Sleeping longer at night...all the tricks....

Shawn - posted on 02/24/2009

I have heard that sleep patterns are purely a development issue and not anything that you do will affect it. You can have a solid routine, but the fact is...life isn't a big routine, or we would all go insane from boredom.

My son, Aidan, will turn 3 months tomorrow. He has settled into a routine of sleeping from 7 pm to about 3 am nightly. He is exclusively breastfed, No nightly baths, rice cereal, etc.

hang in there. All babies will develop on their own...there is no "magic tricks" to get them to sleep. Every baby is different and you will know your own boy best.

Rhonda - posted on 02/24/2009

hello, my little girl was born on the first of Nov and we usually get a 6/7 hr stratch of sleep at night. she has a bath at about 6:30 then a 45min sleep followed by breast feed and usually some stewed apple or pear. Like Nicole I know she should go to bed earlier but she goes down at about 10-10:30 and sleeps through till round 5. if she wakes up earlier we try putting her dummy in and letting her put herself back to sleep. seems to work most nights!!!

Rhonda - posted on 02/24/2009

hello, my little girl was born on the first of Nov and we usually get a 6/7 hr stratch of sleep at night. she has a bath at about 6:30 then a 45min sleep followed by breast feed and usually some stewed apple or pear. Like Nicole I know she should go to bed earlier but she goes down at about 10-10:30 and sleeps through till round 5. if she wakes up earlier we try putting her dummy in and letting her put herself back to sleep. seems to work most nights!!!

Jody - posted on 02/24/2009

My son who was born on 11/7 has a very similar schedule. He goes to sleep anywhere from 7:45-9pm and sleeps for 3-4 hours till around 12/1am, then he sleeps another 2-3 hours (3 or 4 am) and then he typically wakes every hour until around 6am. I have a 2 and half year old daughter who was a better sleeper. I feel like I have him on a good schedule but he just doesn't like sleep like my daughter did. I've also found that naps aren't consistent. I've tried letting him cry for 5,10, 15 minutes but it hasn't done anything to soothe him. We are also still swaddling him as he wakes up quickly if not swaddled. Just wanted to share my experience.

Jenn - posted on 02/24/2009

Hi,

 My son Landon was also born on November 4th.  :) He is a GREAT sleeper. He usually gets his last bottle around 6:30 and is in bed by 7ish. He no longer wakes up at night to eat and usually wont woke up til 6:00 am. He eats every 2 hours during the day and stays very active playing with toys and jumping in his jumparoo. he also doesn't nap much...maybe a total of 3 hours during the day. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Jen - posted on 02/23/2009

Hi, my son has been sleeping 10 hours straight from 10pm until 8am since he was 6 weeks old. He's 3 months old now and we usually feed him about 8oz of formula after a baby massage (using bedtime massage gel-the lavender scented kind) and then we swaddle him. He's doesn't have any problem falling asleep or staying asleep :) We also give him a pacifier, which I'm sure helps him relax and fall back asleep if he happens to wake up during the night.

Jasmine - posted on 02/22/2009

Hello there,

I have been following the book babywise since my son was born.  Which is a routine where you feed the baby 7 to 8 times during the day, so then by night they are able to go without so many feedings.  It sounds like your baby has an internal clock waking them up and what you might try is to push him by having him cry through some of those moments..  I know it is hard, but we have done that and our son goes to bed around 8/9 and then wakes up around 4 and the other night made it til 5:30.  I also push him longer between feeding during the day, no longer than 3 half hours and so to build up his tolerance.  Now some babies need more feedings, so I am just telling you what works for us.  You know your baby and his cries so he might need more feedings.  Hope this helps.

Jasmine

Kylie - posted on 02/22/2009

My baby was born 18 November and he has been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks old. He goes down between 8.30-9.30pm and wakes again at about 6.30. I am breast feeding but am finding that its not enough to satisfy him so he has top ups of formula aswell, usually between 50-80mls.

Although he doesn't sleep much during the day, he always seems to be hungry and cries all the time i try to leave him cry for awhile but he doesn't seem to want to sleep, so i had to close the curtains during the day just so that he will sleep and that works.

Karen - posted on 02/22/2009

My daughter, Avarielle, is also exclusively brestfed.  The main thing for me is that during the day I try to make sure I am eating heavy to be sure she is getting enough (little things like adding Carnation instant breakfast to my milk help with giving extra nutrients).  I also give her the choice of wether she wants to sleep during the day or stay awake and play.  9 times out of 10 she wants to play and we do and we play even more when her older siblings get home from school.  At night after 8 or 9pm I start getting her ready for bed by wrapping her in her blanket while I give her that feeding and I let her eat as long as she wants to even if it means offering both breasts.  She is down for the night by about 10pm.....she usually wakes up once between 4 and 6 and then she's down again until her Dad gets home from work (he works 3rd shift) between 8 and 9am.  I tend to make sure Dad is the first person she see when she wakes up so that they have quality time together in the morning.  She will usually hold off on her feeding to spend time with her Daddy.

Sara - posted on 02/22/2009

i dont have bottle issues she sleep great most nights from 9 til 6 but she keeps getting her legs stuck in the crib rails and i have to get up to move her back to the mddle of the crib...

Jaime - posted on 02/20/2009

I had the same problem with my son.  He'd wake up around 3am and only eat an ounce or two.   I figure if he was really hungry that he'd eat more than that.  So I just stopped feeding him that 3 am feeding.  I did it gradually though.  The first night I let him cry for half an hour, I'd give him his pacifier and if he didn't go back to sleep then I'd get up and feed him.  The next time I'd do the same thing only wait a little longer to feed him.  He graudally started waking up later.  Now we give him his last feeding around 9pm and then he wakes up between 4 and 5am and drinks a whole bottle and then will sleep until 7am.  So I am just getting up once at night.  I sometimes think that he's waking up out of habit during that one night feeding, but I figure if he stops eating as much during that 4am feeding, than I'll do the same thing to gradually get him used to eating later.  That's just what I did though.  I tried cereal too, and it didn't work for my baby, so I am just going to have to wait until he sleeps through the night when he wants to.

Melissa - posted on 02/20/2009

Hi hun, my bub was born 19 Nov & he only wakes once for a feed during the night. He's exclusively breastfed. Feeds 3 hourly during the day. Has a bath between 6 - 6:30pm & I try to get him into bed by 7pm - 8pm. He then sleeps through till 2 - 3am & wakes for a feed & sleeps through till 7 - 8am.

Jennifer - posted on 02/20/2009

After implementing some of the advice from the book "12 hrs sleep by 12 wks" my 3 month old is now sleeping most nights from 9pm-7am! I have extended her feedings during the day to every 4 hrs and try to keep her awake in the evening so she is good and tired when bed time comes. This generally works but sometimes she wakes up at 4am but I just put her soother back in and she generally goes back to sleep.

Tracey - posted on 02/20/2009

Im wondering the same thing! We were on a pretty good sleep routine of 3-4 hours each stretch and then up for nursing for about 45 min (shes half asleep during this...me...not so much) but recently its been terrible...up for most of the night...wanting to be rocked to sleep or eat. I was wondering about the rice cereal..i may try that tonight for the first time...but i thought you had to wait til they were at least 4 months?

Nicole - posted on 02/20/2009

Hi there... my 3 month old son drinks his last feeding (8ounces) around 10pm... then it's off to bed (I know I should put him to bed earlier).  I noticed that after a feeding and then after soothing bath... he gets a little fussy afterwards letting me know hes tired... the moment I put him down in his crib ... his eyes are shut and I hear the lovely sound of snoozing. He'll sleep for a good 4 to 5 hours before waking up hungry. I should try rice cereal though :0)