Help, My 6 Month Old Is Sleeping like a Newborn Again *Sigh*

I would feed him baby cereal before you put him to bed. I had twins they were big babys i mean 8 & 9 lbs. I would feed them cereal before i put them to bed it worked for them.
Thanks mom of 3 J.

It is so hard to do the cry it out, but it works. I did it with my first at 5 1/2 months old. He was waking at the same time every night, like clock work. I knew it was a habit. I started by doing it when I put him down at naps. After he was able to put himself to sleep that way he only took two nights to adjust. He is 18 months old now and a happy boy. Some will tell you it is not the way to go, it is a personal preference. From experience, it is nice to know you can put your child in his bed and he will go to sleep.

I had guilt, because he also was a miracle baby. It took a lot of time, money and prayers to get him here. By the grace of God I ended up pregnant by surprise when he was 5 1/2 months, which prompted me to get him to sleep on his own. It works!

Good luck!

I would not let him snack in the middle of the night. If he is only drinking a ounce he is using this as a crutch to get back to sleep.

I stuck with babywise every step of the way. My child is 8 months and has slept thru the night since 8 weeks. I do know children are different but out of my 8 girlfriends with children babywise worked for them.

I would let him cry it out for about 30 minutes then I would go and try to calm him with a little rocking and soothing of the head. I would not feed him. I am not huge on the pacifier but I do understand to get thru this you might want to lean on that. The one thing I would not do is continuously go in there if he spits the paci out.

I know it seems a little harsh but if you stick with the babywise methods it is worth the hard work.

Be sure to read page per page before going with the methods.

My daughter is on a 3.5 hour schedule. She eats every 3.5 hours. I feed her as soon as she wakes up. Then she plays and then she naps for a 1.5 - 2 hours.

You know, we had some trouble around that age too. Ours was sleeping really well and then all the sudden it was rough. We ended up just having to give him time to cry a bit and learn to comfort himself. We tried so many things! Rocking, holding, holding a pacifier in his mouth, consoling, nothing but some crying and self comfort did the trick. It was hard for me but my hubby assured me it was best and he was right! After that 6 month hump he started sleeping like a champ and will now go and tap his bedroom door because he is tired and ready to go down!! Best wishes and congrats on your little one!!

hi!

from personal experience: i breast fed both of mine, but my experience was that a later bedtime and cereal right before, cut my night time feedings down to 1. when they were older, still did the cereal before bed and did the cry it out method...had mixed emotions about that, and didn't want to follow through, but am now glad i did, it doesn't work for everyone, you just have to find what is right for you, mine are now 3 and 2. best of luck!

Babywise mentions something about the 45 minute intruder - where a baby will wake up about 45 minutes into a nap and cry a little, even though they're not totally ready to be done with the nap. It has something to do with a baby's new found sense of surrounding. Noises that didn't wake them up before do now. Something like that. It's in the book (at least in the other version of Babywise-Along the Infant Way). I wonder if things would change at all if that morning nap was a little longer. Just a thought.
Also, I think you can expect him to sleep 10-12 hours a night. My pediatrician said at 4 months that was reasonable. When he does wake up and cry, don't pick him up. Replace the pacifier, rub his back, reassure him and then leave. Or, just poke your head in to make sure he's ok and then leave. At whatever point you give in is the point he's training himself to make it to.
Here's my horror/success story. My 4 month old daughter was waking up at about 3am every night. With our pediatrician's encouragement, knowing that my daughter was very healthy, we let her cry. The first night, after two hours of solid crying (hers and mine), I caved and fed her. The next night she stopped on her own after two hours. The next night it got better and in less than a week, she was sleeping 12 hours a night with two naps during the day. The key is consistency. Even at 6 months old, if you give in he'll know he's won. As a side note, this daughter is now almost 5, a great sleeper, with no emotional damage from being allowed to cry it out. I truly feel like the parent having the game plan and guiding a child is giving them the security they need, even if some tears are involved. Good luck and congratulations on your baby!!

If your not giving him a little cereal with his bottle right before bed you might try that. If he is a big boy he may just need a little more to fill his tummy for the night. Then if he wakes up just go in and don't even talk to him, put the pacifier in his mouth and leave the room.

I soooo wish i could help you - but the only advice I have is that it will get better. my dd slept through the night at 4 months....then at 4.5 months she started waking every 2 hours and continued that pattern until 10.5 months...so for 6 months I was a walking zombie...she would go to bed at 7...then up at 9, 11, 1, 3, 5 and 7. It was sooooo hard. finally at 10 months I started taking a feeding away one week at a time...at first it was the 11pm feeding...I would just go in and hold her/soothe her/pat her tummy/etc until she would go back to sleep, but not feed her. she would cry and cry, but I stuck to it and I never left her alone to just cry it out...i just couldn't do that. I did that for a week and then cut out the 3am feeding...etc etc, until she no longer needed any of the feedings. it took about 4-5 weeks...then she would just wake up once or twice a night and just needed me to replace the paci that had fallen out of the crib,( i would put like 8 paci's in there, so she could hopefullly find one)...she finally started sleeping through the night completely at 15 months. It was tough, but it does get better. Now I put her to bed at 7:30 and sometimes she goes right to sleep and sleeps til 7am...some night she lays in her crib and babbles for an hour - but no more crying. it was tough, but worth it.

I read the babywise book too - and then read way more negative reactions to it, so I never used those suggestions...

good luck!

My daughter started doing this around 5 months. She had been sleeping anywhere from 6 hours to 10 hours a night, then all of a sudden she was up every 3 to 4. I don't know if this is his problem, but for my daughter she was hungry. I hadn't started feeding her solids yet and she was ready for them. The moment I started giving her some rice cereal it got better, but then she started it again. I am now feeding her the equivalent of 2 jars of baby food three times a day and she is sleeping around 10 hours a night. If for some reason her schedule gets off and she only eats twice, then we will have a bad night. So I don't know how much your son eats during the day, but that might be the problem. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Hi D.,
Sorry to hear about your sleeping troubles. Here's what I have to offer. I'm a big fan of babywise and it's worked well for us. My son is 5 mo and we recently hit a bump in the road with his sleep as well (he was sleeping 12 hrs a night w/o any interruptions but then he learned how to roll over and started waking up). I kept to the babywise routine as best as I could and our little guy finally got back on track. I got some great advice as I was going through this recent phase- begin as you intend to end - meaning, just stick with it. Anything else is likely to confuse your little one. Go back through the book and try to see if you've overlooked anything or what advice the babywise authors have. It's gotten us through every time! Good luck!!!

by lil baby did this with growth sprees. not fun! hang tight....also, possibly teething?

I would not put him to bed so early. My daughter is 11 months and has never went to bed that early and has been sleeping through the night since she was 3 months old. I normally put her to bed around 10 or 10:30 and she is up around 6 now as I have kids that get up at 4:30 but during the summer would sleep until around 9.

Give the baby a little cereal about an hour before bed. Not too much as it is heavy on thier stomach. And bath the baby before bed as baths tend to calm and relax them.

I would also get some type of auto music that responsd to motion and comes on so that it will play and calm the baby and hopefully allow the baby to fall back to sleep.

My son did the same thing and found that he was still wanting more to eat. Have you added more to his meals if not try that could be his problem. Good luck.

Have you ruled out ear infections? My son wakes like a newborn anytime he has an ear infection. Teething, growth spurts (very common around 6 months and well basically the first entire year, also a good reason not to ignore those night time cries of what may be hunger), or learning a new task can also cause babies to wake more frequently. I am not a fan of CIO or Babywise. I think all babies learn to sleep for longer periods at their own pace and usually wake for a reason when they are small.

I nursed and co-slept when my son was waking frequently. If you are both exhausted, maybe put your baby in bed with you until you catch back up on sleep?

Hope you find something that works.

How many naps is he taking during the day? He should be taking one around 10am for an hour or two and another around 3pm. Then try putting him down aroud 9 if you want him to sleep until 7am. If he is not getting enough sleep during the day, then he won't sleep well at night. Also try not to wake him day or nigght, unless you absolutly have to. Babies sleep when they need to as much as they need to. It will work itself out.
Is he teething? If so, treat that and sleep problems should fix thenselves.
Could he be getting a cold? Any congestion or coughing will wake him also.
He could be getting ready for a growth spirt. If so he needs the extra bottle.
If none of these are the case take the paci. If he is waking because he lost it, then he is too dependant on it. It won't be a fun couple of days, but he has to learn how to self-sooth. The sooner he learns this, the sooner you get your sleep back. Good luck.

A baby can sleep 10-12 hrs at 6 months-especially if it is a healthy , big baby! It is realistic!!! Our babies did it by 3 months using the Babysiwe AND baby whisperer method (sometimes this book had alternatives to Babywise that I found useful). If you suspect a grow spurt try feeding him a little bit more at each feeding (maybe more cereal during the day?). If he is only taking one once I don't think it is hunger- it is just habit and letting him cry it out is sometimes hard but should work. I hope it doesn't take too long. It might take a weekend but in the long run that is not a long time. Good luck! I hope you all get into a long stretch of sleeping schedule SOON!!!

Are you hoping for him to sleep from 7 pm until 7 am? I think that is unrealistic, but maybe helping him not wake one of the times would be a good goal. If he is as big as you say he is, I am sure that he is hungry some of the time! Even I get hungry in the night and I am not growing! It is normal for them to have growing spurts where they want to eat more frequently.

Blessings,
M.
Mom to 5 Wonderful Kids
www.4MyChildrenSake.com

Have you checked for signs of teething? drooling, restlessness, and gumming may suggest he is starting to cut some teeth. I know my boys got much less sleep when they started rooting some teeth. I used teething tablets which are a natural pain remedy for infants. They have a small amoutnt of chamomile which calms them down. Just a thought...
B. J