How do we get our 6 month old baby to nap properly and to sleep through the night?

Question

We are going insane, please help!! Sleep is our problem. Here is the situation. Our 6 month old son has a very strange sleep pattern. Naps...We have to rock him to sleep. Then we lay him in the crib and he sleeps for 30 min or less. He will not sleep longer. He naps this way 4-5 times a day. Then at night...has to be rocked to sleep. Then he is up every 1&1/2 to 2 hours to nurse. All night. And sometimes when he wakes up to eat, he stays up for a couple of hours.

He is eating rice cereal two times a day and nursing the rest of the time. One meal of cereal is just before bed (makes no difference). He is teething, but tylenol does not seem to change his sleeping pattern.

How do we get him to sleep longer at nap time?

How do we get him to sleep through the night!?

Please note: I do not agree with the "crying it out" method so please do not forward advice regarding that.

Thanks for suggestions!!

Answer 1

This happened to my wife and I with our daughter. She got so used to being held while sleeping, that finally we just propped the bottle up with a pillow or blanket, and let her sleep. After a week, everything was perfect.

Answer 2

Hi, We have a 10 month old and I know how you feel. Have you tried a "bedtime routine"? We have the same routine every night - dinner, bath, book, bottle and bed by 8-9pm. This routine spans around 2 hours, starting around 6-7pm. I know some people aren't big on bathing the baby everyday - the bath is more to calm them down and it makes them sleepier. This may also be difficult if you have other children you need to care for. This works really well for us as far as making him tired and helping him sleep - however he falls asleep on the bottle which we need to try and stop. As far as the day time naps - we try to span them 2-3 hours apart. Apparently the morning nap is a continuation of the night time sleep - so it's an important nap for them to have. My sister-in-law told me to "fill him up" with rice cereal before bed so he will sleep through the night - it didn't work. We nursed until 6 months and then went to a bottle. He wakes 1 once a night for a bottle, but sometimes sleeps right through til 6-7am. Things will get better but I know that doesn't help at the moment - I wish you the best of luck in finding what works best for you and your family.

Answer 3

I would not feed him cereal before bed time. Just like adults if you eat before you go to bed you will not sleep as well. I would try to shorten nap times and be consistent on them and how many there should be two naps at one hour and 1/2 to two hour and 1/2. Then the rest of the sleep should total 11 hours. The biggest problem is that the parents are so tired themselves they are forgetting that the child still needs a pattern. They are happy when the child is sleeping no matter when it is and that is causing the problem.

Sleeping through the night shouldn't be a problem at six months old. I know you don't want to hear it but it sounds to me the baby isn't getting enough to eat at each feeding. You may want to think about another method. You may be so tired from lack of sleep it is causing problems with production of milk or so stressed that the baby senses this.

Whatever you decide you have to set a schedule for you and your baby.

Good LUCK

Answer 4

feed him more rice cereal before bed (as much as you can get him to eat) and cut out some of his naps. When his sleep pattern is strange you need to condition him to adopt a more normal sleep pattern. When he usually takes his first nap play with him instead try to cut him down to 1 or two longer naps a day and no naps after a certain time in the evening so that he will go to sleep at night. It will take time to change his habits but eventually he will change and get a more normal and parent friendly sleep schedule.

Answer 5

I think this is normal exept at night when he should be fed 1-2 times. At night try to keep the lights off and have complete silence so that the baby will not be stimulated. At night avoid talking with your husband, chances are you will end up fighting. Books are saying that by sometime at nigt you have to dim the lights and wisper so that the baby understands its the time of the day that things calm down. Buy some books on raising babies you will find usefelul proosed solutions .
Good Luck.

PS am a man but I sleep as a rock so i dont wake up by my sons crying, this helps because my wife has only to deal with the baby and not with me ie ignore your husbands' whining

Answer 6

If you haven't started yet, I would begin a routine for naps and bedtime. I don't do much of a naptime routine, but my daughter doesn't nap much and doesn't have too much of a problem taking the two short naps she seems to require. Until you get into your routine, it may help to lay down with your son while he naps. My daughter sleeps longer if I lay down with her or hold her. One benefit to this is you will get to make up some sleep too.

At about 4.5 months I started a bedtime routine. You should include whatever seems right to you. I just started with a bath (if she needs it) and a little baby massage and then I would read a story before nursing her to sleep. If I remember I do a bedtime prayer, but the story and prayer are subject to my daughter's patience. Sometimes she is too tired for it. I would definitely keep the lights low, the house quiet and not speak loudly or respond to attempts to play. Occasionally my daughter doesn't go to sleep right away and I will leave her in her crib with some music for a few minutes (until she cries). Usually when I come back she is ready to nurse to sleep. I would caution you though, my baby does not sleep through the night, partly because of her teething, parly because of my going back to work. I guess you just have to live through that. I bring our baby back to our bed when she wakes up at night so that I can go back to sleep while she's nursing. We bought a bedrail to keep her in. I would definitely not begin giving water instead of feedings, particularly if you are breastfeeding. This will just hurt your supply.

Answer 7

Patience, the child will not sleep through the night until it's about a year old. You could try giving the child a large feeding before bed.

Answer 8

I read that (and sorry I don't have a web page for reference) to help a baby sleep through the night, you:

-Start giving him water in a bottle for every other feeding after bedtime, and milk in between the water. No cereal during the night.

-Once baby is used to water at that feeding, that feeding can be eliminated and baby will get used to just your attention. This isn't usually enough for him to want to get up at night. Only use the water for older babies, like 4 months old or older. Not much. They usually don't find it very satisfying.

-Turn down the lights at bedtime. Turn off the tv about 30 minutes ahead, dim lights, etc. This helps him differentiate between night and day. Every bit of emphasizing helps.

-Speak quietly and as little as possible. You can whisper soothingly, but get them to know that nighttime is for sleeping.

We tried these methods when our son was 4 months old, and he has always slept through the night, to this day. It took us about a week to get him on this schedule, but just before we gave up, it worked!

Take care and good luck,
R

P.S. Let your baby wind down for a while as you begin your bedtime routine. Give about 30 minutes before bedtime to start getting the house ready for bed, diaper changes, jammy time, songs, a final feeding . . . If he's full, he may not wake as often during the night.

Also, make sure you let him cry a bit. I didn't like this when I first heard it, but it makes sense. They should cry just to work out frustrations. Especially if the baby is in the middle of learning to crawl or something like that, they seem especially agitated at night. I'm not saying let him cry all night, but start with 5 minutes before checking on him, then 10 the next time, 15 the next . . .

And make sure you aren't actually waking him up yourself and he's really just cranky. Babies are noisy sleepers, as I'm sure you've noticed! Sometimes you can tell when he cries and he really needs you there for feeding or consolation, and when he cries because he's cranky or just wants a quick "Mom Fix" during the night.

I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything, but I got these tips from parenting books that I read from cover to cover repeatedly. I'm obsessed with doing things "right", so I wouldn't tell you things I thought wouldn't help.

Oh, and one more tip I just thought of--you can go into his room and comfort him with words during the night if it's not time for a feeding. Just talk to him and try not to pick him up. It's not as satisfying as rocking, and once they learn they won't be rocked every time they cry, they will try to "self-soothe". Self-soothing is an especially important skill for babies when they are teething and things like that. My baby just learned to chew on his fingers a little, and he would fall asleep. But that first few times we didn't pick him up when he cried just broke my heart! It was so hard! I hated hearing him cry! But it only took a couple of nights for this to work.

Anyway, good luck with all the tips you received. And take care!
R

Answer 9

I soo do not want to be in your shoes. I thought not having a family and being single was hard, but I feel better now. I envy you, also I have no answer for your question expect that he might be getting scared at night, or have trouble breathing.

Answer 10

Up his rice cereal intake.