5 Month Old Still Waking Every 2Hrs at Night!!!

My second is 4 months old. I started right before Christmas just letting her cry herself back to sleep. It was hard at first, but now she goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at 6:30. Great sleep for out entire house.

Is he in his own room? What worked for us at this age (about a month ago) was to put her in her own room, start on solids, esp. at dinner. We had already worked on a modified CIO when she was in our room, but it was never really successful for us. She would cry full-boar for 2 hours at least, and going into the room only prolonged it. We just couldn't let her cry that much, so we just waited a bit longer intil she was ready. We were also going by the advice in Healthy Sleep Habits, getting her down earlier, but that neve helped- just made it worse in our case! When she first started in her room, I still went to her and bf when she woke up in the night, ususlly twice. Then I decided I would cut out one at a time by not going to her the first time she woke up. I let her cry for close to an hour, less if she sounded really upset, (but she was usually just having a tantrum-much easier to ignore!)Then if she was truly upset, or if it had been longer than an hour, dad went in. This happened like three nights, and next thing we knew she was completely off of both feedings and sleeping all the way through. hallelujah! She still makes noises every night, but it's pretty rare she doesn't go back to sleep- and if she doesn't only dad ever goes in, pats her, turns on her white noise and aquarium, and she is back to sleep within a few minutes after he leaves. You will find what works for you, if any party of my routine helps you out, I'm glad! Good luck! -H

Hi J., Your son is totally old enough to sleep train. I recommend a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. Wonderful book!!

My son didn't sleep through the night either, he happened to be lactose intollerant. Once I cut milk out of my diet and his he started sleeping. Just a thought

My doctor said that it's ok to start sleep training at 4 months. My son is 6 months old and we just started with him. I found the book Sleepeasy Solution to be very helpful - it was recommended by my doctor. I was nursing him a couple times a night and I gradually weaned him off all night feeding which took about a week (reduced the amount of time I nursed by two minutes each night.) The first night of sleep training, we put him down (awake) at 7pm and he cried for about 30 minutes before falling asleep. We did the same thing the next night and he only cried for 10 minutes. Now he falls asleep within a couple minutes of putting him down. He still wakes and cries once during the night, but he is able to put himself back to sleep. It has never taken longer than 30 minutes for him to get back to sleep during the night. Often it only takes a couple minutes. I found that doing check-ins only made him cry harder, so as difficult as it has been, we do not go into his room when he cries. Now, we have been lucky that he has not cried longer than 30 minutes before falling asleep. If it went on for an hour or longer, I don't think we could use this same system. We are also lucky that he has not been sick yet and teething has not been too bothersome for him. As another poster said, every child is different.

I think what finally helped us was:
1. Having a consistent bedtime routine.
2. Getting him to sleep earlier (we had been putting him to sleep at 8pm or sometimes later.)
3. Getting comfortable with letting him cry. That was the hardest part, but it definitely worked for us. As I said before though, we were lucky that he seemed to learn quickly and he has never cried longer than 30 minutes.

I hope this helps!! Good luck. It looks like you have received a lot of good advice on this site. My suggestion is to take in what everyone says and then use what works best for you and your son.

P.S. we used the same system for naps during the day (he naps twice a day.)

Oh Bologna! Every child is different and my son just turned 1 tonight and he still doesn't sleep through the night consistently. I get maybe 1 day a week that he will sleep for 7 hours straight. My pediatrician offered me no help. I tried all the major methods out there and read all the books. NOTHING WORKED! I finally talked to someone and she told me to put epsom salts in his bath water, fill the tub up to his nipple line and add in some sort of lavendar bath stuff. When I take him out of the bath I am to wrap him tightly as if swaddling him. Then give him a baby massage and put him in his jammies. Read to him and if you can... rock him at that time. Then lay him down in his bed, kiss him good night and tell him you'll see him in the morning. Then shut the door. It worked better than any technique or anything else I had tried. So give it a shot and good luck!

J. HI,
I am too in the same boat as you. My daughter since day one has fought going to sleep day or night. I always thought that newborn babies are supposed to sleep for around 18 hours a day...ha ha not my baby girl. My daughter is now four months and she still has troubles. My DR. recommended two books "Sleep baby Sleep" and "Happiest BabY on the Block". Okay the Sleep baby sleep had some good points ( I thought) and it was from a mom who has been there and done that, the later was just rediculious...in my opinion, interesting to read but who can have their baby on the boob 24 hours a day and constantly shhushing,swaddling,swinging etc..
Here are some things that have helped me........
1. I try as much as I can to put her down when she is a bit awake (very hard to do) but I have been trying to be consistant for two weeks now and I do notice it has gotton a little bit easier. I have been told from moms that this is key.

2. Try to stay consistant no matter what you can do. Our night time routine is lights low, volumes ( T.V. etc.) low,Jammies/lotion/diaper, I (boob feed her) and when she is dozy I walk from the living room rocker to her crib and lye her on her side turn her mobile on humm or sing "Silent night" with my hand on her shoulder/arm then leave the room. Yes, I do have to come back in teh room a few times but I think she is starting to get the message.

The longest she will sleep is 4 hours and when she wakes I try not to pick her up while humming "silent night, hand on her arm and turning mobile on. If she hits that certian cry/scream pitch I pick her up and feed her otherwise I stay in the room and shussh her periodically while mobile is on.
I ended up making a bed on the floor of my daughters room so when I get up in the middle of the night I can just stay in her room so my husband does not wake me when he leaves for work...this also allows me to not be tempted to pick her up right away.

I don't know what else I can say, this is just what I have been doing. I really want to get ahold of this crib/sleep training in before she is 6months. If I can't I know it will get better in the future in the mean time us mommies will continue our zombie like state.

HAng in there and I hope your baby catches on sooner or later.

S.

Hi J.,

I also suggest reading Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. This book helped me get my daughter from waking 5 times a night to sleeping 12 hours straight. I started with my daughter around 4 months. I used to lay her down for naps and she would cry and cry. Now when I lay her down she soothes herself to sleep. Good luck and hang in there!

5 months seems too young to be sleeping the night, my son and Dr did not suggest sleeping through the night training until at least 9 months. Your son may be growing and need extra feeding right now, or he may be beginning to get teeth and need extra mommy time. He is still so little give him time to grow and then try sleep training or he may begin to train himself. take naps if you can

What time does he go to bed at night? How structured of a nap schedule do you have? My daughter didn't start sleeping through the night consistently (with the exception of 1 month when she was 4 months old and she started sleeping 10 hours, then went back to waking every 2 hours) until she was 11 months old and I moved her bedtime up an hour. I use to start her bedtime at 8 and once I moved it up to 7 she was sleeping from 7-7 pretty regularly. It turned out she was over tired and that made it hard for her to sleep all night.
5 months is old enough to start sleep training. My personal opinion is to start right before they learn to sit up by themselves or pull themselves up. Once they start doing that they get stuck up and can't get down and then they are just crying, tired and unable to really go to sleep because they can't get down. That was my observation with my daughter.
Best of luck...the sleep will come someday!

sounds normal to me! i say ignore the doctor, nurse baby as needed, and dont even think of sleep training until that kid gets substantial calories from solid food. it all passes pretty quick when you dont get too worried about it.

I also recommend the Baby Whisperer. The book I used was The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, and both my kids were sleeping through the night at 3 months. The schedule she recommends promotes good sleep, but there is also a sleep troubleshooting section to address specific sleep issues.
Good luck whatever you try,
C.

There are different opinions on when to start sleep training, but the general consensus of those who support sleep training is between 2-4 months, so if you're interested go for it! I found "Sleeping Through the Night" by Jodi Mindell most helpful, though "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" gets an honorable mention. I liked Mindell's book best because she offered several different sleep training strategies, and some for different ages or issues, too. So, I was able to pick the strategy I felt most comfortable with based on my daughter's temperment and my own. I ended up using the modified CIO, but only during nap times (I didn't want to fight it at night just then, she was 3.5 mos). I would rock/bounce/shush her until she was almost asleep (eyes glazed and lids drooping) then put her down. She'd wake right up and cry, but I'd leave her for 5 min. Then I'd repeat, leaving her for 10 min., then if she cried repeat and leave her for 15 min. After that I would put her to sleep my normal way. After a week or so, I wouldn't have to go back the third time, or sometimes the second, so I started putting her down more and more awake. It was very gradual, but it worked, and I started putting her down for the night the same way.

I also used a concept from "Babywise" to help get her to sleep longer hours between feedings at night: her daytime routine was wake, eat, play, nap; eat, play, nap...basically focusing on eating after sleeping, not before, and limiting nap times to 2 hrs each max. That seemed to help.

Good luck!

You should be able to 'sleep train' him now, unless he's too much less than 14/15 lbs. We used 'The Sleep Easy Solution' and the Marc Weissbluth book (Happy Child, Healthy Sleep or something like that). Start weaning those night feeds one at a time and maybe try putting him to bed earlier - say 6pm. Make sure he's getting enough to eat during the day and good naps (at least 2). Good luck!

HI J.- Oh I am sooo sympathetic! My little one woke up every two hours until she turned one and then,magically, she slept through the night and has been a rgeat night sleeper ever since (22 months now). I thought I was going to walk into a wall whil eit was going on...our ped recommended weaning her night bottles slowly down in formula and in volume...it did seem to work. I wish you luck- it will pass!
Take care..and take naps!
M.

In addition to my thoughts below, I want to suggest you read the latest issue of the "Mothering" magazine which happens to be about infants and sleep - cosleeping in particular. If you're too tired from not getting enough rest, it may be easier to read a magazine article than a whole book! If you only have time for one article, go to page 52 and read "The Solace of the Family Bed: A renowned doctor reassures parents that infant night waking is normal and it's safe to sleep with your kids." What's of particular interest is the findings that training infants to sleep alone too soon and CIO may actually be biologically harmful to them. Also - sorry if I sound harsh below. Maybe you haven't considered cosleeping because no one's suggested it to you. So - take this as my suggestion.
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Babies are hardwired to: A) Want to be close to their mommies; and B) wake up throughout the night for feedings through the first years (yeah, you read it right, YEARS not months). Unfortunately, our country is one of the only in the world that insists on training our infants away from what comes naturally to them. So, all I can say is, good luck with that. I myself choose not to go against nature which is why my daughter sleeps with me (with all the proper safety precautions) and happily nurses in the middle of the night. She's almost 9 months old and I have yet to suffer from sleep deprivation since week 1 of her life. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe I'm just not fighting nature - or maybe a little bit of both. Or maybe I'll be back on these boards when #2 comes along and won't sleep no matter what. LOL But, though I know my post is going to outrage many out there, I'm tired of hearing so many mothers ask how to *train* their infants to sleep at such young ages - without even considering co-sleeping because that brings a horrid <gasp> to this society's collective conscious. Just my two cents. We all have to do what we think best for our own children. So, like I said, good luck with whatever you decide to do. But, for what it's worth, your baby sounds completely normal to me and not in need of "training" - just more closeness to his mommy. As an alternative to the oft-repeated recommendation for that Weisbluth book, I'd give the following book a try: Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping by James J. McKenna. He's the leading expert and you'd be surprised how many benefits your baby gains by co-sleeping. Many, many, many DOCUMENTED and proven benefits.

I won't speak to sleep training since we opted not to do that with our DD, but I think it's perfectly normal for a baby to wake that often at that age (and much longer). Our pediatrician believes it's normal until a year or more for babies to wake frequently.

Hi J.! My daughter is 5 months old and I just started sleep training her. I, too, recommend the Weissbluth book. A word of advice....when you're tired, the book seems much longer than it needs to be. I kept thinking to myself, why is this man taking 4 pages to say what could be said in one paragraph! I would read something great but then not be able to find it again when I needed it....so....I decided to highlight the important pieces as I went. That made it a lot easier to cut through the fluff. Also, each chapter has a summary at the end that has the high points for exhausted parents....I can't recommend those enough. At his age, I'm guessing that the waking is a learned behavior...not one of need...he wants to be with you and play. So, make sure you keep the interaction to a minimum. Feed him, burp him, soothe him...put him down again. Don't talk to him, try to avoid looking in his eyes...and if you can, don't change his diaper. All of these things are stimulating to him and stimulation = awake. I noticed that you said that you tried feeding your son more often during the day...which is a good idea...but you don't mention if your nursing or not. If you're nursing and he's getting a lot of short feedings...then he could have a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance which can cause gas. You don't mention if he's gassy or fussy - so I'm not sure if this applies. Rather than more often, can you increase the amount he's getting in each feeding? His caloric intake over 24 hrs is a set number...but you want to slowly increase what he's eating at each feeding (if nursing, add a minute to each feeding...then after 3 days, add another minute etc. If bottle feeding, add 1/2 and ounce then after 3 days, add another). As you increase the volume of his feedings during the day, you can start to decrease the amount he's getting at night...one feeding at a time. Your goal is to eliminate one feeding at time...it works best if you choose the middle one first. This is described by Weissbluth (he calls it fading). There's another book called 12 hours sleep by 12 weeks that goes into a lot of great detail about how to do this (the book is more militant overall about getting your child on a schedule...but it might work for you too - so check it out.) If you have questions about any of this, feel free to send me an e-mail. I know trying to figure this all out is a daunting task...and if you start sleep training it can be emotionally exhausting (I had my daughter cry it out yesterday and thought I was going to die)...so sometimes it helps to talk to someone who is in the same boat!

Hang in there. It will get better!

Liz

thought i would pass this on...

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Have you heard of the baby whisperer??? Its a book you can get at Barnes and Noble. It talks about routines and dream feeds (feed the baby a bottle while asleep about 3 hours after you put him down) that helps with sleeping thru the night. I got this book when I was pregnant and followed it for the most part and our daughter started sleeping 6 hours a night at 6 weeks old and by the time she was 3 months she was sleeping about 8 hours. She is 15 months now and has been sleeping 10-11 hours a night for the last 8 or 9 months. I have recommended it to a lot of people and started giving it with baby shower gifts. I think its worth the $12-15 to see if it works for you. :)

I would say he either has a food intolerance or is not getting enough nap time during the day. My 5 month old went down several times a day for a nap. Sleep begets sleep.
Up at 7,feeding, down to nap at 8:30 -9:30. eats lunch, down at 11:30 to 1pm.feeding. Next nap 2;30 -3:00. next nap 5:00 to 5:45, feeding.down for the evening between 7-9pm,...up the next day 6-7 am.
ps.. my baby was eating rice cereal mixed w/ a little formula at two or three of her feedings. i'd be careful giving other solids this early.