Not sleeping through the night!!!

Kelly - posted on 06/15/2009

You will hear many opinions on this subject. My son is 10 months and still not sleeping through the night and waking every 2-3 hours. I made the personal choice to wean him from night feedings as I felt he was using nursing to soothe himself. I started with only nursing him for 2 minutes, putting the pacifier in his mouth and rocking if necessary. Then the next night I did 1 minute, the next was 30 seconds, and by night 4 no nursings, only pacifier and rocking when he woke up. That was the frist night we had 8 solid hours! He picked up more nursing and solids during the day. We then chose to take it a step further as my husband and I were at our wits end! So we took it a step further using the Ferber method. I know that this method produces controversy but after reading the book myself I felt it was the right choice for us. After the first night my son slept from 8pm -745 am with one waking at 12 for a 3 minute cry. Educate yourself and make the choice that you feel is best for you and your family. Good luck!

Kyla - posted on 06/14/2009

My son is 9 months in a couple days and he doesn't sleep throught the night every night. some night's he'll sleep 12 hour and others he'll sleep 3 and feed then sleep 6 then feed then sleep another 2 or 3. It just depends on the day for him. I will get better I promise and once they do start to sleep through the night you'll be awake wondering if everything is ok. Just feed when they are hungry because it won't last forever and every baby is so different you can't really compare to the norm. Good luck to you!

Fabienne - posted on 06/14/2009

There could be so many reasons he may not be sleeping. Could be teething, or he could be just wanting your company. He may really be hungry. If you are sure it is hunger, you can try increasing the number of feedings during the day.

One recommendation I read, was to wake baby before the "usual" time he would wake up and feed him then. This would disrupt the clockwork wakings, and gradually lengthen the time between feedings or would drop feedings.

I've done so much reading on what my baby "should" be doing, it stressed me out early on. I would say, don't let the "should"s worry you too much.

Hope this helps!

Lori - posted on 06/11/2009

My baby is 7-1/2 months, and is the same way. (And lately waking even more frequently because he's teething.) It does make me sort of insecure to read all kinds of things that says baby should be sleeping 8+ hours straight through by now, but I refuse to leave him to "cry it out", so I'm just continuing to feed him as he wants. I do look forward to getting a good night's rest, but I don't know when that will be...

Minnie - posted on 06/11/2009

Babies will sleep through the night without bothering their mothers when they are developmentally ready to. Breastfed infants are expected to get at least 25% of their nutritional requirements during the night for at least the first 12 months.



Whatever you read- that by seven months babies SHOULD be sleeping through the night- that isn't a reliable source.



Infants just don't have the same sleep patterns as older children and adults.



Breastfeeding really isn't something that needs to be overthought. This is how I and many other mothers around the world take care of our infant's nighttime needs: we sleep with our babies. When baby wants to nurse in the night we latch baby on and then go back to sleep.

Elis - posted on 06/10/2009

My baby is almost five months and I have the same problem. He wakes up every three hours and wants to nurse for 20 + mins. He never nurses for that long during the day! I was hoping by now we could sleep a little better, but nothing so far. I am interested to see what other say about this.

Thanks