My son is now 7 months old and is getting up once during the night. He goes to bed around 9 p.m. and will get up around 3 a.m. to have a bottle and then back to sleep. He will then get up at 5:30 take another bottle and then back to sleep until 7:30a.m. I have talked with the Dr. about this, she has 5 children, and she told me that at his age he doesn't need to be taking a bottle in the middle of the night, that him getting up is more of a habit and it takes 3-5 days to break a habit. She let her daughter cry for 2 1/2 hours and she is now the best sleeper of all 5 kids. She said not to go into the room, just shut the door and basically put a pillow over your head because it is going to be a long night. :) I'm so wanting him to sleep through the night, but I just can't bring myself to letting him cry for such a long time period. He is very easy to get down for naps and bedtime...just put him in his crib and he puts himself to sleep so I'm very lucky with that, I just don't know how or if there is a way to get him to sleep through the night. My dr. also believes that he is not waking up because he is hungry, it is a habit, not that he is hungry. Any suggestions on how to survive this would be greatly appreciated. :)
Hi T.-
I don't have any advice for you sorry- but I would like to say you are not alone. Many parents do not believe in the cry it out method. You can go to askdrsears.com and get some additional tips. Good Luck!
I had the same issue with my daughter, now 14 months, when she was your sons age. I talked to the doctor about it and she stated the same as yours, at that age they don't need the nutrition of a night feeding. She also stated that it was up to me if I wanted to continue nursing her when she awoke. If I didn't mind getting up then I should go ahead and get up with her. It could be seperation anxiety but that usually sets in a little later. My doc, as well as many articles I have read, state that it is ok to go in the room when they are crying like that. From what I understand you should never let a child cry for such a long period of time, go in and reassure your child you are still there and all is ok every 15-30 minutes, but don't pick the child up. YOu can rub or pat the baby on teh back or just stand there and talk. My husband and I did this and my daughter now sleeps from 8 pm to 730 am every night, and has done this for quite some time. The only time she doesn't sleep through the night is when she is teething or sick. Good luck.
That doctor sounds like someone not wanting to really take the time to do things right (or at least taking the easy way out).
All kids are going to sleep differently. Some 4 year old will wake up in the middle of the night still.
However, he could be waking up because he's kicked his blanket off, or a noise disturbed him, so if you do wait a few minutes to see if he'll go back to sleep because if he doesn't fall back in about 15-20 minutes then he's probably not unless he just cries himself into a stupor. Which is probably what that dr's. daughter did. She wore herself out crying.
You could try mixing a little cereal in with his last bottle of the evening. if you wanted to try and stretch it out. That'll give him just a little more substance to digest.
With my two, I timed the last feeding to b/t 10 & 11 p.m. and they slept until about 6 a.m. My son when he was 2 weeks old, my dau. when she was 1 week.
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Here are a few idea's that have helped me with my two boys. First of all they were both big boys, my first was nine three and my second was nine fifteen and a half at birth. I had to start using rice in there bottles so that they weren't constantly waking me up in the middle of the night. I also had to use a radio, and it seemed to help. If you don't want your son listening to the radio there are many good cd's out there that are learnig, like baby mozart or other cd's in the baby section at the stores.
As far as the rice goes you can try it by spoon or you can put it in the bottle. It is actually better for them if you try and feed it by spoon, cause it teaches them. now if he doesnt eat it very well then you'll have to add a couple of scoops into the bottle. You might have to switch nipples, or puncture holes in them to get it out. What the rice does is makes the formula thicker and stay in his system longer. Don't be suprised if he starts eating less often and might even eat less at a time, cause he won't need it.
I hope this helps, it did for me. Good luck, and let me know what happens. If you have any questions feel free to ask, i may not get back to you right away, cause i'm having a baby tomorrow morning.
How funny, only because I have a baby boy that just turned 7 months yesterday and he did the same thing every night up until a few nights ago. He would go to bed between 8-8:30pm and then get up between 3 & 4am. I'd give him a bottle, change his diaper and then he'd go right back to sleep. Earlier this week I started getting him up right before I go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00pm, give him a bottle and put him back to bed. It's worked so far (knock on wood) and he doesn't get up now until I get him ____@____.com it a try.
Best wishes
S.
Hi. Does it seem like your son is eating enough during the day? My son was getting up at least 2 times to eat (he's four months old). I just started back to work a few weeks ago and one of those days my daycare provider said she noticed he was sucking hard on his bottle nipple, so she poked a bigger hole in it. Then instead of taking his "normal" 4 oz, he immediately started eating at least 6 oz. every bottle. I upgraded my bottle nipples to faster flowing. That was the first night he slept through the night, and he's done it ever since. I'm not sure if this applies to your situation, but maybe you can try to feed him more during the day.
T.,
I don't know if you may have tried any of this yet but there are a few things that I have done with my 3 kids that seemed to work for us.
I would usually try to keep them up until around 10pm so that they would sleep a little longer into the morning and they would usually get up around 6am. At around 6 months I also would feed them some rice cereal a little before bedtime and then do a bath right after that for a little extra relaxation. Two of them also did take a pacifier and that would sometimes help to comfort them as opposed to an actual feeding. I know that not everyone likes to use them, but everyone has different ideas about those sorts of things.
I also started using a sippy top for bottles around 6 months to give little drinks of water as opposed to regular feedings, maybe that might help to have a little drink and then try to go back to sleep.
I don't blame you for not wanting to let your baby cry for that long, especially if he goes to sleep on his own so well. It would be a bummer to have him not go to bed because he was afraid you would leave and let him cry. I do have a few friends that have tried what your doctor recommended and said that it has worked for them though.
Take Care and Good Luck! I hope that some of these things might help.
M.
After having read Harvey Karp's The Happiest Baby on the Block I can't imagine letting a baby cry it out! (Especially for 2 1/2 hours!) At 7 months, he is trying to tell you SOMETHING (what?) My daughter slept throught the night from 6 weeks until 8 months and then started waking up. I think the Doc is right that your son doesn't need to eat, but what about separation anxiety? He is at the perfect age for that and that is what my doc (the medical director at our local hospital)attributed my daughter waking to. They wake, realize mommy is not there, and cry for you instead of just going back to sleep like they used to. He said that all babies wake several times in the night. From 8-10 months we had to get up with her at about 3am each night for about 10 minutes (until she fell back asleep). Although it stunk for us, we traded nights, and didn't feel like we were torturing our baby. She has slept through the night again ever since and she is now 15 months old. I hope this helps!
Hi T.,
Well my first child wasn't a very good sleeper. I think mostly because we didn't stick to a bedtime routine when she was really little. I did need to break her and her brother of the bottle at night deal. Their dr. told me to start diluting the bottle with water each night. Eventually you just give water then they won't care to wake up for that. I guess the bottle is a comfort thing. Also, once they start using a sippy cup you can give them a sippy cup with water. That's what we do now and my kids are 3.5 and 2. Most of the time they don't drink it all, but like last night I heard my son find his cup and start drinking. At least they know it's there and can go back to sleep. I also heard that 6 hours for little ones is pretty much sleeping all night. I think if you break the bottle habit, you will notice a difference. Then once you get a good sleep routine going...teething or a cold will mess it up! (: Good luck!
T.
I have a 5 month old some that just plain hates sleeping. It would be 11:00 before I could get him to sleep some nights and it was growing old! I did the same thing, just let him cry himself to sleep, he cried for over an hour the first night, but I was tired, so I let him cry it out and it worked. It took a couple of weeks of crying, but the duration kept getting shorter and shorter until now he is going down with no problem. He sleeps from about 8:30 to anywhere from 7:30-9:00 am.
If only I could get him to nap regularly thru the day!
T.- when it comes to babies sleeping, my favorite source for ideas is a book called Healthy sleep habits, happy child. My pediatrician suggested it- and I love it. It explains the development of the sleep cycle in babies and offers a lot of reassurance as to the variability you'll see with babies. I also like that the author gives multiple approaches and rationale for using each one- the author isn't pushy, but offers advice and will suggest his favorite method but is very supportive of the other approaches he describes. It's also a very easy to use book because it is divided into sections by age, problem, etc. so you can skip around and get to the info you are most interested in first, then go back and look at some of the other stuff later. I learned a lot about my own sleep habits too. Bottom line, I credit that book to having a baby that is a good sleeper.
As for what I would suggest: I think crying for 2 1/2 hours is excessive. However, I do believe in some amount of crying- but you have to do what you are comfortable with. Your baby could be waking because of hunger or habit. I would suggest, that when the baby wakes, try to offer the chance for him to self-soothe; I allow at most 20 min- and I don't count just grunting, or knowing he's awake- I have an 8 month old, and sometimes I'll hear a burst of crying of maybe a few seconds, then he'll grunt and I can tell he's awake, and I can hear him stirring, but he will put himself back to sleep in a matter of minutes- usually no more than 10 min or so in the night. My point is, you maybe don't have to let your baby "cry it out"- but maybe just give him some time to try to figure things out. You know your baby's cry, and if after 10 minutes (or whatever timeframe you set for yourself-I suggest really watching the clock because as you know, every minute a baby cries seems forever) he doesn't seem to be settling down, maybe offer some comfort sucking- pacifier/help him find his thumb/whatever you feel comfortable with- just to test out if he is really hungry or if the sucking just is helping to settle him. If that doesn't work, then offer the feeding.
I saw some people offered feeding suggestions- and that might be it too. My baby started sleeping through the night at about 3 months- and I mean really sleeping- he'd go to bed at 7pm and wouldn't wake until 7 am. As he started to approach the 6 month mark, he started to wake earlier and earlier until he was waking up at 5 am. Once we started solids, he slept 7 to 7 again. And I do think there is a relationship between a full belly and sleeping well, because even now, we can tell when we need to increase feedings a little for a growth spurt, because he'll start waking a little earier and earlier.
Good luck to you.
My son also woke up in the middle of the night, but only once and after i talked to his dr. she said he dosen't need the extra food. I tried everything sitting with him for 5 hours one night, only putting water in the bottle, i tried it all and gave up. I continued feeding him the bottle,and about the time he turned one he sleept through the night and has since then. I can to my own conclusion that he did need the food, and he is two now, and as healthy as can be. Hope this helps in any way.
T. -
I would have to agree with your doctor. Babies (and even us) wake up a few times each night - it's part of the sleep cyle. The key is to learn to put yourself back to sleep and by getting him out of the crib and giving him a bottle you are reinforcing him to fully wake at these times.
Our son tried doing the same thing and we didn't give him a bottle, but we also didn't make him cry it out - what we did instead was if he cried for 15 minutes we would go in and soothe him for a few minutes without taking him out of the crib (just rub his back and say "sshhh") for a few minutes then leave - he'd usually start crying again so we'd wait about 15 minutes more and repeat - usually we only had to go in once or twice and it only last about 3 nights now he goes down without a fight and is able to put himself back to sleep when/if he wakes during the night.
Hope this helps!
K.
Hi T.,
When my daughter was 7 months old she was still waking up once at night, usually around 4:30am. I would just breastfeed her a little and she'd go back to sleep. It didn't last forever though, she started sleeping longer and longer. When she was 5 months old she was waking up just like your son, at 3 and 5am. Then that transitioned to 4:30 and that transitioned to no waking up. She gets up with us at about 6:30 to 7am. He may not be hungry, but he may need comfort. I'd keep feeding him the 3am bottle and maybe just try cuddling at the second awakening. If that doesn't work, do what you feel is right, but remember that nothing like this will last forever! I don't think you're making a habit at this age.
Good luck!
~K.
