sleepless nights pushing whole family to the limit...

Jen - posted on 03/09/2010

i think u should talk to your health vistor maybe she can give you some advice. i would get it sorted now rather than later. my 15 month old hasnt slept through since day one n still doesnt so i know how hard it is

Danielle - posted on 03/09/2010

I started giving him the baby food and invested in a blender thing so i could make his food, then to be told i was starting to early and it wasnt good for him so i stopped and put him on the hungrier baby milk.... last night he fell asleep on his own at 7:30pm and woke for a feed at 1:30am then again at 5:30am i was really pleased :)

Amanda - posted on 03/08/2010

you may be expecting too much from him.... he is only 4 months old, some babies don't sleep through the night until well after 6 months old. during the day: i say feed him when he is hungry, my son only went 2-3 hours between feedings even after starting solids, he was a hungry baby. he may be miserable all day due to being hungry.

September - posted on 03/08/2010

You are expecting too much. At 4 months old our son was eating every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day and would wake for night feedings as well until he was about 6 months old (I breastfed). You can expect a baby of that age to wake during the night; it's just something that you have to get use to. Motherhood can be challenging but it's so much more rewarding than anything! One day you will get a normal nights rest but until you do you have to take it all in stride and try not to let it stress you out too much. If you like coffee, drink up! This is only one of the many phases and it too shall pass. Enjoy Motherhood, it's the best! Good luck!

Gwen - posted on 03/08/2010

At 4 months, this is COMPLETELY normal! You can't expect him to grow up too quickly. He is still a teeny, tiny infant totally dependent on you for everything.

Becca - posted on 03/08/2010

I think you are expecting too much. My son at that age would eat every 2 1/2 hours and never went longer than 3 hours. He usually had 4-5 naps a day but would also have very unsettled afternoons at times where he would sleep 20min and then be awake 20min on and off from 1pm until 5 or 6pm. Our health nurse said this was normal for his age. I was told that most babies are not ready to sleep through the night until they are 6months and then sleeping through the night is defined as sleeping 6 hours before waking for a feed.

Joanna - posted on 03/08/2010

I was going through this until my daughter was 7 months. 4 months is still like a newborn, so yeah I think maybe you are expecting too much. Parenting a newborn is stressful and difficult, just remember that, but try to enjoy it and not rush things. Do what you can to help you son and keep him happy and comfortable, otherwise you just need to grin and bear it.

Stephanie - posted on 03/08/2010

At 4 months my daughter started eating baby food. She was such a big kid (and still is) that formula just wasn't cutting it. Ask your doc if you can start giving food and cereal.

Leesa - posted on 03/08/2010

Your bath bottle bed routine at evening sounds great - but have you tried putting his day sleeps into a routine as well? If you make sure that he is getting all the milk he needs and no more than 4 hours sleep during the day - 2 small naps and one long one at midday worked best for me and my baby - then there is no reason why he shouldn't sleep at night. Something that worked really well for me was waking him up at 10 for a full bottle, with dim lights and no talking so he doesn't get too awake, and then straight back to bad - and he slept right through from then until around 7am. On bad nights if he woke after that and wouldn't settle, I tried giving him some lukewarm water but NOT milk - that would encourage him to wake during the night more. Using this method my son Sean was sleeping 7pm-7am at 4 months, not including the 10pm 'dream feed'. He was also eating a small of solids at 4months eg. mashed kumara or Farex cereal and breast milk/formula. Give it a go! Hope everything works out well for you :-)

Kristen - posted on 03/08/2010

his eating sounds normal, and 2-3 isnt bad. Are you feeding him rice cereal or anything? Being cranky during the day, does he get gas or maybe acid reflux?

Lianne - posted on 03/08/2010

i think your expecting to much, when my daughter was that age she would drink 5oz every three hours, and woke up up 8/10 times in the night to eat/cry/scream. she didnt sleep during the day maybe 20mins here and there if i was lucky,

she is now 23months and still doesnt sleep at nite and only has half hour in the day.



have you started him on baby food ??