My daughter is almost 5 months and I am not getting any sleep !!!?

Question

I put my daughter down after her bottle around 9-10 pm depending and she sleeps for maybe an hour and then she's back up and fights going back down. At night when I give her a bottle , she will fall asleep on my chest after burping her and as soon as I put her in her crib she's wide awake. I am literally getting no sleep. She barely naps during the day so sleeping during the day is out of the question. I have tried the bath and bottle before bed , she doesnt really nap so that's not the issue, I am so tired , I feel sick.

Answer 1

Have you tried feeding your baby pablum yet??? I feed and bath my baby oatmeal cereal (beginner) just before bed and he sleeps for a few hours. I started feeding my baby this at 4 months. Have you tried bathing your baby before bed? My baby loves lavendar baby lotion that really soothes him also.

Here's some things i found on Babycenter.ca Hope they help you........
Typical sleep at this age


By now your nights of getting up every two or three hours are behind you -- we hope. By three or four months, most babies are sleeping 15 hours a day, around 10 of those hours at night and the rest divided among three daytime naps (that number will drop to two when your baby is about six months old). You may still be getting up once or twice a night for feeds at the beginning of this stage, but by the time your baby is six months old, she'll be physically capable of sleeping through the night. Whether she actually will depends on whether she's learning sleep habits and patterns that will encourage this.


How you can establish good sleep habits



At this age, these are some of the best things you can do to help your child settle and sleep at night:

Establish set bedtimes and naptimes -- and stick to them.
When your baby was a newborn, deciding when to put her down for the night was as easy as watching for her signs of sleepiness (eye-rubbing, ear-pulling, and so on). Now that she's a little older, you should establish a specific bedtime, as well as consistent naptimes, to regulate her sleep patterns. A good baby bedtime is usually between 7 and 8:30 p.m.; any later and she's likely to get overtired and have a hard time falling asleep. Your baby may not seem tired late at night -- on the contrary, she may appear very energetic, almost bouncing off the walls. But that's often a sign it's past her bedtime. You can set naptimes the same way you set bedtimes -- plan them for a specific time each day -- or go more by feel, putting your baby down when you know she's tired and needs to recharge. As long as she's getting enough sleep, either approach is fine.

Begin to develop a bedtime routine.
If you haven't already done so, now is also a good time to start a bedtime routine. Your routine can include any (or all) of the following: giving your baby a bath, playing a quiet game, getting your child ready for bed, reading a bedtime story or two, singing a lullaby, and giving her a kiss goodnight. Whatever routine works for your family is fine, as long as you do it in the same order and at the same time every night. Children thrive on consistency, and this is no exception.

Wake your child in the morning to reset her daily clock.
If your baby tends to sleep more than 10 hours at night, it's okay to wake her up in the morning to help her reset her daily clock. While it may seem like 10 hours at night isn't a problem, your baby needs to follow a regular sleep / wake pattern and recharge with naps during the day. Waking her at the same time every morning will help keep her sleep schedule predictable.


Potential pitfalls


Night waking and developing sleep associations which depend on your presence -- when your baby learns to depend on something like rocking or breastfeeding to fall asleep -- affect newborns and older babies alike. By 4 months, your child will probably be able to soothe himself, but you may still need to help him develop self-comforting techniques.

Some three to six-month-olds may have a new problem: difficulty falling asleep. In these cases, putting your baby to bed can be daunting for new parents. You never know if she's going to scream her head off or whimper softly just to get the last word in.

If your baby is having a hard time getting to sleep at night, first make sure she's not staying up too late (as we mentioned, an overtired baby can make for a difficult bedtime). If that's not the case, she may have developed one or more problematic sleep associations. If you want her to sleep through the night without calling for you, she needs to learn to fall asleep by herself, not because she's been soothed to sleep by your arms, your breast, or a dummy.

If that's not the case and your baby is still having difficulty falling asleep, there are various strategies you can adopt. Some of these are outlined below. Of course, what will work best for you depends on your personal beliefs and sleep philosophy.


Approaches to sleep problems


What's the best way to respond to your child once you've tucked her in? Experts are quite divided on this issue. All agree, however, that the way to calm or ease your child to sleep changes over time. A newborn needs cuddling, while a toddler needs a consistent routine and a firm goodnight. When it comes to getting your three to six-month-old baby to sleep, look through some of the suggestions below from a variety of experts and choose a strategy which you feel could work for you:

Approach 1
Do a simple checking routine. If your child is crying, go back into her room. Pat her on the back and tell her that everything is okay, but that it is time to go to sleep. Don't pick her up or cuddle her; be gentle but firm. Leave. Wait about five minutes, then check again. Do this repeatedly until she falls asleep, extending the time between each visit.

Approach 2
Take a close look at your bedtime routine. It's important to put your baby down when she's awake so she'll learn to settle herself to sleep, both when you first put her down and if she wakes up during the night. If you're not doing this, consider changing your nighttime routine.

Approach 3
If your baby is crying and you're sure she's fed, dry, and healthy, wait five minutes before going to her. Then reassure her you're there by talking to her -- don't pick her up, turn on the lights, or touch her. When you go in, stay calm and keep it brief. If she keeps crying, wait a little longer each time before you go in, then repeat the above sequence. The key is to be consistent and firm.

Approach 4
Don't put your baby to sleep by rocking her in your arms or letting her suck at the breast or bottle; she'll learn to associate these things with settling to sleep rather than depending on herself. Instead, get her in bed while she's still awake, sit by her, give her a transitional object such as a blanket, pat her, and generally reassure her without words.

Approach 5
Comfort your baby to sleep: rock her, and lie down together until you see that her face is motionless and she's in deep sleep. Establish and stick with a bedtime routine, and try cuddling up, pretending to sleep, and firmly letting your child know it's bedtime.

There is no "right" way to encourage your child to settle and sleep through the night. You need to choose an approach that will work for you and your family.

Try a routine. A routine helps your child to know what to expect. It also encourages you to work out at what time of the day your child is usually tired, hungry, or wanting to play. You don't need to be rigid and watch the clock, but having some things occur at roughly the same time every day may help keep you and your baby on track.

• Let your baby doze off in the same place. Ideally, he should nap where he sleeps at night, so that he will associate sleep with one special place. He can, of course, still nap in the car or pushchair if you're on your way somewhere, but try and give him the opportunity to sleep in the same place most of the time. If your child goes to nursery or a childminder, have him nap in the same place on the days that he is home.

• Just as you would do before bedtime, have some quiet time together with your baby before his naps. Pull the curtains, read a book, or sing a lullaby to signal the arrival of naptime.

• Put your baby down to sleep when he's tired. A mistake many parents make is waiting too long to put their baby down for a nap. You usually will have a window of opportunity when your baby will fall asleep easily and quickly. If you wait too long, your baby will be too tired and have a harder time falling asleep. Learn how to read your baby's signals. Some babies rub their eyes, while others get fussy or stare off into space. The moment your baby tells you he's tired, put him down for some sleep.

•Try to teach your child to fall asleep on his own. By around three months of age your child should begin learning how to soothe himself to sleep, whether by sucking his thumb, cuddling a blanket or favourite toy, or simply drifting off into sleep. Start giving your child the opportunity to put himself to sleep instead of rocking or feeding him so he can doze off. Once your child learns to rely on himself, you may find that he'll nap for longer stretches.

Helping your child develop good sleep habits takes patience, but by establishing them at a young age, you will help your baby get plenty of sleep in the months and years to come.

Answer 2

Stick to the bath routine every night. It will help develop a schedule. Don't let her fall asleep on your chest - it's the transitioning that wakes her up from the sound of it. Lay her down in her crib when she is awake but still drowsy. Have you tried something like the crib aquarium soother? My son loves the sound of the ocean waves. I think letting them cry it out is cruel. Pat her butt, sing to her, talk to her - but don't pick her up. If she isn't outright crying, you may want to watch her for a minute and see if she will just fuss and roll around until she is comfortable and put herself to sleep.

I agree with the first poster, too. It's harder to get a baby to bed when they are overly tired. Try to get her to take at least an hour nap in the morning and another in the early afternoon. No naps after 4pm is a good general rule, although every baby is different. If the problem is being overly tired, you may want to try putting her down an hour earlier.

Answer 3

Have you tried to play soothing music and keep it all night long, so if she wakes up she might soothe herself? I'm saying having the music playing and if she wakes up, she'll stay calm and return to sleep without crying, kinda like waking to turn over and going right back to sleep. I don't know if this will work or not. It's just an idea. I'm not a advocate for letting them cry it out either. I stayed with my daughter when she was that age and would not go to sleep in the first place. I let her cry only when i was with her, I wouldn't leave the room. I used to lay on a bed next to her crib and sleep there, until she went to sleep, then I'd go to my own bed.

Answer 4

I have a 51/2 month old and she has been slleping through the night for 3 months now, and I mean she sleeps. If she takes naps during the day, it is 10-15 min if that. Here is my suggestion.

don't let her fall asleep on you, I know, I know, it is hard but let her get used to her crib. Buy something for her crib we bought the Vtech Soothe & Surprise Nature Light™ from wal-Mart it has movement and lights but the best feature is it has a sound sensor that activates a soothing outdoor sound to make her sleepy once again.

Try this

Answer 5

Not napping IS the issue.

She's over tired, and babies and kids wont sleep well when theyre over tired, even though its what they need.

Also, if you keep feeding her and putting her to sleep yourself every time she wakes up, of course she wont go to sleep on her own.

She needs to be napping atleast 2 hours during the day, better if its 3-4 and then sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Its unhealthy for her to not be sleeping right.

Set up a routine and stick to it. You do the same things at the same time each night. IF she doesnt want to sleep when those things are over, too bad. Put her in her crib and let her cry it out. If she cries until she's out of control, go in, pat her back console her, and when she calms a little- leave. Dont pick her up unless she's vomitting or gagging or something equally as distressing.

There is no reason she should not be sleeping during the day, and no sense in her not sleeping at night.

Answer 6

If she doesn't nap, she's probably overly tired. Babies that young need to nap!

Answer 7

I think it might be time to put a little rice in the bottle and then when you lay her down shut the door and let her cry herself to sleep.