When Will He Sleep Through the Night?

You poor thing, it does get better, he may also be getting additional teeth. That in itself can be very uncomfortable. Be patient, and have a set routine every night - a ritual. Sometimes they need to "nest" to comfort themselves. Blankets are helpful. Good luck and best wishes.......

I would highly recommend the Baby Whisperer, by Tracy Hogg. Her methods have helped lots of people (including me!) and there's a message board, like babywhisperer.com or something similar where people are super helpful. Good luck!

This is a hot topic! And it looks like you got some responses from CIO proponents despite your request...

My son recently started sleeping about 11 hours at night, and he was just over 12 months old when that happened. He also started going to one nap during the same time, which I think is the biggest reason why he started sleeping longer at night. For the last week, he has been waking up more often again, and I am absolutely positive that it is because his molars are coming in. Now I know that he knows how to sleep at night, and I believe he will not fall back into a pattern of waking up often even though I go to him when he cries at night.

I am still breastfeeding him at night when necessary - for instance, I fed him at 3 last night because it seemed like the thing he needed. But I won't let anyone convince me that I am spoiling him by doing that. I don't know if he needed it for hunger's sake (probably not), but I think he needed it for comfort's sake. I told you that I'm still breastfeeding because I don't think you should night-wean suddenly (unnaturally) because it may just cause him more stress and make night-wakings worse.

When he wakes at night, wait for a while before going to him to see if he'll settle down on his own (unless he is really crying).

there's a great book and I wish I could recall the title but it talks about statistics on children sleeping through the night.and also sleep the parents get on average. wish I had had it before i had kids! anyway it mentions that statistically kids are not restful at night til around age five or so, in most cases. I remember reading this and saying..ok that explains a lot (I have a 3 and 5 yo and I read this a little over a year ago).

so anyway it's a long haul usually unless your child is exceptionally outside average and sleeps like a log.
in this case I feel strongly the parents need to help each other. when we were really struggling with 1 and 3 yo, there were nights when I would just say "I have to rest" and he would take that night. in face for a while we traded out. I popped in the ear plugs found a place to lie down away from noise and went to sleep. (Note - I would hear EVERYTHING when I was in our bed and so because my ears were so attuned I had to remove self)
hope this helps.

p.s. as for the cry it out method..I don't believe in it. I knwo some who do. I am just not one of them. now once a child turns around age three I am more willing. but under that age I have concerns about establishing a sense of security with my children. having said that...one can do things to make the bed time a routine and ritual to increase the chance of child going to sleep. but the issue is...they wake up. plain and simple. I think getting them on solids is good plan to increase chance they will sleep..though a pediatrician once told me there is no science to back up this claim, it was a lifesaver for us as afamily when my son was five months old (moving from milk to solids early)

Nursed babies have a harder time sleeping through the night because they often nurse until they fall asleep so when they wake up at night (as all people do), they do not know how to go to sleep without nursing.
I do not like the crying it out method(CIO) and have never used it with my children. When the baby is older, he will sleep for longer periods. My boys are all now very good sleepers(12,8,8,and 4)and we never had to do the CIO. A little less sleep for parents early on pays big dividends later. Hang in there! K.

I agree with the first poster. It is very uncommon for baby's to sleep through the night. In fact, in most other countries, it is not consider normal if they do sleep through the night before age 1. By now, he should be giving you 5 or 6 hours stretches (which is what the American Pediatrics Association calls "sleeping through the night"--haha) My little guy is 8.5 months and is pretty consistently down to walking up only once a night. I did spend longer periods of letting him belly-ache before I went to him. When he got to the point of truly being upset,I went to him. When I started doing this, is the time that he cut down to only waking up once a night (and sometime he even gives me 10 hour stretches!) It could be coincidence or it could be that it worked. I am not a fan of Babywise's strick scheduling laws, but I do think that they give you the good natural order in which babies like to do things, which is play for a good long stretch and eat, then lay down sleepy. What I don't agree with is there promotion of CIO and sticking to the schedule even when you can see it doesn't work for you little guy. Good luck!

S.
This is such a touchy subject with many moms as you probably already know and I think you as a mom have to look at different methods and find what you feel comfortable with. I have a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old boy who began sleeping through the night at 6 and 7 weeks respectively with Babywise. Now did I follow it exactly, no, but I took the ideas and made a plan that I felt comfortable with. Now I have both of them in bed at 7-7:30 and they wake up at 7. The only difference now is we do get up to take the three year old to the bathroom but that's totally off topic!!! And for those who scream trust issues and attachment issues with Baby wise I would GLADLY have you come see my boys at any time to see there are NO issues in those areas. I guess my suggestion is to listen to what people say but you don't have to follow it completely--do what you feel fits best in your family.

Hi S.,

Every child is different! I will just tell you my own experience and see if it helps:o) My boys were terrible sleepers! I went for 4 years with about 2-3 hours a night! Can we say "walking zombie?" For my boys, it was something about 2 years old that they started sleeping more. Crazy...I know. Once I got my older to think about sleeping, I had my 2nd. Now they are sleeping regularly during the night but we still have our hicups occasionaly. ALL my friend's kids started sleeping all night at 2 weeks to 2 months old, it was very discouraging to me and no one could understand why I was lifeless, but I'm catching back up on my sleep and getting life back in me! :o) Thankfully, they are worth all the missed ZZZzzzs! :o) Hope this was helpful!

Feel free to write back with any questions or survival tips:o)

S.
____@____.com

Wish I could help- my girls slept through at 6 and 10 weeks (and my youngest has lots of health problems). I know most people will say that that's totally not normal and all that but I really attribute it to doing BabyWise. Both (2.5 y/o and almost 4 months) go to bed at 7:30 and don't get up until 7:30 the next morning. The baby gets a dreamfeeding at 9:30-10:00 and sleeps the rest of the night. Both take great naps.

Before other people start to bash me regarding BW, please only do so if you've read the book.

If you're opposed to it, The Baby Whisperer is great and JUST LIKE BabyWise.

I'm against the cry it out method too. I just wouldn't be able to do it. I was also lucky as my daughter slept through the night pretty early on. At about 5 1/2 months she started waking up again wanting to eat. My pediatrician suggested giving a bottle with an ounce or two of water at night. If he is waking up to eat, giving him water will help him learn that night time isn't the time for food. This seemed to work for us and after a couple of days she was sleeping through the night again. She still wakes up from time to time, but I just put her in bed with us and she goes right back to sleep. Some people are against cosleeping, but we don't do it alot even though she sleeps alot better when we do. Oh, and I was once suggested a book called "The No Cry Sleep Solution". It was suggested by a mother who like me, didn't agree with crying it out. I hope this helps some.

My husband and I were blessed with a good sleeper. Our son started sleeping through the night at 3 months and he is now 13 months. We had a few setbacks now and then (teething, illness) but he's done well. He has always been laid down awake, at home and at the sitter's, so I think that has helped us out as well. Lately he's been waking up between 1am and 2am, but I let him cry and literally within 3 minutes he is sleeping again.

I let my first child cry it out & it worked wonders (please keep reading) since I went back to work at 10 weeks & needed sleep. With my second child, we haven't been able to let him cry since it wakes the older child & then she is crabby all the next day. He is 4 months old now & my peditirican insists he can go 10 hours w/out having his blood sugar drop enough to tell him its time to eat. Your baby is waking for social reasons, not because he is actually hungry. I suggest you completely stop all night feedings immediately. If you dont' want to let him cry it out for even 5-10 minutes at a time, then go in & sooth him back to sleep w/out any feedings. You may have 3-5 tuff nights, but I promise it will be well worth it & you will both be happier for it.

Isn't sleep deprevation the worst part of parenthood!

I have had some babies that sleep 6 hours from 6 weeks on. I have had a baby that nursed every 4 hours (or more) at night when she was nearly 2yo. I will have to add that she wouldn't eat food and I was PG, so getting low on the milk. She is also a needier child, really loving, etc. That child only slept through the night her brother was born when she was 22 mos old, and still woke in the night until her 3rd birthday. But, she was also the only one that didn't wet the bed after being potty trained. It is in my experience that lighter sleepers are less likely to wet the bed at night. Out of 6 children, she has been my only one to NOT wet the bed regularly. So, we win some, we lose some.

This is how I got my sleep; we put the baby in our bed. Or a water cup for the baby so being thirsty isn't an issue. If it is a heavy wetter, changing the diaper before I went to sleep. Make sure they have snacks right before bed and brushing teeth, that makes a HUGE difference. And, laying down next to the baby while he drifts off is helpful.

Hi, S.!

Not sure if this will make you feel better or worse...

My son, now 4 1/2, didn't sleep through the night until just after his third birthday. You didn't mention anything about your baby's temperament, but my son cried constantly for the first two years and was, at 15 months, diagnosed with Sensory Integration Dysfunction. His waking up every two hours was related to that. His OT told me to use attachment parenting, including co-sleeping, to help him regulate his sleep. He went from waking up every two hours in his crib to waking up every three and a half hours in bed with me.

Now, at age 4, he's a VERY good sleeper and a wonderful kid. I've almost forgotten about all that baby-days drama!

Now, AP is NOT for everyone. It is, for a lot of people, really exhausting to have that kid in the bed. It can mess up your dynamic with your spouse. You can feel like you, literally, never get a break if you are with baby ALL day and ALL night. Honestly, I wouldn't have done it if I felt like anything else would've worked. However, you are NOT me, so you might LOVE AP!

I am probablly the last one who should be posting to this. My son will be 2 next month and still does not sleep through the night. I have to lay in his room till he falls asleep because the crying out method did not work for him he will cry for an hour if we let him and my daughter will not fall asleep with him screaming. She does not seem to be bothered by it if she falls asleep before he starts screaming. I put him to bed between 8 and 9 PM and he wakes up anywhere from midnight to 4 AM. Sometimes it is only once a night sometimes it is two or three times. I used the crying out method with my daughter and it worked fine. She is a much better night time sleeper than he is. Neither are great nappers. My son is even already started to give up his nap which is not good. He needs it with not sleeping through the night.
I am sorry that I can not give you any advice but I do know that I read somewhere that your baby is considered sleeping through the night if they sleep from midnight to six AM. So I figure if my son sleeps for 6 hours with out waking up then he is sleeping through the night.

There is a book called On Becoming Baby Wise. Get it. It explains how and when to feed your baby so that he sleeps better and through the night. I used this technique when my son was about 6 months old, and within about three days, he was sleeping peacefully through the night. Good luck.

I really think these links will help you a lot, in both understanding and support :) I sure wish I'd read them BEFORE my son reach 13 months :) Like, when I first had him would have been nice !

CIO (cry it out), I would never have tried it the way I did if I'd read this first:
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/06/babies_and_cio.html

Babies & Sleep:
http://www.askmoxie.org/2005/12/quick_and_dirty.html

Sleep regressions:
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

Sleep through night breast fed:
http://www.askmoxie.org/2006/01/qa_3for1_sleepi.html

Best of luck!

L..

My sone is 17 months and still wakes up in the night probably 5 times a week. he wants a drink and sometime we can get him abck in his bed and sometimes he has to come to our bed in order for everyone to get some sleep. We use a lullaby cd when we put him in his crib and if we keep it on repeat all night long he seems to sleep longer and through the night better. I have a tendancy to be a light sleeper and jump at every noise he makes and i personally have been working really hard at making him fall back to sleep on his own and will let him cry about 15 mintues in the nbight untill I give up. I think they are only babies once and was tired of beating myself up by giving in and letting him cuddle with us in the middle of the night if that is what he needs. If you are nursing him I think they get even more attached to the night time feedings and want the comfort of nursing. I nursed my son untill his first birthday and then transitioned to a bottle or a cup and then the sleeping patterns did get a little worse.

Good luck.

There is so much variation from kid to kid when it comes to sleep behavior. And there are so many books out there that claim to have some proven method, and usually they use guilt to make parents think they should use that method (eg implying that if your baby doesn't sleep through s/he will be unhealthy or something, which is simply not true!) Then there are scads of people who say, you have to do this! It worked perfectly for my kid! Well, maybe so, but I know without doubt that Baby Whisperer or any other method would not have worked with my first daughter. She nursed to sleep, period. My second is very different, though she does still wake in the night. Co-sleeping is what gets us through. I honestly don't always know how many times she wakes some nights, I just give her a breast and doze off.

I've heard raves about The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Pantley, but I haven't felt a need for it myelf. Just keep in mind that kids are who and how they are, and your intuition is your best guide.

Hate to scare you, but my daughter just turned 19 months old and is just starting to maybe sleep the night through. At least she has the last 2 nights. This past weekend she didn't because I think it was a different enviroment (at Grandma & Grandpa's) and slept in a pack n play and teething. She has also slep a few nights through a few weeks ago until I noticed Molars coming in...She has been a great girl going through this...not too fussy.

My son is the same age as yours and he seems to go through phases. Usually they are related to teething or ear infections if he isn't sleeping and he'll wake up irritated. If he's not having any of those issues, it may just be changing his expectations. I think it's WONDERFUL that you're still nursing - I lost my milk a few months back and would be doing it too if I could! If he's used to eating at night, that may be why he's waking up - because he is expecting to eat. I don't know if you pump, but maybe try pumping & giving him a bottle to go to bed - a good 8 oz - so you know he has a full tummy. I sometimes give my son a little 'dessert' too.
Like you, I'm not into crying it out - so when I couldn't nurse at night anymore, I worked on putting him back to sleep on my own without feeding him. I always go and get him after a few minutes of crying, and then we rock or walk up and down the hall until he falls back asleep. It was hard for a week or two, but they adapt pretty quickly. Once I got him out of that habit, he started sleeping much better! I made a cut off time for myself - any waking up before 6am was rocking time - not eating time.
My last thing is just PLEASE don't read Babywise. This is a controversial book, so I'm not trying to start any madness, (you can read one of my other posts a few months back where I got 70+ responses about this book) but it is based on a crying it out method. I know a lot of mothers live by it and love it, but from what you wrote, I don't know that you will agree with it.
Best of luck with your little guy! I'm sure he'll be sleeping all night soon enough...and then you'll wake up and miss him. :)

I went through this with my now almost two year old. He was 10 months old and still getting up every 2-3 hours at night and wanting to nurse and I was going crazy from the frustration and lack of sleep. (My first son was sleeping through the night by 6 months, so I wasn't expecting this). What worked for us was to use the method outlined in the book "The Sleep Easy Solution". Basically it is teaching your baby to fall asleep on their own without having to nurse or rock, etc. to do so. And you gradually wean them off the nighttime feedings, so you don't have to worry that you are making them unnecessarily hungry. They also address the whole "crying it out" method, and I think take a gentler approach.

So, I would highly recommended checking your local library or buying "The Sleep Easy Solution" by Waldburger and Spivack. Hope that helps a little bit.