Getting baby to sleep longer...

[FaerieGothMommy]

Well, my son is 4 months old now & still wakes about 3 times a night... My daughter never really slept through either, and i haven't a clue why! Everyone elses babies seem to be sleeping the whole night through by 6 months...

My son is breastfed & my HV advised me to start him on solids, his weight started to come down slowly on the charts and at that point he was waking more than 3 times during the night. So, now he has a little baby rice in the morning then a bit of home made mixed veg at lunch time. We bathe him every night at the same time to try and keep it in routine. It's started to get to the point now where we just stick a dummy/paci in his mouth... thats what we did with our daughter, now she is 2 and a half & still has one! I'd like to try avoid that, even though my son doesn't have a paci during the day, i dont want him to get attached to it.

Any Ideas??? :huh:

[Raven Reed]

When my youngest was an infant, he would only sleep if there was a radio or tv playing... But that only lasted until he was couple of months old.

Also, my oldest wanted something solid right before bed or he wouldn't sleep through. So, he was bottle fed, I mixed a little rice cereal in with his last bottle and that seemed to make him happy. Maybe he's hungry a little later?

Good luck! Don't you wish each one came with a manual?

[Shanti]

Breastmilk takes only 2 hours to digest. Formula takes twice as long so lack of sleep is common. I had 5 kids...never planned on getting myself sleep until they were 2!!!! :)

[FaerieGothMommy]

Breastmilk takes only 2 hours to digest. Formula takes twice as long so lack of sleep is common. I had 5 kids...never planned on getting myself sleep until they were 2!!!! :)

Thats probably why everyone elses babies slept through then lol, everyone i know bottle feeds....

[Mainedruid]

My first kid was breat fed till 1 year. She selpt through the night after about 2 months. My second, no 2 months old is up at 3am after going to be at 9-10:00. she is bottle fed.

hard as it may be..... letting them cry a little helps....

my oldes would cry a bit... we would let her go till you could hear the "get your arse in here" tone in her voice... then I would go in and comfort her (with out picking her up) till she fell asleep again.

You get less sleep this way for a week or so, but with patients you can make a routine. She would marathon feed for about 2 hours before bed then sleep most of the night, only to wake for a mid night snack...

advice is advice though, you have to find what works for you. I have found that things that worked for kid 1 have not worked for kid 2. So frustrating LOL..... but it proves that each person is truly their own person

good luck
BB
M

[Aleigh]

My oldest son was bottle fed, and slept through the night at about 2 months. He started solids at 4 months and stopped sleeping through the night for a while. We'd been giving his cereal to him in the evening, and found out that sometimes solid foods give them an upset tummy and actually keep them awake. We started giving him his solids in the morning and he started sleeping through again.

My youngest was breast fed exclusively for 6 months, and didn't sleep through until he was almost a year old. We started giving him solids at 6 months (we tried before that but he wouldn't eat them at all) and started offering him some formula at 7 months (unrelated to trying to get him to sleep...hubby just wanted to feed him and give me a break and I couldn't pump enough for him) and he just would not sleep through the night for almost another 4-5 months.

My point? I had one, what was it? :lol: Oh...I think maybe food/formula vs breastmilk doesn't have that much to do with sleeping. I thought my youngest might start sleeping through after we started giving him formula in the evening, but he didn't start sleeping through for a few more months after that. Unfortunately, it seems like each baby is different and they're not going to start sleeping through until they're ready. That's how it seemed with my two anyway. :whatgives:

I wish I had some advice to give you. Believe me...I feel your pain! :hugz:

[Sasha318]

If you have a family history of allergies you might want to rethink giving him solids. There is more info here at: www.kellymom.com .

Holden is almost 14 months and still nurses several times a night; since we cosleep I only have to roll over to feed him and go back to sleep. Is cosleeping an option for you?

[Ceres]

none of my three children slept thru the night until at least 2, but we had them sleep with us so it wasnt a big deal to roll over and "boob" them back to sleep. i am an advocate of cosleeping as it seems to just make eveyrone happier all the way around. it took some doing to get over the cultural stigmas about it, but worldwide, it way more common for babies to sleep with their mothers than not - and its just not a space issue. mothers in other parts of the world think north americans are mean to make their babies sleep alone.
if u are worried about the safety issues that have cropped up in the last few years, bear in mind that as tragic as it is, way more babies die alone in cribs than those unfortunate incidents where babies die in their parent's bed. do a general search on "co-sleeping james mckenna" for more information, or click here: wwwbreastfeeding.com/reading_room/co-slepping.html

[FaerieGothMommy]

If you have a family history of allergies you might want to rethink giving him solids. There is more info here at: www.kellymom.com .

Holden is almost 14 months and still nurses several times a night; since we cosleep I only have to roll over to feed him and go back to sleep. Is cosleeping an option for you?

Nope no history of allergies what so ever!!!! And i was going to keep him off solids till he was 6 months old, but my health visitor advised me to start him on solids...

Maybe though, he just needs a breakfast & i should cut out the dinners for a bit??

[FaerieGothMommy]

My oldest son was bottle fed, and slept through the night at about 2 months. He started solids at 4 months and stopped sleeping through the night for a while. We'd been giving his cereal to him in the evening, and found out that sometimes solid foods give them an upset tummy and actually keep them awake. We started giving him his solids in the morning and he started sleeping through again.



I wondered the same thing.. incase it's upsetting his tummy. I'll have another talk with my health visitor, i'm seeing her on Wednesday, and see if she thinks i should cut out his dinner & just give him baby rice in the mornings, until he is a bit older like 5-6 months.

[Valkie]

also take a nother look at his nap schedual during the day. Does he take a long afternoon nap? It's possible that he's just not tired enough to sleep through the night.

[diamondtiger]

Talk to your pediatrician about giving him cereal in his bottle at night. I know you said he's breast fed, but will he take a bottle at all? I did this with both of my babies, and not only did they sleep through the night at 3 months, the stayed on target with their weight, and neither of them required a paci/binkie. Just enough cereal to thicken just a bit, but still make it though a juice nipple.

As for solids in general, I think every doctor will tell you something different. Mine told me to go with the flow, watch them and they would tell me when they were ready. Both of my kids were on veggies by 3 months, and starting fruits at 4. I'd give them solids for dinner, however because they got their cereal bottle about 30 before bedtime, they only got maybe an ounce and then formula.

One more thing to look at is his sleeping position. My daughter HAD to sleep on her left side. Anything else and she just wasn't comfortable, and would be fitful until we turned her over.