Baby not sleeping! Please HELP!!!!!?

Question

My 6 month old is a perfect angel during the day but at night she wakes up every hour. I give her a pacifier that doesn't help, sometimes a bottle puts her back to sleep she has about 2 bottles a night. She goes to bed about 8pm and sleeps fine until about midnight and than thats when it all starts and than she is wide awake by 7am. I am going nuts and I don't know what to do. I try to let her cry it out but she just keeps crying, I let her cry for 30min the other night before I finally decided to go in to her. Her nap schedule is half hour at 10:00am, 1 hour at 2pm and than another half hour at 5pm. So I don't think she is getting too much naptime. Please any suggestions would be great. Also I don't think it is teething because she isn't acting like she is in pain. Thank you for any help!!!

Just to clarify she does wake up about every hour after midnight and we do have a bedtime routine everynight. She falls asleep fine its just keeping her asleep.

I do feed her cereal at 7:45 right before she goes to bed also she wakes up by herself from her naps and a lot of time she will fall asleep for her nap while she is playing.

She has already started solids and I feed her cereal before bed until she is full its usually around 1/2 c. of dry cereal and she eats it all. My doctor told me to feed her until she turns her head or won't open her mouth.

Answer 1

Ugh. I remember those days! Consistency is key, for sure. If you decide to let her cry it out, and then cave, she isnt going to get the message. I personally do not believe in crying out it ( personal experience with 3 kids, I did it with my 1st and he is my worst sleeper, even at the age of 10). I would suggest taking out her early evening nap. Her nap schedule other than that sounds pretty good, although you should try and get her to nap longer than 30 minutes, or she isnt getting the proper rest (and can actually make it worse, not better). My year old still naps at 10 and 2, but she naps for about an hour and a half each time.

Her bedtime is good, she knows how to sleep for a good stretch. It seems to me maybe she isnt full enough to sleep all the way through. Are you feeding her enough before bed? I would try and feed her a more binding food for dinner (assuming she is on solids at 6 months) like potatoes, banana or chickpeas, along with her breastmilk or formula. Also, if she is expecting to get a bottle when she wakes up, then she has no reason to sleep all the way through. :) Maybe cut out one of her feedings. This is not going to be easy, but it WILL get easier if you stick with it.

My daughter was up every 2 hours, sometimes every hour for MONTHS and I thought I was never going to sleep again, but when she hit 10 months she started sleeping 7-7. You WILL get there, I promise!!

Also, www.babywhisperer.com is a great website with forms and info on sleeping!

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 2

It could be that the solids you are feeding her are waking her up.

Many doctors say a baby is fine without solids for the fist year, especially breast fed babies. Try a day or two without the creealor whatever you are feeding her.

Ask yourself what are the differences between her day sleep and her night time sleep. Maybe it is too quiet at night. Put on a low fan or a sound maker. Make sure she is warm enough at night or cool enough whatever your climite might be.

Here is a novel idea. Consider the 8pm sleep her prebed nap time. Make the midnight her bedtime if you can. Give her a bath. Have the lights and TV on. Then gradually her bedtime will get earlier and earlier.

She might need to be in a craddle or portacrib next to your bed and when she stirs, you say "shhhhhhhhhh" and pat her back gently and it will help her learn to stay asleep and comfort herself.

Some babies are sleepers and some arn't.And once you think you have a schedual, the baby will suprise you and change it.

Answer 3

If she gets up early like between 6-8pm then I would try not letting her take a nap at 5 and see if you can get her to take a longer nap at 10am
Because that could be on of the reasons she doesn't sleep through the night because she's getting to much sleep during the day.

When my daughter got like that I would try giving her a warm bath with some Johnson and Johnson bedtime bath in the water and that always seemed to help her relax and sleep better. And if you can find the bedtime lotion that not only dose good on their skin but I found if you put some on their PJ's and on their bedding that also seems to work.

Answer 4

Don't give her cereal thinking it will make her sleep all night. That's a myth!

Trying feeding her a bottle she might just be hungry and not ready to go all night without eating. I don't how often she ate during the night when she was younger but it could be that.

Maybe she's going to bed too early.

Best of Luck!

Answer 5

Perhaps you could try and give her baby cereal, try the rice not the oatmeal. The rice is easier on their tummies. If she hasn't began on cereal yet I would say try giving her 1 oz rice cereal mixed with 4 and half oz. of formula in a bottle you might have to make sure the nipple is open enough for it to come out. This always helped my boys to sleep better. But if she has never eaten it before I recommend you giving it to her during the day so you can be sure she has no allergies to it.Good luck.

Answer 6

Maybe try to change the nap times to on longer nap in the middle of the day? also try feeding her cereal before bed and even if she wakes up at night. she might be hungry. I did this with my daughter and my son. I gave her cereal in a bottle. i slit a hole in the nipple and made it semi-thick. it worked miricles..

Answer 7

You try giving her a jar of fruit ,veg. or pablum before bedtime.My daughter gives her daughter a jar of babyfood & waits about 1/2-1 hr. after that & gives her a bottle & she sleeps through the night.This might help.She's the same age as your baby & her naps are the same too. Good Luck!

Answer 8

30 minutes of crying it out is nothing. If you are serious about stopping this behavior, you MUST let her cry even if it's for hours. EVERY TIME YOU GIVE IN YOU REINFORCE THE BEHAVIOUR YOU ARE TRYING TO STOP. Let her cry. don't go in till morning. in 3-7 days, end of problem. I have had 7 babies, I know what I am talking about.

Answer 9

feed her until she pukes (not literally tho...just stuff her mouth with food for one day). she will then sleep when put to bed and realize how good it feels to sleep throughout the whole night. and if this approach doesnt work then i suggest putting on some quite and calming music...my sister was put to sleep by the sounds of the oceans hitting the shore when she was a baby...so it might work for u too. its worth a try!