This is very non-scientific, but I thought I’d share. My one and half year old daughter has not been sleeping well for months. I thought it was stress at first (my husband lost his job and was out of work for some time) that she was picking up on, but it seemed to be getting worse. She went from sleeping 10-12 hours a night (with a 1 hour nap) to waking up every 4-6 hours and not napping at all.
And no, I don’t want advice. I’ve heard it all. I’ve tried it all and I’m pretty tired of hearing how I’m somehow doing something wrong. I tried everything in the book. Nothing worked. Her doctor wasn’t concerned, but then he’s pretty calm about everything. (And he wasn’t the one getting up with her.) Finally, this week, my grandmother suggested she might have a milk allergy. Not lactose intolerant, but allergic to milk. Curly Haired Baby has had a chronic runny nose and a slight cough (at night, when she drank milk), too, but I just dismissed it as general allergies since she was playing fine and not running a fever.
So, on a whim, I switched her to soy milk. I read if she truly had an allergy it would take up to 2 weeks to work. This week, her nose hasn’t been runny for the first time in months, she’s not coughing, and she’s sleeping better. Not great, but a lot better. This may be coincidence, but I’m sticking it out for two weeks.
Stick it out – it’s worth a try.
When my dd was 6 months old, the doctor was quite sure babies wouldn’t be reacting to the milk their mother was drinking.
Turned out she was wrong.