Sleep Advice - New Hyde Park, NY

I bet he's just hungry, are you giving him a bottle when he wakes up? My son was still waking up at that time to bed fed. He's still too young to go all night without food. My son woke up for nighttime feedings around 1 a.m. until he was 4 months old. Good luck! Lynsey

He is probably hungry, they can't go so long without food yet at that age. He is probably too young for this but - I don't remember what age we started giving my son cereal in his bottle, I think around 4-5 months? That definitely helped him sleep through the night. (Although it is recommended that you do not put cereal in the bottle - I asked my doctor why that was and she said the only reason was that it made it more difficult to teach them to spoon feed if they have food in a bottle. So I made the decision to do nighttime cereal bottles. He spoon-fed just fine.)
Another thing you can do is wake him just before you go to bed and change & feed him. As he gets older you can stop changing him and cut down the amount you feed him until you quit the nighttime feeding. You could cut out the nighttime feeding at the same time you introduce cereal bottles, if you choose to do that. It would be more convenient for you to wake him before you go to sleep bed instead of him waking you in the middle of the night.
At 2 months my son was "sleeping through the night" from 11PM to 6AM, but he usually slept from 7PM to 10PM and then woke up for his final meal & change before bed.

Hope some of that helps. Good luck

Please DON'T listen to the person who mentioned the Babywise book. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a warning about this book back in the 90's saying that the method was dangerous to babies and leads to poor weight gain. It was written by someone without any medical training. There is lots of information out there about why this method is BAD!!
Anyway,
Waking up at 1 is totally normal at this age and there is nothing you can do about it. He still needs to wake up for feedings probably 2 times per night at least. Don't try keeping him up for a long time or keeping him up late. Babies actually sleep better the more they sleep. He should still be sleeping at least 16 hours per 24 hour period. He sounds like he is overtired. An overtired baby won't stay asleep as long. It's better for him to go to bed earlier. When he wakes up at night, change him, then feed him and don't play with him or engage him. Keep the lights off or very dim when you feed him and keep him in the same room where he sleeps. Don't walk him around the house. You want him to understand the difference between night and day. In the morning, expose him to bright sunlight. Open the shades or take him for an early morning walk. This should help to get his biological rhythms in order better. Also, he should not be awake for longer than a 2-hour stretch during the day or he will get overtired. Put him down for a nap before he seems tired. Once he shows signs of being tired, it is already too late. Create a routine of about 1/2 hour of calming and soothing before putting him down and keep it consistent so he begins to understand it as he gets older. He is too young to try putting him on any kind of schedule yet and definitely don't let him cry. You can wait a few minutes before picking him up if he wakes up- but no more than 5 minutes!! Try to learn the difference between making noises in his sleep (which can sound like crying or even laughing sometimes) and actual crying or waking up. But these things should help him to gradually get into his own rhythm. In a few months, you can buy Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth and read it for future reference. It explains the way babies sleep at different ages and gives advice for getting your child to sleep at every age. The main method that he uses is not meant for young babies so you can't do it yet, and he says this in his book, but he also gives great advice for babies that are too young for a sleep schedule. I would not try training him to sleep at night until he is at least 6 months old, and maybe even 8 months if he is a fussy baby. Plus remember that sleeping through the night means sleeping for 6 hours straight, not all night long. That won't come for a long time! My 6-month-old goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at 5 for a feeding then goes back down again until about 7:30. And he is considered a really good sleeper, so there are many other kids his age that still wake up around 1 or 2.

I don't think you should do anything but follow your baby's own schedule...he's only 8 weeks old or so, still getting used to being outside of you...Just enjoy the extra snuggle time...they grow so fast so quickly...I know it's tiring, but think of it as the only alone time you're ever going to have with him at this age - kiss him a million times and enjoy!
J.

I started a pretty strict bedtime schedule with my son between 6-8 weeks, and it worked great! Lights went out completely at 8:00, and I nursed him to sleep. Then around 11-12 weeks, I upped that to 7:00 pm and started letting him fall asleep on his own. By 14 weeks, he was actually going to bed at 6:30 pm, and sleeping straight through the night until 6:30 AM! Most sleep professionals agree that EARLIER bedtimes make babies sleep better, even though it seems so weird. I've found that keeping my son up later never works, either for getting him to sleep better or longer. He just gets over-tired and cranky, and won't sleep at all. Also, don't keep him from napping during the day! He will actually sleep better at night if he's also rested from his daytime naps. Again, it seems weird. But it's really true! (I'm not talking about 6 hour naps, of course...)

It's also possible that he's going through a big growth spurt, which mine did around that time. It makes sleeping hard for them, but they get through it pretty quickly if you stay consistant with their sleep schedule!

Good luck!

At 2-3 months you may just have to go with what he's doing until he's a little older, but have you thought about trying a little bit of the "cry it out" method. This is sometimes called Ferberizing because it is detailed in a book by Dr. Ferber, but I favor a modified version of his method. Basically you try to teach your baby to fall asleep on his own by putting him in bed awake but tired and leaving him there, checking in periodically, until he is asleep (I don't like to let a baby cry longer than 5-10 minutes without going in to check on him, but it depends on your comfort level). I've done this with 4-month-old and it has helped him sleep longer at night and go back to sleep without me having to hold him, rock him, etc.

Other suggestions - make sure his room isn't too darkened during the day so he learns to tell day from night and think about not changing his diaper as often at night unless he really needs it (it just wakes him up more).

Good luck!

My boys are 2 and 3 years old now, so honestly, I can't really remember what their sleep schedules were at that age. I do know that we just let the kids set their own schedules when they were that young but we changed their environment. I know that it's hard on you, especially if you are going back to work soon, but the only thing you can really do (in MHO) is to make sure the baby knows night from day. In the morning, turn on all the lights, open the windows, turn on some music, etc. At night, keep all lights very dim and the house quiet (keep the TV sound on low if you are watching in the next room).
I also agree that, if possible, don't change the baby at night. Now, my boys were prone to diaper rash, so I would use diapers at night that were a size bigger than they were. It allowed more air in so less chance of diaper rash. I used Pampers and rarely had leaks even tho the diapers were big.
I hope this helps. :)

When my daughter was small, we found that the more sleep she got during the day, the better she slept at night. My daughter was never up for more than two hours at a time during the day and she was sleeping through the night very early. When she wakes at 1 am, I would try feeding her, burping, and then putting her right back down.

The early months are the hardest but they will pass. Hang in there.

Hi L.,

That's a typical age for a growth spurt. Babies that age need to be eating during the night too. If he's waking up at 1am...he's hungry. Just give him an adequate feeding and I'm sure your problem will be solved. Babies definitely go through stages where they sleep when they are not growing so much, and then they spurt...this will happen over and over during the first two years, so be prepared.

D.

Hi L.-
With my 2, before they were 4 months old, we kept them up until 11, when we went to bed. We let them have 3 naps a day- 9 or 10am, 2-3 pm, and 5 or 6- but they only napped for about 1hr to 45minutes.
Then when we put them down we give them one last bottle and change, put them down already asleep (I know many books say to put them down slightly awake, but at this age I think it is too young) and they would sleep until about 4, and wake for a bottle and go right back out. I also would suggest not changing the diaper, unless it is leaking or poopy, that way you won't wake him up more.

It really sounds like he has his day and nights confused. I haven't had to deal with that myself, but I bet if you keep the light level up and take him out in the stroller he might try to stay up. Just try your best to keep him awake more during the day. It can be rough- I remember trying to keep my first up until 11 was tough, but well worth it.

Both my kids were sleeping from 11 to 6 by 4 months, then we bumped up their bedtime to 8, and woke them for a bottle at 11.

By 6 months they were sleeping 8 to 6! (well 5, in the summer- uck!)

Good luck- it will work itself out over time, too- don't worry!

2-3 month olds should be on their own schedule still. Shouldnt be keeping that baby up for any reason at 2-3 months old. I would NOT keep a baby 2-3 months old awake more during the day in order to get them to sleep more at night! In fact, it will have the opposite effect. A well rested baby sleeps better at night. Let your baby sleep as long as they can/will during the day. This probably will help baby sleep better at night.

He's way too little to expect him to conform to any schedule. As other posters mentioned, you should encourage him to sleep as much as possible around the clock. He might start to settle into a three nap per day schedule around 3 months, but some babies take until 6 months to have any kind of rhythm. Odds are he is hungry at night; he is still very little to go all night without a feeding. I would definitely respond to his night waking and expect it continue until he is six months or even older. After six months you can decide whether you want to work on eliminating the night wakings, using a method that feels best for you and your family. I would read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. Good luck.

Take a look at the book BabyWise or The Contented Baby Book (written by a British author, Gina Ford). Here's the schedule I started implementing with my 2 month old and now he's 3 months and things are pretty good. Still waking occasionally in the night for his pacifier or a quick cuddle before going back to sleep. The only problem I'm trying to overcome is him waking at 5:30am and chatting away - then needing to eat at 6am. I'm trying to get him to wake and feed at 7am -- that's the goal.
Here's our schedule (in theory, but as mentioned, we are doing pretty well aside from the early mornings about 75% of the time):
7am - wake and feed (6oz if bottlefed)
8am - dress for day
9am - settle for nap (45min to 1hr)
10am - play
10:30am - feed (6oz)
11am - play
12pm - settle for nap (2-2.5hrs)
2:30pm - feed (6oz)
3pm - play
4pm - settle for nap (45min to 1hr)
5pm - feed (4oz or so)
5:30 - play
6:15 - bath
6:30 - feed (4-6oz)
7:00 - settle for sleep
11pm - slightly wake for feed (approx 4oz) - Note... you should go to bed at 9pm and let hubby feed the baby a bottle at 11.

Keep in mind that it will take about 2 weeks to get your baby used to this routine - it will take diligence and consistency.

Good luck.

do you feed him at all during that time. if not he is hungry. he may be so tired he keeps dozing off but the hunger wakes him. babies usually still wake to feed at that age during the night, many of them needing a couple of feedings. when a book says "sleeping thru the night" that really only means 5 hours. there is also the possibility of teething and/or growth spurt, but i would feed him more.
i agree with the other poster as well, keeping a baby up too late or not having naps makes the baby sleep worse. my children took 3 naps at that age, around like 2, 2, and 1 hour long. then going to sleep 7-8ish. good luck

Hi L.,

2-3 month old babies have their own schedules,unfortunately this is the norm until
he gets more settled. Sometimes they just need a little extra cuddling to feel secure. I know it's frustrating, but it will pass. All the best.

Hi L.,

I agree with the posters who say that he is still too young for a routine. What I did with my daughter is feed avery 3 hours or more if she was crying for her bottle. I left it up to her. I also woke her up at 10:30/11pm to giver her a bottle. That held her until 3/3:30 or so and then until 6/6:30 or so. At 8 weeks, you have to expect a lot of restless nights (ugh, sorry!!).

Also, if bottle feeding, check with the pediatrician to determine if you are giving him enough formula. He may be a hungry little guy and an extra ounce may help.

And get your sleep when you can. Even if it's during the day - your laundry and other chores can wait!! Good luck!

He's hungry. Have you tried giving him a bottle. I bet if you did he'd go back to sleep. By the way, keeping him up isn't going to make him sleep better. With babies it tends to work the other way. So the more you keep him up the more he stays up. Sleep be gets sleep in infants.

Try light and soft tranquil music.