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Sleep deprived!

Kimberly - posted on 11/02/2009 ( 3 moms have responded )

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My son is 5 months old now. I was going to wait to start cereal till he turned 6 months. This past week he has not been sleeping at night so I started 1 tsp of rice cereal with breastmilk once a day for 2 days. Well I stopped on Sunday because he is constipated. He still is not sleeping. He is not waking up because he is hurgry either. I hate to start that Ferber method already. What else can I do?

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3 Comments

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Kelly - posted on 11/02/2009

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I've heard that "adding cereal to the bottle to make them sleep better" is a myth. Is he really not sleeping at all or just waking up intermittently? If its the latter than it could just be his sleep cycle or possibly night terrors. My son had them already at that age, I asked my Dr. Some rocking might soothe him. I paced the room and let my son nurse just for the comfort or you could try a pacifier if you don't want to encourage him to want to eat at night. If he's really not sleeping maybe he's starting some teething already that's keeping him up??? You could read up on that. But if your serious about getting some shut eye it may be worth considering the Ferber-izing just so he can learn to teach himself to go back to sleep after he wakes up. I know the crying is hard to hear, but that first time you get to sleep thru the night again...oh man, it's worth it!

Amy - posted on 11/02/2009

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It is probably just a growth spurt and hopefully will pass within two weeks. When you say he is constipated are you talking about frequency or consistency? Unless it is hard and compact you have nothing to worry about. Some breastfed babies only poop 1x a week. Try oatmeal if it is constipation. My little guy went through a growth spurt and wanted to nurse 2 to 3 times in the night when he was this age. He now sleeps through the night again.

Joy - posted on 11/02/2009

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Babies often stop sleeping at night for a few days to a week or so before they make some sort of great leap in ability, like learning to sit up or babbling. Mine's been putting me through it lately. Something that helps for me is cluster feeding at night... in the last couple of hours before I go to bed, I put her to breast frequently, if she shows any kind of interest whatsoever.

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