Baby Not Sleeping as Well

J.

Have you tried putting cereal in his last bottle before bedtime? I know that worked wonders with my little boy when I went back to work. He would sleep all night long and never wake up or fuss. I know probably not everyone agrees - I didn't have any disagree with me when i did it, and I look at it you have to do what gets you through and it sounds like maybe he is going through a growth spirt and maybe now needs that little extra. hope this helps A.

One thing you might try is adding a little bit of rice cereal to her formula at night. It will add a little substance to their formula and last a little longer than just the formula

Hi J. - Sorry to hear about that, it gets frustrating!! Feel a wee bit lucky though, my littlest bundle of happiness did not sleep through the night until she was 15 months! Anyway, try a little bit of cereal in his bottle when you put him down. Doing that tends to make them a bit more full and content throughout the night. He is probably waking up because he is growing and needs more food now. Depending on the amount of cereal that you put into the bottle, (I would start with a small amount) you may have to open the whole of the nipple a bit more also. Hope this helps! It did with my first two! Jenn G

J.,

There are a lot of parent out here that would call you lucky for getting that first three months of sleepin through the night. Sleeping from 10 to 5 without anything to eat is a lot for an infant. Remember they are constently growing. Though you may have been on a schedule unfortunately you have to follow baby's schedule for a while. When he wakes at 3:00 be prepared to feed him then. Just like you said you should not have a problem putting him back to sleep after that. If you are brest feeding you may want to have his crib set up in your room for a while so you will only have to reach over and grab him when he wakes. If his on the bottle you may want to keep a bottle bag with an night time bottle in it by your bed along with a bottle warmer. This way you are not roaming around, you have what you need for him and can lose as little sleep as possible. Don't let it get you down, believe me it will end without you realizing it!!!

Best Wishes

I went through the same thing with my daughter. I noticed at that point she was needing to eat more because of a growth spurt. I actually started feeding her some cereal around 5 before I gave her a bottle around 6:30-7. I did not give her much, but enough to hold her over until 5 the next morning. He could also be in the early stages on teething as well or maybe there is something going on with his ears, just a few things to watch out for. Good luck.

Have you read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth? There are some great suggestions and methods in the book for helping your child sleep longer hours consistently.

My first suggestion is to read Healthy Sleep, Happy Baby by Weissbluth. I've recommended it already on mamasource, but it helped me and gave me the freedom (from worry about the baby sleeping) I was looking for. My 6 month old has been sleeping through the night since around 3.5 months. I'm not a doctor by any means, but (depending on individual babies) I think your baby is ready to sleep through without eating. It will possibly take about a week of crying but if you employ a little tough love, I think you will get the results you're looking for. I think your baby is not going back to sleep because you keep coming in and he knows to expect that.

On the other hand, I've heard of sleep regressions around 4 months. They are mastering so many new skills and it's so much for their little brains to take.

I hope that helped a little.

J. you might benefit from hearing Kim West speak this Thursday night information below is more information:
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Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Our Savior Lutheran Church
13611 Laurel Bowie Rd. (Rte 197)
Laurel, Maryland 20708

KIM WEST is a mother of two and a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical (LCSW-C) who has been a practicing child and family social worker for more than thirteen years. Known as The Sleep Lady® by her clients, over the past ten years she has helped more than a thousand tired parents learn to listen to their intuition, recognize their child’s important cues and behaviors, and gently create changes that promote and preserve his or her healthy sleep habits.

West has appeared on the Dr. Phil, Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, TLC’s Bringing Home Baby and CNN, and has been written about in a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Child, Baby Talk, Parenting, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today and the Washington Post. West hosts the sleep section of The Newborn Channel, played in maternity wards in hospitals across the country.

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It sounds like a growth spurt to me, and if that's the case, it will only last for a week or two. You might find it less frustrating if you go to bed when baby does; at least you'll get ~6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Hi J.,
I read your post and understand what you are going through. He is probably going through a growth spurt and needs the added nutrition. The good news is that he is now old enough for cereal. Try giving him a little rice cereal right before you lay him down and that should help to fill his little belly for the night. This should hopefully get you those extra 2 hours of much needed sleep. Good luck!!!!

Have you started your son on cereal? It could be that he is needing more nutrition as he gets older - thus the waking up early. Or he could be teething.
Our 4th was sleeping through the night and then began waking up - similar to your scenario.
I began adding cereal as his supper and he is sleeping through the night again.
Hope this helps.

Is he eating solids yet? I have 3 kids (ages 10, 6 1/2, and 3). Each one hit a period of doing this every few weeks/months as they went through growth spurts. If your baby isn't eating solid food yet, you might want to ask your pediatrician if it's ok to start. He's probably hungry! =)

J.,

When my son was about four months he was ready for rice cereal. What I did was buy a nipple with a bigger hole and put some rice cereal in his bottle at night. Sometimes babies will wake up and need to be fed because they are growing and just milk alone is becomeing not enough. If you find you are feeding more frequently he is ready. You might want to try it. It helped with my son and if he did wake up during the night and wouldnt go back to sleep, I premade another just in case. However, most of the time Trevin just needed to be comforted and then put back to bed. He eventually started sleeping through the night. Good luck! Hope all goes well for you!!

Perhaps your baby is teething. My kids both got first teeth at 4 months. We used orajel and it solved our problems overnight! (literally)

Sounds like a growth spurt. I would just go along with it. If he's not going back down without eating, it's obvious that he needs it.

Does you baby take a bottle before bed? Try increasing the amount by a half or full ounce.
M.

Hello J., My daughter is 17 months now and she just started sleeping through the night about a month ago. I know how you feel because you can't get your proper sleep when you have to get up one or two times a night to get her back to sleep! Its rough! I wanted to cry! She wasnt hungry and cereal in the bottle didn't work she was just use to getting up and putting that bottle in her mouth. I finally did what I needed to do long ago and that's let her cry! When she started crying for a bottle I just let her cry. The first night she cried for about 30 minutes straight and the second night about the same but by the third and forth night I had broke her cause she didnt cry as long and then not at all! It really works, just tough it out for the first couple of nights and it will be well worth it, maybe start on the weekend or whenever you are off work. T.

All 3 of my children went through a significant growth spurt at 4 months. I breastfeed them all. In order to increase my milk supply for the night time feeding, I needed to feed the baby at the earlier waking time for about 10 days. Then they went back to sleeping as they had before. Hope that helps!

He may be going through a growth spurt. Try feeding him a bit more before bed and see if that helps any. I know this isn't very helpful but if nothing else it won't last very long and before you know it he will be sleeping soundly again. Good luck!

K. - sahm of 2 boys

Is he on baby rice yet? Maybe try giving him some about 1 hr before he goes to bed. That worked for my five month old!I had him on it at four months. He now sleeps from 7pm till 6 to 6:30am!

Good luck!

i know this is a bit late but i just wanted to say that my son (now 5 months) did and still does the exact same thing. i reread the Month 6 chpt in What to Expect the First Year because there's a question in there about sleeping through the night and their advice works great...i know it sounds a little mean but the "cold turkey" really worked for me. when he woke up at 2 like he always did i went over to him, gave him his binki snuggled the blankets to his face and rubbed his tummy or cheek said goodnight again and went back to bed. he either went right back to sleep or he'd cry a little bit longer but eventually he figured out he wasn't getting a bottle so he went back to sleep and now he sleeps til around 7. i know how frustrating it is and all i can say is good luck and best of wishes

The same thing happened with my son. It is probably a growing spurt. My pediatrician told me that babies usually have a growing spurt at 3 and 6 months. For my son this additional "wake-up" ony lasted about 3 weeks. I would feed him and he would go right back to sleep. Good luck!

For my daughter when she was first born I would place a soft blanket over the baby boppy and place her in the middle of it and placed it in her bassinet. You can put it in a bassinet or the crib. Well, that made her feel like she was still in the womb. She never woke up once and I nursed. She slept straight through the night no problem. Now her being 2 1/2 next month she will be 3, she sleeps no problem til 11am. Also she takes a nap too. So she is a very good sleeper but that is my idea for you. Hope it helps if you out if you try that idea.

Try some cereal in his bottle. When my third is a spitter or was. Barely slept 2 hours at a time because he was always spitting up. Put cereal in his bottle, through the night. Just make the nipple a tad bit bigger for the cereal to go through.

Good luck,
S.

I have a six month old and I remember going through the same thing. There are some weeks when that just happens, I think it is a growth spurt. But if it lasts more than a week I would wake him up right before you go to bed to feed him again. Even if he is not hungrey and only drinks a little, my view is to top off the tank so you can get a little bit more sleep. I hope this helps.

I don't know if you baby is breast fed or formula fed.

If the baby is breastfed, try cluster feeding. Feeding the baby several times within a short period before bedtime.

If the baby is formula fed, try giving him a slightly larger bottle.

At 4 months, he is likely going through a growth spurt and is probably quite hungry. As for they stirring during the night, babies start become more active sleepers. Mine started crying at night without waking up.