Sleep Advice for a 6 Month Old...

The least painful way we found to cut out that bottle was to give him one ounce less each night until you weren't giving him any. One ounce at a time they don't seem to miss, and they still go back to sleep. If he still wakes up after you've stopped the bottle, just pat him and leave the room. Good luck!

I would try giving him a bit of rice cereal with what ever last bottle you give him before putting him to bed at night or thickening his bottle with a bit of it.He should sleep longer . If he is cutting teeth it will change his habits and they will continue to change for a long time to come.Just enjoy his baby hood it won't last for long.

give him a bottle with cereal in it.

I agree with you on both counts (not one to let the child "cry it out" and not wanting to wake up big-brother).

First: If he's teething, I'd use Motrin at night...it's supposed to last 6-8 hours instead of 4 like Tylenol. (And keep using the orajel until the motrin kicks in.) Ibuprofen was initially developed to help with dental discomfort anyway.

Second: If you aren't doing so already, with the bottle he has before bedtime, put about a spoonful of cereal in with his bottle (make sure you have a y-cut nipple, or be willing to make a small slit with a knife).

Third: Get some Mylicon and add that to the bottle too. Our oldest was about 6 months when we realized she was having gas issues and the Mylicon took quick care of that.

Fourth: Is he sleeping on his back or on his stomach? We got grumped at by our pediatrician's office because our oldest would NOT sleep on her back (absolutely wouldn't do it); SO, we would lay her down on her tummy, and she'd sleep easily. BUT we were very diligent about checking on her a lot, there weren't pillows in her crib or things that could obstruct the flow of oxygen somehow, and she did sleep in our room for a long time...but it was something to consider. Our second daughter had no trouble sleeping on her back, but we couldn't beg or bribe our first to sleep on her back.

Those should help him sleep better - it definitely helped with us.

For what it's worth - and good luck!!

hi, looks like you've gotten some really great advice already. i agree with erin, each child is different and you know what your baby needs more than his ped does. to only be waking once at 6 months is incredible. if your little one is hungry then continue feeding him. and good for you for not letting him cry!!

We just go over the same problem with our daughter. She usually sleeps through the night, but if she got up, we’d need a bottle to get her back to sleep…Here’s some crazy advice that might help you. First, we figured out the cries. A light cry with breaks meant she was just fussing and would go back to sleep in a minute or two. But if she woke up screaming then we'd quickly go in and rock her to sleep. If we rushed in there and calmed her down fast no bottle was needed. If we even went to the restroom before getting her, we'd need a bottle. It sounds like we were rushing to her demands, but we were really just not letting her wake up completely. Also, we stopped letting her fall asleep to the bottle at bed time. After the bottle was finished she we just rocked her quietly. So far it’s working great. If she wakes up, we just go in and rock to sleep quickly. (Believe me I know how silly this sounds.)

My opinion (of course) is that pediatricians, while wonderful, don't know everything. Maybe they are basing that comment on the norm instead of your individual child. We were told the same thing for our little guy. The problem is that sometimes babies go through growth spurts, are dehydrated, or whatever. I continued to feed my son during the night until recently (12 months). Neither he nor I were ready to do away with that time.

Do what is best for the both of you. Good luck.

If you're not one to "cry it out" and you don't want to wake up the 3 1/2 year old, then you might need to go in and rock him or bring him to your bed to sleep. Just make sure that you are willing to commit to either of those techniques for quite some time because that is what he will learn is necessary in order to fall asleep.

Try giving him a bottle of water instead. Or at least watered down milk. I've heard that eventually they figure out that it's not worth getting up for that.

My story is the same as Shaun C. DS was a TERRIBLE sleeper till he was 9 or 10 months old. He did still keep nursing in the night for a while past the time he "should." But it helped us get more sleep, and he did eventually stop waking up for it (not at 6 months). We'd wait a minute (like someone else said). If the cry dissipated, we'd go back to sleep (sometimes he was looking for his binky - he was a binky ADDICT, and at 6 or 7 months he was able to find it on his own so we FILLED his crib with them). If it got worse in a minute or two, I'd go nurse him.

Before he was able to find his own binky, we trudged across the hall MANY times each night to put it back in his mouth. Those first few months were BRUTAL!

I'm 29 and still wake up thirsty in the middle of the night, why should a 6 month old? He'll stop needing it when he's ready. You've probably just started solids, that helps about 50% of babies. Hang in there and trade off nights with your hubby.

Hi M.! We just sucessfully fixed this problem with our 6 month old so I have some good advice-I think anyway :) My son was waking up every night at 10:30 to have a bottle-no matter when he ate last, even if he ate at 8:00 (his bedtime). I started waking him up at 9:30 to give him a bottle, 6oz like normal. I did that for about 3 days. Then, I would move to 8:45 or 9:00 for a couple of days and now I just give him a bottle right before bed at 8. He doesn't get up to feed anymore! He's still a horrible sleeper but at least I don't have to feed him when he wakes up! He usually just wants his paci put back in. Hope this helps! We tried cereal at night-in the bottle and off a spoon and nothing worked but this method I got from a book. Good luck!

Sounds just like our youngest when he was small. Have you tried oatmeal or rice ceral and a jar of bananas or apple sauce. That's what it took for him. He was breat feed asnd kept me dry all day. He was gaining good so the dr wasn'r concerned about the lack of milk. The ceral and bannas were a big help. Just don't go over board or the dr may feel he's getting chunky.

This may be redundant based on other responses...but add some baby rice cereal to his last bottle. We started putting rice cereal in our daughter's bottles when she was 4 weeks old (for a different reason)...and she has slept through the night since then. She's now 2+ years old and completely fine...not overweight or anything :-)

honestly...both my boys didn't start sleeping through the night until they were 7-8 months old. Until then i had to get up and nurse them during the night. I think every kid is different and some need to eat and others don't.

maybe its a growth spurt though?

My daughter was a horrible sleeper. I thought she'd get better when she started on cereal and baby food, but NOPE! She still woke up at least once a night. Like your son, she would need a bottle to fall back asleep. I was told by everyone to cut out the night bottle because she didn't need it. Well, I decided too bad! I needed my sleep and a bottle helped her sleep. I figured I wasn't hurting anyone. She took a bottle in the middle of the night until she was about 10 months old. One night, she just didn't wake up. She's been a good sleeper ever since. If your son needs a bottle in the middle of the night, what's the big deal? As long as he's not overweight, I wouldn't worry about it. OH, and cereal in the bottle never worked for us. In fact, it gave my daughter terrible upset stomachs in the middle of the night. That was totally worse than having to give her a bottle. She would scream and cry all night long.

Our dr advised us to water down the middle of the night bottle or just give our son water. Within a week of doing so he no longer woke up to eat. It was just a habit not necesarily hungry.

Ok, I am sure your ped is a great one, but I learned long ago to not discuss sleep issues with them. Every child is different so how can he know if your little one isn't hungry in the middle of the night? If your child, your baby, is still waking up and drinking that bottle then his little growing body still needs it. Babies know what they need, and their wants and needs are the same. And waking up once at night for a 6 month old is FABULOUS! You don't know how good you have it! I have read every book I could find about babies and sleep because my first child was a disaster. And I learned that you have to let them do what they are going to do and despite what most doctors say, it is perfectly normal for them to wake up once or twice a night even when they are past a year. Not so convenient for mom and dad, but an inherited survival strategy from the last few hundred thousand years. And kudos to you for not letting him cry. Let him have his bottle, clearly he's telling you he needs it. And when he still wakes up and dozes off five seconds after you give it to him then you'll know he doesn't need it.

Do you think that he's actually hungry or just needs something to help him fall back to sleep? No one knows your baby better than you. And, if you think that he is hungry, feed him. You might try a little snack before bed, but just because a dr told you to do it, doesn't mean that you have to take the bottle away. Have you tried cutting back on the formula/breastmilk and getting to just water in the bottle?

I have a son who got up in the middle of the night all through grade school. He would get up between two and three, go to the bathroom and get a drink then go back to bed. This may be normal for him. Try putting water in the bottle and letting it go. This may be normal for him.