5 Month Waking Every Hour

Sounds like teeth to me. Maybe try giving him Motrin and Orajel at bedtime...I know it's not very holistic of me, but it worked for both my kids. Also, the longer it goes on the stronger the habit to continually wake up will be!

I'm been there with my daughter and I know how you feel.
My aunt came over and she said that the baby is hugry.
So she said you have to put the baby on a shudual.
SO IT IT'S GOES,
MORNING CEREAL AT 7.00AM AT 9.00AM BOTTLE OF MILK AT 13.00 BOTTLE AND AT 5.00PM BATH RIGHT AFTER CEREAL THEN AT 7.00 BOTTLE MY DUAGHTER STARTED DONG HER NIGHT FROM THEN ON FROM 7.00 TO 7.00,SO TRY THAT. LET ME KNOW.
Dont give up its all worth it in the end.
GOOD LUCK

I love the book "healthy sleep habits Healthy child" it has really worked for us and it might for you as well.
My daughter is a little younger than your son, but when she was about 6 weeks old we were having the same issue about the exact same times 8:30 to 5:30. The book suggested an earlier bed time. We tried it and knock on wood she has been sleeping 6:30/7:30 (whenever we put her down) until at least 7:30 or 9am. I hate to talk about it incase I jinx her but it's been about 9 weeks of this through the begining stages of teething and everything. She will wake briefly if she rolls and can't get back over but not often.
Not to be rude but someone mentioned giving him water. My peditrition said not to until at least 7 months because it can cause seizures. So check with your son's dr. before you try that method. I'm sure it would be fine but I would just check it out first.

Hope that helps!

Hi M.,

Every hour seems to be extreme at that age, but if he was up every 3 hours, it wouldn't surprise me since that is his feeding schedule at daycare. No matter what anyone tells you, a baby that is 5 months old isn't supposed to sleep through the night, just maybe 5-6 hours. Unfortunately, if that 5 hours starts at 8pm, that means baby might be done by 1am and it is tough on you. My husband and I decided to go to sleep when our son went to bed and then if we had to be up at 1 or 2 for an hour or two, we could get things done then while wearing him in a sling (washing dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, etc).

My son didn't sleep through the night until he was 20 months old. At 5 months, he was still up every 4 hours. After he was a year, he would sleep from 8pm until 2am, get up for a bottle and a diaper change, and go back from 2:30 - 5 or 5:30am. My son went to daycare also at that age. My pediatrician and everyone in the book told me that he didn't need that bottle, but he was only 20th percentile in weight and my gut told me that he did - why else was he totally willing to go back to sleep after? At 20 months, he suddenly dropped the bottle.

We didn't bring him in our bed and he is a great sleeper now, no issues in transitions to a big boy bed. He is almost 3 now.

Good luck! C.

I think babies, until they learn to communicate some other way, cry for a good reason. Here's what I think you should do. When your son starts to cry, put aside all the advice that has been given and all your preconceived notions of what you SHOULD do and close your eyes. Listen to what your gut tells you to do. If it says go to him and hold him all night, do it. In a very real way, we KNOW when our babies need comfort. It could be any number of the things listed in these responses, (by the way my bet is teeth and I am a firm believer in using Tylenol to give a baby relief from mouth pain), but the bottom line is, holding him and giving him physical comfort is working for him. If he was sleeping through the night and then stopped, something is bothering him and your comfort helps him get through. Trust that you will know when its time to help your baby begin to become more independent. Don't rush it. The bond you form now is the one that will bond you for the rest of your lives. The added bonus is some much needed sleep for both of you, which will help you both deal with the stresses of the next day. One caution though, lay sitting with your baby securely on you on the couch, not in bed. He is too young and being so tired you may fall deep in sleep and roll on him or push him off the bed. You are in for many nights ahead of sleep issues. Most for very good reasons and they get through them all. Find the most comfortable secure spot and plan on being in it quite a lot of nights over the next 6-12 months. Good luck.

Does he have any teeth? It's very possible he is starting to teeth. Check his gums for swelling. It also could just be one of the many fazes. Good Luck

Personally I'm not a big fan of orajel. I would however recommend Hylands Homeopathic teething tablets.

Hi, i have a 3 year old and nights for me where the same i think that your best option is to take him to the doctor and ask him if you could give rice cereal on his last feed before bed... Many babies take it very well and since there full they don't wake up until the morning. But if he says no you could turn out to many different options, one of them is changing the baby food and maybe giving him the same brand but something a little stronger, and the other is to give him a little more formula... Lidi

Could be he's sleeping well at daycare? He's still young and adjusting. Too bad you are dropping him off and going to a job outside the house. Can you work from home? Your schedule isn't allowing YOU to get some rest!
He may be hot, cold, or the bed is not what he is used to when at day care...Have you asked the pediatrician?
Blessings, dear.

I have an 8 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. The girl slept in her own bed without issue. The boy, from birth, had a terrible time getting to sleep on his own. Even if you do not believe in something, in my book, you do the thing that works for the child. My son would not sleep unless we put him in our bed and then he slept perfectly. We let him sleep with us until he was about 2 years old and then would let him fall asleep in our bed and would transition him to his own bed. It took until about 4 years old before he was able to go to bed in his own bed. Even today, a few nights a week, I feel him climb into "the big bed" at 4am.

Each kid is different. My daughter still will not ever come into our bedroom. She yells for us from her bed. Do what works and for goodness sakes each of you can finally get a good nights sleep.

I have three healthy children ages 11, 9, and 3. When they were babies and I could not get them to sleep my doctor recommended adding a little bit of rice cereal to their bottle during the last feeding for the night. I was also told to make sure the diaper was a brand that properly keeps moisture off their little toosh. If you are feeding the baby formula, and everything else is not working, you might want to try non-dairy formula.

J.

sleeping 'through the night' really is only 4 or 5 hours...It's hard when you don't get sleep!
try experimenting with bed time- making it earlier, making it later...put one of your worn 'smelly' shirts in with him as he sleeps so he can smell you...

is it teething? ah, welcome to the world of babies, lol...

Hi M.,
I agree, crying it out is very hard to do, but one thing I wouldn't do is take the baby to bed with you. We did that with our first child and she is now 4 and we still have to lay down with her for her to go to sleep and she comes in our room every night after about 4 hours. It's a very hard habit to break. With our second we managed to keep her in her crib and she is 2 now and is the best sleeper. A few things that it could be... is he rolling over yet? Both of my girls at that age would roll over to their stomachs and then wake up because they would get mad they couldn't roll back over to their backs. If that's the problem, it will end as soon as he can get back and forth at will. The pacifier thing... if he's getting upset because he is losing it, that's just another time issue, when he can find it and stick it back in on his own, he will go back to sleep. With my 2nd daughter, she had a very severe case of eczema (which the doctors at first were calling it dermatitis) but she would wake up literally 3x every hour and we couldn't figure out why... it was because she was so itchy and uncomfortable that she couldn't sleep. Once we got that under control she slept MUCH better.
Anyways, all in all it seems that consistency is the key with them at that age and it really is important for them to learn to put themselves back to sleep. Maybe you could just try patting his back in his crib until he falls back asleep or putting on some music or white noise. We have a sound machine that I keep under my 2 year old's crib and it plays "water" all night long. I use it in there at nap and bedtime and it drowns out any other sounds that may wake her at night.
Good luck!!! Hang in there!

First try putting him to bed at 10pm. Keep him up by playing until then, give him a late supper. See if he sleeps most of the night.

If that doesn't work, take a day off and let him sleep in your arms (I prefer in a rocking chair, I'm a little scared of babies in my bed) all night long, and monitor his sleep. See if he awakens hungry, or in pain, or whatever, all night.

Then if nothing seems wrong, try putting him to sleep without a pacifier. My son used to go to sleep with a pacifier, then wake up crying every time he started to drift off and the pacifier dropped from his mouth! Then I had to start all over, etc.

If you can't figure anything out and he still doesn't sleep, take him to the doctor. Maybe he's allergic to something, or having some kind of intestinal problem.

M.,

You shouldn't feel right about the cry it out method. It's a cruel thing to do to a baby who's only way to communicate is by crying and his crying(method of communication) is ignored by the one person he is supposed to trust. Never, ever let your baby cry it out. It's okay to wait a few minutes before rushing into your baby's room but purposefully staying away is torture for your baby.

Secondly, I have never used a pacifier for any of my 3 children. I attempted to initiate it with my first daughter, she spit it out, and I never tried again so I never tried it with my other two children. I firmly believe that it becomes a crutch for a baby to soothe himself and a nightmare for the sleep deprived parent, like yourself, who has to keep getting up to put it back into his mouth. Just stop using the pacifier altogether. You are teaching him that he must rely on YOU for soothing and he must learn to find ways to soothe himself.

As for him waking up several times during the night, have you began offering baby cereal to your baby? At 5 months, he should be ready for it and I am recommending that you give him cereal at bedtime, just before you nurse him to sleep (or bottle of formula). While it's not common for a 5 month old baby to sleep through the entire night every single night, he should be sleeping through longer stretches. I'm betting he is waking up because he is hungry. It could be a teething issue as well. When my babies were ready for cereal, I gave them cereal just before bedtime, right after their bath, and then topped them off with nursing. Try it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain if it turns out that he was just hungry. Good luck to you.

I fed all three of my boys rice cereal at 10:00 p.m. starting at 6 weeks and they always slept through the night. They have all been healthy and it did not lead to obesity. You should take him to the doctor first and make sure that he doesn't have colic.

Hi M.,
I would check with your pediatrician and consider taking away his pacifier. I had to do that with my son when he was 4 months old. It took desperation for a few hours of consecutive sleep for me to consider letting him cry it out and it was the best thing I ever did. I strongly recommend Dr. Ferber's book "Solve your child's sleep problem". After he cried for 1 hour with me checking on him (not picking him up) every 10 minutes he found his thumb and fell asleep. He only woke once that night and cried for about 20 minutes after being cuddled, fed, and put back in his crib. After several days he was sleeping 9 hours a night and has been a great sleeper ever since. He sucks his thumb still so we will have to battle that when he turns 4 next year. It broke my heart to hear him cry and not pick him up but when I saw that he needed to learn how to fall asleep without a pacifier in order to sleep soundly i realized it was the kindest thing to do for both of us. The book explains about sleep associations and it will make sense to you if you read it. It has been a different story with my daughter but I did have to "train" her a little to fall asleep without a pacifier at 3 months and she uses one now at bedtime but sleeps through the night. Both my kids were off the charts with weight gain so my pediatrician is the one who told me that I shouldn't need to feed them in the night anymore and waking to replace a pacifier every 1-2 hours is no way for anyone to live. Your child needs better quality sleep and so do you! Well, that is my experience and I hope I have helped. Good Luck!!

Your baby needs something when he wakes and cries. He may need his paci, he may need food, he may be too hot or too cold, he may just need comfort from mom, but he needs something. At five months he is not capable of being manipulative or spoiled and crying is his only available form of comunication. As a mom it's our job to figure out the needs of our wonderful children and meet them. I know it can be very exhausting, but hang in there. The more love and caring you put in now will reflect in your child later.