Ever since he turned one month old my little boy has had no trouble sleeping through the night. At first he would sleep from about 10-7 and then it became more like 9-7. All of a sudden the last month or so he will not sleep through the night. He either wakes up at 12,3,7 or he will wake up at 4 and not go back to sleep. We have tried feeding him a bottle at night and nursing. Doesn't work. He started on rice cereal last week but refuses to eat it for his last meal. He wants a bottle, so he spits it out holds his breath screams, etc. I really need some advice on how to get him to start sleeping again. I am a single mom working full time and desperately need some rest. I swaddle him at night and I put on the bathroom fan for noise but nothing works. Ideas please.........
Have you tried putting a little cereal in his bottle? Use one of the bigger nipples so he can get it through... he won't even know its there but it may fill his tummy enough to keep him sleeping. Also, when my young one woke up in the night and it wasn't b/c he was hungry, I would rub his back or tummy, turn on his mobile and leave him. Sometimes they just need to work it out. Tell him Mommy is here and he'll learn to sleep again!
Dear A.,
Have you tried mixing in a little bit of the rice cereal in with the mild bottle? This may fill him up a bit more before it's bed time.
Another possibility is it's teething time. My son had 4 teeth break thru between 3 and 4 months (considerably early for most infants).
Good luck!
HI, A., 2 of my children had sleeping issues. It is awful for a working mother! Mine still have to take melatonin to calm their brains sometimes. Katherine is correct; the cereal could be making him sick. And self-help books are always a great resource. They are all I have the time to read these days. You did not say if he would use a pacifier. All of mine used them and seemed to help. You also didnt say what time he eats last. I used to feed mine around 6-7 and then wake them up to eat at 9-10 to drink another couple of ounces to try to get at least continuous sleep. Five hours continuous is better than up and down all night. If you are using formula, are you using powder? Powder is the least filling. Boys are more hunters than girls and their hunger is awful to them. Is he prone to ear infections? It hurts to lay flat with an ear infection. Lastly, (I know this one will bring me lots of flack)but if I knew my children were clean and fed and not sick, I used earplugs and let them cry it out. Some babies just struggle more than others with calming themselves down.
Good luck, I remember how awful it is to try to work exhausted.
We have a 4 month old and she did the same thing. Your son is probably waking up out of habit and not because he's hungry. We used the "Ferber" method--when she would wake up and start crying, we would set the timer for 5 minutes. If the crying persisted, my husband would go into her room and reassure her that everything was OK. He would talk in a low soothing voice and not take her out of the crib. He would stay in the room no more than 60 seconds. Then we would wait and if the crying didn't stop, he'd go back in --but not until 15 minutes later and do the same thing. You'll have to keep doing this in 15-30 minute intervals until your son goes back to sleep. We did this for about a week and the waking in the middle of the night has stopped. She still may wake up for a second and let out a cry but then she usually falls back to sleep.
He may also be done with the swaddle. Have you tried not swaddling him?
A., for what it is worth, here is my opinion. Not everyone agrees on sleep issues, so please keep in mind this might not be your solution. Whenever I hear anyone talk about sleeping issues, I refer them to a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth. It enlightened me on babies sleep requirements and patterns. It describes ways to console your baby, to try to get him to sleep with your help, but if that does not work, the author goes into cry-it-out-methods. It's not easy, but it is short-lived and I just cannot imagine being a single parent with a fulltime job AND sleep deprived. We are all at our best with adequate sleep and YOU need your rest if you are going to be a patient, fun mommy, right? Also, if your baby is not getting roughly 14 hours of sleep a day including naps, it is likely he is over-tired and unable to sleep soundly. The book talks all about this. I hope it helps.
The cereal could be giving him gas. Everyone told me to give my son cereal to make him sleep through the night, but it actually had the opposite effect for him because of the gas. Another possibility, if you noticed him drooling a lot or chewing on his hands/fingers, he could be teething. My son got his first teeth at four months. If you think he might be teething, you can try infant Tylenol (get the dosage based on his weight from your doctor) or Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets. My son is now 8 months old and is teething again so he's been waking up at night again.
My daughter (almost 5mos.) went through the same thing. She was sleeping all night long, and then at about 4 mos, she just started waking up all the time! It peaked one night where she was up *every* hour. After that (it took roughly two weeks), she started easing back into a better sleeping schedule.
You might check into the cereal thing. Babies really shouldn't start having solids before 6mos. It's possible his tummy isn't handling the change very well, too.
Do you cosleep? I find that I get much better rest when cosleeping so I can just nurse them back to sleep, and not even have to get up :)
Sorry I don't have better advice other than "this too shall pass". Just wanted to let you know we're out here going through the same thing! :)
