So I've tried to be patient but my baby's sleep if anything gets worse. She's 11 months and still wakes up 4 or 5 times a night, on good nights maybe 3, bad nights 6 or 7. She takes 2 naps during the day about an 1hr long each. Our bedtime routine is a bath, a 9 oz bottle and then I put her to sleep in my arms then I place her in her crib. When she wakes up throughout the night she cries out, I go in her room, give her her pacifier and try to reach in and rock her back to sleep, that works 1/2 the time. Other times she picks herself up and starts walking around her crib so I pick her up and put her back to sleep in my arms. At 9 months the dr. told me it was probably her teething and he suggested I give her teething pellets before putting her to bed, I've tried a few different kinds and the sleep has not improved. Any advice??
Re: 11 Month old still waking up 4-5x a night
You need to teach her to go to sleep without needing you to be there. Right now, she falls asleep in your arms so when she wakes up slightly throughout the night, which we all do, she realizes you aren't there and she's not in your arms. So she cries out and you come and get her back to sleep. Repeat all night long.
I read Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber and used that method to help my LO learn to go to sleep in his crib on his own and it worked great for us. I rock my LO, give him a bottle, read him a story, and lay him in his crib awake and he goes right to sleep. After a couple of months of doing that and then waking up once a night for a bottle, he sleeps through the night.
The Ferber method is just one of many, lots of people recommend Sleep Easy. Whatever method you choose, teaching the baby to sleep without needing you there is really key.
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Get a bunch of sleep training books and read them. Decide which one is best for your family. My son was waking every hour in the middle of the night until 10.5 months when I had enough and was a total zombie. The Sleepeasy Solution worked for us, which is based on the Ferber method the PP was talking about.
This exactly. Babies need to be taught how to sleep on their own.
no they don't...just like they don't have to be taught how to breathe , etc
I was having this problem as well up until he was 10 months old and he was also in the bed with me. I was also reluctant to do any sleep training as I just found CIO to not be something I could deal with. I made a few changes and now he is STTN and started to the first week!!
I put him down the first night an hour later than usual (10 pm). This might not work for all people or all babies, but my LO stays up late and there is no way in hell he would fall asleep if I put him in his crib at 7 pm or 8 pm, he would cry for hours. The later bedtime doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. After doing this for a few nights, we are now back to the 9 pm original bedtime. I also rock him until he is almost asleep, but not fully asleep (basically until his eyes start to stay closed, but he isn't actually asleep). This allows him to put himself to sleep, but he is also so tired that it doesn't take much for him to do it! I told myself I would let him cry for up to 5 minutes, but after that I would go in. Well he actually has never cried for more than 5 minutes, he puts himself to sleep! I also put about 4 pacifiers in his crib so he can find one if he wakes up. During the night if he wakes up, I let him cry for up to 5 minutes and I go in there if it is longer. Usually I don't need to go in until 5 am or 6 am so this is pretty good (8 hour stretch at least as he goes to bed around 9 pm). So this is what I do. It might not work for everyone but it is going great for me so far
Our peds told us a long time ago to put her down drowsy but not asleep. She doesn't know how to self soothe throughout the night.