Help! Baby Waking Himself at Night

Long Road 8378

Hi there

My baby is 6 months old. He is a great night sleeper and has always done his 12 hours. Until the last couple of weeks.

He has started waking himself at night. He keeps turning in the cot while asleep and getting his head/arms stuck in the cot bars. This is the only thing waking him. We have put him in a Grobag which has means that he once turned 180 degrees and now only turns 90 degrees. :eek: But it's still not enough. Any ideas on what we can do? It happened 3 times last night and the only solution in the end was to bring him in bed with us as we were so exhausted. He still turns during his day naps but as they are only 1 hour long they don't really affect him. We have tried 'straightening' him out while he is asleep before we go to bed. I have a cot bumper but it's not doing any good.

Thanks all.

dublinlady

My girl the same at almost 5 months - but has never slept 12 hrs!!! I'm v v v jealous!!!!!

She tosses and turns etc in her grobag but not much we can do!
U mentioned u had a bumper - when I was in mothercare the girl told me not to use one as they can be a hazard if they moving like that - they can get caught in it and can actually cause more problems!!
My girls hands go in between the bars of fit but doesn't seem to bother her but gap is small between them so her head would never ever get caught!!!!!!!! Her legs don't get caught due to grobag.

How Strange

We had a bumper on our sons cot until I went in to his room one morning to find his head caught between the bumpers and the bars. That was the last time we used a bumper.

I think the constant moving is because they process all the things that happened that day while they're asleep. It sounds normal enough to me anyway. My son still goes it at 17 months.

We moved him into his own room at 6 months because we were all keeping each other awake at night.

How Strange

By the way, there's a huge developmental leap during the 6th months so their little brains are working overtime.

Look up the wonder weeks website or iPhone app. It's reassuring to know that sudden disrupted sleep patterns and crankiness is normal.

dahamsta

My fella crawls in his sleep and ends up across the top of the cot. We move him if he's stuck and truly upset, but most of the time he sorts himself out in a minute or two. Big ups for the webcam for this, rarely even have to get out of bed.

Hannibal Smith

We got a bumper for the cot...some one on here recommended it. It fastens with velcro so no strings...its made like a cellular blanket so no suffocation...will try and get a link

http://www.littledreamers.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=132_133&products_id=1745&zenid=a56739653600ec59be622fa8b0e9975c

^^^ that's it. Dahamsta our guy does exactly the same

pwurple

We have a velcro bumper as well that fits beneath the cot mattress, so no way of baby getting stuck under it. It is a grobag brand one.

Six weeks is very early for it though. I would try swaddling first.

dahamsta

6 months.

admiralofthefleet

our boy (8 and a half months) has been moving constantly around in his cot at night time for a while now. it been worrying as he has knocked his head off the bars and the ends.
we were thinking of a bumper but reading here has put me off. tbh the rolling isnt worrying but banging his head is, any ideas to stop it

thanks folks

dahamsta

We have an IKEA bumper in ours, it's fine once you use the head when installing it.

How Strange

We had an ikea bumper. HIS head was caught between the bumper and the bars and he was stuck. I don't want to think of what might have been if it had happened in the middle of the night instead of 6am.

dahamsta

If it's attached correctly, that shouldn't be possible.

How Strange

If that's what you choose to believe then off you go.

http://safedreams.co.uk/safety.php

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/11/cot-bumper-pads--are-they-a-risk-270203/

dahamsta

I read the literature before buying and made my decision. I haven't had an issue.

pwurple

How Strange wrote: »

If that's what you choose to believe then off you go.

http://safedreams.co.uk/safety.php

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/11/cot-bumper-pads--are-they-a-risk-270203/

There are serious risks with bumpers. Head being trapped, suffocation and strings. This is why we went for the grobag one. No strings, and I can't see a way for the head to be trapped anywhere. It only goes over the top section, so airflow is ok. Not 100% safe, but better than others I have seen on the market anyway. And it mostly stopped her bumping her head in the night and waking up. http://www.gro.co.uk/Grobag-Nursery-Jolly-Day-Out/Jolly-Day-Out-Bumper.html

How Strange

I didn't know much about bumpers when we were buying our cot but if I were buying them again because they are good for preventing them sticking their legs and arms through the bars then I'd get those breathable ones.

Our fella manages to move the cot some nights with all his tossing and turning. He whacks himself and the cot off the wall but it doesn't bother him or wake him up.

Hannibal Smith

I didn't know about the bumpers when I got my one, that was 3 years ago. I got it in Ikea. Since then I found out about the dangers and took it off for the second lad. There were never any incidents of the older one getting tangled or anything, but they were no longer recommended so I wasn't willing to take the chance.

This new one is excellent, it doesn't come up over the mattress, it hasn't moved since I put it on, it's not particularly padded so it doesn't protect against head bumping. The only reason I got it was because the baby wasn't settling too well in the cot and as a last step I bought it and it worked.

If you don't want to use a bumper Admiral of the Fleet you could try rolled up cellular blankets either side of the cot? Though if your little one is anything like ours, you'll walk in one morning and find him eating the very thing that's supposed to be protecting him

nicowa

http://www.tllc.com.au/airwrap/

I haven't got one myself though I'm considering it. My own little one is the same. She turns all night and wakes occasionally cos she's got her legs stuck. This is just a lining - breathable - to stop that. Hope something helps.

dahamsta

For the record, there's no scientific consensus on bumpers. Some recommend against, some don't; generally the recommendations against stem from cot death / SIDS being such an unknown; erring on the side of caution. Most scientific evidence relates to badly-designed, or more often badly-fitted bumpers. (Scientific is not the same as the bumph on the website of someone selling an alternative. Of which there is a /lot/.)

I made an informed decision, after a lot of research, at a certain stage of my lad's development, because he was battering his head off the bars in his sleep, and I'd prefer that not happen. If someone would like to provide systematically-reviewed scientific evidence that /correctly-fitted/ bumpers are a risk o my lad, please do so and I'll have them off in a shot.

I might add that I did that research /before/ I purchased the bumper. That's generally the best time to do it. A quick google after the fact to prove a point is Doing It Wrong.

Paparazzo

dahamsta wrote: »

We have an IKEA bumper in ours, it's fine once you use the head when installing it.

I have an Ikea one too, this one.
Didn't know babies can get tangled in it, but honestly don't think it's possible if you install it right. By tucking it down the side of the mattress.
Very handy so the baba won't bang his head, and his toys or soother won't fall on the floor.

Hannibal Smith

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=75000271

I read this thread after my first son was born, took the bumper off and binned it.

dahamsta

The AAP is the source that's credited for every negative piece I've seen. I've never seen another scientific source.

Hannibal Smith

dahamsta wrote: »

The AAP is the source that's credited for every negative piece I've seen. I've never seen another scientific source.

What research did you find that convinced you they were safe?

dahamsta

At this stage, I have no idea. I do remember seeing that single study cited in every negative piece through.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and their decisions. They're not entitled to criticise mine, however, when they don't do their own due diligence until /after/ they've had an incident. If picking the first two negative results from google can be considered due diligence....

Hannibal Smith

dahamsta wrote: »

At this stage, I have no idea. I do remember seeing that single study cited in every negative piece through.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and their decisions. They're not entitled to criticise mine, however, when they don't do their own due diligence until /after/ they've had an incident. If picking the first two negative results from google can be considered due diligence....

You don't remember where you got the information promoting bumpers, but the negative one stayed in your head? Why did you act on the positive one and not the negative one then? If you read the Guidelines before you bought then you read that bumpers could possibly not only cause death from entanglement but death from re-breathable air and from breathing up against the bumper, right?

I'm not criticising your decision btw, but you're saying people didn't exercise due diligence until after an incident and are doubting that internet findings can be considered due diligence. But you knew the risks and decided to go ahead with the bumper, so what makes your actions more diligent than any one elses?

dahamsta

I thought I made it pretty clear in my last post: I remember the negatives because they /all/ cited that single study. That stuck out at the time. I don't remember the positives because they were more general. They didn't cite studies, because there aren't any, or at least I didn't see any. That doesn't make the negative study right though, that's not how science works.

As I stated in another post, there is no scientific consensus for the risks you highlighted. If you know of a systematic review that supports the findings of the US research - which I seem to remember was based on stats with little or no regard for product/fitting issues - then please post it.

I'm not saying those risks don't exist. I do think that a single study isn't enough evidence; I do think that it wasn't a great study and it's over-cited by many trying to sell alternatives; and I do think that in this and other matters to do with safety, particularly with regard to children and babies, operator error plays a ridiculously large part. As us nerds say, the problem all too often lies between the chair and the keyboard.

That's why disposable coffee cups and apple pie containers say that Contents May Be Hot, our PS3s warn a tiny percentage of the population about something they should know already, and we have no less than 3 different peanut allergy warnings on foods these days, again for the benefit of a tiny cohort.

But sure what we do without the Health & Safety brigade?

Hannibal Smith

You've completely side stepped every question I asked. You've intimated that others haven't used due diligence when buying a product, and that you did. You've suggested that removing the product from the bedroom after an event isn't diligent enough, neither is finding information on a website, you've also suggested that if the bumper is tied correctly there shouldn't be any risk.

I've shown you a link, not from a consumer website, but from a news website reporting that a medical group of pediatricians in the US had issued guidelines on cot bumpers as a result of various studies done, one of which was 2005 and another of which was 2007. I've also shown you that some of the concerns were not related to how the bumper was installed, but from re-breathable air.

And after all the research you did the 12 euro IKEA bumper came out the best? Lol

When I bought my first bumper, it was from IKEA BTW, I had no idea of the risks. When I found out, I took it off straight away. When I felt I needed a second one, I was recommended a new design on here, went and did the research and found the best on on the market for me, which is mesh and has no ties. That was even after discovering that the FIDS in the UK had removed their advice that they were bad and replaced it with advice that they were unnecessary. I evaluated that with the AAP guidelines and thought prudent to err on the side of caution and find a bumper that was between the two advices.

How Strange caught her son tangled in it, so took it off. What was she supposed to do? Try again and see what happens? If any of us found our child tangled in something it would be reckless not to remove it.

I am sure any of us would jump on whatever brigade we can to keep our little ones safe.

dahamsta

I haven't sidestepped anything, and I'm not going to repeat myself again.