=soc&dom=tw

Good luck to all of you other moms who are in the same boat as me.  Here’s hoping the Sandman visits us all real soon!