6 Month Old Wont Sleep Through Night

Updated on September 19, 2010
L.L. asks from Butler, PA
17 answers

i am having a problem with my 6 month old . Her naps are at 9-11 and 2-4 she drinks 5 4 oz bottles during the day and one 8 oz with cereal in it before bed and then another at 2 am. she eats one jar of second foods with rice cereal after her 2-4 nap.She is ready for bed at 6.30 and wakes up 5 times a night for her binky! and that 2 am feeding and is up for the day by 5.30. I am exhausted !! i also have a 16 month old. any advise to get her to sleep through the night??

@ Dawn thank you huge help my only issue is that we have a 2 bedroom apt i thought the girls would be able to share a room. but with her waking up so much i dont want to disturb my 16 month old who does sleep through the night. so she sleeps in our room and letting her cry is rough on my hubby who works 12 hr days...i tried just rocking her the other night to avoid her waking to eat and she was up from 2-4 5-6 and at 6.30 we gave in and fed her.....any suggestions??

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So What Happened?

So For The Past Three Nights I Have been keeping her up her new routine is 7:15 bath 7:30 bottle 7:50 bed. She is still waking up once or twice a night to eat but That's way better that 5 times.She is also sleeping later in the morning. I have also been feeding her more often throughout the day. Thank you for all you help!!!

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L.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I think kids are different, no matter what. The 2-year old down the street slept throught the night at 3 months old. My 2-year old still doesn't. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

A.J.

answers from Williamsport on

More food. It's always the answer. Once she is more stuffed ALL DAY LONG (it will take a few days to register) she will sleep through the night. She is old enough. She won't need the binky either if she sleeps soundly. Do a thickened bottle in the morning, then a jar of food before second bottle. Keep all 5 bottles going, but add another jar of food into the day and thicken every other bottle or something. Basically, offer her food ALL THE TIME. If she eats, feed her, if she's not hungry, she'll refuse. After 3 days, you'll see a big difference.

1 mom found this helpful

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J.C.

answers from New York on

You have a 6 month old AND a 12 month old? Do you mean 6 week old?

1 mom found this helpful
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J.S.

answers from Dallas on

You might want to try feeding her more formula during the day so she is satisfied longer, and also try putting her to bed later like 8 instead of 6:30.

1 mom found this helpful
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D.B.

answers from Charlotte on

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T.H.

answers from Kansas City on

Hmmm, well neither of my kids were binky kids, but I would think that maybe you need to wean her off of it and self soothe? I don't know, but 5X a night is crazy--I'd be crazy too!! Maybe she'll be able to learn how to put it back in soon?? Or you can try giving her her thumb instead? I don't know.

Here's what I did with both my kids and it worked. I gave them a bottle every three hours during the day. If they were asleep I woke them up and I fed them. By 8 each night they would both sleep all the way through the night (like 8-10 hours at least, sometimes more). My daughter was 2.5 months and my son was 4 months. It made me a lot happier, I got more sleep and I felt like a normal person again. I know you already have a nap schedule, but I'd look at changing it just to see if this will work.

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M.H.

answers from Philadelphia on

Check out the Magic Sleepsuit - it provides a soothing and calm envrionment and helps babies sleep better and longer. This along with a good routine can really help. www.magicsleepsuit.com

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S.S.

answers from Goldsboro on

I don't understand how you have a 12 month old and a 6 month old? They're only 6 months apart? Was your youngest a preemie?

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Isn't this the age were they get super attached to the bink of it's not ditched now? Maybe a few super hellacious nights of getting rid of the binky will payoff in the long run?

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E.F.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I'd get rid of the binky (in advice-- never did it in practice). But I think that would help in the long run. My 3 year old still uses one and I have to put 10 in the crib each night just to get him through the night. Sure wish I had ditched it earlier.

I also think 6:30 is too early for her to go to bed... and she should be sleeping 12-14 hours at night and 2-4 during the day. Try moving her bedtime back a bit (15 minutes every 3-4 days). And get yourself to bed as soon as possible after your kids go down. I always went to be super early, and my husband stayed up until 12 or so, so if I went to bed by 9 and slept solidly until 2 or 3 when the baby woke up, I got a stretch of 5-6 hours and then another couple after the feeding.

Rice cereal does not help kids sleep longer-- it has been proven time and time again in scientific studies. It is unreasonable to ask a 6 month old to go from 6 pm to any longer than 2 am to eat-- that is 7 hours, and a good, long stretch. But if you can work on pushing back her bedtime so she's going down between 7 and 8, she shouldn't be getting up until 3 or so, giving you time to get to bed and get some sleep!

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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

I'd move her bedtime a little later. Maybe 8:00pm. After her 2-4 nap, try feeding her more often. I Breastfeed and I feed my son every hour in the late afternoon/evening hours. My 5 month old just cat naps during the day and won't sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. But he sleeps for 10-12 hours at night. I hope this helps. Good luck to you!! HUGS!!

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L.P.

answers from Philadelphia on

I don't know too many 6 month olds who DO sleep through the night. She's still young. My 14 month old doesn't sleep through the night. You are not alone!

N.H.

answers from Seattle on

My son is 3 months and has been sleeping about 7-8 hours every night since he was about 1 1/2 months. I tried to help him figure out the difference between night and day. So, his bed time routine consists of a soak since a bath would dry out his skin, then I feed him and put him to bed. When he wakes up for a feeding and change, I will do it quickly and with as little light as possible, I try not to talk to him or make eye contact when I feed him (I use pumped breastmilk at night so that he's full) so he knows it's not play time (I started this when he was about 2-3 weeks old). In the morning, I would open the blinds, talk to him and wipe him down so that he knows it's play time. He takes about two naps a day, the first one is an hour and the second one is in the afternoon for about 2 hours.

I hope it helps! Hang in there~

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Y.G.

answers from Buffalo on

try giving her a warm as possible bath and a good massage with her baby lotion. this usually relaxes them to drunkeness and makes babies sleep longer.worked for my son and grandson along wit the cereal bottle b4 bedtime.

D.S.

answers from Allentown on

Hi, L.:

There is a resource book, To Listen to a Child, by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D.
might be a good resource for you. D.

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B.

answers from Augusta on

she will figure out how to find it soon. Also try putting her to bed on her tummy it will help keep the binky in her mouth.

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K.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

hmmm--I would try introducing some baby food with cereal three times a day--and make bigger bottles.

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