Why is my baby not sleeping?

Question

I am having a hard time here. My son is 15 weeks, he was born at 9lbs 8 oz. Im guessing his weight now is like 15-16 lbs. But at night is usually when he wants to eat the most. I do give him rice cereal starting this week and he does great! ( at night). But like last night he went to bed at eight and was up at 12:00- 2:00am 4:00am and then 8:00. Im confused why he needs to drink a 6oz bottle every two hours. During the day he doesnt drink that much. Sometimes he will go from like eight till two in the morning. Like the first stretch of sleep is the longest. I dont expect him to sleep through the night, but not understanding why he needs to eat so much at night. I also try to see if he will go to sleep, but he will go into full out cries. Any help?

I have tried just letting him fuss, not full out cry. He isnt a baby that cries other than when he is hungry. He will make noise and fuss when he is bored during the day, but never cries. So I really dont believe I am feeding him on demand. He drinks the whole bottle at night and goes straight back to sleep, no problems.

Answer 1

You're demand feeding which makes it worse to start with. Everytime he wakes up he may not necessarily be hungry - may just be a wet nappy or even a bad dream. Try changing him or comforting him before you give him a bottle. Alot of babies are bad sleepers for the first 6-12 months and he may just be one of them. Give him his normal before bed bottle and then once more during the night. As for the cries, he's most likely doing it for attention, leave him to cry and unless he starts sounding distressed, leave him alone and he'll soon learn that crying won't get him anywhere everytime

Answer 2

He is not drinking much during the day because he is having too much He doesn't need to be fed every two hours. I would feed him the first time he wakes up (12), at 2 let him cry until he goes back to sleep, if he wakes at 4 feed him. At his age he should be having 5 6oz bottles.
I would set a strict routine during the day, say bottles at 6am, 10am, 2pm 6pm and 10pm then he shouldn't wake until 6 the next morning. maybe give him cereal at 8am and 4 or 5pm, This should work. He will wake up for the first few night but if you persevere, it will work. Even if he is not waking for his 10pm bottle, give it to him anyway so he can get through the night, don't really wake him up, just do a dream feed, he can still drink when he is not really awake.

Answer 3

Although it is difficult to deal with, what you are going through is normal, especially at 15 weeks. Does your son suck on a soother? You might want to try that instead of a bottle, just to be sure he is really hungry.

There is nothing wrong with feeding on demand (!) but sometimes babies aren't hungry, they just want to suck. When you are bottle feeding it is possible to overfeed.

It could also be teething related, or a growth spurt.

Check out the book "The Happiest baby on the Block" your local library should have it, there is even a video. It describes very gentle ways to help your child sleep. Also, "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" might help.

Answer 4

He is not so different from a lot of babies his age. Just when you think you've got it figured out, they throw you a curve.
But if you are exhausted though, and want to do something proactive, but not drastic to the little guy, here are some tips from a mom of 3 little boys, who used to take care of couple's twins/triplets at night as a postpartum Doula.
Try to make sure you are sitting down and taking the time to give him his bottle during the day, we moms are so busy, sometimes we don't notice that we're actually rushing feeds a little during the day sometimes. If he drinks all of a 6 oz, he might be ready for an 8 oz during the day.
If feedings are nice and relaxed at night and Mommy's snuggling him, they are worth waking up for! And just as we are trained to be hungry at breakfast/lunch/dinner so is he at night, because as a newborn he ate all night.So now you may want to slowly wean him away from all that night eating, with smaller and smaller feedings.
Also note how much he's napping during the day. A baby his age could be expected to take three good naps, though cat napping all the time is common, it can be a problem, causing night waking habits. Try and work on those first, it sounds weird, but helps with the night. Get a good routine going with the naps first, getting him down at the same times. Then he'll learn to be tired at those times and you can work on getting him to settle on his own beacause he's so tired. Be sure that he's really sleepy and then put him down just a little awake so that his eyes flutter open at least and he knows where he is, in his bed.
Then at night he will already know how to put himself back to sleep, he won't be startled by where he is and may not even wake up all the way at the end of a sleep cycle enough realise that he's hungry. I know this sounds like a long process, and it can take a few weeks to get down pat, but in the long run, you will have way less wake ups and wondering what's going on over the next couple of years (yes toddlers get up too and beg for milk if they think they'll get it) if you get a good routine now, and don't let him think there is any other way, he'll thrive on the security of a schedule.
If you want to try for a quick fix in the mean time.Try giving him a sip of water from a bottle without picking him up, he may be as much thirsty as hungry, especially now that he eats cereal, he will get thirsty. If this works he may get up less because it's just not as rewarding as being held and fed milk, but is good enough to get him back to sleep, maybe.
If he's learned to go to sleep on his own, he may take the drink and go right back down, and then you are training his tummy away from eating milk all night. After a while he wouldn't wake up for just water.
One last thing, try and keep talking to him to a minimum when he wakes, if at all it should be like "go night-night", something that you say every night at bedtime anyway, and he'll learn what you are expecting of him. If it's something long and has to do with bed bugs and cradles falling, forget it, it's too long and he'll just wake up more to hear it. Don't turn on lights or make eye contact, this really wires them sometimes. Night wakings are all about the business of getting back to sleep. I don't think you should let a little baby scream himself to sleep. Start small and work the naps first when you are not as exhausted and wanting to give in, and it should work out.

Answer 5

oh motherhood is so wonderful isnt it! hehe..i am a graduate of that stage but will NEVER forget the times my little boy never gave us sleep! the most i slept one night was probably 30mins. I didn't know what to do. Little one's pattern of sleep will change almost every night. One night he might just sleep until 5 am. i think the reason why we need to keep them eating every 2 hours is because of their little tummies. It'll mess up their stomach if they don't get any grinding doing every 2 hours. don't worry things will get better eventually.

Answer 6

he could be going through a growth spurt. or maybe taking his food at night, i would offer every3 hours during the day, untill it settles down

Answer 7

he might be going through a growth spur. If it last, see a doctor.

Answer 8

Well thank you for asking this question mine is the same as yours and make me confused too.

Answer 9

Go to a doctor.

Answer 10

because he's not tired.