5 Month Old Will Not Sleep Beyond 6 Hours at Night

Some babies do not sleep through the night until they're almost a year. My First one slept though the night early, but my second child is another story.
Since the baby is only 5 mos, you have time to learn new techniques. Have you tried putting rice cereal in the formula or the breast milk? It fills the belly.
Also the baby is old enough to take solid foods, have you tried rice or oatmeal for dinner and then a bottle for bed?

I gave my son a bottle in the middle of the night til he was 1.
Try some of the ideas and give the ideas some time- something will click.
Have you tried White noise?

A. - This seems very normal to me. I gave my daughter a night-time feeding until she was about 10 months old. At which point she started sleeping through the night all on her own. Also remember that for a baby this young any length of time where she is sleeping than 5 hours at night is considered to be "sleeping through the night".

Good luck with your daughter and heading back to work.

Hey A.,

Laura said what I was thinking. If you haven't started solids yet, try putting just a little bit of rice cereal in his milk. I did that and it works wonders. Solids keep a baby's tummy fuller longer so that they can sleep for longer periods of time.

The current recommendation is that babies shouldn't start solids until 6 months.

I think 6 hours at 5 months is pretty good. However, you may want to increase the volume of her feedings. If she is awaking for a reason other than hunger, it won't work, and her belly may not be big enough to handle more, but it is worth a try.

Personally, I nursed my little one and found that "cluster feeding" (feeding her many little meals in the hours before bed) helped her get enough milk.

Good luck.

Are you nursing only, or have you started solids yet? Start the solids (or increase the solids), especially around dinner time, to see if this helps. Ever since his fifth month, our 6-month old goes to bed at 7 pm and wakes up at around 8 am since we increased his milk intake and his solid foods.

I'll also add info. from the Mayo Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-baby/PR00029
"Most babies are ready for solid foods between ages 4 months and 6 months." It gives you some very good advice regarding readiness/interest level and what to serve.