My son is now 6mths.old. Since he was 2mths.old he has slept through the night until at least 6am. I started waking him up at 5:30am to breastfeed him when I went back to work, and he usually ate while he was still asleep and then fully went back to sleep until I woke him to dress him for school. This was a great routine for the last 2mths., but now he is waking at 4am. I thought at first that he was just waking and not putting himself back to sleep, but when he wakes even if I get him from his bed he cries until I feed him. Once I feed him, he lays in bed for awhile and slowly puts himself back to sleep. How is it that he slept through the night fine before and now he can't make it until morning? I even tried giving him a bottle with cereal before bed, and that doesn't seem to be helping either. Should I be getting up and feeding him, or letting him cry it out like some say to do? I just feel so bad anytime I have to leave him to cry, it just breaks my heart. What should I do?
I know this doesn't make sense but try putting him to bed earlier. Try 30 minutes earlier etc. It worked for me. If he has been sleeping through the night, he should be eating plenty through the day to make it all night.
He's likely going through a growth spurt and may actually need that bit of extra food just for awhile. If it were me, I would go ahead and feed him. He'll probably get back to his normal schedule soon.
he is probably just having a growth spurt and needing a little extra. give him a few weeks and he will probably be over it.
He is probably fine. Just let him cry and if he does not stop with in a short while then you should check on him. Do listen for the cries that mean that there is something else wrong but I have had 4 kids and none of them has died because we did not go to them right away.
Babies change all of the time!! I too am a first time mother and when you get a good routine down, you would really like it to stay that way, but it doesn't.
We get up at 5 am each morning, and when I first went back to work, my daughter nursed before we left. Now that she is 9 1/2 months old, she rarely eats at all. But then she will take a bottle some days. Your son could be having a growth spurt and needing more food.
Just roll with it! It never gets boring!!
TS
S.:
I have a 15 month old and she has always had problems sleeping though the night, however, I'll tell u what my doctors told us, "babies have growth sperts at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 15 months". It could just be that he has hit his and its is confussing to him also. Feed him, and put him back in his bed and if its this, he should go back to sleep. This is my first baby, however, I have worked in the medicial feild for 10 yrs or more, I delivered more babies then are in my whole family. I no longer work as a nurse but thats my choice to stay home with my baby. I hope this helped to ease your mind a little.
he might be going though a growth spurt or cutting a tooth... feeding and sleeping patterns will usually change when these kinds of things happen. And if you don't nurse him when he needs it, that could hurt your milk supply. Plus, if its a growth spurt, increased nursing cues your body to mke more milk so that you can met his gowth need.
Get up and feed him. He cries because he needs you... babies don't cry to manipulate... their ability to reason isn't that well developed.
Dear Staci,
This is VERY NORMAL! He may be teething, and believe me, that will upset his sleeping habits. You said letting him cry it out would break your heart, and I applaud you for listening to your child and to your instincts. It is NOT ok to let babies cry it out - they are communicating valid needs, and responding to his needs is GOOD, not bad. If he's hungry, feed him. He may be needing comfort if he's hurting. There are entire cultures whose babies simply don't cry, and those are cultures where the babies are held and in contact with a human body 24/7. You mentioned school. If he is spending time away from you, this is the age when separation anxiety tends to show up. The solution to that is MORE time with you, not less. A wise woman told me when I had my first child that if I would invest time to be there for my child and meet her security needs, then when the time came to separate, she would be able to handle it better. And it worked, with all 4 of my kids. They are very secure now. But there were times that I had to ignore conventional wisdom, and give them a little more time and attention when they needed it - to fill up their security tanks, so to speak, so that they would have the capacity to be ok without me when they needed to.
Hope this helps!
T. L.
mom of 4, including 2 secure, great teenagers! Married to a great guy 17 years. Childbirth educator and birth labor doula.
Sounds like he's having the 6 month growth spurt. He may keep waking up early for a few days or even a week, then I bet he'll go back to normal. Both my girls have always done this during a spurt, and even my five year old still wakes up early when she seems to be growing. It can make them a lot crankier, too! But just when you think you can't take the early waking anymore they usually go right back to sleeping even more soundly than before.
You're right to feel bad about your baby crying. When my baby wakes from naps during the day, and I can't get to her right away, she has to cry until I can get to her. I don't let her cry on purpose and it's never more than a few minutes. It's always when I've got my hands covered in raw chicken or I'm in the bathroom or something else to that effect. At any rate. Yes, you should get up and nurse him. I've been there with two babies and the best thing to do is be a sensitive, responsive parent. Baby's sleep patterns naturally change at around 6 months because of developmental leaps that your baby is making. His sleep will change several times before he settles into the kind of sleep he will keep throughout his childhood. This is perfectly normal and natural. I personally believe in going with the flow and letting children develop a healthy sleep pattern thorugh loving guidance, not through a rigid schedule or baby training. Babies don't always fit a mold and they shouldn't. If your son is waking up at a different time, it's because his body is telling him to. There is nothing wrong with nursing him back to sleep if he is unable to put himself back down. Babies that young really do need to eat frequently and if he's going through a growth spurt, then he is legitimately hungry. Just follow your babie's cues, he will tell you what he needs. And please beware of baby trainers telling you he needs to act or sleep a certain way. They don't know your baby, you know your baby. I would highly recommend a very popular book called The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. It helped me out a lot with my first baby. Good luck mama and be well!
what time are you putting him to bed? I read somwhere that a baby's bedtime at that age should be within the hour of 6pm. I thought that was really early, but we tried it (We put her down more like 6:45) and she started sleeping better and eventually longer. Now she sleeps through the night till 7 or 8 in the morning. When they are younger they go to bed late around 9 or 10 (newborn to 2 months) then they gradually work towards an earlier bedtime and stay that way for a while. I know it seems really really early, but it worked for us. The trick is to not give a nap too late in the afternoon and if you are putting baby to bed late now then gradually work up to an earlier bedtime. The big plus to this is I get lots more alone time with the hubby!
trust your instincts. it feels bad for you let him cry because it is bad for him to let him cry. feed him when he's hungry and just try pushing the feeding back to 5:30 again by 15 minute increments every few days. at that young an age they cannot manipulate you, especially in a sleepy state. all ke knows is hi tummy hurts because he's hungry (he may be getting ready for a growth spurt which can cause more frequent need for milk) and he needs his mama.
crying it out only "works" because it trains the child not to expect their parents to comfort them. babies in overcrowded orphanages don't cry.
Honestly, he's probably going through a growth spurt and does need a little extra to get him through the night. All my kids have done this same thing in their baby-hood. I always just feed them and put them back down and after a few weeks or sometimes a few days, they go back to their normal sleeping routine. Don't worry ,their caloric needs fluctuate a lot in those first few years when they are very small, but also growing so much.
My son was the same way and he is 8 months old now. Lots of people say its like they are going through a growth spurt and will eat more. My son has always woke up 5 or 6 times through the night to eat and would go back to sleep. Id just try and stick it out..he will get back in to routine and so will you.
He may be getting a growth spurt and be waking up hungry or he may be getting some teeth in and waking up hurting and needing the extra comfort of mommy to get him back to sleep.
The only consistent thing about child-rearing is that once you think you get it figured out, they change. All babies go through various stages of development; feeding being one of them. Your son is probably needing more food during the night to make it through. Are you feeding him any other solids? I found with my children (now 4 1/2 and 2) that the cereal only stimulated their appetites more, causing them to wake up more during the night. Try a more complex carb, like sweet potatoes or squash to help fill his little belly at night and give cereal in the morning. Letting my kids cry it out never worked. If your child is really eating a bottle, not just playing with it, then he definitely needs it.
Babies are not respecters of daylight savings time!
Just feed him. He's big enough to nurse in bed now and you might just get a bit of sleep while he does. The thing about not feeding on demand is that nothing else really works.
Don't listento them people and let your baby cry it out, because that not only makes him feel bad but it makes you feel bad too and that makes him distance from you especially when he knows that you are in there and you can hear him crying. He may be a bab, but he's a lot smarter than us adults think. I really don't ahve any idea why he has started to wake up as early as 4 am now, but i can say at least he's not still getting up every two hours wanting to eat like some babies his age still do. That is the good thing. I would say just think of it as a blessing that he even sleeps as long as he does and if he keeps it up trust me your body will get used to it just like his did and you two will be on the same page again real soon.
