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how to help 5 month old sleep thru night

  • 24-03-2010 3:05pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭


    Hi everyone,

    I need help !!

    I'm a mum of 1, a 5 months old boy. He's a very good baby but no matter what i try i can't stop him from waking up at night for a feed. I would be able for just once , but he wakes about 3 times.:eek:
    My partener and i did try to let him cry it out and just give him the dodi, but it didn't work..... he cried and cried and woke and woke........ and this went on for 3 weeks or so... we were wrecked !

    he hadn't got wind, and his teething isn't bad (as far as i'm aware!) He's having 3 solid meals a day plus bottles of formula.

    I'm not hoping for miracles but i really would appreciate advice or tips from people in the know!


    thanks :D
    Tagged:


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,643 ✭✭✭ThePiedPiper


    When our little lady was 2 months old,we started giving her water in the middle of the night if she woke up. I think after a few nights of this, she realised it wasn't worth the bother of waking up and stopped. Maybe we were just lucky. As well as this, when she was at that age, we always tried to make the last feed a big one and right before bed as late as possible. I do think that there was an element of luck in it with us that she likes her sleep.


  • Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭missbusy


    we've tried water , but only for about 2 nights as his face would change the second he realised it wasn't milk .(which is the point i'm sure) maybe we will try it again.

    He's a good sleeper , as in, he's great during the day, 2 hours in morning and 2 hours in afternoon like clockwork, and he'll go down to bed around 8, but without fail will wake up a few times for bottle throughtout the night.

    did your daughter actually drink the water ever.... or did she hate it ?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 43,045 ✭✭✭✭Nevyn


    Could be time to get him down to 1 nap a day.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,643 ✭✭✭ThePiedPiper


    missbusy wrote: »
    we've tried water , but only for about 2 nights as his face would change the second he realised it wasn't milk .(which is the point i'm sure) maybe we will try it again.

    He's a good sleeper , as in, he's great during the day, 2 hours in morning and 2 hours in afternoon like clockwork, and he'll go down to bed around 8, but without fail will wake up a few times for bottle throughtout the night.

    did your daughter actually drink the water ever.... or did she hate it ?

    Yeah, she would drink some of the water alright. But, never anywhere clsoe to a full bottle. Probably 30ml maximum. We hung tough on that when she was about 6 - 8 weeks old and got her into the routine of sleeping through the night. There have definitely been phases of 1-2 weeks though when she was waking up looking for food. I think all babies have periods of growth spurts that can last a couple of weeks so possibly this is what your little fella is up to at the minute.

    Is it possible your little man is sleeping too much during the day? I'm only going on my own experience, our little one probably only sleeps for 2.5 hours max during the day, then sleeps from 7.30 or 8 pm through to 7 or 7.30 am.

    Are there any other possible reasons your son is waking up? Does the house get very cold in the middle of the night? During the cold snap, I adjusted the heating to come on for a few minutes in middle of night as the house was getting very cold round 2am. The wind sometimes wakes our baby up too.

    Hope some of that is of help to you and you start getting your full night sleep back.


  • Registered Users Posts: 344 ✭✭Chuchu


    I agree with the above, maybe cut the later nap down to one hour?
    But also are you doing a dreamfeed? We found this helped us a ton, we are currently weaning our 6.5 month old off them and are going to miss them! We started this around 3 months, pick them up without waking them from the cot around 11pm and put bottle or breast to mouth and let them drink in their sleep (sitting up of course!) about 4-6 ounces. They're so relaxed taking it in they don't really need winding as they don't gulp in any air. It kinda gets them through the night. Now that we are increasing solids gradually we are reducing the dreamfeed gradually and hope to have a 7-7 sleeper soon. But our sleep issues started to settle once we got the hang of the dreamfeed.
    Having said all that one thing goes an is replaced by another... she's teething now and waking up with sore gums the poor pet!!:D


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  • Registered Users Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Princessa


    My little girl is 5 months old, and during the day she sleeps for at most 1.5-2 hours.
    Shes on 3 solid meals a day also and formula.

    At 8pm she gets a bath this is fantastic as it relaxes them and shes already realised ok its bedtime. She gets a bottle in a dim room about 8.30pm, then straight in the moses basket.
    Its apparently good to put in place a routine and keep to it every night no matter what, two or three actions so we picked bath and bottle in a dim room.
    Also Op, our little one drinks 6-7oz with her meals throughtout the day, (now i know this sounds odd) but in the night we found out she wont sleep through the night if shes too full so we give her a 4 or 5 oz bottle and she will usually sleep from 8.30 until 6ish. But if you went to bed about 10, you literally dont care getting up at 6.30.

    Also we didnt try this but we were told by a friend there is a Milupa bedtime rice, you give them one spoon of it with his bedtime bottle and my friend found it great, maybe it will work for you...

    Maybe try keep him awake from his dinner at for example at 5.30, bath him at 8, then bottle and bed, maybe if he's tired he may sleep through the night, i agree with the others i would try shorten his day time naps.

    Keep us informed...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 57 ✭✭shell42970


    I hate to freak you out, but our 18 month old son still isn't sleeping through the night (even if he skips his nap during the day and/or has a large snack an hour before bedtime).

    It's not unusual or unhealthy for some kids to take longer than others to sleep through the night (up to about age 3), though this wasn't easy for me to hear a year ago when my eldest (now 19) had slept through the night at 12 weeks.

    Our solution with our son at 6 months was to begin sleeping with him so that I could nurse him without too much disturbance to my own sleep. It's worked great for our family.

    Here are a couple of online articles you might find of interest - one for each side of the issue. http://www.mindspring.com/~drwarren/sleep.htm and http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detsleepthrough.html

    Best of luck to you, and hang in there. This too, shall pass.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    I hate to freak you out even more but my nearly three year old still doesnt sleep through the night. He doesnt look for food or drink, but he just doesnt.

    At 5 months old he was waking up every hour and a half or so.

    I would consider you pretty lucky.


  • Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭Fran79


    Hi
    my little one is not a sleeper either. He only started sleeping through the night at 21 months. This was despite a really good bedtime routine - he went to bed no problem, but would wake 2-3 times a night (he was waking 4 times a night till 6months).

    Some kids are just like that and no matter what you do they will only sleep through the night on their terms.
    Me and hubbie had a system where I would go to bed early and get some sleep - any waking after 4am was my responsibility. At least that way you both get a block of sleep rather than broken sleep

    Sorry I can't offer any tips.

    Fran


  • Registered Users Posts: 107 ✭✭neeb


    At 5 months it is fairly normal to be still waking up. Sorry!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 638 ✭✭✭ellieh1


    My daughter has been sleeping 12 hours every night, 8pm-8am since she was about 16 weeks old and she is now four and a half. At about five months old she had a hour and a half long nap from half twelve to 2pm and that was it until she went to sleep at 8pm.
    We got rid of the night feed by decreasing the amount of the night feed bottle by one ounce every three nights... for example mon, tues and wed...6 oz, thurs, fri, sat 5 oz ect. and fingers crossed the gradual decrease will work in getting rid of the feed. It worked a treat for us...

    Best of Luck!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 559 ✭✭✭TargetWidow


    I agree with previous posters about cutting back on the daytime sleep and also with the idea of ensuring that baby is getting enough milk during the day to ensure a good nights sleep. My little one went to creche at 5mths and I gave them a routine to follow which I've looked up for you and include here:
    Up at 7am.
    Feeds: 7am (8oz), 11am (8oz), 2.30pm (8oz), 6pm (4.5 oz), 6.45pm after bath and before bed (4.5 oz), 10.30pm (5oz).
    Water at 4pm. (to get her used to it.)
    Naps: 9am (45 mins), 11.45/12 midday (2 hrs), 4.15/4.30 (15 mins). Total daytime naps to be limited to no more than 3 hours.
    Bath at 6.30pm and bed at 7pm.
    Wake baby at 10.30 for a 5oz bottle and a fresh nappy. (A neat trick we developed was to split this feed, give 3oz, wind, nappy, dim the lights ~dimmer switch essential babygear~ and give the last 2oz and wind. They will almost sleepfeed those last 2oz and are a doddle to settle.)

    Do also bear in mind that babies who wean early are really only getting used to digesting solids are may not be capable of fully absorbing the nutritional value of them, making them more in need of their milk than you might think. Think of food as "first tastes" at this stage. We started solids at 6 months and then weaned the 10.30pm bottle by reducing it by a half ounce every two days. It took ten days so by 7mths she was sleeping 7pm to 7am. At that stage we had begun to introduce basic proteins and more complex carbs which filled her up better and ensured she was full enough to sleep. She tried looking for a feed once I think and when we produced water, she guzzled some and went back to sleep and never looked for it again.

    I would personally be nervous of those baby bedtime cereals... I have read research about thickening baby bottles with rice and cereal to make babies sleep which indicate a relationship between that practice and later childhood obesity. Doctors used to recommend it as a possible remedy for reflux years ago but its not so common now. One of the dangers apparently is that babies are hardwired to judge when they are full by judging the volume consumed. Putting cereal into bottles short-circuits this system and effectively sets up the body chemistry for overeating. It would be unfortunate if we as parents unwittingly set our children up for a lifetime of health risks for the sake of a few weeks sleep now.

    And also like another previous poster said, keep an eye on the room temp, my little one wakes up coughing if the room temp drops enough during the night. Good luck.


  • Registered Users Posts: 24 Mrs K


    My 8 week old was waking every 3 or 4 hours, I moved him on to Hungry baby formula and it has worked a treat! Also wrapping baby in a Cotton cellular blanket seems to help, but keep their little arms free. I don't give baby a bath every night but when I do, I use johnsons bedtime wash followed by johnsons bedtime cream! My son loves this stuff and sleeps from 11pm to 8am most nights.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,865 ✭✭✭✭January


    Did you seriously move your baby to a Hungry Baby formula because he was waking every couple of hours in the night time??

    Babies are supposed to feed as often as necessary, you shouldn't be filling him up just so you can get a few hours extra sleep... especially at eight weeks old. Hungry baby formula is for extra hungry babies, a hungry baby does not equate a baby that wakes every 4 hours but is constantly never satisfied by their feeds.


  • Registered Users Posts: 24 Mrs K


    Adrienne, Some family members recommended that I give him hungry formula, as he would often be looking for food approx 1.5 hours after completing last bottle! I also discussed with the local health nurse. I did put off giving him hungry formula until he was 8 weeks old, even then I just gave my son two bottles of hungry formula a day, first and last feed. He obviously was very hungry. I am not saying to give your chld hungry formula for the sake of u having a good night's sleep but if a child is not sleeping well surely you should consider if the child is getting enough food?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 429 ✭✭Jinxi


    ok, this may sound hippy-dippish, but a visit to a local cranio-osteopath who has experience with babies might be worth while. I work in the childcare industry and have come accross a few mothers who considered them miracle workers. THere is a theory that the stress of birth(even routine births) can wire sensitive children to stress, and distrupt feeding and sleeping patterns.
    They basically do some work on natural pressure/stress points in your baby. As I said, i have heard from severla different source of their overnight sucess.

    As well as that, I would start the night time routine all over. No naps after 4 pm, Don't put him/her down until 8. No excitement/stimulation after 7. Use the calm hour for some singing/music.
    When he cries in the night, don't engage. You can use physical comfort with out taking them out of the cot. Just place your hand on his chest.
    If he needs a bottle, then put a pillow in the cot and sit him up and feed without picking him up. Its the comfort he is waking for if he doesn't need the milk. When he is finished, remove the pillow. Don't speak to him.
    Pesistance and routine are key

    Good luck


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,865 ✭✭✭✭January


    Mrs K wrote: »
    Adrienne, Some family members recommended that I give him hungry formula, as he would often be looking for food approx 1.5 hours after completing last bottle! I also discussed with the local health nurse. I did put off giving him hungry formula until he was 8 weeks old, even then I just gave my son two bottles of hungry formula a day, first and last feed. He obviously was very hungry. I am not saying to give your chld hungry formula for the sake of u having a good night's sleep but if a child is not sleeping well surely you should consider if the child is getting enough food?

    Sorry Mrs K, you never mentioned in the first post that baby was looking for food 1.5 hours after his last feed just that he was waking every 3-4 hours (which in my opinion is what a small baby should be doing) so you moved him to Hungry Baby formula. It just seemed like you were advocating that this was ok to do.


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