Sleeping through the night

Katie - posted on 12/01/2008

My little boy was born Feb. 19th and is nowhere near sleeping through the night. The typical night we get up about 3 times with him to feed him or rock him back to sleep. But since his 9 month check up and vaccines, he has been getting up every 2 hours. I've taken him to the doctor and she can find nothing wrong with him. We've tried Dr. Sears sleep book and Dr. Ferber's sleep book, neither have helped. Any suggestions?

Elly - posted on 11/27/2008

Hi my daughter is 9mths and not sleeping all night either. But neither did my other girls and they sleep well know though.

Amanda - posted on 11/27/2008

Stacey
It sounds like she's got seperation anxiety. I have always been against the walk away and let them cry thing. And never did it with my son, but my daughter is so different.
I have had to just let her cry in her room for about a min to start with, Then I go back in there and give her the dummy/pacifier. Don't talk to her, or smile. Then leave and come back in about 3 mins later. Do the same... Then do 5 mins, if she's still crying then there must be a problem.

If she's extremely upset, like really screaming hard, then she might need to burp. When babies cry for a while they gasp in air, and sometimes it traps bubbles in their tummies.

If she is still crying, then try and feed her some more milk. She may not be full enough. Or she could be dehydrated from crying, so then try some warm water. You basically go through your mind and just check things off.

Hungry/wet/teething/burp/scared/something different? the slightest change in routine can upset some babies, make them unsettled for a day or 2.

Other times she could be just not tired enough. I have on occasion taking her out of bed, and just sat her on the floor of her room and let her crawl around with me/play for about 30 mins. Then began the night ritual again.

Sorry I talk too much
I hope we all get a decent night's sleep soon! And that it is a regular occurance lol

Amanda - posted on 11/27/2008

I still have troubles with my daughter. She was born on Feb 7. She wakes especially when she's teething. If you continue to feed her when she wakes up, it's kind of a reward.

If she's truly hungry then by all means, do what must be done. But if she's not, and just wants the comfort of the bottle. Try and give her some water in the bottle. Luke warm of course, and she'll not want to wake up as often if she only gets water out of it :P

It worked for my son, and have started with my daughter also. Hope that helps you :)
Manda

Johanne - posted on 11/27/2008

Hi there,

you've got tons of responses! Well, my suggestion to you is to go and buy "healthy sleep habits, happy child" by marc weissbluth md. I've been saying this to everyone who's having troubles with this. I guarantee you that it will help you like crazy. I've used it since I had my son and he falls asleep, without crying and for the whole night!

good luck

Monica - posted on 11/25/2008

You are not alone & wow I'm glad to know i'm not either..my son Ethan is 9 months born feb 7th. He was sleeping through the night (6-8 hours) at about 3 months. Then all of the sudden at about 5 months he started waking up at night 3-4 times. I would get up & nurse him back to sleep. Now he is 9 months & he is still waking up at night crying, we don't know what to do to get him to start sleeping through the night again. We have even brought him into bed with us but nothing seems to keep him sleeping. We feel like our only choice is to try letting him cry until he learns to get himself back to sleep. His pediatrician also recommended moving his crib back into our room for awhile so he knows we are close.

Shirin - posted on 11/25/2008

My pediatrician kept insisting that my daughter is not hungry at night since she was six months. After much debate I started diluting her milk with water for a few weeks. And later I did not go in the room after her dream feed at 10 pm (dropped the dream feed at 8 months). She cried a few times but settled herself. If she screamed a lot I just went in there and comforted her but no milk. She has been sleeping 12 hours straight with no feeds in between since 8 months.
Give it a try. Good luck.

Melissa - posted on 11/25/2008

Our daughter started sleeping through the night at 4 months old. The past week, she has refused to stay asleep once we have put her down in her crib. She gets up and starts crawling around while delirious! I know she is teething and it stinks! She keeps waking up and fussing. I decided last night to get up once with her, changer her diaper, feed her a bottle and put her back to bed. She cried for about 15 minutes then slept for the next 7 hours. Teething really sucks! :)

Amanda - posted on 11/24/2008

My daughter is 9 1/2 months (born Feb. 2nd), and she gets up once a night as well. I nurse her for about 10 minutes and then she goes back to bed... everyone tells me that she should be able to sleep through the night, but she won't. She gets up about 3 times a night in total, and 2 of those times she goes back to bed on her own within a couple of minutes. I think that every baby is different, and if my angel needs me once a night- I'm okay with that :o)

Janine - posted on 11/23/2008

My Mia was born on the 26th, up until she was 7 1/2 months she was still getting up at night for a drink. I blame myself for this because I kept giving it to her to keep her quite. She would drink a little and fall right back to sleep. I finally had enough with the waking up and one night I just let her cry. She cried for 1/2 hour, and each night for a couple of nights she would cry less and less. And I 'll be damned, IT WORKED!! She now sleeps through the night!! Once in a while she wakes up crying. She is fussy the last few nights, because I think her teeth are coming through. I hope this helps. It really depends on us mom's to break these habits.

Lynn - posted on 11/23/2008

My lil man sleeps through the night, but the learning process of having him sleep through the night was no fun. My practitioner told me that babies have a natural cycle of sleep where they wake every 2-4 hours, it is just a matter of them learning to put themselves back to sleep. You're "supposed to" let them cry for 15 minutes and then go in and comfort for 1-2 minutes (pick up and cuddle!) and then go back out again. This worked for me, it took about 3 nights for him to learn to put himself to sleep.

Virley - posted on 11/18/2008

Hi guys. My little girl was born feb 8th. Shes done really well to be honest. She started sleeping through the ight when she was about 8 weeks old. What i mean by through the night is say from 11-5. Now, she does wake up a couple of times but she does sufffer with exema. It drives her potty sometimes. She doesnt need feeding at all just a little love and comfort of me then shell go back off. She goes to bed between 8 and 9. I found it better to put her to bed when she was still awake then let her drop off on her own. She doesnt fight it at all at night. Shes still in my bedroom at the moment. I find it hard to let go. So i guess that will be another stage to expect. Good luck to those who need it. I sure do sometimes xx

Megan - posted on 11/18/2008

My daughter Gianna (feb. 26th) is really hit or miss, but mostly miss. I am exclusively nursing and she won't take a binkie so my options are to nurse her or let her cry. I have done both and have found it easier on everyone to just go in and nurse her a few minutes. They are still babies and while they may not need to eat at night they do still need to satisfy their sucking needs. I heard too that it might be bad for them to be up at night but, I also read in an infant sleep book that they always wake up (so do adults) it's just a matter of if they are able to go back to sleep quickly, and ideally on thier own (again like adults). Hang in there!

Melissa - posted on 11/18/2008

Hi Kaci, My son Jordan was born on the 14th (Valentines day) He's the youngest of 4. He started sleeping through at about 4-5 months, until he started teething. I't sbeen a nightmare since. Though occassionally, he'llsleep through, though it'e not that often. He'll wake up for a bottle, occassioally the dummy works, but not always. He'll also wake up and thinks it's playtime..... starts talking, while we tell him otherwise hahaha You're not the only one going through it I promise. My 2 year old also doesn't always sleep through the night, which doesn't help, but I get there. Give it time, she'll get there :)

Dana - posted on 11/17/2008

My munchkin was born Feb. 1st. She was getting up 2 to 3 times a night until I started using a passy. Now she only gets up once a night for a bottle. As soon as she eats she goes back to sleep. Every baby is different, don't let anyone tell you what she should or should not be doing.

Carrie - posted on 11/17/2008

My little guy was born Feb 12 2008 and he was sleeping through the night at about 3 months. That was until he started teething (just last week) and when he would wake up i would just go in there and give him his binki and sometimes that soothed him enought to go back to sleep and other times (3 nights last week) i would just give him some tylenol and then maybe a 4 oz bottle to get his mind off of it. I know he doesnt need to be eating at night (he did great for so many months) but i think it helps him get past the pain... but since he brok those 2 first teeth he is doing better again - sometimes he will wake up but mostly a binki will satisfy him. but then - if i feed him and give him his binki;orajel and that doesnt work i will let him cry for like 10 minutes and that usually helps (wakes my 2 year old - but it works)

Stacey - posted on 11/16/2008

My daughter Emilee has not slept a decent night unless she is in our bed. we tried to put her cot into her room to get her into a routine and well the success of that was her cot is now back in our room. i don't know what to do to get her into her own room. but she only wakes up for me to put her dummy back in but thats about 5 time a night minimum.

Sarah - posted on 11/12/2008

Something that you might try if she is in her own room, is wait about 10 mins before getting her...if she is just fussy, she might put herself back to sleep...something that all babies/kids need to learn how to do!

Bridget - posted on 11/11/2008

My Daughter Ava born Feb 5 does not sleep all night. I was nursing till she was 6 months and she slept all night then once I tried to get her into her crib it has been up and down all night. Sometimes as soon as I go to lay her in bed she wakes up instantly and just wails! So then its a new process to start getting her asleep all over! Hopefully she will grow out of all this and sleep all night soon!

Jemma - posted on 11/11/2008

Your definatley not alone my son Cooper born Feb 26 Has only just started to sleep through, at least 5 out of 7 nights and until now i was getting up from any where from 1 to 5 times a night so hang on it will come, now he goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes at 7am. Goodluck!

Terri - posted on 11/11/2008

My son, born Feb. 1st, falls asleep around 8:30-9. Usually wakes up once between 3:30-4:00. Most of the time he goes back to sleep if he gets a bottle.



No, you're not alone. It's pretty much up to them when they're going to start sleeping through the night. My daughter (now 4 years old) has been sleeping through the night since she was about 3 months old, so this is a big difference for us!

Breann - posted on 11/11/2008

My son goes to sleep around 8:30-9 and wakes between 7:45-9am. He does really well, but he has slept through the night since he was 3 weeks old. He knows his mam needs sleep!!

Nicole - posted on 11/11/2008

my lil girl was born on the 25th and i still get up with her..sometimes more then once a night. its been one for a week or so but i find it if i dont feed her she will cry and cry and cry.. sometimes she will go back to sleep on her own or i try to put her pacicfer back in her mouth. sometimes it works soemtimes it doesnt. so dont feel left out.. mine still does it !!

Claire - posted on 11/11/2008

My little girl was born Feb 15 and I only just got her sleeping through the night this past week. I just stopped feeding her when she got up to see what would happen. She went back to sleep within a few minutes. A few days later she wasn't waking up at all. I find that she is in a better mood in the mornings now. I think she's not so tired anymore.

Tayla - posted on 11/11/2008

Shannon had been sleeping thru the night starting around 2 weeks old but now, she'll be 9 months tomorrow, she wakes up during the night. I don't get it. I'm hoping it's just because she's teething. She got her 2 bottom teeth in August and we had about a week of her getting up but now it's been going on for over a month, I'm wondering if the top teeth take longer to come in.
Sometimes all she needs is for me to put the pacifier back in her mouth, other times she needs a bottle

Kirendip - posted on 11/10/2008

Hey, my little boy is just hungry and also falls asleep straight after the feed anywhere around 4 - 6am. Health visitors say that they probably weren't satisfied as much in the day....thats crap because he eats loads and all I seem to be doing is feeding him through the day. Dont worry, I've had 2 others and at this stage its just a matter of time when they'll just stop....probably when they get on finger foods and more whole foods. Oh and the teething issue....

Teresa - posted on 11/10/2008

Thank goodness I am not the only one. My little boy was born feb 21 and for months he was sleeping from about 6:30pm to 4-4:30 am then would feed and go back to sleep. Not anymore. He started teething and continued teething (on the 8th tooth now) and ever since then I am up usually 2 times with him. I also have a 3 year old who has never like sleeping and still gets up at night (but only with him he stays up for 2 - 3 hrs). It is very normal for babies to still be getting up at night still, some are more hungry than others. If your little girl is just up long enough to quickly feed and go back to bed then I wouldn't worry. Good luck....