Help, my baby is almost 5 months old and wakes up at least 4 times at night still

Rebecca - posted on 02/03/2009

Hey

 

My baby is seven months and doing the same.  After a lot of research and advice we are trying the controlled crying technique so he learns to put himself to sleep when he wakes up at night.  He has a full tummy of food and milk before he goes to sleep and I feed him for the last time when he wakes before 11pm.  Tonight will be the 3rd night and so far he hasn't cried too much and is putting himself back to sleep within 15 mins. 

 

Hopefully by next week he'll be sleeping and so will I.  I am looking forward to more than 3 hours sleep at a time since he was born.

 

Hope it gets better for you.

Kim - posted on 02/03/2009

Quoting Karen:

Quoting Shawnell:

Help, my baby is almost 5 months old and wakes up at least 4 times at night still

Most of the time it is to eat, sometimes i can give his binky to him to hold him over a little longer.
Yes, I am nursing and he is sleeping in his own room.
If you have any suggestions please let me know

Hi!

    At this age , your babay is probably looking for a little "weight" in his or her tummy. I realize that you breastfeed, but try a bottle with breast milk mixed with 2 or 3 tsp. of Rice cereal (you may have to use a bigger nipple hole---like 2 but not a cereal nippleunless it is just too thick). Give him a bottle of this before bedtime after a warm bath. I bet you will soon see results!

Good Luck! :0)

FYI: It's not safe to put rice cereal in a bottle. Is this advice from a pediatrician?

Kim - posted on 02/03/2009

Quoting Jamie:

At 5 months, he is old enough to sleep through the night without a feeding.  My suggestion is to read Dr. Ferber's book.  It is not simply letting him "Cry it out", his book talks about many different aspects of sleep, the number of hours he needs, etc.  We did it with our son (and it was hard at first), but now he goes down at 7pm, maybe, maybe, maybe wakes once for his binki (against Ferber's rules), and then sleeps until 630. 

My son was a comfort eater, so I was desperate to try anything, like you said, sometimes I could give him his binki to hold him over, then when I would put him on my boob, he would "eat" for a minute or 2 then be back to sleep.  That is when I turned to Dr. Ferber's book.

I hope this helps...good luck :)

I would recommend The No Cry Sleep Solution as opposed to Ferber as a much gentler way to soothe your child into sleeping.

And most children don't sleep through the night until they're 2, so I don't understand why we try to force them to.

Kim - posted on 02/03/2009

1. formula isn't more filling. that's a fallicy - you're doing the right thing to allow him to nurse on demand at such a young age. don't be discouraged.

2. babies don't sleep through the night until they're around 2.

3. can you express milk for bottles so your partner can take a couple nighttime feedings?

Kim

http://orlandosentinel.com/momsatwork

Ildiko - posted on 02/03/2009

Hi! Here is what I did. My girls ate too much from the very beginning, so at five month, my milk couldn't follow their appetite. So, the evening started with some cereals. There are many brands with different flavors made just for the young ones.These are also gluten free. After having this, I was breast feeding them and they slept through the night.

Jamie - posted on 02/03/2009

At 5 months, he is old enough to sleep through the night without a feeding.  My suggestion is to read Dr. Ferber's book.  It is not simply letting him "Cry it out", his book talks about many different aspects of sleep, the number of hours he needs, etc.  We did it with our son (and it was hard at first), but now he goes down at 7pm, maybe, maybe, maybe wakes once for his binki (against Ferber's rules), and then sleeps until 630. 

My son was a comfort eater, so I was desperate to try anything, like you said, sometimes I could give him his binki to hold him over, then when I would put him on my boob, he would "eat" for a minute or 2 then be back to sleep.  That is when I turned to Dr. Ferber's book.

I hope this helps...good luck :)

Cathleen - posted on 02/03/2009

"A good rule of thumb is once they develop teeth, it might be time to go to the bottle. "

Why?  I think that's terrible advice and has nothing to do with the the baby.

Donna - posted on 02/03/2009

First off, good for you for breastfeeding!  It is a wonderful thing you're doing for your little one :)

Secondly, I don't have any advice because my son is almost 8 months old and still getting up to nurse 1- 3 times a night.  He eats baby food 3 times a day and it doesn't help him sleep longer at all.  His usual pattern is:  bath, boob and bed around 8 pm.  He will sleep until anywhere between 11pm and 2 am before he wakes up again.  If he wakes before 11 pm, I know it's going to be a bad night because whenever he does that, he seems to wake up every 2 hours thereafter.  I had to do a lot of experimenting with when to feed him, we used to do a dreamfeed, but that was just making it worse.  Maybe try nursing him a couple of different times at night (9 pm vs. 11 pm for example) and see if an earlier or later feeding helps him sleep longer.

FWIW, my older son was formula fed and he slept through the night from 10 weeks on.  It was great to have sleep, but I missed out on the nursing relationship with him and though I am tired with #2, I wish I'd BFed my first son too.

It's so hard when they don't STTN.  I have felt like I was losing my mind at times.  I hope he turns a corner for you and gives you a much-needed break.

Aimee - posted on 02/03/2009

The most comforting thing anyone every told me about pregnancy/baby problems:
"It is only temporary."
It may seem like it's going on forever when they are waking you up all night, but he will sleep through the night eventually, and then you will, too, so do what you feel is best for your baby.
If you've gone to the trouble (and it is work!) of nursing him so far, I would really hesitate to jump to formula or cereal as a solution. I heartily agree with Natalie Jeffery's post below. I really believe that your milk is the best thing for your baby, it's made especially for him and changes in response to his demands. Honestly, I'm a little horrified at the suggestions that you should wean him at not even 5 months-I breastfed both of my older kids until at least a year and a half and let them wean on their own.
Every child is different. I've always been jealous of moms who claim their kids slept through the night right away, mine sure didn't until well after their first birthdays. So I guess I don't have any good advice on getting them to sleep, except that eventually, they will.

Cathleen - posted on 02/03/2009

"A good rule of thumb is once they develop teeth, it might be time to go to the bottle. "

Why?  I think that's terrible advice and has nothing to do with the the baby.

Melissa - posted on 02/03/2009

I nursed both of my kids - 1 until 6 months and the other until 8 months and they both started sleeping through the night at around 12 weeks. My pediatrician told me that waking up to feed during the night after this point was usually as a result of a habit that has formed and not out of necessity (unless your baby was born premature or some other medical reason). I completely agree with some of the other posts in that you should try some formula before he goes down for the night. As for the bottle, I would try to work on giving him some formula in a bottle every now and again during the day to try to get him used to it and it may take another family member (someone he is comfortable with) to get him to take the bottle at first. There is usually at least one time during a 24 hour period where a breast fed baby will go a longer period of time between feedings. You need to try and feed regularly during the "waking" hours and save this longer lapse in time for the night. Trying solid foods or cereal will also help with keeping him full for the night. You may need to have someone else go into his room at night when he wakes up to give him his binky. If you are the one to go to him when he wakes, he smells your breast milk as soon as you enter the room. I hope some of this information helps.

Cathleen - posted on 02/03/2009

Mine is 15 months and still wakes up thoughout the night to nurse....my other nursed to 16 months and happily slept through the night....every baby is different.  I have no advice...just perspective. 

Missy - posted on 02/03/2009

My son did that until almost 10 months!!!! ugh... I learned my mistake was that i always nursed him to sleep. So when he woke up during the night, which we all do even as adults, he didnt know how to go back to sleep without a boob in his mouth. I found an awsome book "Good night sleep tight" by The sleep Lady- Kim West. It saved my life! Its an alternative to the cry it out method. Each age is different, but for my sons age, I had to ween him off and put him to sleep awake.  He cried alot!! but i stayed by his side and comforted him till he feel asleep, and each night moved farther away from his bed. The whole thing took 2 weeks. he is 20 months now and has a great sleep schedule!

Jennifer - posted on 02/03/2009

Try feeding him rice cereal. Also I had the same problem we would let him cry for 30 minutes and 90% of the time he went back to sleep and after a week or soon he started to just sleep through the night.

Allison - posted on 02/03/2009

If you are not feeding him cereal you should start. He could actually be eating fruits and veggies too. The more he eats during the day the less he will wake up to eat at night. You should keep trying the binky too bc once you start to feed him in the middle of the night it starts to form a habit. My baby has been sleeping through the night since she was six weeks old which is when I started feeding her cereal. Try it..I hope it works:)

Andrea - posted on 02/03/2009

I gave my son formula. He started sleeping through the night at 12 weeks. Just a suggestion.. I honestly don't know if this will work or not, but if you're up for it.. right before he goes to bed - give him formula milk. That might fill him up a little longer than your breast milk. I've had girlfriends who had children not drink out of certain nipples.. but it ended up that they always found one. If my son woke up crying - I always waited a few minutes - sometimes he fell back to sleep all on his own. Good Luck!

Patty - posted on 02/03/2009

Oh,i just realized youare breastfeeding. I have four girls of my own and i let them sleep with me while i am breastfeeding and my experienced is i breastfeed them and they just let go from latching when they r in deep sleep . And i found out that it is easier for me than to keep waking up every now and then so now my other three is in their own room now and my baby is 12months now and i am weaning her also cozall my babies never used bottle it ismy own choiced actually, so u can actually pump and used bottle as ur alternative ...

Heather - posted on 02/03/2009

I can totally understand. My son is 5 months and we are fighting this battle but he is starting to sleep through the night now. We also tried the cry it out method that was working and then he got a cold and we are started all over. It is working but I also give him food at like 7ish with some rice cereal. that has helped a lot. The past few nights I have tried just soothing him back to sleep which helps but he wakes but up in an hour or two. But he sleeps good until like 1ish then that's when he wakes up.

Rashmi - posted on 02/03/2009

Hi

Try mixing some rice cereal in Babies last bottle. I use to feed my daughter the last bottle at 11:00p.m mixed with some rice cereal. Initially she would still wake up at night for milk but I did not give her any and with less than a weeks time she got use to not having milk in the middle of night. She would wake up early in the morning around 5:30am or so to have milk.

Good Luck.

Karen - posted on 02/03/2009

Quoting Shawnell:

Help, my baby is almost 5 months old and wakes up at least 4 times at night still

Most of the time it is to eat, sometimes i can give his binky to him to hold him over a little longer.
Yes, I am nursing and he is sleeping in his own room.
If you have any suggestions please let me know

Hi!

    At this age , your babay is probably looking for a little "weight" in his or her tummy. I realize that you breastfeed, but try a bottle with breast milk mixed with 2 or 3 tsp. of Rice cereal (you may have to use a bigger nipple hole---like 2 but not a cereal nippleunless it is just too thick). Give him a bottle of this before bedtime after a warm bath. I bet you will soon see results!

Good Luck! :0)

Amelia - posted on 02/03/2009

I had this same problem have you started weaning him yet ?if so i used to feed my son as usual and then just before bed i fed him some baby porridge it worked for me ,if you havent started weaning then pehapes start asap as i think boys are hungrer and he may just want food now aswell ! good luck i still have to give my son porridge or somethink and he is 2 and half , or he wakes for more milk still although stop nurseing now .

Rachel - posted on 02/03/2009

lol to sharon " cant do this forever" guess they've got to leave home eventually...

Amy - posted on 02/03/2009

Have you started him on cereal yet? You might try a little depending what the doctor says.

Sharon - posted on 02/03/2009

I can sure relate to that one! My daughter slept soundly all through the night on her second night home from the hospital! My son on the other hand STILL wakes me up at LEAST once a night, sometimes twice! He's 3&half! YEARS! They're all so different, sometimes it all comes down to their personality! Ride it out...everything is just a phase...sometimes a really long one! Gotta tell ourselves they cant continue this forever...CAN THEY!?

Lisa - posted on 02/03/2009

i was told that when they start waking up at night they are ready for weaning, try babyrice etc, this might fill your littleone up a bit more, hope he settles down soon for you xx

Rachel - posted on 02/03/2009

well, ive got 6 children, and they are all different... my youngest was 5 months and 1 week or so when i gave her a little rice cereal... and i certainly had no stomach problems..... it helped her to not be waking 4-5 times between 12 and 6am... and helped me, by my not being so tired and run down.... on saying that... yes they will still wake for other reasons... wetting the bed, night mares, sick, teething.. or just to cuddle,, its nothing for me to be up to at least 2 children through the night... but if you can help by atleast getting 3 hours solid sleep,,, hey im all for it. ... { i havnt slept more than 4 hours straight in over 7 yrs.} anyway... who said anything about "stuffing" a baby full of solids... my littlie sometimes only has 2-3 teaspoons , sometimes she doesnt want it at all... we take each day as it comes...oh and i had the breastfeeding association of australia tell me that it was ok to introduce solids in small amounts from about 5 months if they seemed to need more. that was with my first.it wont hurt thier tummies to have rice cereal... i wouldnt rush other foods though....... but thats just my opinion and what has worked for me... baby after baby after baby..lol

Christina - posted on 02/03/2009

Every baby is different. Maybe he is ready for cereal. How can they say that you shouldn't feed your baby solids until 6 months? Every baby grows and develops at different rates. Can they say that every baby will crawl at 6 months..No they can't! It's just a average. Some babies need it before 6 months, and some babies are not ready at 6 months and will have to wait. I started giving my little girl cereal at 4 and 1/2 months. I would breastfeed her and she still seemed hungry. She wouldn't take any more milk but she didnt seem satisfied. I breastfeed her until she won't take any more and then i give her 1-2 teaspoons of cereal. She's more content and sleeps through the night now

Jaime - posted on 02/03/2009

I am nursing and I moved my 4 month old into our room (bassinet not our bed) and she stared sleeping through the night right away. I also started to pick her up and feed her a little right before I went to sleep even if she ate one hour before, just to top her off (about 11:00 pm). He may be waking up just for time with you so being in the same room may help. Also, we started giving her cereal mixed with breast milk (spoon fed) at night. It is a fun activity for her and it keeps her full. I breast feed her still about an hour after she eats her cereal. Good luck

Natalie - posted on 02/03/2009

Formula and solids, rice cereal are not the answer. Stuffing a child full of solids can give them a tummy ache. Solids (and cereals) should be held off until your child is 6 months according to WHO (World Health) and the American and Canadian Pediatric organizations. Breastfeed as long as you want to. This is not because you should introduce formula. Your child will wake regardless of what the beverage is. We found that having our son in our room (in his crib at that age) was easy for us. I'd nurse him to sleep when he woke then stick him back in his crib. The waking at this age could be the start of teething. Our son started lots of wake ups at 4 months after 2 months of not so bad sleep. By 7 months he had 6 teeth and was still nursing thorugh the night. It is normal for children under 1 year... 2 years... to not sleep through the night. We started co-sleeping around 6 months and it worked like a charm! P.S. He is now 19 months and still wakes at night. Which is normal. I know it is hard, but it is over so quickly. Soon enough they'll be leaving for college. Hang in there!

Rachel - posted on 02/02/2009

have you tried introdusing solids, my little girl, was doing the same thing, and i started to give her solids, that first night, she slept through, she was 5 months. i gave her the first meal at lunch.then over the course of a week or so she then had breakfast and finally dinner. i did it in that order to avoid an "unused to food tummy moment " through the night.

Nikki - posted on 02/02/2009

Definitely formula. A good rule of thumb is once they develop teeth, it might be time to go to the bottle. If that doesn't work, you can also stick alittle rice cereal in the bottle at night to get him through the night. Or just give him some rice cereal before you breast feed. It seems awful at the time, but it isn't is just don't give in on the bottle. He is not going to starve himself to death. Once he realizes he won't get it from you the natural way, he will use the bottle. I know it's horrible at the time. He'll cry for a couple of hours, but when he's hungry, he'll eat. Don't give in.

Laurie - posted on 02/02/2009

As you've read all children are different, I wasn't lucky with my first he was 2 months off of 5 YEARS before he slept through the night, and my second was 5 days when he did, both breast fed did same thing with second as did with first just different babies was all.

I hope yours start to sleep soon for you, the only advice I can give you is don't you go in have hubby go, and give him his soother to hold him off, eventually the baby will get used to longer periods without meals at night. The baby knows you have the milk, and knows daddy doesn't it's the best advice I can give you.

Jackie - posted on 02/02/2009

it's hard I know, my daughter woke up every 3 to 4 hours for over a year to eat.  All I can say is that it will get better and perhaps nap during the daytime...good luck!!!

Lauren - posted on 02/02/2009

the Dr. Ferber book...Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems. It really helped me but I waited until my son was 12 months and getting up like 6 times a night....crazy. I wish I would have read the book earlier. It really helps you realize that they do not need to eat that much at night and it is good to get them sleeping well for you and for their health. Crying to sleep helps, my problem was that I let him fall asleep nursing and that was the only way he knew how to go to sleep. I nursed at night until he was 9 months. I do not think it is about them being hungry (if you give them cereal and nurse) it is about the comfort they get from you. I thought it was going to be so hard letting him fall asleep but it worked well and I wrote down exactly how long he cried for and it was a lot shorter than I actually thought. Good luck!

Vanessa - posted on 02/02/2009

I would recommend "tanking up" before you put him down. Nurse him every 2 hours before he goes to sleep (so like, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm) and then go in at 11pm (or right before you go to bed sometime between 10pm and 11pm) and gently pick him up and nurse him in his sleep (Baby Whisperer calls this the Dream Feed) and it will help him to get through the night. It's always hard to know if they're going through a legitimate growth spurt or if they're waking up from habit. At this age, if they're getting enough (yes, I nursed mine until 13 months, he was sleeping through the night first at 3 months and then he hit a growth spurt and didn't full start sleeping from 7:30pm-7:30am until about 5.5/6 months) they shouldn't wake up/need to be nursed in the night.
Good luck! This too shall pass!

Sharonne - posted on 02/02/2009

Are you breastfeeding? This is normal. Your baby needs food around the clock and you need to breastfeed around the clock to keep your supply up. Just hang in there! It's worth it to give your baby the very best. Around 6 months he might start wanting food and then he may be more likely to sleep longer through the night then. Formula is often said to put your baby to sleep through the night, but the down side of that is that you are replacing valuable breast milk with a inferior industrial made product. You will produce less breastmilk if you skip feedings and at this age, it may not be worth losing such a wonderful source of nutrients and protective qualities for your baby.
Good luck! I know the waking up at night is difficult, but it is only for a very short time if you compare it to the life time of benefits that come from giving your baby what he needs, when he needs it most.
:)

Lisa - posted on 02/02/2009

Well......5 months isn't so bad considering that with both my children it was 10 months before they slept through the night. My daughter is 11 months now and has finally started sleeping right through. After my first I swore I wouldn't make the same mistake again but I did (they are only little once). If you are nursing your son to sleep and if he is falling asleep at the breast or in your arms this is all he knows. Soothing yourself to sleep is a learned behaviour and it is up to you to teach him a new way. They say a habit only takes 3 nights to break for an infant (21 days for an adult) and if you are consistent it is true. I consulted with a sleep doula. Try dropping one feeding at a time and when he wakes up just try comforting him without picking him up or nursing him. Talk softly, shhh, shhh, shhh him and gently pat his back. It may be the hardest on you for a few nights but eventually he will break the habit of waking up. Hope this helps.

Tracy - posted on 02/02/2009

My son is 4 1/2 months and started sleeping through the night a month and a half ago at age 3 months. Is your son sleeping too much during the day? If he is, it's okay to wake him. Also, what the other mom mentioned also helps. I quit breastfeeding when he turned 3 months and started giving him formula. At night, I mix cereal with his formula and spoon feed him. He usually sleeps about 10 hours. My pediatrician also recommended I put my son to sleep every night sometime between 7 and 9. Getting him used to a routine helped. Hope this helps.

Karen - posted on 02/02/2009

Ah, the memories...
The only thing that helped my little one the first 8 months of his life was a CD playing a hair dryer sound. I burnt out a couple of real ones until I found the CD. Any white noise is good though... I breastfed for a year - since then he's been sleeping 11 hours a night.

Hope that helps!

Kirsty - posted on 02/02/2009

My baby's now almost 9 mths and he's now just getting up one to two times a night. He's still being nursed. Breast fed babies sleep and eat differently than formula fed. As long as your baby is getting what baby needs from you, baby will eventually need less and less as baby gets older. At six months it is a good time to introduce foods to baby. Puree foods like peas, banana, sweet potato & baby cereals are a good start. Try one to two time daily, increase to three times daily soon afterwards.

Bottom-line, it's a bit harder, and requires alot more determination & self-control when nursing. Take a break, don't shake! Good luck!

Karen - posted on 02/02/2009

Ah, the memories...
The only thing that helped my little one the first 8 months of his life was a CD playing a hair dryer sound. I burnt out a couple of real ones until I found the CD. Any white noise is good though... I breastfed for a year - since then he's been sleeping 11 hours a night.

Hope that helps!

Ardith - posted on 02/02/2009

Boy, I can totally empathize. I couldn't get mine to sleep through the night regularly until about 8 or 9 months.

First off, with the bottle: have you tried having another family member give it to him? When we introduced the bottle, we had his dad give him the first several, and I would leave the room, so it was his only option and less confusing to him. Eventually, I could bottle feed him, but it took a few weeks.

Secondly, you need to talk to your pediatric nurses about the time table, but in the next couple of months, your son will no longer require a night feeding. Once this happens, I totally reccommend sleep training. We tried the cry it out method first. That worked until wee on got a cold, and we let him sleep with us. Then, we had to start all over. The second time, we used the Ferber method. You know, wait 2 to 5 minutes before you go in, talk to, touch, but don't pick up, leave and come back in 4 to 10 minutes, continue in increasing increments until the child falls asleep. It took us only 2 nights, and I never had to go back in after 20 minutes.

When you do sleep train, the keep is putting him to bed sans binky and very drowsy, but awake. That way he doesn't start looking for something external to comfort him, he finds a way to self-soothe.

I feel for you, majorly. Sleep dep is one of the hardest parts of motherhood.

Jeana - posted on 02/02/2009

Five months alot of babies wake up at night to eat. I know mine did. You said he wont take a bottle give him a sippy cup. I have four kids a couple of them had problems with nipples and had to try different ones. They ended up liking the ones that were shaped like their binky have you tried those? If those dont work I would try using a sippy cup if you dont want to breast feed.

Shawnell - posted on 02/02/2009

can't get him to drink out of a bottle either. i have tried a bunch of different nipple nothing works,

Jenn - posted on 02/02/2009

you should give him formula at night!!! i did it, my dr. reccommended it!  formula is way more filling in their tummies, honestly even if you have doubts, try it one night and you will not regret it!!