Baby sleeping problem?

Question

My son just turned one and has never slept through the night. He slept in his crib till he was about 4 months then I couldn't take all the waking up so I brought him to bed with me ( I breastfed so he nursed when he wanted) then around 10 monthes I thought that's enough now and put him back in his crib and read all these different things to get him to sleep I tried going in every 5 minutes that makes the crying worse I've tried just letting him cry he goes back to sleep in about 15 minutes but I hate letting him cry all the time I get up and nurse him for a few minutes and he goes back to sleep he gets up between 4 to 6 times a night the doctor told me not to let him cry ok hears the question how many of you think its ok to let him cry for 10 to 20 minutes and not go in and tell him its ok every 5 minutes?

Answer 1

That's a tough one, only you know how much crying you can handle. Are you nursing him back to sleep ? If yes, he's probably waking because is "soother" is not there anymore, if you decide to do a night feed, stop the feed before he falls asleep and put him down sleepy. Personnally I can tell by the seriousness of my sons cry if I need to go in, if he's still crying at 10 minutes then I go in and check on him. Make sure he's not cold, fix his blanket...etc. I think in order for you to meet your end goal, sleeping through the night, you might have to endure a couple more broken sleeps, until he knows it's time for bed. You can prolong each time you go in every other night or so, and hopefully within a couple weeks, he'll get the hint. Keep lights and conversation to a minimum, and I wouldn't go in every 5 minutes, wait at least 10 before going in the first time, then 15 the second time and so on... Good Luck

Answer 2

I had the same thing with my little guy. My first son slept through the night at 8 weeks so it was hard when the 2nd one still wasn't at 4 months.
Does he suck on a nuk? I didn't want to get him used to needing it at night, but after a while I couldn't take not getting any sleep anymore. I knew he wasn't hungry (I'm breastfeeding too!), just was waking up and was hoping I'd come in.
Try giving him a nuk, leaving the room and letting him cry. I think it's totally fine to let him cry for 15 mins.
After 1 week he was sleeping through the entire night WITHOUT his nuk. I couldn't believe it!
Sometimes you just have to experiment with different things - see what works for him and you. Good luck!

Answer 3

I let my daughter cry and she is perfectly fine. It is hard to listen to it but I wanted to sleep through the night because I work full time and I am single parent and I cant go to work grumpy so I let her cry and after 3 days she was sleeping through the night. The longer you wait the longer it will take. I did not check on her every 5 minutes because I didnt want her to start crying all over again. I peeked in probably every 15 minutes. But it is much harder for the parents then the child

Answer 4

My sons are 3 and 1 1/2 here goes most often cause of late night crying from my babies are 95% of the time is the FORMULA in the bottle late at night since most of us wash and clean bottles in the mornings or afternoons the bottles tend to have time by the nitetime to build up filmy paste like deposits that tend to clog the bottles NIPPLE causing my guess fustration and in turn crying always check to see that the bottle is flowing continuouslly not just a few squirts i hope that this info was helpful

Answer 5

I think letting a baby cry is so wrong. He has to feel abandoned during that time.

My son woke to nurse in the night until he was 2. Then I talked to him and told him that when it is dark outside we would not nurse. We talked about day and night, sun and moon and such before we night weaned.

It wasn't easy. I held him while he cried, but no nursing. After a few nights he started sleeping through the night. But, let me tell you, they were extremely difficult nights!

Another alternative is to sit by his bed so he can see you and know you are there, but don't look at him. Each night you move farther from the bed until he learns to go back to sleep on his own. Again, very tiring process!

Answer 6

Well, If you wanted him to sleep in his crib you should have never brought him in the bed. My husband and I have done the "family bed" but we never tried to get our children to sleep in their own bed until I stopped breast feeding, have you stopped? If not don't try to put him in his crib until you do weather that is in 3 months or a year. Also he is not used to be confined try a toddler bed & put a baby gate at his door (instead of clossing the door) that will help keep him from wondering the house but he make like that much better, my children would never do the crib thing, good luck

Answer 7

Letting him cry for 10-20 minutes is fine for him at this age. Going in every 5 minutes isn't going to fix anything; he knows you'll come back.

The trick: don't pick him up when you go in. Rub his tummy, put his blanket over him, and tell him what a good boy he is.

So...the schedule:
First crying: 10-20 minutes before going in
Go in for 2-3 minutes, don't pick up.
Second crying: 10 minutes before going in
Go in for 2-3 minutes
Third crying: 10 minutes before going in
Go in for 2-3 minutes

You get the point.

Stick WITH it! Don't give up right away.

Answer 8

let him cry when i first started buting my daughter in her crib it start out she would for almost an hour and then it would decrease by the week or day whatever it was but she got use to it and now she doesnt cry ever only for napp when she is really tired and still want to play my daughter slept threw that night at 3 months

Answer 9

There's a book written by Dr. Sears called the "No cry sleep solution"...we had some problems with our baby, but after my wife bought this book and read it, things worked out really well.

Right now, it seems like things are never going to improve...but just stick with ONE approach, be consistent, and remember that things will get better :-)

Answer 10

I know that the choices we have made in parenting are not conventional, but we have never had to deal with debating whether to leave our children to cry it out. Our babies never slept in cribs. We started out with them in our beds for the ease of night nursing and our desires to keep them close.
When I was pregnant with our second, we transitioned my daughter out of our bed, first with a mattress on the floor of our room, then into her own bed in her own room. Because she had enjoyed cosleeping and knew that we would respond to her needs, the transition was easy. Sure, sometimes she would wake at night, even when she was in our bed. But if what she needed was a nursing, it was easily taken care of without drastically disrupting our sleep -- no getting out of bed to walk down the hall to get her. I could nurse her in my sleep easily. Once she night weaned, we never noticed if she woke up. I'm sure it happened, but she would snuggle up against us and return to sleep without waking us. She felt secure and developed a healthy sleep response.
There is a lot of information supporting the practice of co-sleeping. It is not bad for you or the baby and does not create sleep problems -- it solves them. This is a very brief period in our children's lives in which they need us so intensely. If we meet those needs now, they will be happier and more secure later in life. Many new studies show that leaving babies to cry it out creates many problems with trust, healthy attachment and anxiety issues. A good source to check out is www.askdrsears.com. There you will find lots of information about the benefits of cosleeping and how to safely practice it.
I understand that cosleeping is not for everyone, but it seemed to work for you for some time. If your gut still tells you that your baby needs to be close to you, it's okay to act on that. This may not be the answer you were looking for, but maybe you just needed to know that sleeping with your baby is okay.