How can I get my son to sleep?

Question

My 7 month old, still wakes up about every 3 hours EVERY night, I have tried putting cereal in his bottle and many other hings, and nothing helps, is this normal, how much longer will I live like this, and what can I do to help the problem?

Answer 1

I don't know if it's to late... you are supposed to start this system at about 3-4 weeks. But at least you can give it a shot. I dont' want to annoy you.... but I did this and my baby started sleeping, thru the night (8:30 pm to 6:30 am) at 3 1/2 weeks, yess.... that is weeks, I swear!! Ok... She is now 18 months and I can honestly say that I can count the number of times she has woken me up in the middle of the night, on one hand-and usually it was because she was actually sick and vomiting. Sometimes I do hear her awake and softly talking to herself, but she just puts hereself back to sleep.
This is what you do...

1. Starting with the first morning feeding, feed your baby (doesn't matter if it's breast or bottle, except if it's breast you may just do your intervals closer together, because it digests faster) then DO NOT LET HIM/HER SLEEP YET. Keep you baby awake for at least 30 min to 1 hour after feeding.

2. Continue this EVERY TIME YOU FEED YOUR BABY THROUGH OUT THE DAY. Don't ever let your baby go to sleep, while you are feeding him/her, or right after. Play with him/her, sing, even place a wet/cold cloth on his/her forhead if you have to (I know, that was hard for me to do, but I did it once, and it worked) anything to make sure he/she stays awake at least 30 min after feeding.

3. Depending on how many hours your baby normally sleeps in a 24 hour period, ... subtract 10. That is the total number of hours you will let your baby sleep in naps, during the day. So, if your baby normally sleeps 16 hours per day, make sure that his/her total amount of napping hours during the day is only 6. It doesn't matter if you let the baby sleep 3 hours at 8 am and then 2 hours at 1 pm and 1 hour at 5 pm, just try to keep your baby from taking a long nap to close to the time you want to put him down for the night.

4. Ok, now for your last night time feeding. Form some sort of ritual, (my baby and I dim the lights in her room, she drinks her bottle, while I read 2 stories, then we sing a song, say her prayers and then she goes down) Do this same routine everynight. But this time.... as soon as he/she is done eating, let him/her go right to sleep.

5. Stick with it. Even if it doesn't seem like it's working at first. It will, be patient.

You are actually retraining your babies sleep pattern. If you had never been taught that night is for sleeping, and day is for play, you'd be up all night also. We were just trained to stay up during the day. So, by keeping your baby awake for long periods during the day, you retrain them to understand that night, is sleep time. By altering thier sleep "trigger"-feeding, then transferring it to a ritual (singing, reading etc...) you are giving them the tools to put them self to sleep. Make sence? At some point, in our lives, we stopped going right to sleep after we ate, right? Or do you take a nap at work, after lunch (unless you grew up in Spain!)

This info can be found in a book called "Being Baby Wise". The book makes it much more complicated and time consuming... I just followed the basic princles and it worked. Undertand that as your baby grows and learns new things, they will get excited and want to use thier new skills and their (and yours) sleep patterns will change again... but usually it's temporary.
I hope this works as well for you as it did for me...
Best of Luck!!

p.s. I did the cereal in the bottle thing, my Dr. told me that there is no evidence that it "fills thier tummy and therefore, makes them sleep longer", but he did say that it can actually lead to your baby taking in to many calories that are empty and lead to obesity later. (I don't know, she was kindof a baby "nazi", exuse the term, but she didn't want me to give my baby any friut at all until she was a year, cause she said my baby wouldn't eat an veggies if I did. She was wrong about that. But I did slowly start putting in less and less cereal and now she does her nightime bottle with just milk again.

Answer 2

Dont worry, the waking up in the middle of the night is almost over. Once he gets a couple of months older then he will maybe wake up one time. Try playing with him before he goes to sleep and taking him a warm bath and giving him a warm bottle. That way it will tire him out more. Also dont let him take a nap to close to bed time. Try to keep your baby up as long as possible before it is time to go to sleep. I was having that same problem with my lil boy but now he is one and he is slowly growing out of that.

Answer 3

How many naps does your child take during the day? When my children were that age i tried to keep them awake during daylight hours as much as possible. Where does he sleep? Maybe he doesn't feel secure.(being too far away?) I would definitely keep giving him cereal before bed that does help, but see if maybe he needs you closer.

Answer 4

Is he eating regular baby foods meant for his age? Maybe your feeding him to much before bedtime? Upset tummy? Do you let him cry sometimes when he wakes? Babys need to learn to calm themselves to sleep. You probably need to wean him from mommy coming to hold him when he wakes up. Let him cry for a while and see if he goes back to sleep. Its hard sometimes but it usually works. There is so much it could be. If you have tried everything then take him to the pediatrician and have a checkup just to make sure everything is fine. Good Luck

Answer 5

Work on altering his daytime routine. As hard as it may be, if you are letting him sleep between 4pm and bed time, chances are that he is just not tired and although he will go to sleep, it is more of a nap for him. Keep him up for a longer period of time and keep him active. When you put him down for the night, make sure he is fed, changed and ready for the bed. His sleeping time should naturally extend itself. If you know he is okay, do not go running in to get him when he wakes up, let him go back to sleep. If you go every time he wakes up, you are only re-enforcing his habit of waking up.

Answer 6

That's normal for most of the babies...My mother said that I always acted like your baby when I was a little..hmmm...I think you should see physciatrist if you feel depressed..In my opinion, you should arrange your baby's sleep schedule. Try to avoid your baby from sleep at day, otherwise he will wake up on the night...you can play with him and do many activities that suit with him. sleepy baby will have a nice dream at night...daaa....

Answer 7

You might want to have your pediatrician check him out. My Granddaughter is 2 and still does not sleep well, or long. But at times when we thought she was just crabby, she ended up having ear infections - which surprised her mom, there were no classic signs.

I'm afraid some children just do not sleep well. But check with the doc.

Answer 8

Some kids are like this until they are about a year old. If the child likes music or noises try the fisher price fish mobile or any sound that is quiet and soothing.

Answer 9

Try feeding him the cereal a little thicker with some fruit with a spoon that may help.

Answer 10

play classical music and burn vanilla scents. You can even buy vanilla linen sprays at Bath and Body Works.