How can I get my 6 month old to sleep for longer at night?

Question

She is very nearly six months old and is breastfed. At night she still wakes every two hours which is kind of draining and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for helping her go longer.
She has had solids from 4 and a half months on the advise of the health visitor because she was dropping down the centiles and she is a big girl!
I can't leave her to cry because
a: I can't !! and
b: it wakes her siblings.
Any help much appriciated!

Answer 1

You will have to leave her to some extent otherwise she will rely on you coming to her to comfort and/or feed her whenever she cries.

With our son we used the leaving to cry method from the age of 3months and from 4months until present he has always slept pretty much 7pm-7am.

It is understandable that you dont want tp leave her crying but surely feeling a little guilty about leaving her crying for a few nights (my son had only 4days before he twigged!) will turn out good in the long run when you finally get a nights sleep!

However i do understand that you wouldn't want to leave her crying if she has siblings in bed but is it an option that for that period only the baby goes to bed before her siblings??

Another option is that she simply isn't having enough to eat before bedtime? Even now our son can wake mid-night if he hasn't eaten very much for dinner so is there a possibility that she is not getting as much milk as you think or she is simply not taking enough? Maybe it is time to move her onto a follow on formula milk?

When our son was 3months upto about 1year he would have a bottle about 30mins before bed and then just go up to bed and send himself to sleep. After the age of 1 he wouldn't go to sleep unless he had a bottle to take to bed. Thsi is much better as he has a final meal right before bed and thus sleeps without waking.

Also why not try (if you haven';t already) getting one of those lullabye things. We got a winnie the poo one and it automatically comes on when our son cries, there is a light show on the ceiling and it plays quiet tunes. Because it comes on when he wakes he was mezmerized by it and went back to sleep again.

Hope that helps

:)

Answer 2

Sorry, but every 2 hours is just too much - You're taking 'On Demand' feeding to an extreme!

1) Feed her more just before she goes to bed.

2) I know you don't like it, but you HAVE to let her cry. Best to start in small steps, seeing as she's so used to 2 hour feeds.
Begin with making her go 3 hours for a couple of nights, then 4 and so on. I KNOW it'll be hard work, and other kids might wake up, but it just has to be done.
ANd get this, Promise it'll take baby no more than a week to get the hang of it, as long as you STICK absolutely to your guns, it'll be worth it.

Think of it this way, an exhausted parent is no kind of parent to her OR your other children, and it'll be worth it in the end!

Answer 3

I had the same problem with my son. I ran myself nearly ragged, but then decided to give him formula and he slept much better. Breast milk is digested very quickly and if you want to carry on breastfeeding, then you might just have to live with it.

You could try giving her some water instead of a feed. My boy was waking at 3.30am everynight and having a big feed. As a result, he wasn't eating as much in the day and it was a vicious cycle. So I stayed up with him one night, didn't feed him, but didn't get him cry. He fell back to sleep eventually and since then has slept through to 6am.

Answer 4

I had similar problems with one of my 3 daughters all of which were breast fed. I expressed a little milk at regular intervals during the day so that i had fresh breast milk to feed not on the last feed (the one just before she went to bed )but the one before. I would give this to her in a bottle so that it took a little bit less affort to drink and she wasnt so tired and so "had her fill". She seemed then to take more also at the last feed where i fed her myself to have the "bonding" bit too. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

well I hope she is not just breastfed ..
after the 3d months she should have some new food
and probably a rearrange of the feeding schedule too ..

less stress from you would help her too ...
not to mention a peaceful environment
and maybe some new age music ..
soothing and calming for the both of you

I hope you do not drink coffee and take white sugar
both a no no when breastfeeding ...

honey is of course a good remedy
with milk ... before sleep ...honey helps relax ...

Answer 6

If he's waking up that many situations for the time of the night, and desirous to have breast milk it ought to intend that he's not getting adequate foodstuff for the time of the day. A 6 month previous could be having greater advantageous than basically milk. If he's ingesting foodstuff, then possibly he's having hassle self soothing returned to sleep. yet another element it must be is that if he's overtired while he's placed to mattress. verify he is going to mattress on the comparable time each and every night and that he's getting adequate nap time for the time of the day. it ought to sound cruel , yet on your sanity and companion's sanity and wellbeing of the toddler, you may could desire to permit him cry it out. verify he's unquestionably fed, sparkling and soft in mattress. it ought to take a week or greater yet he's sufficiently previous to self soothe and be drowsing interior the process the night devoid of milk.

Answer 7

Try to keep her occupied as much as possible with little
mobiles above the crib / bed or on the floor, if she is
crawling. Keep her awake as much as possible by any method you can - then at bedtime - she'll be so worn out that she will sleep much better and for longer periods. I know this sounds difficult to do - but it works every time.

Answer 8

Make you should feed her some cereal before she goes to bed and also give her some soft noise that helps her stay asleep. My son is 8 months and I leave either soft music or the fan(not blowing on him) on. It seems to help, but every baby is different.
Good luck!!

Answer 9

We woke our children 30 minutes before we went to bed and fed them, changed them, etc. Then we put them down with a tape of our voices talking and singing. That seemed to maximize the amount of time we had to sleep in one stretch.

Take care!
TX Mom

Answer 10

try switching to bottle feeding at night, with breast milk and some rice cereal.