I would like to know more about how to help a 6month old sleep through the night. My son is a large baby so I do not think he still needs to have a bottle in the middle of the night. We have started several "bad habits" to help him fall asleep...I know we need to stop the habits, but how can we without waking the other 2 children in the home. We rub his back until he is almost asleep, we feed him in the night when he wakes...any helpful ideas besides crying it out??
I'm still new at this (as a first time mom to a 17 month old) but are babies supposed to sleep through the night at 6 months.?My son didn't start sleeping straight through to the morning till he was over one. Back then, I wondered how I would make it, now...it's all gravy.
Good luck
Hi E.,
We swear by Dr. Marc Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Worked for both kids. We ended up using the cry it out method, but he offers three different methods, let cry, some crying, no crying.
As far as the kids sleeping in the next room, we had the same issue when our youngest was born. We use a white noise machine or a humidifier in our oldest daughter's room and she doesn't hear a thing.
Good luck!
my first was a great sleeper - 11pm - 6am at 10 weeks - so i had no idea how to handle my second (non sleeper). he was alright for the first few weeks... but then we discovered acid reflux....it took us a little bit to get that under control... but by then he was just used to getting up all night long and i was afraid to let him cry and wake up my 2 year old... and my husband... got to the point where i was sleeping in the living room and getting up every 1 to 1 1/2 hours with him.
since the day my son was born he never fell asleep on his own - always had to be rocked/swing/in motion....
solution: cry it out.... i know it sounds scary but it works. i read 2 books about helping child sleep problems (i think one was solving your childs sleep problems, and i forget the other one right now).
basically you need to eliminate the middle of the night feeding first. then work on the the sleep routine.
we eat dinner at 6:30, tub at 7, bed at 7:30 (my daughter watches 1 episode of curious george and then she's in bed at 8).
bedtime, we go in his room, sit int eh rocker and read 1 book. turn on his music, shut the shade, say a couple of words standing next to his crib and then in he goes, with his blankie and 10-12 binks. the book recommended getting rid of the binks at this time... but that was a bit too much for me to handle.. now there's enough of them in there that he can't help but roll into one in the middle of the night. the minute he feels it in his hand, he gets it right in his mouth.
first night schedule:
cried for 1.5 hours (went in every 5 minutes for the first 3 times and then every 10 minutes from there out).
slept for 1 hour
cried for 25 min (go in every 10)
slept for 1 hour
cried for 1 hour (go in every 10)
SLEPT FOR 4 HOURS - which he had never done.
4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 AM... he woke up and cried but stopped in under 10 mintues by himself - i didn't ahve to go in at all.
the key is not to pick him up. talk to him, rub/pat his belly back. stay in the room for 1-2 minutes, then leave again - even if he's still crying. if the 10 minutes is up and youre' ready to go in.. but you hear that his crying has slowed down, give it another 5 minutes and he'll probably completely stop.
the next 2-5 nights, went to bed at 7:30 with crying under 10 minutes, woke up once during the night (around 1am ) that we'd have to go in once for, and he'd be up for the day between 6-7am.
follow the same routine for naptime too - even his naps have improved - he just used to catnap 20-30 minutes.
it's been 6 weeks since we did it. he now has (1) 1.5 hour nap and (1) 45-60 minute nap during the day. he's in bed at 7:30 and goes till 8am. and most of the time when he wakes up i just hear him playing in his crib - so he's not instantly crying that i have to go in right away and get him.
TIPS:
-both you and your husband have to be prepared to stay up all night together to do the cry it out (especially the first night)- arrange for a babysitter the next day so you guys can catch up on some ZZZZ.
- turn up your heat. our heat was set at 66 during the night. but when i'd have to go in there his hands were cold. just increasing it to 67helped - and make sure the heat vents are not blocked in the room.
- at 6 mos old - once he can roll over on his own etc - it's time to do it. the older he gets the harder it will be to do.
- have something to keep you busy, but that you can easily put down every 10 minutes to check - i was assembling valentine cards.
-my oldest would fall asleep to a music CD - once thorugh and it would stop - for the cry it out - we put it on reapeat to drowned out the noise. we also have a white noise machine that we put in the hallway outside our doors to drowned out the noise - after the first crying jag of my son - once he was actually asleep - i went in to check to see if she was sleepign and she was snoring away.
- sound machine - my son naps better during the day b/c it drowns out the noises going on in the rest of the house. at night we have it outside the hallway (we are in a ranch and the sound of the TV in the LR travels down the hallway).
-i'm the primary care giver b/c i'm home with my kids. so my husband did the initial putting to bed and first crying session (going in every time ) it helped break the cycle since he had such an association with me and bedtime.
hope this helps.
PS - seeing these other posts - at 6 mos old they don't need a middle of the ngiht feeding - my son is a big boy too (19lbs) and he gets what he needs during the day. and i had a friend of mine, her dr recommended cry it out at 6 mos but she didn't want to do it... her it is her son is 18mos and still doesn't sleep. do it now.
Just because he's big doesn't mean you should expect him to sleep all night 6 months is still young and they also don't recommend the cry it out method until at least 1 year of age so I would say rub his back there is nothing wrong w/ that I lay down in bed w/ my almost 2 yr old and read him a book and he is usually asleep before it ends and he used to have his back rubbed as a baby. How often is your son waking to eat at night if it is only once than that is okay he probably needs it. If you want to start weaning that night feeding wake him up to eat before you go to bed slowly make it earlier and earlier or you can also try to slowly make his bottle more and more water and less and less formula if he knows he is just getting water he may not wake for it and even if he does a bottle of water isn't going to cause any damage to his teeth now or in the future. I know how it is to go without sleep. Good luck.
When my son was a baby I use to put a nightlight on and he had a T.V. in his room with a tape player so he could watch his favorite movies like peter pan or bambi.
six month old babies still need to eat during the night! check out http://askdrsears.com an amazing resource loaded with info for any situation.
I am a believer of the Feber book. Chapter 3 is the key.
I have 3 kids now 11, 9 and 6 and they were all Feberized early (12 weeks) because I went back to work. For a child to be able to settle himself and fall asleep by himself is HUGE and also makes for great napping! Think about it, it will change your life and his for the better. The younger they are the easier they are to teach. It's MUCH harder to attempt this at a year or later.. I know it's difficult - BEST of LUCK.
In my opinion, 6 months old is too young to sleep through the nite. My son was big for his age and he would wake 2-3 times when he was 6 months. Now he's 12 months and he still wakes 2 times to feed. I dont think you should rush it because your baby still needs to get some nourishment during the nite hours.
Babies at six months get hungry during the night. We have a nine month old who sleeps with us. She moves a little bit a few times a night which lets me know she needs to nurse, but neither of us wakes fully. We have a very peaceful sleep every night. No crying ever! And nobody else is disturbed. Try reading the Dr Sears sleep book.
