I have a 9 month old son, he gets up 4-5 times during the night..any tips on getting a baby to sleep longer?

Answer 1

Maybe your baby is teething? Not sure if this is all the time, or just started up... I know my son would wake up in the middle of the night when teething... but other than that he usually sleeps all night long. My son takes at least 2 naps during the day- usually around an hour to an hour and a half each nap. So count how many hours your baby sleeps during the day. He could have his days/nights mixed up.

I also noticed that when my son was teething, he would eat less during the day, so he'd wake up wanting food at night. I'm not big on crying it out- mainly because my son only cries at night if there is something wrong, so we always have to go get him and take care of the problem- hunger, tylenol for teething, mylicon drops for gas, things like that.

Hope some of this helps... it goes off and on.... our son is 15 months, and just these past 2 days, he's finally back on schedule sleeping all night again for us- he was waking up at least 2-3 times at night for two weeks straight! More teeth were coming through! Goodluck!

Answer 2

He may not be awake when you think he is getting up. Babies make a lot of "sleep sounds". He could just be crying out in his sleep, and is not fully awake. Try letting him be for a minute or two and see if he falls back asleep.

I learned this on my own. My baby is 9 months old, too. I thought she was waking when I heard her cry out. So, naturally, and I ran to her as soon as she peeped. She now only gets up once in the night for a bottle. I since turned the monitor down a bit, so I don't wake up to every time she makes a noise.

Answer 3

What does he do when he wakes up? What does he want? A bottle? To be held? Put in bed with you? To watch TV?

How do you put him to bed to start with? If you rock him to sleep while nursing or feeding him a bottle, then (and I've read this and have learned from experience) his "sleep trigger" is being rocked to sleep, and he's not learned to go to sleep on his own. So if he wakes up in the middle of the night, rather than turning over and going back to sleep on his own, he can't. He'll need you to go through the entire rock and nurse routine before nodding off again. If you rock him, love him, and put him in his crib drowsy, then in the middle of the night when he wakes up, he should be able to put himself back to sleep. Is he always put down in the same place every night? Does he wake from wet diapers? Does he soil the bed and wake up from it? Does he wake up and just want to play?

All that said: sometimes babies that age still don't sleep through the night. My nephew is 15 months old and still wakes up a couple times a night, wants a bottle (of water rather than milk to avoid bottle rot), or a diaper change, and goes right back to sleep. Unless he's sick. Does your son have an ear infection? Maybe it hurts him to lie flat and needs to be raised up a bit in bed? These are all thoughts just coming out at random here. But I guess I need more info.

Answer 4

You can try:

-Feeding him more during the day
-Feeding him every hour close to bed time to "top him up"
-Routine

However night waking, even 4-5 times a night isn't that unusual. Particularly if mom works, baby may make up for lost time at night.

Answer 5

Let him cry it out, if you don't go in there to "rescue" him he will no longer feel the need to wake up.