How to get baby to sleep through the night

Haley - posted on 08/21/2009

I read that experts are saying after your child reaches 6mos of age they should be able to sleep through the night. their stomachs are able to sustain through the night until morning for feeding and if your child is waking up it is out of habit. Not to say that anything you've done is wrong but you want to try and guide your baby in a different direction now. I agree that starting a bedtime routine the same time every night is very effective. I began ours when my son was around 6 wks and around 3mos he began sleeping through the night from 6pm-6am. he is now 5mos and still sleeps through the night and he started teething 3 wks ago without any hiccups in the middle of the night. I also began feeding him breast milk from a bottle at bedtime instead of feeding from the breast. The doctor had told me that babies seem to sleep longer through the night when fed from a bottle.

Danielle - posted on 08/21/2009

i found that if i lay my daughter on her side with her comferter i bought her it will hold her pacifier in if she pushes it out too far when sucking on it. Its nowhere near her nose so it wouldnt interupt her breathing

Annie - posted on 08/21/2009

Quoting Eloise

She also has a dummy but i find that i use it only to soothe her and get her to sleep as soon as she's off i'll take the dummy away and she sleeps better without it.

this may be a dumb question but what is a 'dummy'?

thanks annie

mommy to 5 month old Savanah!

Diana -n Craig - posted on 08/21/2009

My 10 month old daughter sleeps through the night wonderfully. She goes down around 7:30 and sleeps 12 hours. The kicker for me was at 4 months when her dr told us, 'it's okay to let her cry a little, they need to learn to self soothe.' Of course this seemed horrible to me :) After a few nights of her crying to sleep, she then went to sleep on her own happy as a clam. I agree with the earlier post about routine, I think it's super important. We do dinner, play on the floor a while, put on pj's and clean diaper, take her liquid vitamin, brush her teeth (all 6 of 'em!), and nurse. At that point she is awake but groggy and I put her in her crib. She has a 'snuggle blanky'; little cotton blanky she likes to hold, and I say a prayer with her, give her kiss and tell her goodnight, I love you. She goes to sleep on her own after that, very rarely crying. Occasionally I'll hear her during the night, but I don't go in and get her. She goes back to sleep on her own eventually.

As far as night nursing, at this age, they don't need it for nutrition, it is usually more a soothing thing for them. After a couple times of you not coming in, he'll go back to sleep. Good luck!

Amelia - posted on 08/21/2009

I was the type that couldn't let my baby cry without going in, but finally i was fed up with waking up every couple of hours sometimes every hour...so i tried the ferber methood. at first i let him cry for 5 minutes, then went in for 1 minute, then he'd cry for 10, then i go in for 1, then he'd fall asleep before we got to 15 minutes. finally i skipped the 5 and 10 minute visit, becasue he'd always fall asleep before crying for 15 minutes. now when i put him in his bed (wide awake) he rolls over and goes to sleep on is own and sleeps until 6:00Am. the first night that i let him cry himself to sleep he slept all night. it's hard to try to do this in the middle of the night when you are tired...do it when he first goes down, he needs to learn how to go to sleep on his own. good luck...i hope you find something that works.

Jessica - posted on 08/21/2009

If this has been a habitual thing (for more than a few weeks) maybe start a bedtime ritual for him. Start with a bath (not a toy filled one, a quiet one), maybe a little leg massage during the evening/'before bed' feeding. He could be going through a growth spurt (where he would obviously be eating more) or learning new physical abilities (crawling, walking, that kind of thing) and he's just too amped up (or sore!) to sleep.



My 10 mo old girl recently started 'reclaiming' her 2 am feeding (which happened anywhere between 1 am and 3 am LOL) so I blame growth spurt, personally.

Eloise - posted on 08/21/2009

my 5 week old used to wake up every four hours for a feed but she has now started sleeping through the night (which we're both very proud of as she isnt even 6 weeks old yet).



She also has a dummy but i find that i use it only to soothe her and get her to sleep as soon as she's off i'll take the dummy away and she sleeps better without it. also try putting him down in a room on his own at the same time every evening, make sure the room is dark and relatively quiet, maybe some background noise if it helps them sleep, and put on a baby monitor and leave him to get to sleep, this has worked for my daughter and she normally sleeps from 8.30pm till about 5.00am.



Hope this helps. good luck xx