My Six Month Old Son Doesn't Sleep for More than 2 Hours

All I can suggest is hang in there. The Dr. told me every child is different.?? My son now is 14 months old and STILL wakes up 2 to 3 times a night. It is rough. And he eats good throughout the day. I wish I an anecdote.

I'm so very sorry for you. Hopefully some of the ideas that have been posted here work. One other piece of advice. Invest in a video monitor if you haven't already. I own the Summer brand which I bought on Amazon. It's a bit expensive, but worth every penny!

I managed to sleep train my son by using this monitor. A lot of babies move around in their sleep, and put themselves back to sleep if you leave them alone for a bit. At first my problem was that I was running in every time I heard noise. After I got the monitor I could see what baby was doing and if we was REALLY awake. A few times he would wake up and put himself back to sleep if I only WAITED 10 minutes. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life, but after a while, he stopped waking up.

Good luck!

My six month old daughter is going through the same thing! Honestly I don't know how you do it and work full-time. The only thing that seems to get her to sleep at night is her swing. I put her in her swing with a binky and she'll fuss for a little while and she finally goes to sleep. As for keeping her asleep for longer, I can't help you. We have good nights and bad nights. I would try the swing though. My daughter finds it very soothing, and it gives my back a rest. Good luck.

More symphathy for you. I breastfeed and co-slept, but DD didn't sleep through the night til she was 14 mo. Developmentally, babies are not ready to sleep through the night as early as we are led to believe. There are conditioning methods out there, I never checked them out because I didn't quite believe in baby-training, so we just went with the flow, and at 14 mo. after we night-weaned, she slept through.

My daughter didn't sleep more than an hour at a time until she was 15 months.

Some babies just don't sleep in long spurts. I did have great success witb the "no cry sleep solution". It wasn't a quick fix, but it helped tons.

I know it's tough... lord to I know! Hang in there mama!

Hey hun! Hang in there it does get better! I would like to suggest maybe keeping him up an extra hour at night and maybe it will help him be more tired to sleep longer. Another thing that you could try is the lavander baby bath and the lavander lotion. The smell of lavander sooths babies. Do this before you feed him his last feeding at night and he might eat more to possibly sleep longer. Also, maybe try a different brand of rice cereal and see if that helps. Good luck and I hope this helps!

try to easy into the night, go into a quite room with soft lighting, turn on some soft music...classical works great. Feed him a bottle in a rocking chair, and at the point that he falls asleep, lay him down and walk out. Keep the music playing and maybe even keep a soft light on in the room but away of his crib. that way when he wakes up in the night, the music may help him smooth himself back to sleep
Good luck

I know that what I'm going to tell you, some other moms will think is cruel, but I would encourage you to let him really cry it out. For me, it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do with my son, but he has been sleeping through the night since 5 months and he is now 10 months old. Sleep is so important for their little brains and bodies, I decided he needed that more than he needed comfort from me.

It sounds like you may be confusing him by trying all different things. If he can cry for an hour and you will come for him, he learns that that's what he has to do and will do it every time. I would encourage you to try the method again and be consistent. For me, it took eight days. It was really awful, but it worked. At bedtime, I would put him down and then go do the dishes or something for 15 minutes so I didn't have to hear him cry so much. In the night when he would wake and cry, I would sit in the kitchen with a cup of tea, the monitor and "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and read the passage about how important sleep is over and over. In the first few days, I broke down a few times and did a lot of checking on him, and quickly discovered that the comfort I was giving him was minimal, because as soon as I left, he would be more upset than before. I just had to tell myself, he's in his crib, there's nothing in there that can hurt him, he's been fed, he's just learning how to soothe himself back to sleep. And eventually, he would.

In that week, he learned how to put himself to sleep on his own. Now, he only wakes if he's sick or had a diaper explosion, and only cries for about 2 minutes before going to sleep at bedtime. That week of training was really awful, but our whole house now gets to sleep thought the night. Mornings are happy, not grumpy.

If this is too harsh for you, you can ease out of these night waking patterns by slowly extending the time period that you let him cry, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc. This works too, but it takes much longer to get to the final result. I decided that it was going to be hard enough for me to let him cry, that I'd rather get the whole process over with instead of spreading it out. Remember the key is consistency. Be strong and good luck! (Another tip, start any new efforts on Friday night, so you have the weekend for the first tough days.)

I agree with Stephanie below about the rice cereal. These days, "experts" have found nursing babies exclusively until 6-8 months is best for their digestive systems. Has the rice affected his bowels at all? My babies struggled with constipation when I gave them rice too early. His discomfort may be digestive. If you are nursing or if he is drinking formula, consider the MILK factor and how is may affect his tummy. If you or he can switch to rice milk and add rice protein it will really help his tummy. Other factor is just the contrast between sleep time and awake time in terms of NOISE and LIGHT. When you're up, have music, tv whatever and lights. When you want to go down, make it dark and noiseless. Only whisper if necessary. He will get the message soon enough,and perhaps without MILK/dairy in his system, feel good enough to slumber. I remember going through this with my second child when I worked full time. He got over it eventually. My next baby slept real well in her car seat!! Sitting up must have felt better on her tummy or she was just cozier. Just kept the car seat next to my bed and she was happy as could be. Good luck!

My daughter had problems with this too, she would only sleep upright in my arms for the longest time! But, you can do it! It just takes a lot of patience!! Here are some tricks I used, maybe they will help. I put her to bed without wrapping her up in blankets, no socks, and with 2 pacifiers. Also, I rolled up a towel and put it underneath her mattress, it tilted her bed up just a little, and that seemed to help her also. You could also try music, any kind that he likes! CIO can work, if you do it right. Coming back in every few minutes and spacing each return to the room helps, also when you return to the room, not talking to your baby, or picking him up may help, I just used to stroke my daughters head for about 30 seconds and then leave again.
It wont last forever, its a trial and error thing, and every baby is different! But dont worry! You will get the hang of it soon!
Good luck!

All I can say is RICE CEREAL!!! It worked for me. The trick is to use Lactose Free formula and add a good amount of cereal to the bottle then warm it up a little. Give it to him right before he usually goes down and then againg in the middle of the night. My son was doing the same thing and this worked for me. He has been sleeping through the night ever since.
Hope it works!!!
A.

As the other mothers before me have said, I went through the same thing. I read a ton of different books and found that "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" really offered the answer to our problems. It involves keep a sleep log, which make seem like a hassle, but it works. By writing down what is occurring during the night and your routine, you, yourself can see the pattern develop and can assess what is going wrong. (I am hoping that some nights are better than others! And that is what you would be looking for.)

The No-Cry Sleep Solution
Elizabeth Pantley

Good luck to you!
M.

Make sure he has a night time routine. At these age he does not need to eat at night. Chances are he's wanting to do it either out of habit or for comfort. I had the same problem with my son. At his six month check the doctor basically told me there is no reason to keep feeding him at night, so I stopped. We had a couple rough nights, but once he realized I wasn't going to give in he stopped. I guess he realized it wasn't worth all the effort. Be persistant. Slowly increase the amount of time you wait before responding to his cries, make each visit briefer than the last, don't pick him up, and decrease interaction (verbal and physical). Once he realizes he isn't going to get much from you when he cries in the night he'll stop. Believe me, I know it's tough. My son has never been much of a sleeper either.

I'm so sorry you're not getting enough sleep. I know how that goes. My oldest (now 11 years) slept great from the time he was three months but when he reached ten and 1/2 months he started getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 am. And it's tough, esspecialy if you have to work. I stopped giving him naps late in the afternoon. Also, I put him to bed a little later at night. It only helped a little, though. I had to finally let him cry it out. It drove me banana's. I don't know how much this will help but good luck!!

I highly recommend the book "sleeping through the night" by Jodi Mindell. Simple, gentle, well-researched method to get your baby to fall asleep on his own and stay asleep. We tried it with our son, now 9 mos., when he was about 6 mos. and it worked. She recommends 1) Set a bedtime 2) Have a bedtime routine 3) Address the bedroom environment 4) Put down awake. And the hard part: let the baby cry BUT check on him as often as you want, just don't pick him up, or nurse, or rock or do any of the other stuff you've done in the past to get him to sleep. This is just for bedtime. During the night, you do what you've always done to soothe. The idea is that if you can get your baby to fall asleep on his own at bedtime, then he will eventually be able to get himself back to sleep in the middle of the night too.

It was really hard the first few nights because he cried for awhile and I checked on him every five minutes at most, but after about four nights, he cried a little bit and then fell asleep!

About the rice cereal: I've read that if you put the baby to bed with a full tummy, then when he naturally wakes up an hour or so later (because that's how infant sleep cycles work), he'll want that full-tummy feeling agin before he falls back to sleep. Same with whatever you do to get him to sleep at bedtime. If that thing isn't there when he wakes up in the night (bottle, mommy, music, light, mobile on, whatever) then he'll cry for it and not be able to get back to sleep without it.

I'm not trying to sell you a product, but I have to be very honest with you. For myself as well as just about everyone that uses MonaVie they find they sleep much better. Go to www.mymonavie.com/carolynosborne click on "my story" read it and then explore the site. It is pure with no chemicals, etc. Just fruit. It's juice, tastes good too. And anyone can drink it!!!

Well it looks like we are in the same boat as far as babies not sleeping through the night. the one thing that I have learned though is when you lay down your son let him know you love him but it is time for bed, at this point He is running the show and you need to let him learn how to comfort himself. I am going through that with my daughter. they test you to see how long take he knows you be in to pick him up, so he'll just cry until you give in. call his bluff as long as you know he is ok let him cry oh and try to take that second nap from him.
it may help in getting him really tired for bed.

It looks like you have gotten some good stuff, and hopefully something will help! I just wanted to let you know that the same thing happened to MY mom when I was a baby. I didn't sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours until I was 8 months old or so. She used to sit with me at night in a big plush rocking chair and let me sleep on her while she selpt. That helped us both get more sleep I think. And, I turned out ok. So hang in there, things WILL improve!

MY DAUGHTER KAITLIN WHO IS NOW A YEAR OLD WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING. DO YOU KNOW HOW THEY GET HIM TO SLEEP DURING THE DAY WHEREVER YOU TAKE HIM WHILE YOU WORK?

WITH MY DAUGHTER WE HAD TO LET HER CRY IT OUT. AT FIRST I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT BUT AFTER MONTHS OF NO SLEEPING I WAS AT MY WIT'S END.

I FIRST COMMITTED TO DOING THIS AT HER NAP TIME, SO YOU COULD MAYBE TRY AT A TIME WHEN YOU KNOW YOU WILL BE OFF WORK FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. I LAID LAID HER DOWN, AND OF COURSE SHE CRIED, BUT I WENT BACK IN AFTER 5 MINUTES AND REASSURED HER AND LEFT. THEN WENT BACK IN 10 MINUTES, THEN 15 MIN AND SO ON. THE NEXT DAY I WAITED 10 MINUTES BEFORE I WENT BACK IN AND INCREASED THE TIME I WOULD GO BACK IN AND REASSURE BY FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY. IT WAS BETTER FOR ME TO TRY THIS FIRST AT A NAP TIME BECAUSE I TRIED TO KEEP MYSELF BUSY DOING HOUSEWORK WITH MUSIC
ON, BECAUSE IT IS EXTREMELY HARD TO LET YOUR BABY CRY. BUT NOW SHE IS A YEAR OLD AND SLEEPS THROUGH NIGHT, AND I CAN LAY HER DOWN FOR NAPS AND SHE IS ABLE TO GET HERSELF TO SLEEP. BUT SHE WAS LIKE YOUR SON AND BECAME VERY DIFFICULT TO ROCK TO SLEEP AT 6 MONTHS, AND WOULD ONLY SLEEP FOR BRIEF PERIODS AT A TIME.

AFTER A COUPLE OF DAYS OF STICKING TO THIS AND NOT GETTING YOUR SON UP YOU WILL SEE A LOT OF IMPROVEMENT. IT IS SO WONDERFUL WHEN THEY FINALLY SLEEP ALL NIGHT, AND YOU AND HIM WILL BOTH FEEL BETTER. HE WILL PROBABLY SLEEP LONGER AT NAP TIMES TOO. LET ME KNOW HOW IT GOES.

I would recommend moving his crib in your room. Put it up to the side of your bed, adjust the mattress level to match yours and then take the bar off. Then it will be like he is sleeping by you, but in his own space. I have 4 and have come to accept the fact that if you breastfeeding you can count on them sleeping all the way through until they are done. But you can lengthen the time in between feedings. My older kids still wake up occasionally for one thing or another! I have a 5 month old. I sit in my room and nurse her at around 8 pm and then burp her and walk around the room until she falls asleep in my arms. I lay her in her crib (she has one of those slanted foam mats that has sides on it) or you can try rolling two blankets and putting him in between). If she wakes up before I go to bed I rock her back to sleep and dont nurse her. Then she wakes up any where around 3 am to 5 am depending on whats going on then I sit up and fully nurse her then put her back to sleep. Then she usually goes to 7:30 or so. IF she wakes up between then I pull her into bed and nurse her on one side just letting her fall back alseep. I can recommend a good book, Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. But I never used it until my kids are done nursing. Alot of people do and I bet it would work! It is a good book. Let us know how it goes. Good luck, I know it is so hard. Try to be patient and know that it will pass.

Wow sounds like you have your hands full. But you can't let him control you know matter how aggrivating it gets. My daughter is the same way. Fights sleeping. I put her in her crib and crank up the tv to dround her out. I hate to let her cry but I swear thats the only way. After about an hour or longer she finally realizes I am not going to get her out. With my son I had to do the same thing and he has only little issues when it comes to bed time. As for the food issue Give him lots of water duringthe day along with rice cereal and milk. When you give him milk put about a table spoon of rice cereal. You should also be feeding him regular baby food too. They need alot to eat so if he is hungry feed him, feed him, feed him. Feed him till he spits the food out. If you have any questions just email me I can help. :P Goodluck!!!

Try more naps. when my little girl was not sleeping well my friend told me that she was not getting anough sleep during the day. so when it was time for bed she was so tired she couldn't sleep. just like us adults when we get so tired we have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. it might also help if you give him a bath before bed. i still have to do that with my little girl. she is only four months old but she has slept through the night scence she was one month. she has had her "bad weeks" but i found that the bath and the more naps helped alot. GOOD LUCk

hi,we dont have that problem at night with christina...but the problem we do have with her is shes a night owl..she doesnt go to bed til between midnight and on the occasion 2am..but once shes asleep she will sleep straight thru til about 11am usually...sometimes even have a bottle after that and go back to sleep til 1pm!!! we really dont mind her schedule at the moment cause we are both night owls as well.shes not much of a napper though..we call it power napping between the time she wakes up to when she goes to bed again.she doesnt like the idea of sleep and usually will fight it til she cant anymore and just drop.earlier today she literally looked up at me and smiled and then fell face first into my leg..lol she was sound asleep.we are bad as well cause we got her used to sleeping with us..so she expects us to lie next to her and cuddle and then shes asleep in a few mins.I know when we try her crib its going to be a battle..im dreading it.oh,shes 9 months now,so shes been sleeping in bed with us since she was born..so it will be a challenge.she started getting cereal in her bottle when she was a month old until she was 7 months old and it did help her go to sleep at the time..now she doesnt need it.the advice of lavendar is a good idea..I put lavendar baby bath oil on her after her bath.also make sure your son isnt hungry when u put him to bed.christina is a very good eater so we didnt have that problem.also do u get much of a play time with him before you try putting him to bed? we play so hard with christina all night that we wear her out.I really hope you can get something to help soon hun,I know how hard it is without proper sleep..

I don't have any suggestions, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm dealing with the exact same stuff. My little guy will be one year old next week and he hasn't slept for more than 3 hours in a row since he was about 2 months old. I'm going to be watching this post to see if there are any good suggestions!! We're not alone!! ::big hug::

Perhaps your answer is in your last sentence, "I cherish every moment I have with my son." Could it be he cherishes every moment with Mom even if its in the middle of the night. Just food for thought.

HI L.

What times in the day does he take a nap? If it is later in the day he may not be tired. What time do you start putting him to sleep? Maybe its to early. You said that you work full time? Maybe thats why, He misses his mama! With my eldest child I fought with the same thing till I said okay now what?? So I laid him down with his bottle and all his favorite things
He would cry for a while and if it became out of control I would go in tap his bottom and tell him he can do it,I would make sure he had all his things give him a kiss and tell him good night. After about a week of that he was going to sleep on his own.I know it is hard.

My son is 7 months and just started sleeping through the night about a month ago. Here are a few things I have put into place -

CD player with a repeat button playing classical music all night long

Keep him up an hour longer - I actually let him determine when he is going to go to bed, he now crawls to me to be picked up and rocked to sleep. He simply lays his head on my chest and I know it is time.

4 tablespoons of cereal in 8 ounces of milk about 30 minutes before I want him to go to bed

Bath before bed in lavendar

I rock him until he is sound asleep

the biggest thing I have found is I changed the type of pajamas I was putting him in - he does not like the ones with the feet (his legs are short and his feet would get tangled and he would wake up).

Humidifier in the room

then - when I was teaching him to fall back asleep faster during the night - I added cereal to those bottles - I also did the theory shown in the book "12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks" - though it was more like the longest 24 weeks ever...It seemed to help with doing the feeding 1/2 an ounce less per nighttime feeting each week until there is no more night feeding...if you read the book that actually might make sense.

hope something in here helps, otherwise I would ask a friend to come over for a few nights and take over and let you sleep for a few nights consistently, just to help get you rested.

E-mail me if you want that book and I can arrange to get it to you as I am not using it anymore - I will have to find it, but am sure it is somewhere...

...also no matter how controversial co-sleeping is,l my son slept with me on many of those nights when he just wouldn't sleep and even those 2 minutes to walk to his room were 2 more minutes I could get back to sleep faster when he was down. Just be careful and take care of both of you!

I realize it's been several months since you posted for some help. I have just found this site. I have a couple of thoughts if you are still having the sleeping problems.

lavender bath
some kind of "white noise" we use a radio that plays the
sounds of the ocean
Yes, let him cry it out
have you tried taking him to a chiropractor? It's said that
babies that don't sleep well could need an adjustment.
It's VERY common if you had a hard or long birth with him.

Just a thought. I hope you both well.
Lauri

My baby was not a great sleeper either. THe only thing that seemed to help was time. CIO did not work. now she is 18 months and sleeps through most nights. She wakes up once or twice a week for an hour or more. The waking doesn't last forever. The book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" helped a little as far as scheduling. Maybe because you are working, you're putting her down to bed too late. 7:00 pm is a good time. It seems to really help an overtired child to go to bed early.

I have a close friend who's son didn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time until he was almost 4. He also regularly wakes up at 6:30am, and still sometimes takes afternoon naps. Every kid is different.

If he squirms and fusses away when you try to rock him, try something else. Look closely at what soothes him or quiets him and use those tools. You know him best. Don't listen to what anyone else tells you of what you must do.

For my son I found footless pajamas (or no socks) was key after about 6 months. He couldn't stand having things on his feet at night. He liked rock and roll more than classical. He didn't want to be bundled up, he still is very warm all the time, never wears a coat. I kept trying different songs to sing to him and finally found a John Prine song that for some reason was his song...I sang it about 10 billion times between 6 months and 2 years. It was the only lullaby like song he liked.

I don't believe in crying it out. More naps can help though. If he falls asleep in a car seat or swing does he sleep for longer? If so, he might have some acid reflux going on, and if you can raise one end of his bed a few inches so he sleeps on a tilt it can help.

The first thing to keep in mind is that every baby is different. Even if you have people harrassing you and wondering why your baby isn't sleeping through the night yet, you need to keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with either of you. Plenty of babies don't sleep through the night until they are much older. Many adults don't sleep through the night. Most of us get up to go to the bathroom, or to get a glass of water. There's always something that we need. You can't expect your baby to be any different.
As for the cereal in the bottle, that's actually a choking hazard. I know that it's recommended a lot by doctors or women who have raised children before, but we have the advantage of all the research that's been done since they learned what they were "supposed" to do. Please look into that. You obviously don't want to do your son any harm, and there's nothing to support that it helps babies sleep any longer than they would without the addition of cereal.
Look into the effects of crying it out as well. It is said to possibly lead to neurological damage. Plus, it just must be hard on a baby to need its mother and have her not show up. Your baby is still too small to be "spoiled," and you're not going to do him any harm by tending to his needs.

my son did the same thing. he was about that age too. i will tell you what i hated to hear, absolutely despised it , but it turned out to be true. he has and will continue to train you. that is a terrible word to use, but i can think of no better. the tool that a child uses to learn, and to communicate his needs is his actions. crying, cooing, laughing, sleeping. all of these get a response from you, his parent-provider. if you respond to his cries a certain way, and by a certain time, he knows now that that is what he needs to do to get what he wants or needs. don't get me wrong, i am not trying to tell you that your son is spoiled, or manipulative. it is basic and human nature. he has conditioned you and himself, but in this case it is not in his best interest. he needs to sleep through the night, in his bed for numerous, very good reasons. stick it out and let him cry. it hurts, i know. i sat by my sons door and cried silently for three whole nights, sometimes over an hour at a time, and several times through out the first two nights. the third night i had decided that if he cried longer than an hour, or more than once, i was going to quit letting him cry. he cried for about thirty minutes and has slept through the night, in his own bed ever since. and as a side benefit, as if i needed more than the obvious ones, i have had the peace of mind that if he does wake up crying in the night something really is wrong. also, if this helps, a few things to remember. your son will cry himself to sleep, not to illness or emotional distress. he will not remember these few nights, they will not traumatize him. if you are worried that he is really ill, or in NEED of you try this: walk toward his bedroom loudly enough for him to hear you. If he stops crying long enough to realize that you are not coming to get him, than he is fine. i adore my night time, it is the one time of my 24 hours that is not devoted to children, husband, work, housecleaning, finances, etc. i stay awake late to enjoy me time. if you need a distraction and would like to, you are welcome to send me a message and i will respond. moral support through these nights,(and many more years worth to come) is definitely helpful.

No cause for alarm. 6 months is when a typical time that kids begin to sleep through, although in my case, it was much later with the first one.

Much of it had to do with NOT feeding in the middle of the night (that started at 6 mo.) The best advice we received was to not do ANYTHING stimulating with the baby (no picking up, changing, rocking, moving...) It got to the point where we even had to stop rubbing her back, because that turned out to be a "crutch" for her to soothe herself back to sleep.

What (finally) worked was having our neice babysit overnight. She didn't get up with the baby (like we had been doing for soo long) and told us the next day that everyone slept like a charm.

Good luck

I wish I could help but my son did that until he was almost a year old. I just kept him in bed with me, but he was breast fed so it was easiest thing to do. What I did to finaly get him to sleep himself, I sat by his bed and held his hand and didn't talk to him or pick him up he cryed but not for too long, next night sat there didn't hold his hand, moving farther away every night and the night I was supposed to be able to just leave the room he freaked out, cryed for 15 minuets and then no more crying the following nights. I'm sure you may have tryed this. I have read recently that a night time routine shorter than 30 minuets is not long enough to transition for children, and anything longer turns it into play time. Try giving him a bath brushing his gums, or letting him chew on a toothbrush, massage him with lotion, read him a short book, then try laying him down and sitting with him. My son slept through the night the very first night he slept in his bed, we both slept much better. Good luck! ~V

L., I thought I was the only one... Your story sounds exactly like mine...
my mom says I was the same way, and nothing helped. I just grew out of it...
you know some babies don't sleep through the night till even 3 years, some do it fom the very beginning. Every baby is different, so I think we should just be really patient and wait