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my 5 month old still wakes every 3 hours

Kathryn - posted on 06/08/2009 ( 4 moms have responded )

is anyone in the same position as myself? my baby keeps waking through the night, sometimes i have to nurse her back to sleep and sometimes the dummy will settle her. have been bringing her into bed with me which i really didn't want to get into the habit of doing but it's the only way we both get sleep. My boyfriend is sleeping in the spare room! want her to go into her own room soon but don't want to do that until i'm confident that she won't be waking up all the time! anyone got any tips?? xx

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Megan - posted on 06/09/2009

add some rice cereal into her last bottle at night its keep my baby asleep thru the night and she has been sleeping 12 hours since 2 months.....also have you increased the amount of formula and have you started her on food...i started my daughter on food at 4 1/2 months because she was wanting to eat every 3 hours and it has gotten so much better. hope this helps

Romance - posted on 06/09/2009

I read a book that really helped us get into a routine - its starts by putting the baby on a 4 hour feeding schedule during the day & then naturally the baby starts to sleep longer at night (4-6 hour stretches). Last night we started a new approach (given by family) that for 3 nights you just have to let them cry during the night (torture, i know) but then they will get used to not eating at night. Since we feed her alot during the day she is not suffering it's just a matter of habit. So last night she woke up 2x but both times we gave her the pacifier and pushed her back to sleep (w/out eating). It went better than I expected we were just getting too exhausted waking up everytime she was hungry. The name of the book is:

http://www.babycoach.net/ (baby sleep solution). We met Suzy in person and she's so sweet and this was the ONLY book I read on babies!!!

PS. I also add two teaspoons of rice cereal to her last bottle which keeps her full too!

Michelle - posted on 06/08/2009

My son is just 5 months, but he's about 18 lbs and at 4 months my Dr told me that I could start feeding him rice cereal- so about an hour before bed I mix 1teaspoon of rice cereal with 1 Tablespoon of either formula or breastmilk. I have also started feeding him about 3 or 4 oz of formula before bed. I have found that this fills him up better than when I breastfeed him- since I have noticed that when I pump, my production seems lower. I would say give that a try.

The other thing I will mention is that she may be hitting another wonderful growth spurt- and might just need more food (a.k.a. more breastfeeding at night) but the cereal and some formula should help. If you are not using formula you can just do a bottle of breastmilk, but the good thing is you know exactly how much she is eating and if she still seems to be hungry, then breast feed her before she goes to sleep. I hope I have helped....

Beth - posted on 06/08/2009

I know that breast feeding is the best but the only thing that worked for me was to put cereal in the bottle before bed. It makes them feel fuller so they don't wake up hungary.