Hi moms. I need some advice. I have a very sweet tempered 6 month old son. He is easy going and easy to handle. He makes being a single parent very easy. However, he still doesn't sleep through the night. The longest stretch he sleeps is maybe 5 hours. He is up between 11:30 and midnight to eat (ususally a 6 ounce bottle) and then up again around 3 to eat again. I don't mind getting up with him, but I have to be up at 4:15 for work every morning. At night I feed him his cereal mixed with veggies and then give him at least a 6 ounce bottle. Sometimes he devours the entire bottle, sometimes he only has an ounce or two of it. I have noticed that it doesn't matter how full I get his little tummy, he won't sleep past midnight before waking up. I expected to be tired, but I am starting to feel like this is never ending. What worked to get your babies to sleep through the night?
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You didn't mention if he takes a pacifier. That was how I got my kids to stop night feeding. When they would wake I would just offer the pacifier. After a week or so they realized it wasn't worth waking up. If he doesn't take a paci then the water idea is also a good idea. You can also try patting him back to sleep without feeding and see if it is just habit or hunger..
He clearly cannot be hungry and is more than likely waking through habit. At 6 months there is no need for him to wake for food after you put him to bed (I am guessing around 7pm). When he wakes I would offer him water and nothing else , he will soon get the message and after a week should stop.
5 hours, for a baby, IS considered "sleeping through the night."
Your baby is sleeping well.
And, at this age of 6 months, it is a growth-spurt time... where the baby gets hungrier and more often to keep up with their growth and development.
And sometimes at this age, they can begin teething. 6 months of age is also a time a LOTS of developmental changes in a baby. So, it does tweak their sleep.
Your baby is sleeping normally and good.
I know it is not easy, because of your having to be up at 4:15 and you are a single parent.
Is there anyone who can help you? A grandparent? A friend?
Other than that, a baby will wake. He is still young... and sleeping ALL night, like an adult, for 8+ hours straight, takes time. Not anytime now.
I'm sorry I don't have any answers... but your baby is normal. Both my kids did that too, as babies.
Hugs to you. You seem like a good Mommy and are providing him with adequate intake and feeding him on demand. That is good. I don't know of anything that will "make" a baby sleep all night period.
All the best,
Susan
Some babies need to wake twice a night until 12 months. My daughter was like that, I was walking dead by 9 months. My newborn son, on the other hand, is a great sleeper.
I hate to say it, but there is really not much you can do unless you want to let him CIO. Some babies just need to eat during the night. Some don't. I'd wait a few more months and then try to night wean him.
5 hours is sleeping through the night for a baby. I suggest reading a book on baby sleep (No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley or Ferber's book that outlines his research on baby sleep) to know what's realistic and how to encourage (it can't be forced as you already know) the best sleep for your baby.
Hi there,
Hmm sounds similar to our situation when our son was 5 months old he was still having two night feeds. After 5 months I decided I had to get him down to just one night feed. So at the first feed I just offered him some warm water and put him straight back to bed after burping. Then I would feed him the second feed. This lasted a bout a week and then I gave him water in the second feed also. The waking continued for a couple more weeks and then instead of water we just gave him a cuddle and put him back to bed after a couple more weeks if he woke we would just tuck him back in or rub his back to settle him and he would go right back off to sleep. It was over a month long process but we got there no more night feeds and by seven months he was a 7pm till 7am sleeper with only the occasional stir here and there. If your really too tired then decide if it is right for you to do something similar, 6 months is still young but he can handle not eating through the night at this stage.
Cheers
L.
When my 13 month was about that age she started doing the same thing. She was getting to the point of only sleeping 3 hours and waking. I was a walking zombie! First we thought it was her teeth, so we got her some teething tablets - they kinda worked. Then we tried Tylenol, no help.
After over a month with out very much sleep we decided - on recommendation of two peds - to let her cry it out. After 4 horrible nights she was sleeping for 10-11 hours! I was shocked it worked!
She would cry for about 5 -10 min and then settle down for 5 - 10 then start up again. That lasted only the first night. Then it got better. Longer stretches of quiet.
It was very hard for me because I wanted to go get her but I knew this was the best option. We had tried a variety of cry it out methods and ignoring her was the only one that worked.
Just make sure his room is very safe - crib guards, nothing near the crib etc.
She now is even going to bed like a champ! She brings me her bedtime book - she has a favorite - and then I read it and put her down, she cries for maybe a minute every now and again but for the most part I kiss her goodnight and she is asleep in seconds. There is light at the end of the tunnel! It does get better!
I'm so sorry! Our son didn't sleep through the night for the whole first year. Do you play a soothing music cd or have a fan or white noise machine going? These seem to help even now, but our little guy just had a hard time sleeping all the way through that first year. We had him in our room also that first year and once we moved him to his own room where our tossing and turning didn't disturb him, he seemed to do a lot better. Hang in there!
Please check out the link below - it explains how babies sleep and why they sleep they way they do. It explains sleep cycles and stages of babies sleeping patterns really well. When my little girl was still up every 3 to 5 hours a night - if I just remember the facts and reminded myself what is happening on a physical level for her - it helped me stay a little calmer. I promise this stage will pass - at 6 months they are growing, teething and making a developmental jump. Hang in there.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t070200.asp
Here are some excepts from the page:
Encouraging a baby to sleep too deeply, too soon, may not be in the best survival or developmental interest of the baby. This is why new parents, vulnerable to sleep trainers' claims of getting their baby to sleep through the night, should not feel pressured to get their baby to sleep too long, too deeply, too soon.
Babies still wake up. When babies mature into these adult-like sleep patterns varies among babies. Yet, even though babies achieve this sleep maturity some time during the last half of the first year, many still wake up. The reason? Painful stimuli, such as colds and teething pain, become more frequent. Major developmental milestones, such as sitting, crawling, and walking, drive babies to "practice" their new developmental skills in their sleep. Then between one and two years of age, when baby begins to sleep through the above-mentioned wake-up stimuli, other causes of nightwaking occur, such as separation anxiety and nightmares.
Even though you understand why babies are prone to nightwaking, you realize it's still important for parents and babies to get a restful night's sleep, otherwise, baby, the parents, and their relationship won't thrive.
