I Need Some Mama Advice on Getting Baby to Sleep Through the Night!

I had been going through the same thing with my daughter Kyla, who is 11 months. My two girls sleep in the same room so allowing her to "cry it out" isn't an option for me. The last couple nights have been going MUCH better though. I stopped picking her up out of the crib and instead I'll give her a pacifier or a bottle while rubbing her leg and saying "shhh, shhhh." LOL! It totally works for my Kyla. Last night I only had to get up once to do this.

Can you tell me a bit about your buisness???

Hi J.,

First has this been going on for a long time, or does it start and stop. Will he go several weeks and sleep good or does he get up every single night? He is probably teething, which could be part of it. Do not let him sleep too much during the day. Maybe 2- 2 hour naps. Don't put him to bed to ealry. Most parents think kids have to be in bed by 7:00. Let him stay up a bit longer. Don't give him any sugar products after about 5:00. Give him a warm bath at night to help his body get relaxed. You may want to not give him any fruit at dinner, since that has some sugar in it. When and if he crys during the night go in and put some orgel on his gums, see if that will sooth him. At 7 months he really should not need to be wrapped tight. That's more for an infant-3 months. He should be sleeping on his tummy by now. I've seen lots of kids with flat heads because they slept on their back too long. I know it may be really tough to do, but you don't have to go in every time he is crying. He knows you will come to him and it has been a routine for him. Try playing some music instead. As long as you know he is allright I would ignore him. I know it sounds mean. The same way he has learned to wake up and cry for you, he will also learn that you are not going to get him every time, and he will start sleeping more. He will learn to put himself back to sleep. He will go through stages where he is cutting teeth. Give him some Tylenol before you put him to bed. That should help him sleep better. If he is loosing sleep at night, don't let him make up for it during the day. At some point you will have to get him really tired so he will sleep more at night.
The best advice I can give is to leave the kids with a relative or close friend and go off for a few days with your husband and have some alone time together. You have to do this so you can have the strength you need to take care of your children and to be there for your husband. So often they feel left out.
Good luck

I was just thinking about this after ai got done writing to you.

If a child wakes up in a different place from where they fell asleep, they get scared. It makes perfect since. If you are holding him or rocking him to sleep and he falls asleep in your arms, he will want to be back in your arms to fall asleep again. I breast feed my daughter for a year, but when she reach about 4 months I stopped letting fall asleep in my arms. I would feed her then lay her in her bed. She has been putting herself to sleep ever since. When she was hungry during the night, I would go in and feed her and again lay her in her bed and she would go right to sleep. She is 2 1/2 now and does great. You need to fix this now before he does get older or you will always have trouble and nap time and at night.

This may sound harsh, but have you considered the possibility that your son might be "playing" you?

My girlfriend had the same problem at about the same age, but her pediatrician suggested that she not succumb to his every whimper and just let him "cry it out" (without her visible presence). Not FOREVER, but for at least 15-20 minutes, to see if he might fall back asleep on his own.

I recently put this theory to use after getting a new puppy (not that I am comparing your CHILD to DOG, by any means) who was very demanding and almost like having a newborn in the house. If either of us got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and she heard the flush, she would start whining, and we would immediately grab her. Now, two weeks after us ignoring her cries from her kennel, she simply does not whine anymore and waits until morning...

Sounds somewhat cruel, but it does work.

Hope this helps you. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing! I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck!

I think you will get a lot of different responses to this and you will have to find the best solution that fits your child and you.

Me personally, I've never been a fan of crying it out. Crying is the only communication a baby has to let you know what's going on. I have three kids and all my kids have slept through the night since 10 weeks. I'm not bragging, I'm just thankful that I found something that fit our family (Baby Whisperer, by Tracy Hogg) or www.babywhisperer.com Sometimes it takes awhile but a baby finally builds the trust with you by being there and "Shh shh shh"ing him back to sleep.

I've also heard replacing his bottle with just plain water. I never tried it, but it sounds like it might work.

Good luck. Just think once you've gotten them to sleep through the night and get your sleep, they get older and are able to walk to your bedroom. ;)

C.

Hi J.,
I don't have advice, but wanted to let you know that neither one of our sons were sleeping through the night at 7 months, even with solid foods. With our youngest son we would do our last feeding at 9:00pm and about 6 hours later he would wake up hungry. Our Dr said this was normal. By 12 months, when he woke up, we gave him a pacifier and some snuggle time and he would go back to sleep. He is now 1 1/2 and just started sleeping through the night. So I feel your pain, but hang in there. Good luck. D.

Hi J.,
My oldest, now 19 months, did not sleep through the night until she turned one. I am not sure what the change was, but it was fairly quickly that the change took place. I am not an advocate of having a child "cry it out", so maybe it was my fault, but she is the easiest child to put to sleep and sleeps all night (11.5 hours a night). I feel she is secure and knows if she needs me I am there. The only thing we changed when she was a year was we would offer her water instead of milk...she decided she did not want the water. I don't know if that would help your lil' guy, but when she realized that was all we had, she quit waking up. I also would make sure you are not over-responding if he is making sleepy noises. My child still squeals out in the early morning, but she is asleep. I read this is normal, so I wait to see if she actually starts to call out or cry before I jump to the rescue. It is frustrating, but in the end your child will be a happy and secure lil' guy. There will be years ahead when they won't think they needs us, so for now I am trying to treasure my sleepy days with my two lil' ones.

Hang in there,
K.---mom of a 19 month and 5 month old---I know about sleepy days.

Hey J. this is C.
I went through this same thing with Blake- he was 3 until he slept through the night. I did find that when I cut down his naps during the day - like to 2 he started sleeping better through the night. He would have a mid morning nap and then a afternoon nap at 7-9 mo. then beyond that we were down to 1 nap but I didn't let him sleep for more than 1 1/2 - 2 hours on that afternoon nap. Blake had a favorite blanky too- it was very soft and sometimes I could just touch his face with it gently and he'd fall back asleep. This blanket was apart of our life for almost 5 years until he finally parted with it. He probably isn't hungry he might just be lonesome- wakes up scared cause he thinks he by himself. Maybe a little night light might help?