Baby Won't Fall Asleep

Hi, Please get the book titled Healthy sleep, happy baby.... it is life changing, I followed this book and my daughter is a wonderful sleeper and truly a happy baby because of it. I cant say enough good things about it. Good luck

could he have an ear infection? Mine had a double, we didn't know because he never pulled at his ears, until I finally took him in because he wasn't eating/sleeping like he normally would.

Hi how are you? I have a sixth month old and we went through the same thing. He also would cry so hard it would make him throw up. It was really hard but what I did was lay him on his tummy because he loved it and I would pat his back with the same rythmic routine. For example pat pat stop pat pat stop or something like that. He also is not big on a binky but I put it in his mouth when he is on his tummy in the crib and he sort of likes it. I know it is hard but I honestly let my son cry through it... I would just go in and pat his back and walk out. I did not pick him up because it would confuse him. I know this does not help much but I understand what you are going through. Hang in there. Let me know if I can do anything.

N.

Hi L.,
I think the first poster may be on to something with your little one being comforted with you in the room, but something I have heard about with older infants is that the parent puts the infant in the crib and then sits in a chair right next to the crib. The important point however was that you DO NOT make eye contact, talk to, or soothe the baby, but they see you are there. After 20-30 minutes of crying (time frame may vary) the baby sees you are not leaving, and even though you are not engaging with them, they relax because they see you are not leaving. Then, each night the amount of time you have to sit there should be reduced until you are able to put the baby to sleep quietly. I've heard about it taking one to two weeks, but by the end of the first week the amount of time really should be minimized. I think the key is consistancy, just like what you have been trying, and I am sure its hard to listen to your baby cry and cry. The other thing I think with this method is to make sure the baby doesn't have anything in the crib or the room that can stimulate them. Night time is night time.

Hang in there and I hope this helps!!

You've gotten some good suggestions already, but you might also want to consider whether something in your diet (at dinnertime, in particular) isn't aggravating him. Nursing is wonderful for both the baby and you, but it does require that you are very aware of what you consume as small amounts of everything you eat or drink end up in the breast milk. For example, if you're having caffeine later in the day, that might aggravate him. I learned after the fact that small amounts of dairy in my diet were aggravating my first son (dairy is the most common to cause issues). My second son was very fussy if I drank orange juice or ate broccoli (or any other cruciferous vegetable). At this age, baby's screams are meaningful (i.e., they're way to young to be manipulating you with their own behaviors), so as you have already noticed, leaving him to cry it out isn't effective. What worked with my first son (since I was ignorant of the dairy issue) was to bring him into our room as someone else already suggested. Just being near mom is often a comfort for babies if they don't feel well. I should also note that I think one of the reasons my sons were both so sensitive to what was in my diet is because I had undiagnosed celiac disease at the time, so my gut was very leaky, so there were proteins in my blood stream and thus breastmilk that would not have been there if I had not had celiac disease (an intolerance to the protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats - the latter due to cross-contamination). So, if you find that changing your diet helps, you might want to have yourself screened for CD.

You have gotten some good ideas but there is one more book I didn't see recommended yet.
The No Cry Sleep Solution - by Elizabeth Pantley and William Sears
This is written by a mom that realizes not everything works for every child. The book has good ideas AND a game plan on how to get on track with your childs sleeping plan.
Good luck!

Hi L.,

I too think he is teeting...try some orajel on his gums right before bedtime...this will probably help him have a better night sleep along with you and your family. :)

Yeah I agree with Kristy. My son slept in our room untill about 5 months ago. He is now 23 months old and sleeps in a twin size bed all night by himself no problem. My son could not stand he be alone in his room when he was a baby so he slept in a playpen at the foot of our bed.

But what ever you feel is right for you. Everyone feels different, if you want to stick with it until he gets used to it then do that. Or if you chose to give in for awhile and let him be with you in your room good to. Remember he is still a baby maybe he just needs some mommy time. I know my son goes to daycare and we are up and out the door in the moring and then we pick him up from daycare at 5ish and he is in bed by 7. So some nights he just wants to be held he misses me.

Good luck!

L.,
Is this new or has your baby always had a difficult time sleeping? I'd try some orajel or other teething medicine- because I know my babies really fussed and wouldn't sleep when they were teething. If that doesn't work, I'd talk to the pediatrician, just so they could rule out reflux. The baby may be crying because it hurts to lay down.
Hope this helps!
-Barb

He may have alot of gas, try the gas drops it helped my children alot ! also I would give my children a warm lavendar bath (using lavendar baby bath) & take them for a stroller ride in the evenings, that made them sleep well !

I would try to wear him out. Play hard with him. tickle, crawl and run him ragged/ Then a warm bath and all the other things you said. I dound one child that would not sleep and I let him cry it out but first put him in a stroller and rocked him back and forth the motion like in a car when he is asleep or almost put him in his crib. Much easier then rocking the crib all night. Good luck. Also depends on how many naps he has durig the day. If a couple make sure he is not sleeping to close to bed time. I would cut them shorter to make him more tired at night. Does he need a little snack before. Test and try is all you can do. Good Luck. I was so lucky my children always just went down. Even older they just went. God Bless and good luck. G. W

I know some parents will not agree with me but I just could'nt let my angel cry herself to sleep so I bought a portable crib and moved it into my room and she slept next to me until she was 2 years old. Just having her parents in the same room with her was the trick she needed. Funny thing is that many of my friends and even my dad would say I can't believe she sleeps in your room, you are never going to get her out. Well at about 2 1/2 years old we finally put her in a regular convertable crib that made a daybed in ur room for 3 months then moved it to her bedroom, she never once protested and she is the best sleeper on earth. Good Luck

Hi there, I am a mother of four wonderful children. A 6 yr old boy and 3 girls, 5, 3, and 4 months. I went through the same thing with my 3 older ones. I bought the book by Richard Ferber, my pediatrician had recomended it. The method is called "The Ferber Method" Basically it is a cry it out method. It is really hard to hear your precious ones cry but if you give it a week or 2 it really does work. After a couple weeks my kids were perfect sleepers. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

talk to your pediatrician to see if there is anything wrong.

Bedtime can be tough at that age. Fortunately my husband was a stickler regarding our daughter's sleep routine. He would lay her down and then set a timer. He would let her cry for a certain amount of time before checking on her. I remember feeling terrible when he would do that. But in retrospect I realized it really worked.

In my opinion it is always worse when you continually go back to a child's room to comfort him/her. I would suggest putting him in bed and then setting a timer for ten minutes. Walk away and just let him cry. It will probably make you feel miserable at first. Then if he continues to cry after that point-of course you have to check on him. It can make a child throw up if he/she cries too much.

As time goes on you can extend the time to 15 minutes, etc. It will take days, but after a while you should begin to see results. I promise this worked for our daughter, and now I am proud of my husband for sticking to his guns!

You didn't say who was putting him to bed. For us, it when it had got to almost that point, my husband started putting him to bed. I was only a little upset when the baby didn't fuss for him. We kept at it and eventually they both learned to sleep on their own. Keep trying, you will get there, I know it seems like you won't, but you will.

Not sure if this will help but my son did the same. Several friends and family member told me to let him cry himself to sleep, which took about 20 minutes the first 2to 3 days. Then about 10 to 15 the next 2 to 3 days and so on until he got use to the routine. Now he is two and most the time has no problem with his 8:00 bed time, as long as we don't have guest then he wants to be up with everyone.

You might want to give this a go. With my almost 7 month old this is how I get him to go to sleep at night. I give him a little meal 1/2 before bed time which is usually 7. Once he is done its time for a change into the PJ's. I would have a bottle ready for him. Put him down give him the bottle (he would hold it up and drink it himself) and then he pretty much falls asleep on his own. I think giving him the bottle at each nap and bedtime really helps. I hope this is of some use to you. Good luck!

We experienced exactly the same thing. Our son never slept and we tried EVERYTHING! Just know that this phase will pass and get as much help as you can (husband, mother, mother-in-law.....)
We had a breakthrough when my son was about 13 months. My pediatrician suggested we try Melatonin. We spoke at length with the pharmacist at Peoples Pharmacy where they sell liquid Melatonin. I can't remember the dose. I think it was 1 ml, but confer with the pharmacist. This changed our lives! Our son finally slept. We continued giving it to him for several months and then weaned him off. It was a miracle!

I have a feeling that 7 months my be too young but talk with your pediatrician. In the meantime, have you tried nursing him lying down in a bed and them sneaking out when he falls asleep? This may not be ideal but it may be worth a try.

Best of luck!!!!

Hi. I have always been told that baths are stimulating even with the bedtime bath soap. Even massages can be stimulating for certain children. I would try no bath or massage with 3-4 hours of beginning of bedtime routine. I give my kids baths in the mornings or afternoons.

Sounds like it could be close to teething time. Most pharmacies have homeopathic teething tablets which help ease discomfort and help babies sleep. Also, with mine at 6+ months was having the same problems. I would give him a slightly warm bottle of chamomile tea (just slightly sweetened) and it would help him sleep too. I also found out, not until my second one, that a big reason he wouldn't sleep is because I was REALLY stressed out and he could feel and sense my stress and it would just get him stressed too. Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Easier said than done, but try anyway. Good luck.

My son did that for a while, till we realized he was teething and started giving him tylenol before he went to bed. He was chewing on things during the day and it didn't bother him as much then, but when he went to bed, he'd loose his pacifier and then start crying insanely.

Homeopathic remedies can be very helpful - chamomilia comes to mind (think chamomile tea!)

Also - I would highly suggest taking him a chiropractor. My son had a huge misalignment in his neck from being born (even a C-section baby has force placed on him) and whenever he spit up or couldn't sleep if we got him an adjustment he was fine. I mean night and day difference! Totally worth a try.

Is he still breastfeeding? If so you might just try lying down with him in your bed and breastfeeding him until he falls asleep - breastfeeding is easy to do lying down once you get the knack of it.

Blessings, A. <><

Ok so my son did the same thing. I tried everything and every night he would cry until he would throw up.What ended up helping was not to use the crib, I would put him in a portable crib in the dining room right off of the living room so it was not a quite place he had no problem going to sleep.After we got a good sleep habit going I moved the portable crib to his room. He had no problem with sleeping. I tried to get him to sleep in the crib again and we started all over with the crying and throwing up. So he was in the portable crib until the big boy bed. I could never figure out what his problem with the crib was. Both of his sisters loved to sleep in the crib.
I did not put the portable crib in my room because my husband did not want the kids to sleep whit us.

I have the same trouble with my four month old. She is teething and has reflux. I will let her cry for a little before picking her up. If she stops when I pick her up I put her back and give her a pacifier within 10 min she is asleep. If she continues to cry I will hold her for comfort because something is hurting her. I check to see if she is still hungry if not, I will give her tylenol and her prevacid. Then she is good for the night. You could also try putting those baby mirrors in his crib.

Please read "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg or "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems". You're doing the right thing until you leave the room. You never, ever, ever want to leave your baby crying. He doesn't know that you're coming back (too young) and he thinks he's being punished but doesn't know why. She explains how to get your baby to go to sleep on his own by letting him cry with you standing there. When he gets to a point of not being able to console himself, you'll pick him up, calm him down, and AS SOON AS he calms down, put him back in his crib (she calls this Pick Up/Put Down). He'll start crying again and you'll have to repeat the process mabye up to 100 times but that first night he'll fall asleep out of exhaustion. Each time will get easier and he should be going to sleep by himself within a few days. Good Luck!

L.,

I had the same problem with my middle son. After the fourth night of not getting any sleep when he was 8 months old, I called my pediatrician and took him in. He told me about a book and it made it so much easier, and it worked so well. It is called "How to get your child to sleep through the night" by Joann Cuthbertson. You could buy it, but I know the Mahon library downtown carries it. And it is split up to where you dont have to read the whole book, it is split into ages so you only read the section for his age and go from there. I hope it helps.