how can i get my breastfed 5 month old to sleep through the night?

Answer 1

If you haven't started feeding solids, you might want to consider this. He/She will have a fuller tummy and will be more inclined to sleep through the night if you give them a dinner of some cereal (to start).

Answer 2

You need to understand that the medical definition of "through the night" is 4-5 hours.

"Sleeping "through the night"

You have probably heard that babies should start "sleeping through the night" at about two to four months of age. What you must understand is that, for a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but nowhere near all) babies at this age can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) A far cry from what you may have thought "sleeping through the night" meant!"
http://www.kellymom.com/pantley/pantley03.html

Babies are developmentally not meant to sleep for longer than that. They need their food, they are not good at putting themselves back to sleep and they have frequent periods of near wakefulness. These periods of near wakefulness is so the can discover if they are cold/hot, hungry, suffocating, etc. The do not have the mechanisms to wake up from a deep sleep on their own if something is wrong.

These are some really good articles:
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html
http://www.drjen4kids.com/soap%20box/sleep%20stuff.htm
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp

Your baby will sleep through the night when he/she is ready. Humans are the only animals that seem to think we need to force our kids to be independent, when in fact they will learn it on their own and do a better job of it then us forcing it. Kids all go through that faze where they won't let their mom's kiss them in front of their friends, and the stage when their parents are totally embarrassing. Well they will all get to that point where the self-soothe, where they sleep through the night (or not many adults wake once a night for a drink/bathroom), sleep in their own room. Etc, etc.

Answer 3

You ask your baby to take more milk in the evening, so everybody can take his rest at night. You educate your baby to sleep at night. First night the baby will cry because it is hungry. You let it cry. Second night the crying is getting less. Third night is the most difficult night, you want to stand up as the cry get more again. Do not. The fourth night your baby sleep through. Done.

Answer 4

The biggest problem I had was my boy got used to the clossness. he'd hardly really take much at 4am.

I switched him onto formula for sensitive tummys and by 5 1/2 months had both him and his twin sister sleepin through.
It's more of a reassurance thing and routine.
It took me about a week to break the cycle with them.
I found it harder then they did though...!!!

Maybe don't allow bub to fall asleep on the breast before midnight, and the early morning feed, just keep decreasing the time over a few nights.
I hated hearing them cry but I just let them know it was ok with a hand layin on their back. I also timed it for a few minutes to get them to realise they weren't really needing it to fall back to sleep.

Persist, you'll get there..

Answer 5

Patience. Babies will sleep through when they are ready.

Cluster nursing in the evening can help sometimes.

Not sleeping through the night is common for the entire first year.

Answer 6

Lay them down and leave the room. Let him/her fuss a little and give them a chance to fall asleep. After 10 or 15 minutes if they aren't asleep go back in but only if they're crying. Don't pick them up or rock them because that will keep them from learning how to fall asleep on their own. Stroker their head or talk to them softly to let them know you're there. Do those things until they can calm down and then leave the room. Wait 20 or 30 minutes before going back in this time and then stroke their head or talk to them if they're crying. Leave when they calm down and this time wait even longer to go back in. Eventually, they will get the hang of calming themselves and you shouldn't have to go in and soothe them when they cry throughout the night.

The best thing to do is to just lay them down and not get them back up. It's not going to help if they're in and out of the crib all night long. Once they're down, leave them down. No rocking, holding, feeding, etc. The first answerer mentioned cluster feedings, but that is one of the last things you want to be doing. Not a good idea because it only causes bad habits with the baby. Anyway, I hope this all helps. Good luck and God bless :-)

Answer 7

why don't you want to give him 4 oz of bottle milk. is there somhing stopping you