During the night, my 5 mo old son wakes alomost every two hours..

Manda - posted on 09/12/2009

Quoting Ashley:

Hi Chelsey~
Your problem lies with the bedtime...it's too late. A baby this age needs to be in bed by 6pm, any later and they will become overtired and not sleep well. I consulted with an infant sleep expert (and still do with my growing/changing baby) and she told me that most babies circadian rhythms work on a 6pm-6am time clock so their brain signals to them it's time for bed around 6pm, if they are in bed a minute past that their brain gets agitated and overtired and won't rest well. Also at 5 months he should be awake for no more than 2 hours at a time, probably closer to 90 minutes. Anything longer than that and he will get overtired and not nap well. My daughter is almost 10 months and has been sleeping 11-12 hours at night since 10 weeks old and I followed the advice of my expert. This is a sample sleep/eat schedule that she gave me, maybe this will help.

6am (or around then) baby wakes up on their own~ breakfast (fruit/cereal) BF/bottle
7:30-8am (somewhere in there) morning nap starts (90min-2hrs)
9:30-10am (somewhere in there) baby wakes up, has bottle or BF
11:30-12pm 2nd nap starts (90min-2hrs)
1:30-2pm baby wakes up, has bottle or BF
3:30-4pm 3rd nap starts, baby should not sleep past 4:45pm!!!
* if the baby sleeps past 4:45pm their brain starts transitioning to night sleep
5pm dinner (cereal and/or veggie), bath, bottle/BF bed by 5:45-6pm.

It really helped us. The first few nights if she did wake up I had to let her cry. I would peek in at her and make sure she was okay. It took her about 30 min of crying on and off before she fell back to sleep, but it only lasted about 4-5 nights and each night she cried less and less. Good luck! You WILL get sleep soon, just hang in there. :)

I 100% agree with you Ashley. There are too many mom's out there that are putting their babies to bed too late not realising the effect this has. Babies need at least 11 - 12 hours sleep at night and even at a year should be getting 11 hours. If you put your bab to bed after 6pm you could be running the risk of overtiredness which leads to restless and wakeful sleep. I know that seems illogical but thats the way it works. At 6.5 months old i was putting my daughter to bed at 7. Just taking the bedtime back to 6 reduced her wakings from 10 to about 4 and then a bit of sleep training took her to just the once for a feed. Sometimes its just fine-tuning your day routine and getting to bed early that can make the world of difference.

Good luck :0)

Heather - posted on 09/07/2009

I wish I had some advise Chelsey, but all I can say is that my little man went through that also at five months. He was originally sleeping from 7pm-6am, but then started waking every 1 to 2 hours. He now sleeps until about 12.30 to 2.30am (then I feed him) then he sleeps until about 5.30 to 7.00am. I wish I had some advise, but all I can say is that it does pass and then they do something totally different again.

Theresa - posted on 09/05/2009

Fortunately I got extremely lucky with my son when he started sleeping through the night and I mean 12 or 13 hours a night (630 pm to 830 am)...but i would give him a full bottle(breast or formula) and if hes already eating food, make sure he is absolutely full. And if your comfortable or if he already is, but try sleeping him on his stomach. I was nervous to do it the first night but that very first night I did, he slept through the night and ever since. Also, i have heard from many moms and doctors that the earlier you get them to bed the later they sleep in. Its basically the opposite of adults. They require about 10-14 hours of sleep a night. Hope this helps.

Angie - posted on 09/05/2009

Wow some of these post blow my mind. It is 100% normal for a 5 month old to still wake up hungry at night. Their tummies are still very tiny and breastmilk is the absolute perfect food that is digested and used very quickly so it's normal for them to be hungry more frequently. My 11 month old still eats every 2 hours throughout the night. She is hungry, wakes up that way and needs to eat before falling back asleep. I cannot imagine leaving my hungry baby alone in her room to cry herself to sleep. How sad!



I agree with the bedsharing suggestion, it's how we keep our sanity. I disagree strongly with rigid schedules for a baby. Babies are brand new, we don't make them fit into a schedule that fits our lives we make our lives fit into their schedule. My oldest daughter is almost 3 and didn't sttn until she was 26 months old. I heard all the gasps and 'advice' from the "experts" and ignored it. She got there on her own, when she was ready. Now she sleeps better and goes to sleep with no fuss or fit ever. She is confident in her sleep because she was able to get there in her own time.

Ann - posted on 09/05/2009

haha wow story of my life. I'm glad I'm not the only one. My son is 7 months old and has never slept through the night. I also breastfeed him and everyone told me to feed him cereal and he'll def sleep through the night. False. (for him anyways) Doesn't do anything. He still wakes up every 2 hours to eat and eats every 2 hours all day long, with cereal and fruit. If you figure it out Please let me know! I need REM sleep! =)

Jennifer - posted on 09/04/2009

My first son was in the hospital for the first month of his life. He came home on a feeding pump and was immediately sleeping through the night. I had to get up every 2 hours and feed him but he just slept. My second son was the exact opposite. He doesn't sleep through the night and he's almost two. Once he got off the bottle almost a year ago he started teething and still wakes me up around 2 or 3 am. I am lucky if I get a good nights rest. So I am sorry but this may continue for a while. However he sounds hungry so try feeding him cereal before bed.

Kristy - posted on 09/04/2009

Babies wake up during the night because they are use to being fed. When your baby wakes up, try to get them to go back to sleep WITHOUT eating. Sometimes if nothing else works then give a bottle but gradually decrease the amount of the bottle. With both of my babies I got them to sleep thru night early on by doing this. It only took about 2 weeks and they were sleeping til 8 in the morning. If your baby is breastfed only, you may have to wait it out til food in introduced or formula. Breastfed babies usually eat less at each feeding but feedings are closer together.

Rebecca - posted on 09/04/2009

HI chelsey
My baby is 3 and a half months old she has slept thru since she was 6 weeks old maybe try giving your baby a bath at 7.30 pm then a feed straight after maybe try giving him a formula bottle for the last feed then i put my little girl in a sleeping bag then into bed awake mite have to go in once to put the dummy back in then she goes straight to sleep and sleeps thru till 8am or after good luck hope it works for you

Tammy - posted on 09/04/2009

Hi Chelsey,

I have 2 children, one is 2 1/2 and the other 3 1/2 months... The best thing i ever did was get advice from tresillian or if you are not in sydney, karitane. they will be able to advise you and give you the best advice because thats exactly what they do - help mothers with the issues/concerns.

i do agree with Ashley Clarke re: strict routine however i was told 7:30pm not 6pm to have them in bed at night and that works for my kids. Some children arent good sleepers so you may have one of these. (hope not for your sake)
My girls have reflux and one has an iron deficiency both of which can wake them during the night frequently if it goes undiagnosed. Also, my first child woke in patterns during the night due to the radio program she was listening to.. they played an annoying noise before introducing the news and it woke her. i have a sleepy time music CD that i have on repeat for her now and that works well for both kids.
Also, if they are not drinking / eating enough milk or getting enough nutrients from your milk, that could cause them to wake...
If i was in your situation, i would phone tresillian/karitane (http://www.tresillian.net/ http://www.karitane.com.au/ ) And / OR go see a pediatrician because it could be medical.

Tresillian will also give you a routine by age that you can choose to follow if you wish. For me it gave me piece of mind that my girls were getting enough sleep / playtime ratio and also helped me plan my day.

I hope this helps and you get a full night sleep soon without any worry.
take care of yourself
Tammy

Dyanne - posted on 09/03/2009

My oldest son was a premie and nurse every 2 hours around the clock for months...this too shall past...can start giving a little cereal between 5-6 months.

Priscilla - posted on 09/03/2009

My son is breastfed as well, and he wakes up approx every two hours as well. I think it's normal. I notice that my son goes through phases. He'll go a couple of weeks where he eats every 4-5 hours through the night, and then he'll go two weeks where he eats every hour and a half. I think it has to do with growth cycles.....at least that's what I've read. I do give him a bottle with rice right before bed and he still wakes up two hours later to eat.

Anita - posted on 09/03/2009

Quoting Chelsey:

During the night, my 5 mo old son wakes alomost every two hours..

During the night my 5 mo old son wakes up to eat nealy every two hours. I have tried to change his diaper, bounces, etc. However, when i feed him(breast feeding) he acts as if he is just starving. ( i now just feed him whenever her wakes up.) I feed him supper (carrots, peas, etc) about 645, sometimes with ceral to, sometimes with out. he then takes a bath, i feed him, then he goes to sleep. Can anyone help me out?

 

 

Your son sounds exactly like my son! A few things that helped us were having the fan on when he was asleep (a bird only had to tweet and he was awake so the fan drowned out any noise.. and in winter we had the heater on also) …and we also found co-sleeping works. My partner has only just started sleeping with our 12 month old son in the spare bed while I sleep in the main bed with our 2 month old daughter and this works well for us at the moment. Up until about a month ago Joe was waking up every 20mins to an hour and it was driving us insane. Joe still wakes up a few times at nigh but at least we don’t have to physically get up and put him back to sleep (which sometimes took up to 2-3 hours!!), now when he wakes up my partner can soothe him back to sleep straight away so he doesn’t fully wake up like he used to in his cot (which is why it was taking a long time to put him back to sleep). When Joe was about 8 months old I ended up walking into a baby clinic and crying my eyes out because I didn’t know what else to do as we had tried just about everything to help him sleep longer but nothing seemed to work. They tried to get me to go to a sleep school (as I was just about to give birth to our daughter which meant I would soon have two babies who wouldn’t sleep … but our daughter has slept through from birth) but we ended up  getting a sleep nurse out instead which helped a little bit but he kept waking up still, it wasn’t until my partner started co-sleeping with him that Joe started sleeping better. So basically to sum it up……. Joe sleeps in his cot during the day with the fan on (he has 2 x 1hr naps) and then sleeps with his Dad at night. I have come to the conclusion that not all babies will sleep in the cot and to be honest it’s not worth doing the controlled crying thing as it just wears both mother and baby (and everyone else)out. Some babies are just clingy and need to be close to someone and that’s the conclusion we have come to. The reason I say this is because our 2 month old daughter has slept through from birth (10hrs at night without waking) and will sleep anywhere and doesn’t need to be close to someone all the time whereas Joe does.  I remember when Joe was born he just screamed all night that first night in hospital while all the other babies slept!  Whereas our 2 month old just slept all the time from birth. Therefore every baby is different and you need to do what works for you. Good luck with everything.

Jo - posted on 09/03/2009

Firstly have you tried dream feeding him at about 10:30pm? this should enable him to go longer through the night. Secondly I think he is using you as a prop to go to sleep. He needs to learn to go to sleep on his own. It takes about 3 nights. With both of my sons I have laid them in their cots and patted and ssshed until they are drowsy and just about to fall asleep.Then I stop patting and just rest my hand on their chest. They may keep waking back up once you stop patting but just be persistent and eventually he will drop off to sleep. If you do this for 3 nights he will eventually learn to go to sleep on his own and when he wakes in the night he will take himself back off to sleep. Also I have found those light shows on the ceiling very handy. it worked for me. It may work for you too. All babies are different but most of my friends have tried this and it works. Also you don't have to leave them to cry which I hate. You might also want to give him a drink of cool boiled water and see if he will settle with this. I hope you find something I have said useful. Good luck!

Monique - posted on 09/03/2009

Is he getting the bath and food at the same time every night? Maybe I was just blessed with a good baby....she has been sleeping thru the night since she was 2 months old and been sleeping through the night in her own bed since she was 3 months old and she will be 4 months old on labor day. And when I say thru the night I mean from about 9pm - 8am....All I can say is stick with a strict routine 7 days a week....he will eventually begin to fall into place.

Rebecca - posted on 09/03/2009

i completely understand! my son is 4 months old & has been a "bad" sleeper since day 1. the absolute most he has ever slept was 4-5 hours & this has only happened a handful of times. i have tried everything i can think of although i have to admit that we dont really follow a bedtime routine, we go out of town most weekends to visit family so his schedule gets all out of whack & it takes half the week to get him back to normal...when is a good bedtime for a 4 month old?

Clare - posted on 09/03/2009

the pick up put down is a method of reasuring the baby but at the same time getting the baby secure enough to be left and sleep on there own. You stat by doing baby s bed time routine then putting him down in his cot. when baby crys u pick baby up saying nothing but sh sh sh when he is quiet u put him back at first it can take ages but it dose work the book is called the baby wisper by tracy hogge there is no leaving the baby to cry its about teaching then to sleep on there own and be able to re settle them selves.

Ashley - posted on 09/03/2009

Hi Chelsey~
Your problem lies with the bedtime...it's too late. A baby this age needs to be in bed by 6pm, any later and they will become overtired and not sleep well. I consulted with an infant sleep expert (and still do with my growing/changing baby) and she told me that most babies circadian rhythms work on a 6pm-6am time clock so their brain signals to them it's time for bed around 6pm, if they are in bed a minute past that their brain gets agitated and overtired and won't rest well. Also at 5 months he should be awake for no more than 2 hours at a time, probably closer to 90 minutes. Anything longer than that and he will get overtired and not nap well. My daughter is almost 10 months and has been sleeping 11-12 hours at night since 10 weeks old and I followed the advice of my expert. This is a sample sleep/eat schedule that she gave me, maybe this will help.

6am (or around then) baby wakes up on their own~ breakfast (fruit/cereal) BF/bottle
7:30-8am (somewhere in there) morning nap starts (90min-2hrs)
9:30-10am (somewhere in there) baby wakes up, has bottle or BF
11:30-12pm 2nd nap starts (90min-2hrs)
1:30-2pm baby wakes up, has bottle or BF
3:30-4pm 3rd nap starts, baby should not sleep past 4:45pm!!!
* if the baby sleeps past 4:45pm their brain starts transitioning to night sleep
5pm dinner (cereal and/or veggie), bath, bottle/BF bed by 5:45-6pm.

It really helped us. The first few nights if she did wake up I had to let her cry. I would peek in at her and make sure she was okay. It took her about 30 min of crying on and off before she fell back to sleep, but it only lasted about 4-5 nights and each night she cried less and less. Good luck! You WILL get sleep soon, just hang in there. :)

Tonya - posted on 09/03/2009

They usually only wake when they are not getting enough to eat before bed. My daughter luckily slept all night from about 4 months and that was with just formula so every kid is so different. I would try a little more food at night and a nice warm bath and see what happens. My daughter is now 17 months old and I can't get her to wake up now...she sleeps from 9 to 9:30 am it's crazy. Good for me though. It will get better.

Heather - posted on 09/03/2009

I'm in the exact same boat as you.. My boy is almost 5 months old and just for a month now, has started this waking up every two hours.. Before he would only wake up once a night.. Now it's constant, and he wants to be fed every single time.. We do cereal with baby foods, but it's not working.. I'm doing the whole lavendar/chamomile bath wash and lotion.. He'll fall asleep quick, but he doesn't stay down!! I'm going NUTS!!! I want sleep, and I need sanity.. I feel so bad for him.. He's miserable himself. He just isn't sleeping! Aren't baby at this age supposed to sleep 14 hours??



PLUS,, my boy is bottlefeed not breast fed.. So it's the same thing no matter the type of feeding!

Cleopatra - posted on 09/03/2009

I have a 8 month old daughter who USED to sleep through the night.. Her bedtime if around 8:30-9pm, I try, the latest. She has a few (2 maybe 3 teeth) coming up giving her a total of 6-7. I put her in the bed with me, I sing, read etc.. and nothing has worked so far.. My thoughts are like Laura Smith said.. nothing last forever.. Any ideas would be helpful though!

Chelsey - posted on 09/03/2009

pick up put down?? He is taking two morning naps about a hour long (before noon) and JUST recently stared one one and a half hour nap around two. Before he was taking two about an hour nap (or three shorter naps) all between 12 - 5.



I dont want to let him cry at night because i am affraid something coupld be wrong

Clare - posted on 09/02/2009

How much sleep do u let him have in the day my 6 month old wakes up early when i let her sleep in the afternoon or if she has any more than 3 hours in the day. Also have u tryed doing pick up put down it is the baby whisper routine and very good to soothe baby into being able to resettle its self when he or she wakes up in the night. Aslo it means no crying really. Good luck

Chelsey - posted on 09/02/2009

I am just going to try and expect i am never getting a full nights rest again! :) I do bedshare some.. mostly because i gave up getting up so often. For a month exactly he slept in his crib great. Then one night, he faught sleeping. I tried and tried for almost a week and now he is back in my bed. I am told that he is waking almost hourly to dibble, although i have no idea of this. I hope he will sleep in his crib all night long eventully. =]

Minnie - posted on 09/02/2009

I can help you by reassuring you that he's perfectly fine and normal. Breastfed babies are expected to receive at least 25% of their nutritional requirements during the night for at least the first 12 months.

All is required is that we as mothers adjust our expectations of what infant sleep patterns and night time needs truly involve.

Have you considered bedsharing? Wrap yourself around baby, latch baby on, drift back to sleep. Easy as pie.

Chelsey - posted on 09/02/2009

Hello! Thank you for all your comments and sugestions so far. A normal nightly routine is as fallows: around 630pm - eat supper (peas, carrots, squash, etc) this meal once in a while will have cearl too. (although i have not noticed any different change when he has ceral) Immeditaly after (about 645) he takes a bath, during his bath i use that lavender lotion along with the mathcing shampoo. We then go to his room, lights off, shades shut, RADIO on (cds stop after about 40 minutes which wakes him) and more times then not, he will be sleeping under ten minutes. I do not stay with him any longer then ten minutes. He will eventully cry it out. Last night, he was sleeping within FOUR minutes of being in his room at 6:30!!! He slept until about ten.

1. Swaddling does not do a lot of difference. May just a little... relaxes better

2. I have tried putting him to bed warmer and colder. Better warmer (pf course!)

3. I have tried sleeping with a blanket then letting him use it. Does not help.

4. Tried rado/cd off. better with it on

5. have never tried a FAN (heater when he was born) or the lavender plug in.. but i will!!!

6. I do not think it relates to teething as it has been like this since night one.

7. when he does have tylonal, i do not see a difference either.



Nothing seems to help. I thought the food would, but not really, no. I want to be a better mommy by getting sleep, but i cant. Hopefully soon.. right?



Thanks everyone

Chelesy

Renata - posted on 09/02/2009

What time does he go to bed? Maybe try to feed closer to bed time and make sure he has a super full belly when going to sleep. My 5m old just started waking up again also more than once per night and it was driving us crazy. Mostly it was tooth pain but now, I think he is still startling himself awake. We put him back in the swaddle with white noise (as per happiest baby on the block) and he is back to normal again. he almost slept thru the night again last night.

Anna - posted on 09/01/2009

Got the same problem with my 7 month old... Didn't sleep much during the last 3 months of pregnancy either, so now I am a wreck!! ;) Have tried all the things above, including fan, but it doesn't help in my case. Thinking about getting a motel room for a few nights and let his dad take the heat until the baby gives up the feeding habit, but I probably won't do it. My baby doesn't take a bottle at all and hates formula, so those are no options for me. *sigh* Maybe when he goes away for college I will sleep again!! *lol* Best of luck to you anyway!!

Laura - posted on 09/01/2009

Oh I feel for ya girl!!! my baby is 8 months old and he JUST NOW started to sleep all night (9pm-7am). We tried EVERYTHING. we tried the lavender soap, playing music, giving him a massage, singing to him, letting him cry it out....and on and on.... but nothing worked! I was soooo tired from having to get up through the night. Finaly my friend suggested getting a box fan. I was sceptical about it but they are only 16 $ so they are cheap. I got one and he finaly started sleeping through the night. I think that when it was too quiet he couldnt sleep. and when we played music it would stop in the middle of the night and wake him up. I dont know how many ounces you are feeding him of breast milk but at 5 months old my baby was eating about 6oz. well i hope this was helpful. and just remember this will not last forever and some day you will miss these nights!

Christi - posted on 09/01/2009

also, you might try a 'air wick' lavender-vanilla scented plug in? and the lavender scented baby soap and lotion and if it doesn't work at least it smells good.

Amanda - posted on 09/01/2009

it might be because he is teathing because my son started sleeping through the night at a month old and was always good with his sleep patterns and now that he is teething getting him to sleep is like a nightmare and its a blessing if he stays asleep

Christi - posted on 09/01/2009

hey there, sorry to hear that. my son did the same thing at four months he was breastmilk only and he woke every hour on the hour and nursed for half an hour each time--i was exhausted! we decided he wasn't getting enough to eat during the day so we started feeding him cereal with a bottle of milk 3 times a day, that kind of helped. a month later we started veggies and fruits in place of the cereal at lunch and dinner, that helped even more. also, the fourth month we had a bed time routine with the same bedtime and i feed him the same time every day. that helped a lot!!! we are now in his 8th month and we started giving him meats (i think that helps--it takes a lot of energy to digest meat)he is also crawling and cruising (using more energy). also, since he started sleeping more, he did wake up a few times and we gave him a bottle of water. i don't want to jinx it but, he slept all night last night!! from 8:30pm to 6am! we also traveled during his fourth month and overseas in his sixth month and they say when you travel with a baby it will throw off any schedule or sleeping habits.it may take you less time. i am sorry this message is all over the place, but i hope it helps. good luck. christi*