How Do I Get My 6 Month Old to Stop Getting up in the Middle of the Night?

Everyone has different methods - I tried a bunch - but my daughter was BIG and we were told she didn't need to eat anymore at night. I agreed. So - Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth? I had the same problem and ended up following his suggestions of crying it out. I think it was tougher on me than on my little girl. After 3 nights of not much crying she slept through the nights and has ever since. In fact, she often gets up in the middle of the night and plays with her aquarium in her crib and talks to herself and then goes back to sleep without any crying. She naps beautifully - we just put her in her crib and she goes to sleep. (She is now 20 months old and I have a 3 month old too. We will do the same tactic with him when the time comes, but I won't wait until 6 months!) The book talks about the importance of healthy sleep - it made me feel better about having her cry. Good luck!

One idea that worked for me with my twins. When she gets up for that feeding, give her water. That way she realizes that she's not really getting fed. And she should start sleeping through realizing she's not getting what she wants. Just an idea, it does work though.

all babies are different when it comes to sleeping threw the night some do it faster then others some babies are well into there second year before they finally start sleeping all night although they may not always cry my daughter was that way she would wake up at night but once she got to be about nine months and we put her into a toddler bed she would stop wakeing us to eat she would just get up out of bed and play until she got tired and crawl back into bed shes three now and still gets out of bed sometimes. the cereal idea is a good one mix her up some rice cereal and give her that just before putting her to bed she will sleep longer on a full tummy liquid dosent last long in her tummy so shes wakeing up when she gets hungry she might not wake if you give her the cereal before putting her down give her some formula after she eats the cereal if you can try to make sure she finishes the whole bottle before she falls asleep good luck

Hello! I have an eight month old son who at about 6 1/2 months started going all night without a bottle. He goes to bed around 7:30 and doesn't eat again until about 7:00. THis is a huge thing for us considering he used to be up every night at 3:00AM and like your daughter refused to go back to bed without a bottle. Our doctor recommended cutting back an ounce every few days from the bottle we were feeding him until we got to one ounce. He said that would slowly condition his stomach to not feel the need to eat at night. I was very skeptical since it didnt seem like he was even necessarily hungry, he just needed the bottle for comfort to get back to sleep. It worked though and he no longer wakes up at night. If he stirs at all, he puts himself back to sleep. He might have just grown out of it and it could have been a total coincidence but it might be worth trying. On another note: I am glad to hear someone else's little one has a temper already so young, haha. He is the sweetest thing majority of the time but he has a definate temper I didn't expect until terrible two's! LOL

A little about me:
I have an adorable eight month old son and an amazing husband of 2 years. We are moving this month from Michigan to QUakertown, Pennnsylvania. We're worried about not knowing anyone but excited for the adventure.

well, my son is 18 mos old and is still not sleeping consistently through the night. every night i make a decision to go into his room or not. for example, if i feel that he has eaten well during the day, esp. at the last bottle and he was not grumpy during the day due to gas or teething then i would let him cry it out a little to see if he will soothe himself and go back to sleep. maybe you could try to wait 10 minutes of her crying and then go in and then the next time try 15 min and then go in and continue increasing the time until she eventually realizes that you are not coming in for her and she learns to soothe herself. good luck C.! ps. my brother does not have a temper, haha!

Try giving her a little bit of cereal right before she goes to bed. That helped my son, also at 6 months he was on stage one foods. She also might be teething. My son started at 5 months. Now he is 11 months and had 10, going on 11 teeth.

my 11 month old son still wakes in the middle of the night. i do the water bottle with him but my dh totally kills everything i do cause if he wakes up he will make a forumla! make sure you are both on the same page.

My 2 month old was sleeping through the night, now at 3 months things have changed. He gets up on occasion at 3:00am. I let him cry for 5 - 10 minutes, sometimes he goes back to sleep. It seems when I go in to try to comfort him he is harder to go back to sleep.

Besides rice cereal, are you sure that you are engaging her actively throughout the day. Also be sure she isn't napping too much. With your ped. ok, put water in the bottle. She'll still get the bottle, but it won't be as satisfing, so it may not be worth waking up for.

Its all trial and error. What works one day, may not the next. That's why babys are cute, it makes it easier to deal with the lack of sleep.

Hope you find the answer,

M.

Sorry to break it to you but she's still really young....I know you hear everyone saying there babies sleep through the night at 12 weeks old but there are many of us who arent as lucky!! My son is 15 months old and is still waking up during the night. He doesnt wake up for a bottle anymore but hes still up atleast once because he needs a drink or to play. yea its horrible. you get use to the sleep deprivation though. She's either waking up because she lost her binky or because shes hungry. Try giving her cereal before you give her the bottle before bed and see if that helps.

Hello, I'm G.. Mom of 3 Gram of 1. The BEST advice is, only put WATER in her "middle of the night" bottle. If you give her formula, she will get full, and NEED those feedings to continue.

Make sure you put some RICE CEREAL or OATMEAL, (the oatmeal will last longer in her little system) in her formula for her last bottle before bed, which should keep her full during the night.

Then under no circumstances allow anyone to give her anything other than water in her bottle until morning. Trust me, I learned this the HARD way.

Blessings to you and the baby, G.

Hey C.,do you give her baby ceral? If not maybe give him some in her last bottle. Im a mother of 2 kids a 10yr old son that was a great sleeper and i also have a 15 month old daughter who does not sleep at all..if i could only get her to wake up once in the middle of the night i would be so happy..ive tried everything but nothing works so i can to the conclusion she just not a sleeper..honestly her only getting up once a night is good for a 6 month old..

my third child is 6 month old and she will get up at three am at least once aweek but she is going thru a little growth spurt. She usually sleeps until 6 am but like i said she will get up sometimes when she is growing and needs alittle more. What i do is i put her to bed in the playroom at 730 when her siblings go to bed then around 930 or when i am ready to go to bed i wake her up and change her and feed her alittle 4oz instead of 6 and put her to bed in her bed. I found if i feed her to much she will wake up with a tummy ach so i don't over feed but give her just alittle. and it has helped me get some sleep.

My nurse told me to only give my son water when he woke up. She said they just wake up expecting the formula. My son would get mad at first, but after 3 days he stopped waking up at night. If you do try that make sure you give her enough to eat before you put her to bed to ensure she is not just waking up hungry.

I have no idea how to get your 6 month old to work on your schedule, but I just want you to know you're not alone. My first child, son, now 6, didn't sleep through the night until he was almost 2. My second child, daughter, 3, came home from the hospital "sleeping through the night" according to medical definition, which I understand is 5 + hours. She didn't sleep in longer spurts than that until around 9 months, when she started walking. If you can manage it, or someone can give you that magic advice, I congratulate you and them. Maybe I'll try it on my third, another girl who is due in June, otherwise, I'm going to let her sleep her schedule. My sister in law had 2 children similar in age to mine, and hers did sleep 8 hours at a time, but that was before her Pediatrician told her she was Over feeding them and they were stuffed. Once again, good luck, but just know that you're truly not alone, and it is "normal", as definition goes. I hope you can at least find comfort in that.

I know it can be frustrating, but just keep trying everyone's suggestions and if you are truely being consistent and giving a particular method a fair shot to kick in, then maybe just consider that each kid is different and 6 months is still quite young. Like all developemental milestones "sleeping through the night" can vary greatly from kid to kid. My son ate on demand every 45 minutes, as well as night fed up until almost a year old. He's now two and sleeps like a log from 8pm until 8 or 9 am with a fairly consistent 2 hour nap mid-day...no night wakings or trouble sleeping at all. I didn't really have a "method" so who knows what his sleep would be like if I had taken some arbitrary time frame and tried to squeeze his natural patterns into it.

Anyway, I've heard the most important thing is not which ideas you use, but how consistent you are. Just try to avoid getting frustrated as you try things because she "should" be sleeping already. She may be an excellent sleeper in a few months regaurdless of what you do!

My daughter is 7 months old, we co-sleep, and she doesn't sleep through the night still! There is nothing you can do to get them to sleep through the night until they are ready, you have to put it out of your mind, I did! Some babies don't sleep through the night until they're over 1 year old!