how to make a 4 month old baby sleep thru the night?

Question

he is brestfed 99% and does not eat any solid foods yet.

Answer 1

Lack of sleep in children can cause serious
health problems.If parents follow some simple
techniques for making their children sleep,
it can be avoided. I found useful information
at http://nosleep.in/sleepchildren.html

Answer 2

I have a 4 mo old. I just started to suplement formula couple of days ago but she was 100% breastfed. Her best time at night is from 9 pm till 4 am. At first she started from 12-5, then as she began to eat more at each time, the time between meals increased. Everybody is right, I don't think you can force to sleep through the night. Maybe gradually she will after starting solids little by little. We are supposed to start on baby cereal in about couple of weeks. I am going back to work soon, so I hope she at least sleeps from 9-7:)

Good luck

Answer 3

Sorry, hun, but you can't MAKE your baby do anything. Breastmilk is more easily digested (that is why it's better for babies) but it also doesn't keep them full as long, which doesn't help them sleep longer because thier bellies are empty, and if they awake in the night, they feel hungry.

Sleeping through the night is also a PSYCHOLOGICAL milestone as well as physical. Your baby needs to be mentally ready to soothe himself back to sleep when he wakes in the middle of the night (ALL PEOPLE wake a few times a night, regardless of their age.)

My son has slept through the night since he was 6 weeks old (he is now 4 mths old,) where as my friend's baby is 6 mths and doesn't sleep more than 5 hrs at a time (I am not bragging, I know how lucky I am)

I (sadly) had to stop breastfeeding at around 3 mth, and that didn't really affect his sleeping pattern, so please don't let that affect your decison to breastfeed.

Just establish a regular bedtime routine, and put your baby down when he's sleepy, not fully alseep. That helps him learn to self soothe. I also let my son "cry-it-out" for a maximum of 5 mins before I would get him, and 99% of the time, he would be asleep before the 5 minutes was up

Good luck to you.

Kids aren't easy, but there has to be some penalty for sex :-)

Answer 4

"Make" is way too ambitious of a word -- you can try and coax...but that's all. For example....I have an 8 month old that is exclusively breastfed (he is on solid food, but doesn't drink anything else else).....and he wakes up approximately 3 times a night to eat. And I let him. I've always heard that breastfed babies wake up more to feed at night because the breastmilk is more comfortable and passes through their bodies much quicker. If your baby does drink formula (which I don't recommend), then you could try formula just a bedtime and see if that gets them through the night. Good Luck and be patient. Every kid is different.

Answer 5

It's unrealistic for you to try to make your 4 month old sleep through the night. I mean, really a night rarely goes by that my husband and I don't get up for a drink of water, to use the bathroom, etc... why expect a baby to do it?

Babies still need to eat frequently thoughout the night, so they usually wake several times as long as they are still not eating solids. Even moreso for breastfedbabies, since the babies body digests it so easily, they get hungry faster than formula babies, whose bosies have to work harder to process unnatural babyfood.

Also, "through the night" for an infant is considered 5 hours straight, so I wouldn't expect an 8 hour stint any time soon. Personally I consider my son sleeping through the night, and he always has... if you define sleeping through the night as waking only to eat. He never cries.

We co-sleep with our son and it is great! We have the crib attached to the side of our bed like a sidecar. Even though he wakes up to nurse every few hours or so, we both barely even wake up. I couldn't tell you how often he wakes cause I only wake enough to get him latched on and then fall back to sleep. He never cries at night because all he has to do is squirm a bit and I wake and feed him.

Answer 6

Wow, so many answers, My sister and I are very pro breastfeeding. It WILL get better I promise, it;s just something that you have to go through. We have 5 children between us all under 4. Our babies didn't start sleeping through the night until they were about 6 months. He;s only 4 months old, he'll do it soon enough. Best of luck!

Answer 7

i dont think there is a way to get a breast fed baby to sleep threw the night. i have a 9 month old and he still gets up a few times a night for feedings. i have learned that giving a bottle before bed lets me know how much he is really getting..i also give bottles during the night now too.but it doesnt help. my son is on solids 3 times a day and still gets up at night.it may take time to get what you want. babies are hard to control..

Answer 8

Good luck. Breastfed babies wake more because breastmilk goes through their system much quicker than formula. However breastmilk is the best so it is worth it. Neither of my boys slept through the night until I started giving solids between 5 and 6 mo. I just told myself that they had to sleep through the night eventually.

Answer 9

You can't make him yet. Try to fee him around 11:00 pm and then hopefully he could make it three or four hours. But breastfed babies just require more feedings. I used to breastfeed my first but I would give her one bottle of formula at 11:00 pm and then she would sleep all through the night until 6:00 am! I would breastfeed the rest of the day! Just one bottle does help at night! It worked for us!! Good luck!!

Answer 10

My son didn't sleep thru the entire night til he was just about 2 1/2, so you can't really do anything. Every child id different and he/she will do it when they are ready to