I have a five month old son who wakes often during the night, about every 2 hours. When I go into him I just give him his binky and am not picking him up or even talking to him. He usually goes back to sleep after I give him his binky but he's fussy again in about 2 hours and I have to go in again and give him his binky. Then about 4 in the morning he is hungry and wants to eat, so I feed him then. I have tried feeding him when he crys the first time at night thinking he still might be hungry but no matter how often I feed him he still does it. During the day I have him on a good nap schedule so I am sure he is not over tired at night. I am having such a hard time with this because he is my third child and I have never had a baby who wakes like this at night. Any advice would be great because I really am exhauted and need some sleep.
Thanks you to everyone with the really great advice. I think this will be our plan of action...we are going to try and let him cry a little longer when he wakes at night to see if he can calm himself back down to sleep then if he still is crying after a litte bit I will go in and give him his pacifier. So I think we will let him try the cry a little method and see how that goes. I'll let you know if this works.
Hi, A.. I know what you mean about being exhausted. Though my 3-year-old still wakes up at least once every night if not more and needs to be comforted back to sleep.
If it helps, here is a great website with some ideas about nighttime and sleep for infants and babies:
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/index.html
I hope you can find some helpful info there.
Peaceful dreams eventually ;),
K.
Hi A.,
I don't have any advice for you but I can sympathize because I have an 8 month old who stopped sleeping through the night too. My baby makes crying noises but when we go into his room, his eyes are still shut & eventually he quiets down. I don't dare turn the monitor off in case he really needs me but it's annoying to keep getting up over & over plus you need energy the next day for your other 2 kids. I'm going to keep checking your post & see if anyone comes up with some good ideas that might help me too!
Good luck & hopefully good sleeping soon!!
T.
You don't say whether you are breast or bottle feeding, but if you are bottle feeding, have you considered trying rice cereal in his bottle? That can help produce a "fuller" feeling that allows a baby to sleep for longer periods. I use an organic brown rice cereal, a little more than 1 tablespoon for 4 oz. of formula. You will also need a faster nipple that allows the thicker formula to flow properly. Good luck!
Hi A.. :o) I'm a 43 year-old mother of three, as well. First of all, children are all different, just like no two adults are exactly alike. I know it's hard being awakened so often at night. My two girls would wake up often, and my son wouldn't. The very first night we had him home from the hospital, he slept until about 10:30 or so in the morning. Needless to say, it frightened me (he's my middle child), and I had to go check on him! I know with him, I was very tired; I had lost quite a bit of blood at his birth. So, when he woke up at night, it took me about ten minutes to get in to him, and by then, he had cried himself back to sleep. I do believe he is a heavier sleeper than my daughters, also. I hope this helps. Honey, you may just have a light sleeper. At your next dr.'s visit, ask your dr. for suggestions. Maybe, he will have something helpful to tell you. Take care.
If you have never read it please please please go get On Becoming Baby Wise. It is the best baby sleep refernce book and saved my sanity!!!
What happens if you just let him cry, I mean it may be hard on you the first night or two but more than likely he will go back to sleep on his own- right now he has you trained to get his binkie for him... One other idea is to push hubby out of bed and tell him to put the binkie back in... you already have to get up at 4 to feed him- put dad on binkie patrol?
Hope you get some sleep!!
I too have a five month old who wakes often in the night. Just last night I let him cry a bit at his first awakening around 11:00 after about 20 minutes he calmed down and fell back asleep until 4:00!! I was so excited because I hadn't slept from 11:30-4:00 for the longest time! It is very hard to let him cry it out, every mama urge in me says pick him up and nurse him back to sleep, But I stayed in my bed and he stopped. I'm going to try it again tonight. Good luck!
Baby whisperer saved my life with my 4 month old doing the same things. I could try to tell you about the technique here but it would take forever...The Baby Whiperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracy Hogg is the best of the ones that she has written. There is also a website babywhisperer.com and a forum that was wonderful too.
HTH (hope this helps)
It's possible this is a phase all babies seem to do this, especially when they were previously decent sleepers, try giving a little cereal at night, it didn't work w/ any of my kids but I know a lot of parents who had good results with it. Also try a little tylenol or ibuprophen before he goes to bed, it is possible that his little mouth is tender, maybe not full on teething but the beginning stages. Good luck I know how it feels to have lack of sleep.
he's 5 months old. He may not yet be ready to sleep all night. My "best" sleeper didn't sleep all night until he was 8months.
FYI Babywise methods have been linked to failure to thrive and death in infants, it is not recomended by the AAP.
However the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley is an excellent resource.
You must be exhausted! I know I am, but my little guys sleeps all night. I've read the book On Becoming Babywise. I used it with my 2nd and 3rd babies. They were both sleeping thru the night at 8 weeks, so at 5 months they can totally be sleeping all night. How long do you wait to go in and check on him when he wakes up? I know my son sometimes will kind of cry in his sleep, but he's not awake. You don't need to let him cry all night, but try holding off for longer and longer periods of time and maybe he'll start going back to sleep on his own without you having to give him the paci! Good luck and I hope & pray you'll get some needed sleep soon!
Also, I tried the rice cereal w/formula in the bottle with my first because it was recommended by some older family members, but it didn't help me at all. My daughter actually gagged on it, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Ask your doctor about acid reflux. One of the indications is waking and wanting to nurse as the acid is washed back down temporarily. A short term approach could be prescription Zantac or if you like the natural approach, probiotics and infant chiropractics. All of these things have helped my kids.
