Won't sleep thru the night.

Readmyhands86 · May 2013

My son is 6 months old and is still getting up 23 times per night. I know he shouldn't be getting up this much or even should be sleeping thru the night by this point but he won't. I've tried letting him stay in his crib and cry for 1015 mins but he still won't go back to sleep on his own. Then I go pick him up and sit down, I don't rock him and I will only feed him a few ounces one of the times he gets up. But I just let him lay on my chest and he falls asleep. I sit for 10 mins then try to put him back in his crib and he wakes up and cries again so I hold him again for another 10 mins before I can put him down. I'm the only one who gets up with him at night and I'm exhausted. Any advice would be helpful!

vettymama · May 2013

LalaMama81:
3 times might be on the high end at 6 months, but eh, 12 times is totally normal. STTN is not the norm for a 6 month old. Beind tired is a normal state for the parents of a baby.nbsp;It sounds like he is hungry, I wouldn't make him wait 15 minutes to eat if he is hungry. I would just wait longer than 10 minutes before I laid him back down. Then lay him down and shush and pat until he stays asleep.nbsp;

I agree. My little guy still wakes up twice a night. We start bedtime routine around 7:15. He is asleep by 8. The first time he wakes up is around 1. Next is anywhere from 2:30 to 4:30. The second time he slams a 6 ounce bottle and goes right back to sleep. I've tried fewer ounces but he won't go back to sleep unless it is 6.

Readmyhands86 · May 2013

Three times is the average, some times it can be up to 56 times a night if he's not feeling good. But he just went for his 6 month check up and the doc told me he should be sleeping for 68 hrs at a time now and shouldn't have any food during that time. She told me to stop feeding him thru the night and he will sleep better. Right now he's taking 46 oz at night.

danieliza1127 · May 2013

My LO didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 8 months old. Before that, he was waking once a night for a bottle. I did do sleep training though starting at 5 months to he goes to bed awake and falls asleep on his own. Does your LO do that? If you're holding/rocking/feeding him to sleep at the beginning of the night, that may be part of the problem. He wakes in the night and can't fall back to sleep without being held/rocked/fed. I would try sleep training and see how that changes things. I read Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber and that's the method I used. It worked great for us. Now that he's sleeping through the night, if he wakes at 4:45am or something, I just let him fuss in his crib and he goes back to sleep.

FrickandFrack · May 2013

DS2 is waking up once a night to nurse. He's obviously hungry and he nurses for about 10 minutes and is out again until about 7:30am.

pb_bride · May 2013

Do you nurse/rock/bounce your LO to sleep at the start of the night? If so, you may want to look into sleep training so your LO will learn to fall asleep.

We did sleep training at 4 months so DS can learn to put himself to sleep. He was still waking up 2x/night to nurse. By 4.5 m he weaned himself down to 1 wake-up per night. At 5 months, I weaned him off the last waking so he's been STTN for close to 1 month now (he turns 6 m this week). His last feeding of the day is at 7:30p and he wakes up in the morning anywhere between 5a-6:30a.

According to Ferber, healthy, full-term babies do not need a feeding overnight by 5 months. That doesn't mean they don't wake up hungry though. It is a learned hunger - if they wake up and get fed MOTN, they will learn to be hungry at that hour in the night. The Ferber method to eliminate MOTN feeds is to move that learned hunger from MOTN to daytime.

FWIW, I'm SAHM and EBF. I nurse DS about 8x/day when he's awake, and he also eats solids 2-3x/day.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

pb_bride:
Do you nurse/rock/bounce your LO to sleep at the start of the night? If so, you may want to look into sleep training so your LO will learn to fall asleep.
We did sleep training at 4 months so DS can learn to put himself to sleep. He was still waking up 2x/night to nurse. By 4.5 m he weaned himself down to 1 wake-up per night. At 5 months, I weaned him off the last waking so he's been STTN for close to 1 month now (he turns 6 m this week). His last feeding of the day is at 7:30p and he wakes up in the morning anywhere between 5a-6:30a.
According to Ferber, healthy, full-term babies do not need a feeding overnight by 5 months. That doesn't mean they don't wake up hungry though. It is a learned hunger - if they wake up and get fed MOTN, they will learn to be hungry at that hour in the night. The Ferber method to eliminate MOTN feeds is to move that learned hunger from MOTN to daytime.
FWIW, I'm SAHM and EBF. I nurse DS about 8x/day when he's awake, and he also eats solids 2-3x/day.

Can you tell me which book this info can be found in? DD has been a good sleeper for a while, but we are experiencing a little bump in the road and I may need to read up on night weaning soon. I'm going to wait it out for a few weeks and see if it's just a phase.

Thanks...sorry for the post hijack!

kateraid · May 2013

Just wanted to mention I nurse my son to sleep at night and rock him for naps. He will be 6 months next Friday and is teaching himself to fall asleep on his own. Now I just put him in his sleep sack, hold him and he closes his eyes before I lay him down. Babies get it when they get it and some don't sleep through the night until they're a year old. Every baby is different.

mben1119 · May 2013

Readmyhands86:
Three times is the average, some times it can be up to 56 times a night if he's not feeling good. But he just went for his 6 month check up and the doc told me he should be sleeping for 68 hrs at a time now and shouldn't have any food during that time. She told me to stop feeding him thru the night and he will sleep better. Right now he's taking 46 oz at night.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Sure, some babies do STTN by then, but no doctor can just categorically state something like that. Especially when it just isn't true. DS outgrew his overnight feedings on his own. He slowly started increasing his daytime milk intake, and dropped that feeding one night, just randomly. If your LO is still consuming 4-6 ounces a feeding overnight, he is NOT ready to drop those night feedings yet.

mittyleigh23 · May 2013

Can you tell me which book this info can be found in? DD has been a good sleeper for a while, but we are experiencing a little bump in the road and I may need to read up on night weaning soon. I'm going to wait it out for a few weeks and see if it's just a phase.

Thanks...sorry for the post hijack

The book is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber. I just bought it today and can't wait to try it out, I have heard encouraging things about it!

mittyleigh23 · May 2013

MomtobeNJ:

Sorry, I don't know how to quote you and all that fancy stuff you ladies do! But the book is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr Richard Ferber.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

mittyleigh23:
MomtobeNJ:
Sorry, I don't know how to quote you and all that fancy stuff you ladies do! But the book is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr Richard Ferber.

Got it - thank you! In the future, just click the "Quote" button on the bottom right side of the post you want to quote, and the text will pop up for you.

arilevine · May 2013

DD started a really good routine about 3 weeks ago and then got sick and it all went out the window- now she goes down at 815ish, wants to eat a few oz @ 1130/12 and then again at 5/530 am. Sometimes she will fuss for a few minutes in between the midnight- 5 am feedings and I will have to go in and move her cause she is up against the crib bars & put her paci back in. I'm not sure we will ever get back to a good routine but I know that is just part of being a parent! I am just grateful that she is happy & healthy!

pb_bride · May 2013

MomtobeNJ:
mittyleigh23:
MomtobeNJ:
Sorry, I don't know how to quote you and all that fancy stuff you ladies do! But the book is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr Richard Ferber.
Got it - thank you! In the future, just click the "Quote" button on the bottom right side of the post you want to quote, and the text will pop up for you.

Glad someone answered it for you already. I am a cheapskate so I ended up borrowing the book from the library and kept it for almost 6 weeks (by renewing it twice). I find the book so helpful (tons of useful information, not just on sleep training) that I am thinking of buying it so I can keep a copy at home.

JoNi2010 · May 2013

pb_bride:
MomtobeNJ:
mittyleigh23:
MomtobeNJ:
Sorry, I don't know how to quote you and all that fancy stuff you ladies do! But the book is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr Richard Ferber.
Got it - thank you! In the future, just click the "Quote" button on the bottom right side of the post you want to quote, and the text will pop up for you.
Glad someone answered it for you already. I am a cheapskate so I ended up borrowing the book from the library and kept it for almost 6 weeks (by renewing it twice). I find the book so helpful (tons of useful information, not just on sleep training) that I am thinking of buying it so I can keep a copy at home.

This is an awesome book. Not only has it helped me and my LO with his sleep, but it has info on sleep issues at different stages in a child's life. I also borrowed mine from the library but I will be buying it.

ChasingAiden · May 2013

I know the pain of this well. No advice, just offering support! Hang in there, mama!

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