How do I get my 5 month old to sleep through the night?

Question

My son spent his first 2 1/2 months in the NICU and has been home with us since then. He naps for around 3 hours during the day, not all at once, and at night he won't stay asleep. He GOES to sleep, but is awake in about an hour and a half/2 hours. It's really draining me and my husband. We have put him in the bed w/us and in his own crib. Neither works. Anyone have any tricks?

Answer 1

It sounds like he is overtired and when babies are overtired it's almost impossible for them to fall asleep and stay asleep for healthy amounts of time. Basically he needs more sleep. He should be sleeping about 16 hours in a 24 hour period with no more than 2 hours awake at a time. Most babies I have cared for can't make it longer than an hour and a half awake before they need another nap. Also, anything less than 45 minutes cannot be considered a nap, it's not long enough to have been restorative restful sleep. The other key thing is an early bedtime, 8pm is ok, 7 pm is better. Is he a preemie, is that why he spent time in the NICU? If he is, I would say he's a little young for the cry it out method, if he's not, I would encourage you to give it a try. If he was full term it's more likely that he no longer needs feedings in the middle of the night and needs to learn how to fall asleep unassisted. Good luck, I know it's rough.

Answer 2

Your son is probably old enough to begin sleep training, but I would talk to your doctor since he was in the NICU so long. Three hours of naps during the day seems light and you don't say how much sleep he's getting at night. And if your baby isn't getting enough sleep, it makes it that much harder for them to get *good* sleep when they do sleep. (Overtired babies don't sleep well.) I would *highly* recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. Dr. W. is one of the nation's leading pediatricians in the area of sleep (him along with Dr. Ferber... which is another fabulous book).

In short, at this age, you should be able to put your baby down for the night and then leave him alone until he falls asleep. He will cry. But he will be fine. This is just too difficult for some moms (and dads), but everyone I know who went this route was amazed at how quickly their babies were falling asleep. This goes for when he wakes up an hour or two later. Don't go to him. He's not hungry 2 hours later if he's 5 months old. An overnight feeding is ok at this age... 3 overnight feedings aren't.

If just letting him cry is too much for you, try the Ferber method. The basics go something like this: wait 10 minutes before going into his room. Then leave and wait 20 minutes before going back in. The next time wait 30 minutes. Etc. This method may take longer than the "cry it out" method, but may work better if you just can't take listening to your baby cry.

Answer 3

I don't believe in letting the child cry it out. They can get overheated or overreacted. A baby cries when they need something from you, like love and support. I believe in making out a schedule where you scynchronize the time you want the baby to sleep. For example, my daughter at that aget still had 2 naps in the day, she would sleep late morning and then never sleep passed 5 - 5:30. If she slept till 6 pm, I knew that she would not be down to sleep until at least 9 pm. Do you get what I am saying? Schedule the naps spaced out and yet far enough so by night time he is tired so he will go down at the time you want him to. I always have a little bottle of juice next to me so if she starts waking I will give it to her to calm her down. She is almost 2 and sometimes still doesn't sleep through the night. I am used to it by now.
AH! We used the carrier to put her to sleep also, it would soothe her soo much. We also combined walking her to sleep, cosleeping a bit, we tried it all, but my daughter would break into a sweat and would not calm down if we let her cry it out, it would make her even more upset.

Answer 4

routine. It takes a while, but it will set in. In NCIU they mess with him and wake him every few hours to check on him, do tests, change and feed, that sort of thing. His body is set in the routine of waking up every few hours.

Was he in NCIU because he was premie? If thats the case, the general rule of thumb is to take away the amount of weeks he was early from his age. So, if he was 4 weeks early, his body and needs will be more like that of a 4 month old.

Also, If he's not getting enough sleep during the day, he will not sleep at night. For an infant coming home from NCIU iam going to assume he was early, or very gravely ill. In both cases, 3 hours probably isnt enough nap time for his body. He might need closer to 4-5.

Sleep begets sleep, lack of sleep makes you sleep less, and wake more often. Too much sleep and he cannot rest. There is a balance.

A lot of it also has to do with his environment. When he naps during the day it needs to be in a quiet dim room. A cat nap can be out in the living room with noise and life going on, so you dont get a light sleeper, but real napping needs to be real sleep.

His night time routine needs to be the same every night, and at the same time every night. babies, especially those coming from NICU NEED routine all day, and all night.

He should nap within an hour each way every day. If he naps at 11 usually, no earlyier than 10, no later than 12. that sort of thing.

Bed time should be more solid. 8pm, lights out, tv off, house quiet, nurse baby, or feed him until he's nearly asleep and done eating (sucking is not the same as eating),put him in his bed groggy and nearly asleep. SAME TIME EVERY NIGHT. SAME ROUTINE.

Personally, I believe in fans. They say "now is night time", while still drowning out most of the noise. Only run it when he should be sleeping. For his long quiet nap, and night time.

he should nap in his crib. he will learn its for sleeping. Dont put toys in it. Its not for playing, its for sleeping. A nice picture on the wall to look at is enough stimulation. He needs to be stimulated, just not in bed.

You might have to tweak things here and there, and it will take a couple weeks to get him set into a routine, but if you stick with it and stay consistant it will work.

When he wakes in the night, at this point, his body is still young enough to need a feeding half way through, or more, if he breastfeeds. When he first wakes, dont rush in,wait to see if he will fuss himself to sleep. If he is soooo wound up and crying so hard you know he will not settle, go in. Dont turn on lights and dont talk. Try patting his back, or tummy. shh shhh him, and see if he will settle. if not, pick him up rock him, soothe him until he calms, put him back in the crib, shhshh him and pat his belly/back. All this should take atleast 15-20 minutes at first. To learn what he will take to and what he's really doing. If all above fails, nurse him or get him a bottle. But do it quietly and in as much dark as possible.

For me personally, I found it was easier to let my husband sleep in another room, while I nursed our son and got him settled into a solid routine. After about 2 months (from birth to two months) he slept so well at night we put him in his own crib. We only co-sleep to ease transition times. Putting his schedule back together or after he's sick.

Have sex once a week. That will seriously help your sanity during this process more than anything. NO matter what it takes, even if you're both dog tired. Just a quickie atleast once a week can save you both.

Answer 5

my sis tried this with her baby: she put a lava lamp type of light in the babies room and puts on a c.d. of classical music on repeat. a half hour before bedtime she gives the baby a little bit of pablem and a bottle before giving him a nice warm bath. he now sleeps through the night from 8:30 at night til about 7 in the morning if not later. i hope this helps you out.

Answer 6

You have to just let him cry it out, as much as it bothers you, it's not hurting the baby. The worst thing you could do is bring him into bed w/ you and your husband. Also don't get him in the habit of feeding him in the middle of the night either. You have to let them figure out how to concole themselves. It's frustrating, but it works. Good Luck!

Answer 7

this is distinctly everyday (and extremely complicated) for infants to alter their sleep cycle in many situations the 1st 3 hundred and sixty 5 days. by utilising the following day or in a pair of weeks he could desire to be slumbering interior the direction of the nighttime back. until eventually now you supply a bottle of something i could propose in simple terms choosing up infant and rocking. He could learn in with you. yet, if infant is easily hungry, supply him milk no longer water. in case you supply water he will probably in simple terms awaken back in a pair of hours (or much less) finding for the milk. My 7 month previous in simple terms interior the final month began slumbering interior the direction of the nighttime and skipping his nighttime nursing. At 5 months he used to wake to nurse a minimum of as quickly as a nighttime, at times two times.