How do I get my 5 & a half month baby boy to sleep through at night? Any advice?

Sam - posted on 01/19/2009

hey it sounds nasty but leave him if he crys check him tell him you are there and leave him again you may end up getting up a bit earler but my little girl had 2 bad nights of getting upset then went in to a great pattern from 7 right through to 6 without waking at 5 months old

Tamara - posted on 01/19/2009

From what I understand, it's perfectly normal for a child that age to not sleep through the night. Heck, mine's almost 16 months and still doesn't.

Mary Beth - posted on 01/15/2009

Don't feed him.  It's just a habit at this point.  The first couple of nights might be rough.  Just calm him down and put him back to sleep whenever he wakes up.  Eventually, he will sleep through the night.  I got both of my daughters to sleep through the night at 6 weeks doing that.

I meant don't feed him in the middle of the night...oops...:)

Mary Beth - posted on 01/15/2009

Don't feed him.  It's just a habit at this point.  The first couple of nights might be rough.  Just calm him down and put him back to sleep whenever he wakes up.  Eventually, he will sleep through the night.  I got both of my daughters to sleep through the night at 6 weeks doing that.

Allison - posted on 01/15/2009

My best advice to you is to create a night time routine.  Around our house we call it the 5Bs.  Bath, Bottle, Boob, Binky, Bed.  Every night at around the same time, depending on how naps fell throughout the day, we begin my daughter's night time routine with a nice warm bath.  I allow her to play until the water starts to cool then I wash her up and get her out.  I cozy her up in her jammies, and my husband has the bottle waiting.  She has her bottle, nurses for a short time and then it's binky and bed.  I lay her down awake (most nights) say goodnight and walk out.  Your routine certainly doesn't need to be the same as mine, but I think doing the same thing over and over with a baby sets the pattern and lets the baby know that bedtime is near.  It puts them in the right mindset.  And other than that, just be sure that your little one is cozy and has a full tummy.  The other thing I've learned is not to jump up and run into her room at every little noise.  I give her a chance to settle herself back down and only go in if she starts to really fuss.  Good luck!!

Kris - posted on 01/15/2009

My daughter had acid reflux so we put a little rice cereal in her bottle to help thicken it up so that she could keep it down. Low and behold- she also started sleepting through the night! SInce he is a little older, maybe give him a little bowl of rice cereal brefore bed.

Catherine - posted on 01/15/2009

\he may cry for a while even 20 minutes, but it will not hurt him. He will finally go to sleep

Catherine - posted on 01/15/2009

\he may cry for a while even 20 minutes, but it will not hurt him. He will finally go to sleep

Aaron - posted on 01/15/2009

Don't worry it'll happen.  I would consider myself lucky if my 5 month old slept through the night..  My son was about 8 months old before he slept all night and my daughter is almost 7 months and still waking up at night.  Have you tried formula before bed, or adding a bit of pablum to his bottle?  A warm bath and quiet time before bed might help too.  Good luck, and if you find something that works for you let me know.. 8)

Jennifer - posted on 01/15/2009

When my daughter was about 5 months old I started her on rice cereal 2 times a day.



Then at night, if she woke up (which was only once) I started feeding her less over a period of a week. Went from offering both breasts to one breast then none. I also stopped changing my daughter's diaper unless it was completely necessary. I don't talk or carry on as in the daytime - I pick her up without saying a word, she faces out forward until I sit in the chair to feed. Burp. Feel diaper put back in crib, turn on music.



Babies love repetition so I do the same thing all the time. Gradually when I stopped feeding and she did cry, I let her cry it out. She's been sleeping through the night since 5 1/2 months.

Lora - posted on 01/14/2009

My baby didn't sleep through the night til she was 7 months old.A soother really helped,a bottle of warm milk.My daughter is 3 now and she still wakes up about 1-2 times a week.

Skye - posted on 01/14/2009

i found with my 3 month old if i feed him alot before he goes to bed then give him a dream feed before i go to bed he sleeps right through till 6-7 in the morning, im breast feeding and usually put him to bed about 8:30-9pm then i go to bed about 11 it has seemed to work for the last week and a half now... although hes pretty good and has slept through without the dream feed a couple times too..

Kelly - posted on 01/14/2009

At 8 months old my son still wouldn't sleep through the night and wanted to be held to fall asleep. So we let him cry it out and not get him if he woke up in the middle of the night. It only took 3 nights of that and he went to bed great and slept through the night ever since. But I'm not sure if would work the same at 5 1/2 months. It is hard to let them cry like that (especially the first night it was 1 1/2 hours of crying!) but they have to learn to self-soothe and not rely on you, or so the experts say.

Salomie - posted on 01/14/2009

Quoting Laura:

You didn't say if he was still taking a bottle in the middle of the night. Is he?

He has a bottle every 3-4 hours, he takes he's dummy but doesn't seem to be settling himself.  Has a sleep till midnight and wakes up after that, sleeps only hourly after that...

Salomie - posted on 01/14/2009

He has a bottle every 3-4 hours, he takes he's dummy but doesn't seem to be settling himself.  Has a sleep till midnight and wakes up after that, sleeps only hourly after that...

Lauren - posted on 01/14/2009

Read the book baby wise. I had my little boy sleeping through the night at 3 weeks. You make the bedtime routine short. Just a few minutes of rocking, The kep is putting them down before they are asleep so your child learns to slef sooth and go to sleep by themselves. It really has worked well for us. You have to let him cry for 20 min. and then go check on him. You repeat this process until they are alseep. lets put it this way I have never had to go back in there.

Kate - posted on 01/14/2009

Hi! I have a 6 year old boy, 4 year old girl and a 4month old girl. The best advice I could give you is that each need different routines to sleep. My youngest sleeps in a lit room during the day in the kitchen or noisy place and then at 8pm I bath her feed her and wrap her in muslin and put her to bed in a darkened room. She is now sleeping from 9 til 5am. I think if you have expectations that they should sleep it never happens.

Pam - posted on 01/14/2009

i have 3 boys and 2 of those have woken in the night the best solution is routine b4 bed time, supper bath story bed, it realy does work once they adapt to it.

Nicole - posted on 01/14/2009

are you still breast feeding? i have just started to get my 4 month old to sleep through by feeding her as much as she will have and then also giving her about 50ml of expressed milk to top her up. this way when she wakes up and has a bit of a sook i know shes not hungry so just leave her and she falls back asleep. now she sleeps from midnight til 6 without waking up. still working on the midnight wake up part!

Olivia - posted on 01/14/2009

I have a two year old and a newbie but I remember that stage and the best advice anyone ever gave me was if they are waking up for a bottle/feed to cut that out and introduce a bottle of water. My little one then started to sleep through once he realised he wasn't getting a feed but once he was old enough to drink himself I'd leave a bottle of water beside his toddler bed (from around 16 months) and he would help himself in the night if he woke up thirsty.

Vestita - posted on 01/14/2009

I wish I had advice for you but my son just turned 1 and still gets up twice a night. Doctors tell me that some kids are just like that. I hope yours grows out of that bad habit!

Jolene - posted on 01/14/2009

Have you tried controlled crying, we moved out of my parents inlaws where my son was used to being picked up every time he cried and so we used controlled crying technique and it worked really well and now i have an 18mth old who sleeps 3 hrs during the day and 13hrs straight at night wonderfull

Shirlene - posted on 01/14/2009

I agree with everyone here. He may just be hungry so I would also try some farax at night if you feel he is ready for solids. I actually put a teaspoon or two in my daughters bottle who is now 7 months. If he has a dummy then instead of feeding him place the dummy back in his mouth and see if this outs him back to sleep.



Good Luck!!

Kristina - posted on 01/14/2009

When my daughter was a baby, I would feed her some baby cereal at night right before bedtime and she would sleep through the nite.  You can either spoon feed it or designate 1 or 2 nipples and put it in a bottle for him.

Kristina - posted on 01/14/2009

When my daughter was a baby, I would feed her some baby cereal at night right before bedtime and she would sleep through the nite.  You can either spoon feed it or designate 1 or 2 nipples and put it in a bottle for him.

Shannon - posted on 01/14/2009

My boy is now 20 months and i had a bit of trouble with him sleeping at about 4 months,  i found he was ready for solids, i started with farex (baby cereal) in the afternoon.  It was magic!!  I only recomend this if you think your little boy is ready for solids.  Start with small amounts.

Summa - posted on 01/14/2009

Hi,

I have two children, a little boy 2 1/2 and a girl 7 months. My son had always been a great sleeper, but my litle girl not so much. My dr told me to phantom feed, this is where they are already alsleep before you go to bed. You get the bottle ready and gently get them up without waking him. You proceed to feed whilest he is asleep or still groggy and then you pop them back down. I found that this works well for us. I also like to wrap her and if she is teething I will also give panedole at this time. Also, If your not yet on solids, you may find that he is ready to start ahead of time. Hope this helps some.

Kirstie - posted on 01/14/2009

Lack of sleep is the hardest part of parenting! I have a 13 month old son and for about the last month or so he is finally sleeping through the night. He would wake once or twice a night and would not settle until he was fed, so I would feed him and he would go straight back to sleep (I would be up for about 10 mins). Whenever I decided to get tough on him and only offer him water, we would be up for at least an hour, I could hear his tummy grumbling (he was hungry) so I would feed him and he would mostly go straight back to sleep. Honestly, it wont last forever....in the larger scheme of things it is such a short time I would just go with what he wants - he is still so tiny at 5 months, and maybe he just wants to know you are there - oh to be loved!

Natalie - posted on 01/14/2009

i play music all night to mine...if they wake it sends them back to sleep. has work for all 3 kids

Sally - posted on 01/14/2009

hey i have a 5 and half year old boy aswell and i am going threw the same thing i have just stopped giving him a bottle, he is teething so i give

.him a little bit of bonjela and then pat him back to sleep it is getting easier every night he is now only waking up once for about 2 mins

Laura - posted on 01/14/2009

You didn't say if he was still taking a bottle in the middle of the night. Is he?