sleeping

Lauren - posted on 09/27/2009

Quoting Carolanne:

My baby girl has been sleeping 8-12 hrs. a night since she was 6 wks. She's 4 months now but she only will sleep with her blankie over her face and paci in her mouth. But she sleeps hard! I might just be lucky though.

blankets over the face can cause an increased risk of SIDS. 

Lauren - posted on 09/27/2009

if you haven't read what to expect the first year, i suggest getting it because it gives many helpful hints! if he's waking up to eat, it may just be outta habit. the best thing to do is to see if he'll quite down and go back to sleep on his own. if he wears the mitts so he doesn't scratch his face, take them off, he may find his thumb and suck it until he's back to sleep. that's how it worked for my baby girl.

Cesiah - posted on 09/26/2009

i havent been able to have my baby sleep throught the whole night either, he wakes up once to eat and then goes right back to sleep. I guess it's not too bad but it will be nice when he sleeps the whole night :), he is also 4 months 2 wks

Anna - posted on 09/25/2009

i found that the most helpful thing was starting a routine. i started this around 2 1/2 months with my little girl and she now sleeps through the night. first we do a bath, then read a story, a bottle and then she's asleep. we used to swaddle her and that really helped. also along with her routine we played soft music during her feeding. hope this helps.

Jessecua - posted on 09/25/2009

My daughter is 4 months old and has been sleeping through the night for about the last 3 weeks. I increased her last bottle before bed (from 4oz to 6oz) and started laying her down while she was still awake, so she could find a way to put herself to sleep. It took me about 4 nights and now she is sleeping though the night for about 10hrs. Now, those were some really sleepless nights, so try it around a weekend. When she awoke in the middle of the night, I would check on her, but I wouldn't talk to or feed her and she started to just fall right back to sleep on her own.

Amanda - posted on 09/25/2009

A neighbor of mine suggested the Conair Sound Machine for when I was struggling to help our daughter fall and stay asleep. (She has struggled with her bedtime routines and staying asleep from age 2 1/2 to 4 months). She is now 4 months. The Conair Sound Machine has sound therapy. Sound choices such as; ocean waves, rainfall, (both of her favorites) thunderstorm, running streams, white noise to name a few. It really has been a godsend to us! Before we bought the machine; she would wake up and hear EVERYTHING in our house and outside! It was pretty frustrating! Now, right before bed or naptime, we do the bottle and I turn on the sound machine and rock her. By the time she is finished with her bottle; she is asleep and is placed in her crib. You can buy the Conair Sound machine at Target. They only sell it online for some reason. It is worth the purchase! My husband even falls asleep to it and wants one in our room! LOL! I hope this helps!!

Jessica - posted on 09/25/2009

i have the same problem but since i just started feeding him rice cereal im hopeing that itll be better....and 18 weeks my lil man is already 20 lbs so the doctor said to feed it to him with a spoon which he is pretty good at and then in 3 weeks feed him oatmeal

Jodie - posted on 09/25/2009

My son is 4 months old.. I keep him awake from around 5pm, he has a nice bath, massage and his bottle at 6.30 and he likes to still be wrapped in a cotton wrap and he goes to sleep on his own by around 7ish. I used to rock him to sleep and they say thats bad cos then if he wakes up he wont settle himself, so try to get him to fall asleep himself. He used to wake up 2 or 3 times for a bottle and he would drink better in the night then the day, so I started to give him less at night and not pick him up, I put a pillow under his head and only gave him between 60 - 80 mls the first night instead of 150 or 200. Then the next night about 50 - 60 mls and then stopped completely. Now if he wakes I try to just give him his bottle, he wakes up around 10.30 now and I give him as much as he wants but nothing more to drink til the morning after 5.30am.. Seemed to work for him, plus I started this day to give him a bit of pureed pumpkin, only a couple of teaspoons he loves it, didnt like the rice cereal.. Hope it helps.

Leah - posted on 09/24/2009

My son Archer just turned 4 months and sleeps from 10-12 hours a night. He started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks. I started a bedtime routine of pjs, lavender lotion massage, lullabies and breastfeeding or bottle. The routine really helps, it takes a couple days though. When I put him down, I leave the room and wait. I only go in if he is really crying, not fussing. If he is really mad, I calm him down, give him his binky and leave the room again. Once he is in his crib I dont take him out to calm him. Also try some white noise, like a fan or humidifier. Hope this helps

Lorna - posted on 09/24/2009

How old is your baby? If he or she is smaller than 3 months you can try swaddling. It makes your baby sleep longer although its a little bit addictive and will take some time to make your baby sleep without it but its a relief it you are tired at night.

Amber - posted on 09/24/2009

try a bed time bath before you put the baby to sleep

Katelyn - posted on 09/24/2009

how old is your baby??? i had that problem with my daughter and it was cause she was still hungry i started giving her a little bit of rice cereal about an hour and a half before bed time...and she slept through the night

Andrea - posted on 09/24/2009

I have a breastfeed 4 month old lil girl. She has always been a great sleeper from day one sleeping 6 1/2 or more hours straight at night. When she hit her 3 month mark though she went through a sleep change and growing spurt of wanting to eat more exspecially at night it seemed. This went on for a few weeks, but than I started cereal mix with my milk and oh how wonderful our nights got. I also agree with a good routine bath,massage,story ect.. My lil girl gets so excited when she gets out of her bath and sees her pj that it's almost funny. She is now sleeping from 10 to 13 hours straight with no problem.

Angela - posted on 09/24/2009

little rice cereal for his last feeding before bed table spoon rice cereal and formula or BM in a feeder worked for my daughter

Jeanette - posted on 09/21/2009

my daughter was the same way i agree with lauren because my daughter didnt like to be snugged up after 2 months she was just not having it a nice warm bath is the way to go then play with your baby a little after wards then warm up a bottle and rock the baby for a bit then once the baby is done burp and lay the baby down and put on some soothing music then its gold from there :) GOOD LUCK!

Lauren - posted on 09/21/2009

I also wanted to say..and I noticed a huge difference when I did this.

Getting into a bedtime routine is key.

Give him a nice warm bath in the J&J lavendar soap, then give him a nice massage with the lavendar lotion, bottle and bed...

Lauren - posted on 09/21/2009

I think this is a problem we all want answers to.

Up until 13-14wks my son was up every few hrs and NEVER slept during the day. Around that time he was waking up to eat at 2 and 4 so I just stopped giving him the bottle. And eventually he stopped waking up at 2 and now he will wake up at 4. Sometimes I can give him his pacifier and he'll fall right back to sleep but sometimes he is restless, sucking on his pass so hard he cant keep it in his mouth and then gets fussy..But the last 3 nights he has slept from 7:30 -8:00 without waking up at all but he also only naps about 2 hrs total a day. I think at 4 months they are still trying to get into a routine. If your still giving him bottles at night I would start pushing it back a half hour every night until he stops taking them. It's alot of work but so worth it.

So just say he always wakes up at 2, wait until 230 to feed him then 3 and so on. As you do this he'll start waking up later and later. I hope I could help a little.

Caitelyn - posted on 09/21/2009

My son was like that - I took him to sleep school and they taught me a form of controlled crying. When he is whining, I leave him, but if he starts to get really upset, I go in, put his dummy back in, cover him back up, pat or rub his tummy, once he stops, I walk out again.



They also taught me that its best for him to have a "two hours up, two hours down" - that is, awake for two or so hours (if they fall asleep earlier thats fine) then put them in their bed - they have two hours in bed, they get to decide what they do in that two hours in bed. It doesnt take long for them to realise that it means bedtime.



I also found that (if he's in a bassinet or cradle still) that my son got too big, even though he looked like he stil fitted - once we moved him to the cot, we got better sleeps from him.



I was also taught about early "tired signs" - these have really helped us establish when he is and isnt actually tired.

Signs such as jerky movements, disinterest in playing anymore (bub will look like he's bored), putting his hands over his eyes or rubbing his face, sucking his fingers/dummy are all early tired signs, and if you get him to bed quick enough, he'll have a better sleep.



I also - even though they say they dont need to be swaddled after 4 months (and my son is 4.5 months) - still swaddle him because he still has the startle reflex and wakes himself up, not to mention that if he is cold, he'l wake up too



Hope this helps!!!!

Carolanne - posted on 09/20/2009

My baby girl has been sleeping 8-12 hrs. a night since she was 6 wks. She's 4 months now but she only will sleep with her blankie over her face and paci in her mouth. But she sleeps hard! I might just be lucky though.

Sacha - posted on 09/20/2009

My little girl started sleeping through at 10 weeks, she seeps for 12 hours a night. But during the day she only sleeps for a half hour at a time and only has 4 of those. It makes it hard to get things done at home, but the pay off is a full nights sleep. I empathise so much with you and can't imagine being in that zombie mode now. If your bub is sleeping heaps in the day, try to keep him awake for a little bit longer and maybe he will get worn out and sleep for longer at night. Good luck!

Marla - posted on 09/20/2009

I started my 4 month old on a little rice cereal at night.....he still woke up to eat...but now I have figured it out....he wakes up and wants the interaction between myself and him. So now when he wakes up, I wrap him up tight like a burito....put him in the swing....and he goes back to sleep!!! AAAHHH a full night sleep!!! It's been two days now!!!

Jessica - posted on 09/20/2009

Quoting Caronne:

How old is he? Also is he breastfeed or on formula?

he is on formula an is 4 mth old

Amber - posted on 09/19/2009

how old is your baby?

Caronne - posted on 09/19/2009

How old is he? Also is he breastfeed or on formula?