My 6 month old is still not sleeping through the night never has. He wakes up 2-3 times a night. Any Advise?

Question

He is bottle fed . But has never slept more than 4 hours at atime and even that is rare. I am feeding him rice and oatmeal he is right on track i need Help i am sleep deprived.
Thankyou

Answer 1

We had this problem with my son when he was that age. We just let him cry it out for a bit (10 minutes) went in his room, gave him his binkie back... and then he would fall asleep or keep crying. We did that for 2 nights, just let him cry... and he sleeps through the night everynight unless he is sick. In the last 3.5 months, he has been up in the middle of the night 2 times. It's wonderful. 2 nights of awful... heartbreaking crying, for peace. It was worth it.

Answer 2

First of all I would ask if he has a dummy. There are 2 types: orthodontic or cherry. If he does have a dummy, try him on the type he isn't using now. There are no hard and fast rules with babies and sleeping patterns. My 1st child would only sleep about 3 hours during the day (on a good day) and would wake every 90 minutes during the night. It was torture - sleep depravation is absolute hell. No matter what we did, we couldn't change his sleeping patterns. Each night was an exhausting, emotional task to get him to sleep and he didn't sleep through until he was well over 2 years of age. However my 2nd child slept through pretty much from the start and we never encountered any sleeping problems with him at all! Every baby is different and I know how hard it is to 'follow the guidelines' and do the right thing. The best advice I can give you is to try and relax (your baby can tell if you're stressed) and this is VERY important - during the day make sure your baby is put into his bassinette...never let him fall asleep in your arms. Doing this will set a bad habit as your baby becomes used to your arms and when he stirs during the night and doesn't feel your arms and hear your heart beat he will wake up. I hope I've helped a little, and I wish you good luck.

Answer 3

First of all, DO NOT start a very bad habit of having him sleep with you, that could take years to break! I had the same problem with my daughter waking up in the night. I thought giving her cereal before bed would help, but it made it worse, so I started giving it to her at about 4pm along with her supper bottle (plus she gets an 8 ounce before bed around 8pm) and that was the key. Don't let him sleep too much through the day, but an overtired baby doesn't sleep well either. Try having the same routine every night. Start with a little play time after supper (nothing too stimulating), then quietly read him a book or two, followed by a nice warm bath (try the soothing night time bubble baths), his bottle and bed. When he does wake up, give him 5 mins of fussing (not out right crying) and keep extending it by a minute each time. I found a soother helped my daughter and a soft blankie that she pulls up to her face for comfort. I also use a night light in her room. If you do have to go in his room, try not to pick him up, but soothe him back to sleep by singing or rubbing his head or belly. It is just a habit, but try to experiment. The key is getting him to soothe himself back to sleep.

Answer 4

If I want to sleep I have to keep my 4 month old awake during the day. Her schedule is still a lil more wants to be awake at night so sometimes I lose but I dont let her go for those 4 hour spells during the day so that she will sleep at night. I have to give her 30 mins to an 1 hour tho so that she won't be too grumpy but I wake her up and play hard with her for at least 30 mins longer if I can and then she gets a short nap again until she isn't so grumpy. I just keep her awake and happy as long as I can.

Answer 5

Some times it can be because they are teething (and you know they are when they wake up screaming, not crying), but most of the times it is because they have got into the habit of waking up and having the bottle (just like us... if you eat lunch at noon every day, this is the exactly when you feel hungry the next day)

My daughter is one year old, bottle fed and I was going through the same thing with her. This is what worked for me: I started giving her water instead of formula (I didn't do it cold turkey, but started by adding less formula and more water) and after a week or two she decided it was not worth waking up to have just water.

Also, another thing that I learned was not to run to her the moment she started crying and she would fall asleep by herself again (I confess.... it is much much easier said that done) Now she goes to be at 8:30 and NORMALLY doesn't wake up until 5:30 or 6:00

Whatever you decide to do, just be firm because kids are so smart they know how to manipulate their exhausted moms! :) Good Luck!

Answer 6

I know exactly what you mean my daughter was the same way, but she started sleeping through the night when she was about 4 months old and then all of a sudden started waking up I didnt know what to do. But finally she started sleeping on her own, she is 16 months old now and every now and then she wakes up but shes been sick and we have a cat that likes to sleep with her. How many naps does he take during the day? Early naps or late, try to let him take a nap around 1 or 2 and keep him up until bedtime, that helps. Probably not much help, but I know what you are going through/

Answer 7

I've got two books for you....one that lets the baby cry more and one that doesn't, but they both work when done correctly and consistently. "Solve your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber and "Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. Depending on what your style is, one of these will help tremendously! I, personally, did the Ferber method(where you put them down drowsy but not a sleep)and letting them self sooth back to sleep when they wake. Now this does advocate letting them cry, but not longer than an hour. It worked great for when my son needed to be sleeping the night-which is about at 6 months. The Baby Whisperer is a wonderful book too and it teaches the "shhhh, pat" method and to not let baby fall a sleep on you or by being rocked. In this book, there is no crying at all, but it does take longer. I'm not sure how it would work at night since I used it for my son's naps and it worked great.

Anyway, I really suggest reading one of these books, depending on your personality and style. Some mom's just cannot let their baby cry...and it is very difficult! But both you and your baby need to start sleeping well! 6 months is a good time to start teaching him how to do that. Good luck!

Answer 8

We let ours cry. Very tough the first few nights. But we would put her to bed, then take a short stroll outside. We'd come back after about ten minutes and she'd be out like a light. We never left our property, we just got out of earshot-we have a large piece of land that has open field-we could see our house at all times. We used the time together to talk, smooch, etc. We could hear her, but it wasn't that in your face kind of screeching.

You need sleep-the baby is fine. He is doing what he's been trained to do-he just needs to be re-trained.

Answer 9

There are some really good books on this subject, most of them tend to agree that if they are not hungry, need a diaper change , or sick you should not pick them up, just leave them in their crib and let them cry themselves back to sleep, it will make for a few rough nights but it will be worth it. Go to your local library and ask for help finding books on this subject, they really do work.

Answer 10

He could be a little hungry if he isn't getting enough to stay with him before he sleeps. He could be a little cold in the room he sleeps in. He could be frazzled, in which case if you hold him and walk with him and sing a soft, monotonous song while making him feel very securely held it could help.

If there's any chance he's over-stimulated before going to sleep he would also not sleep as well. Calm the atmosphere down a couple of hours before he goes to sleep.