How can i help baby sleep through the night??/

Tine - posted on 01/01/2011

Hey, 4 hours is actually a really LONG time for babies to sleep through the night!! Your daughter is TOTALLY normal, and she is NOT waking so often because she needs more food all at once. Giving her rice at this stage is not a good idea, she is way too young and she is puking it up because she cannot digest it yet. If she is being fed artificial baby milk, then that is ALL she should have until about 6 months old. Babies' stomachs are tiny, so they need to eat small frequent feeds.

If you imagine way back in time when baby humans were living more out in the open, babies who woke up frequently to make sure mum was still there, who cried to get their needs for food and safety met, and who needed to be close to thier parents, were the ones who survived. Babies have a very strong instinct to wake often, and to be close to parents because this is what human babies naturally need to do to survive (we are VERY vulnerable and helpless at birth and for a long time after). If you meet these needs by comforting her whenever she needs you, including overnight, then the needs will gradually lessen and she will sleep longer, knowing that she is safe.

Plese don't be tempted to leave her to cry, or to use a 'cry it out' technique. This is just sending your daughter the message that no-one is there for her when she needs them. Babies on this sort of schedule don't learn to self - soothe, their bodies just get so swamped with stress chemicals that they give up.

My daughter still wakes 2-3 times a night now at age 2. they are all different! A friend's daughter woke once an hour until she was 2, then started sleeping through the night.

BTW, in babies, 'sleeping through' is defined as sleeping for 5 hours at a time, so your daughter is actually really close to that!

A normal part of parenting (and I know how tough it is!! I am tired too!) is parenting at night, and this gets less demanding and easier over time. An EXCELLENT book is 'Nighttime Parenting' by Dr Sears.

Best wishes! :-)

Heather - posted on 12/17/2009

That sounds crazy! I'm so sorry for you! I would have thought she had her days/nights mixed but if she isn't even sleeping during the day - you poor thing! The only thing I would recommend is (first of all, PATIENCE goes without saying!) but I would wait as late as you possibly can at night before you give her the last feeding - say 10 or 11. It might take her 40 minutes or so to finish it, but it should last her a good 5 or 6 hours. Unfortunately, I have found that there is no good way to make a baby sleep - they decide their own schedule. I've read a few books and have heard friends' stories - but I think kids are in the driver's seat on this one! Try establishing a routine during the day. Play as much as you can until she starts to get fussy, feed her, put her to sleep. Have you tried having her sleep in a cradle swing? That was the only way my first daughter would nap during the day. It won't happen overnight, but the routine should help her get into a groove and gradually she'll be more tired at night if she gets appropriate stimulation during the day. My first daughter didn't sleep more than 5 hours until she was 6 months old or so. My second daughter began sleeping thru the night at 4 or 5 weeks (don't be jealous! it was luck.)

Heather - posted on 12/17/2009

That sounds crazy! I'm so sorry for you! I would have thought she had her days/nights mixed but if she isn't even sleeping during the day - you poor thing! The only thing I would recommend is (first of all, PATIENCE goes without saying!) but I would wait as late as you possibly can at night before you give her the last feeding - say 10 or 11. It might take her 40 minutes or so to finish it, but it should last her a good 5 or 6 hours. Unfortunately, I have found that there is no good way to make a baby sleep - they decide their own schedule. I've read a few books and have heard friends' stories - but I think kids are in the driver's seat on this one! Try establishing a routine during the day. Play as much as you can until she starts to get fussy, feed her, put her to sleep. Have you tried having her sleep in a cradle swing? That was the only way my first daughter would nap during the day. It won't happen overnight, but the routine should help her get into a groove and gradually she'll be more tired at night if she gets appropriate stimulation during the day. My first daughter didn't sleep more than 5 hours until she was 6 months old or so. My second daughter began sleeping thru the night at 4 or 5 weeks (don't be jealous! it was luck.)