How to get a 5 month old, to fall asleep by himself and to sleep through the night? need advise

Karman - posted on 07/26/2010

thats true. I will keep doing what i'm doing and see how i get on. Thanks again

Robin - posted on 07/23/2010

Hi! Try to keep in mind that 5 months is still really young. Sleeping through the night is what we all strive for, but enjoy every minute of your time with him even if it is in the wee hours of the morning. He was "inside" for nine months and was never without you. He has only been "outside" for five and does not understand why you are not always there when he needs your comfort. After nine months if he is still having sleep trouble then try some new techniques. In the meantime keep a good, consistent routine. Put him to bed when he is sleepy, but still awake, keep lights low and minimal talking during night feeds and just enjoy the journey, it goes by far too quickly.

Karman - posted on 07/23/2010

Hi, Thanks for all your advise. He does have a bed time routine but I think i'm going to just put him in his cot when he's fed and change and see what happen. Thanks again.

Karey - posted on 07/23/2010

Just have a consistent schedule. Between 6 and 7:00 p.m. I give my daughter a cereal feeding, then I give her a bath. She usually chills for a little while afterwards and then she gets a bottle of breastmilk around 8. She sleeps any where from 8:30 - 9:00 until 6 in the morning. She has been doing this routine since she was two months old. If she does get up through the night for a bottle, I make sure to keep all of the lights off and no noises as she wants to play. I change her, give her a bottle and rock her back to sleep.

Jessica - posted on 07/22/2010

I began using strategies from the book called Baby Wise to help get him on a regular sleep/wake cycle. It's taken a lot of hard work and patience on our part, but my little guy is 4 month 1 week and he's been sleeping from 8:00pm-6:00am since he was 10 weeks old. The key is to make sure he's full and to be consistent with a bedtime routine. Our routine what I call the "Triple B". Bath, Bubba and Bed. We use the lavendar and chamomille soap, he gets about 4 ounces of expressed breast milk and then it's bed, whether he's fallen asleep or not. Lauren made good points in that he needs to learn how to be in his crib awake and to fall asleep on his own. It's tough, especially if they cry, but in the long run it's worth it. Bryce seems to love his bed now and gets excited when I start to put him in his sleeper blanket, as if he knows it's time to chill. Just remember that you're doing a great job.

Kimberly - posted on 07/22/2010

He could also be going through a growth spurt, which would keep him getting up to eat through out the night. My son is as well...it's getting better though...I find that a couple of times he will fall back to sleep if i give him his pacifier...

Lauren - posted on 07/21/2010

I'd try by starting to set an time every night where you lay him in his crib when he's calm, and fed and changed, whether he sleeps or not at first he needs to learn to drop off by himself.



I feed my son, burp him, change him, then I put him down by 11pm. He usually takes about half an hour to drop off, but he doesn't wake again til around 3am, where I then feed change and burp him, then put him back down where he sleeps til about 7am.



My son is 4 1/2 months and he's teething, so this is good as he's never been a sleeper!



Also, when he wakes, try to keep it quiet for him,and relatively dark, like a lamp, and no loud noises. He needs to know the difference between night and day, so daytime, be normal, with telly on and washing machine hoover etc, but night keep it calm and quiet.



My health visitor suggested this and it really helps him drop back off to sleep within half and hour. While he sleeps I sleep. My sisters son took around 6 7 months to properly settle for the night. I hope this helps. x