11 Month Old Not Sleeping Throw the Night, What Should I Do?!?!

She might be hungry again. Maybe she is going or just wants more breast-milk. Like SH ask are you still making as much as you were before, breast-milk I mean? I pumped and realized I hardly had any breast-milk that is why my son was doing this. Could she have gas or reflex? She is still a baby and needs to be fed on demand. I know about the tired feelings it is so hard. This stage will pass and you will get more sleep. I thought I would fall asleep standing up I was so tired. I would sleep when ever she slept. I would put food in the crock-pot and that was one less worry. I know you said to play, but I was thinking maybe she was still hungry. She needs her mom now. The more you meet her needs now the more secure she will be later.
Sue

My baby is 2 weeks away from his 1st birthday and I still breastfeed him. Nights used to be aweful up until mid-april. He used to get up 5-6 times a night and I was exhausted and frustrated. I don't believe in the cry-it-out method for me.

I almost hired a sleep trainer, when someone suggested I get a sound machine. Also to put an item of comfort in his crib with him when he goes to sleep. The combination of both have been a lifesaver!!! I turn up the volume of the sound machine fairly loud and leave it on all night long. He still gets up 1 (sometimes 2) times a night to nurse but that's it. I'm totally fine with that!!!

You might try a sound machine. Well worth the money.

Good luck!

My baby is 13 months old today. he still wakes up 1x a night to nurse. He started sleeping in his own bed at 5 months of age. I don't really mind nursing him because he goes right back to sleep. I know you probably have heard this a bunch of times, but I started givinghim about 4 good sized bites of rice cereal mixed with yogurt before bed and it has helped him stay sleepy longer.

I would try the cry it out method. It is really hard to do, but I got to the point where I had to do it, in order for us to all get sleep and this we at 6 months. He now always sleeps through the night, except when teething or is sick.
I think the nursing in the middle of the night is not making it any better, since she is now getting into the habit of waking up to nurse. By 4 months or 15 pounds they should be able to get through the night without eating...what the dr told me. You will need to do what is right for you, but everyone will be healthier and happier ( especially your husband) when she is in her own crib and sleeping through the night. Good luck!

My daughter was waking up for that midnight feed long after she needed it. If you are afraid she is waking up because she is hungry, try giving her a healthy snack like yogurt as a 'midnight' snack before you nurse her to sleep. Having her sleep in her own bed could teach her that 1am is not the time for play.

When my daughter was about six months old, one night I just didn't get up when she woke up at midnight as usual. I was afraid it had become a habit for her and didn't want her to be waking up at midnight every night as a small child. ("I need a drink of water", "I can't sleep", etc.) When I didn't get her she did cry, but we let her cry it out and she soon fell back to sleep. I will say that she fussed in her sleep the rest of the night and none of us got any rest that night, but the next night she only fussed a bit and went back to sleep at midnight. She realized it wasn't time to get up.

Something else that might help, if your daughter truly is waking up to play at 1am is to put a couple small toys in her bed after she goes to sleep. If she wakes up at 1am and wants to play, don't go in her room but allow her to play with the toys, even calling into her room that it's not time to get up and she can play with her toys. This tactic worked for my mother when my little sister started waking in the middle of the night to play when she was a toddler. She learned to entertain herself for half an hour then she would fall back to sleep.

Be careful of nursing her to sleep. If you have always done co-sleeping and nursed her to sleep, it will not be easy, but you need to 'sleep train' her as soon as you can if you don't want her in your bed as a toddler. When you put her in her bed, make sure that she at least opens her eyes for a moment so that if she wakes in the night she will know where she is. If she wakes up and is upset. Don't pick her right up, pat her bottom and shush her instead. It may take some practice, but if you don't teach her she will not learn now to sleep in her own bed and you will be co-sleeping longer than it looks like you are comfortable with.

Good luck Mama! I hope this helps!

Hugs and happy thoughts :-)

S. M

Stork's Best Friend
www.storksbestfriend.com

Hi E.,
I was in the same situation you were in. My daughter slept in a bassinet until she was around 3 months old, and then we moved her into a crib. I started bringing her into bed after her 3 am feeding, and we'd all fall back to sleep until we woke up for the day around 6:30 or 7 am. I don't sleep very well with my daughter in bed with us, so I was exhausted. At around six months old, she slept through the night in her crib for six nights in a row, and I thought she was done with night wakings. However, I was so insecure about my milk supply (I had some issues at the beginning) that when she resumed night wakings on night 7 I kept thinking she was hungry or something else and so I continued the night feedings. Luckily, my daughter usually only woke me up once during the night. At 9 months, my husband said "That's it, we have to let her cry it out." She cried for 15-20 minutes the first night, 5 minutes the second, and for about 5 seconds the third night. After that, she slept through the night except when she's been sick or teething.

You have to do what feels right for you. If you're not comfortable letting her cry it out, try Elizabeth Pantley's "no cry sleep solution". There will be much less crying, but it will take a lot longer. Letting your daughter learn how to put herself to sleep, and stay asleep, so that she gets the rest SHE NEEDS is the best gift you can give her. Personally, I believe that after a certain age, they learn that they get the company of mom and dad when they cry, and they learn how to manipulate the situation. I still nurse her to sleep for her naps, because when I've tried to get her to nap in her crib she cries for half an hour, sleeps for only half an hour, and then wakes up screaming again and is still tired (she'll go back to sleep in my arms if I nurse her). During the week, my sitter puts her in a pack & play, turns on the radio, and closes the door. She'll fall asleep on her own and sleep in there for 2 hours. She's learned how to manipulate me so that I do what she wants.

My child is going to cry sometimes - when she falls and gets hurt, when she doesn't get what she wants. I think it's unreasonable to expect that your child is never going to cry. As long as her needs are met, there's nothing wrong with a little crying (I'm not saying I'd let her cry for hours on end - I couldn't take that either). Those 15 minutes about broke my heart when we did it, but my daughter is fine now and regularly sleeps through the night from 8 pm until 6:15 am. She's into a severe Mommy attachment stage right now, and last night she woke me up at 1:30. I nursed her for a few minutes, then put her back in her crib, and she slept through until 6 am. If you're going to let her cry, do it now before she's old enough to remember it. I read a quote once that really stuck with me - "anything that's hard to do now is going to be harder to do the longer you wait to do it."

I highly recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I know two people who used that book and have great sleepers (12+ hours at night, plus 2-3 hour naps, but they also started sleep training much earlier than I did). Be forewarned that he advocates crying it out, either with timed intervals like the Ferber method or with "extinction" (crying it out with no periodic check-ins). With my daughter, we found that checking on her but not picking her up only made her madder, so we don't go in at the timed intervals. What I really liked about the book is that he gives recommended sleeping patterns for each age group. When I read the book, I realized that my daughter had somewhat fallen into those patterns on her own, but I was just too nervous and unsure of myself to recognize her patterns.

Good luck to you with whatever you decide to do.

E.,

First let me say that I am strongly against the cry it out method. I think it breaks your babies trust with you and makes everyone in the house sad. I'm not saying that I never let my son cry, but you can't rely on that "method".

There are better ideas out there that work if you stick with it. I haven't seen anyone mention the "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" books. I used these books from the first day I brought my son home and it has worked great! I don't follow EVERYTHING the book says, but I use what works for my family.

All kids change the way they sleep... just like us. Growth spurts, diet, illness, etc will all affect the way kids sleep. My (also breastfed) son didn't sleep through the night until he was about 8 months old, then that stopped a few months later. Then he was sleeping through again at 12 months, then stopped again. Then he consistantly slept through around 14 months. He is now almost 3 and MOST nights he'll sleep all night. But when he's sick or scared by something he'll need us.

You can get what you want out of family life. Keep trying until things work the way you want them to.

I hope all of this helps! Good luck!
~A.

Here is a link about it:
http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/html/night_waking.shtml

Its a phase. A baby CONSTANTLY changes.
It is NOT a "rule" that a baby HAS TO sleep through the night at this age... that is mostly an adult "expectation." Not a baby's.

BOTH my kids did that too... at certain age junctures. It passes.
This is what a baby does.

I co-slept and nursed too.
According to our Pediatrician... a baby must be fed ON demand, for the 1st year of life.... breastmilk/Formula is their PRIMARY source of nutrition, NOT solids, NOT other liquids.

Your baby will be hitting a growth-spurt and major developmental change, at 12 months old. She MAY most likely be hitting the growth spurt already, and needs more intake. Are you still producing enough milk?

For us, we have a floor futon on the floor of our bedroom, THIS is where I co-sleep with my kids if need be, or when they were babies. Once they fall asleep, you can get up and do what you want and/or go back to your own bed.
Yes, some babies need their own space to sleep in because they need to stretch out. Try it.

Your baby is NORMAL... keep in mind, that there will be LOTS more sleep phases/difficulties/quirks along the way, STILL. She is just a baby.... this is only the beginning.

All the best,
Susan