Sleeping Through the Night - San Antonio,TX

I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and I have found with both of them that they were hungry. I don't care what anyone says, when babies are growing as fast as they do, you can't tell me that they aren't hungry. Also it may be her teeth. They say that teething is incredibly painful for babies. You could try rubbing some baby oragel on them it could help or a little tylenol. Hope this helps.

Hello. I kind of had the same problem. My son went to bed around 8:30 and was up at 4:30 due to my work schedule. About the same time he started waking up during the night and i would give him a bottle and he would go back to sleep. i was talking to his doctor at a well child check up and she said to stop giving him the bottle during the night because that would make it worst. He was not really hungry but the bottle would sooth him back to sleep. This would cause a habbit and guess what, he is 2 and still does it. Also, i would recommend trying to cut out that evening nap. As they get older the naps will decrease and this is one that needs to stop. It is hard, believe me that is when i got so much done at home. Try keeping him awake in the evenings for about a week and she should catch on. About 5-6 months is when i had to cut out the evening naps for my son. I did give my son cereal before he went to bed but i dont recommend trying to stuff her with food to keep her asleep.

Good Luck!!

R.,
I have a five and a half month old and he went through a similar phase about 4 weeks ago. He's been sleeping through the night for months now(so happy about it) but for a period of about one week he started waking up in the middle of the night to eat just like your little girl. I did nothing different than you. He was eating cereal at night. My son only did it for a week and a half then started sleeping through the night again. I contributed this to a little growth spurt. When they go through those spurts they just need to eat more often. I wouldn't lose sleep over it(besides the sleep you lose getting up to feed her) unless it lasts for more than a couple of weeks. If that happens you may ask your pediatrician about it, but I would bet its just your little girl growing! Good luck!

This will sound rough, but I wouldn't do the feedings when she wakes up at night. That will make her get confused about daytime/nighttime. Night is for sleep, not eating/playing. If you think she is going through a growth spurt then you could wake her at around 10 PM before you go to bed and give her a bottle. Or you could do more frequent feedings during the day. Then she may stretch out the night. My kids both had phases in which they woke up at night for few days. We just trudged through it. It's very easy to start a new pattern and it only takes a couple of days...so be very careful about what you do. Also, she may need to have her last nap a little earlier. Try not to get too stressed out. I know you're tired, but this really is a short time frame in your life. It will get better soon no matter what you do!

Hi R.,

Parent Coach J. B here - what you describe is so normal for sweet babies in that age range. Your daughter's caloric and sleep needs will vary over the next many months as her little body goes through growth spurts. As a parent, you'll need to observe her and be ready to adjust feedings and naps as her needs change. As suggested by other moms, eliminating that last nap will help. Feeding her more by nursing or formula plus cereal about 90 minutes before you want her to go down for the night will help, too.

As she grows, she will be better able to indicate fullness and tiredness and you will also get more in tune with her signals. Try to relax about the night wakings. If the suggestions we've given don't work, know that "this too shall pass" and try to enjoy that special, quiet time with her in the wee hours of the night. By the way, if she keeps waking up, it would be great if you and Dad could take turns getting up with her!

Good luck,
J. B
Parent Coach

Feed her when she wakes. She is going through a growth spurt and will continue to do this on and off for the first year. She will eventually sleep for longer intervals unless she is sick, teething or going through a developmental milestone such as walking, crawling, etc.... Sleeping through the night is also considered 5 hours and it is completely normal for babies to wake. Please, use your momma instincts on this.

Maybe, alternate who gets up with her at night so one of you can at least sleep a little longer, or if you are nursing put her in bed with you? I would also recommend moving that 5 pm nap up. At 5 months my sons naps were pretty erratic, so its understandable if she is taking a nap late afternoon, but maybe even an hour earlier may make a difference.

Good luck to you.

My daughter just turned 6 months and she thinks that it is party time in the middle of the night. On the nights that she decides that it is complete play time, I just have to swaddle her up as tight as I can get her and nurse her until she falls back to sleep. Other than that I have no idea...there are nights that she is up for 2 hours and it drives me crazy.

I feel your pain. I am getting up once during the night to feed my 3 month old.

With my 2 year old he did that as well. I started him in day care about that time as well. It took him quite a while to adjust back to a new routine with the day care schedule and drastic change in his life. After a time he did start sleeping through the night again.

Somethings you might try is move that last nap early during the day. So she isn't going to bed for the night 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. If she is awake longer she will sleep longer before her internal clock says enough long sleep.

Until that works, I used to place my son in the swing with all of the lights off and let him listen to the swing music while I dozed on the couch until he fell asleep. Then I would move him back to his crib. I would also place the swing in front of the TV with Baby Einstein playing. It has very soothing music and has a repeat cycle so you don't have to push play over and over again. This worked because he usually fell asleep before he was awake long enough to get hungry and I got some sleep in the meantime.

It is also possible that teething is waking her up during the night.

I don't know if any of this will help in your situation or not, but good luck from one tired mom to another.

Sometimes you have to do what is right for you and your child. If she isnt doing something then change it. Don't let her have that last nap. Keep her up or at least try to let her stay up and then maybe she will go to sleep earlier and sleep better.

I was going to say pretty much the same thing as Tammi below! I agree that it is unrealistic to expect her to sleep through the night, even if she was doing it before. She has had a change in routine (daycare) and usually that shows in waking.
I, too, would totally cut out that last nap. It isn't necessary, and may be why she is waking. Babies need naps, of course, and at her age she probably needs at least 2 a day, but that is just too late. Consult with the day care on what time her naps are there.
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley is the book I would recommend too. It is a gentle approach.
And if you think she's truly hungry, then I would feed her. There is no need to keep her from eating if she really is hungry. 5 months old is still quite young. Cut out that last nap, though, and see if she's still waking!

Have you tried mixing the cereal with some mushed banannas or some other type of fruit or food that might hold her over longer through the night? It is also very common in general for sleep patterns to change quite often during the first year, but any change in a normal routine, such as starting day care, could also cause a shift in the sleeping patterns. I know with my daughter any time we changed the routine her sleep pattern would change and she would wake up during the night. I also noticed that around 5 months she needed something more substantial at night before bed to eat because she too was waking up hungry, and thirsty. I learned to make sure to offer her something to drink before bed. Hope this helps.

I also want to chime in on the cereal. A lot of folks believe that feeding babies cereal before they go to bed will help them sleep through the night. Perhaps this is because it's thicker or something. However, cereal doesn't have nearly the calories or fat content of breastmilk or formula. So your baby will fill up on cereal but be getting a lot less calories. This might be why she is hungry in the middle of the night. My six month old sleeps about 8 hours at a stretch and has been for a while now. But sometimes we have a couple days where he wakes up hungry. I think that is just the way it is. Sometimes, I wake up hungry. ;)

Hello R.

Try stopping the 5pm nap. Just let her play until about 6:30. Give her a hot bath with Johnson and Johnson Night Time Wash,then feed her a warm milk and cereal bottle at 7:30. When she wakes up in the middle of the night give her water instead of milk, this way she will realize that if I wake up all I'm getting is water "I'll wait". Trust me I did it to all 3 of my girls. It's hard but, we need our sleep to.

S.-37 mother of 18 y/o, 11 y/o, 10 y/o.

Drop that last nap is sounding like a good idea...or wake her after a 10-15 minute cat naps.

I have a different opinion than others, at 5 months she certainly IS old enough to sleep through the night and going in there will only prolong the experience. Cold turkey has been my answer with all 3 of my kids after being "nice" for too long. It's hell, no question, and mine are very good at crying for a very long time. But after a week she'll be back to sleeping through the night I'd bet. It may very well be that because she's not napping well at daycare she is overtired and THAT leads to not sleeping well at night (been there, done that). Make sure she gets good naps on the weekends to make up for it.

Consistency is the answer - don't do the cry it out method unless you (and hubby) are really willing to stick it out or it won't work and will be very frustrating.

Good luck!
Sandra

dear R.,
stop giving her so many naps, even if she gets cranky. especially that last one. my daughter would do the same thing. i took her 1 of her naps away and she was a nightmare until bed time but slept through the night. eventually it all smoothed out. ofcourse shes only 5 mon old but they go through phases at least every 3 mon where you have to figure them out all over again. the daycare may be letting her sleep too much.
M.

Hi, my name is H.. I am a mother of two children. 5 & 8
yrs. old. From the experiences I have had, I would say to try to get her naps on a schedule. She could be sleeping to much during the day, so she is not really tired at night. I would try to make her last nap around 4:00 or so. I know you can't always control when they sleep, but once their on a schedule they get use to it. I had the same problem with my two when they were babies. I still have mine on a schedule and they are 5 & 8 yrs old. They go to sleep every night @ 8:00.

Good luck & God Bless
H. Massey

I have four children and they all ate once during the night at that age...I think you should go ahead and give it to her- she may be going through a growth spurt! As some say, you might want to eliminate a nap time as well.

We started cereal with my daughter at 6 months, and when we starting giving it to her in the evening, she immediately started having trouble sleeping. I agree with one of the other posts; she may not be getting enough calories before she goes to sleep. Also, with my daughter, I wondered if the new texture wasn't hard on her little digestive system, seeing that she got it right before she went to bed. When we switched to giving cereal mostly in the mornings (and then, later, gradually during the other feedings, too), she slept much better.

I would drop that last nap. My daughter at 6 months dropped her last nap and it was much better. I think it mostly has to do with to much sleep during the day, once she stops that last nap then I bet she will start sleeping longer again. I would also give her some cereal before bed as well as the morning and see if that helps. My daughter started sleeping longer when I introduced cereal to her.

She may be hungry. Do you think it would be OK to give her cereal during her other feedings throughout the day? Just a thought. It has been awhile since I have had babies.

She is awake because she is hungry. She's going through a growing spurt, both physically and developmentally at this age and just needs more to eat right now. You can let her stay in bed when she's awake but happy (the cooing...and how cute is that, by the way!) but once she's asking for you to feed her (crying) you need to be there. I know sleeping through the night is nice, but these stages come and go and for now you'll have to get back to a wake and feed schedule. Once she's more into eating during the day (probably in the next two months) I'll bet she'll go back to sleeping all night. Good luck and hang in there.

P. (mom of three boys ages 7,5, and almost 3)

She is still young and it's not realistic that she should sleep through the night. My 10 month old still wakes at least once for comfort. I really recommend the book No Cry Sleep Solution. It's been a major help with getting him to wake less at night.

Cut out that last nap. Keep her up until about 6:30, start your bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pjs, story, whatever) and shoot for bed by 7pm. That would probably make a difference with her waking up and wanting to play. She still may wake for comfort or food but should go right back to sleep. Good luck!

Hi R.....

Very likely a growth spurt. I had the same issue and my son is now back to sleeping through the night. It lasted about 2 weeks and then poof, back to the way it was. It is likely she is just hungry. My son does this everytime he has a little spurt. He is fussy during the day and then wakes to feed at night one time. Luckily it only lasts a short time and we are back to norm.

K.

P.S. Count yourself lucky that she can sleep through the night. I guarantee there are MANY parents out there with worse sleep probs than this.... and at later stages too.

Hi R. try adding some fruit from the jars mixed with the cereal and milk. The fruit gives more substance. My son still today sleeps 10 to 12 hours and is 2yrs old. I also bought feeders from HEB and Babies R Us it is made for the cereal mixture.They come with a 4oz and 2oz. Try it!!