Sleeping Through the Night - Richmond,VA

I breastfed until Brandon was 12-13 weeks old - I couldn't keep up with him. We started him on formula and in his bottle before bed we put cereal in his bottle after that he slept through the night and it was great. It wasn't a lot but it made a big difference. Especially since i had to go back to work. Hope this helps

I had the same problems and I started to swaddle him again. They sell these blankers with velcro so they can't get out because I know my little one would wiggle out of it if it was not tight enough, but as soon as I started doing it again he slept through the night in a matter of days. I also put him on a schedule. Get the book Baby Wise if you can, it told me all of this and he was sleeping like a champ after I started reading it. good luck. D., also a new mother but did a lot of reading!!! My son is now 31 months.

It sounds like she is on her way to start sleeping through the night. Some babies don't start until their birth weight is doubled and around 4 months. Until she can go all night without a feeding, she'll be waking.

Also, starting a bedtime routine now helps too. She'll come to expect bedtime and sleep more soundly. Bath, Book & bottle...

I hope some of that helps! Good Luck.

At this point, it seems like their little bodies are going through so many changes that some babies' patterns may be a little erratic. However, We tried Kim West's method from "The Sleep Lady" book--it really worked for us with our daughter. She is breastfed also. Good luck!

HI C.,
I have to kids, older than yours though.
Being sleep dreprive can be very stresfull, so having your child to start sleeping through out the night is very important.
I brest feed my children and I found out rutines are crucial for a happy family. I would bath my kids consistenlty at the same hour, dress them and get them all confortable and brest feed them, rock for a few minutes and put them in bed, wheater they were awake or not. Most of the time they would be asleep.
A good bathing rutine goes long ways for a pacefull night. Once they were about 4-5 months I started bathing them earlier, about 9pm and by the time they were 6 months they were going to bed at 7:30pm. They would wake up around 5-6am to nurse an I would put them down again.
Every child is different, you will find that everything gets better and easier with time. Enjoy your baby... they truly grow up fast.

Hi C. -

At your daughters age she is bound to have different sleep patterns. Infants really don't sleep throught the night and anyone who tells you that there 3 month old is sleeping throught the night is not telling you the truth. It will happen eventually. Have you thought about co-sleeping? Most sleeping babies sleep better and for longer stretches than others. My 2 year old son has slept with us from the day he was born.

Good luck hang in there and it will get better as she gets older.

Cheers,
M.

I have a 16 week old and I have been exlusively breastfeeding and my daughter was only waking 2 times throughout the night about a month ago and in the last 2 weeks she has started waking every 3 hrs. to eat. Is it possible that your daughter is teething or maybe going through a growth spurt? Also, it is unusual for a baby to sleep through the night until about 6 months. And lastly, what are her sleeping habits throughout the day? If she is getting good naps through the day this will definately help night time. I was rocking, bouncing, etc. my daughter to sleep until about a month ago and was having a very hard time getting her to stay asleep for naps and sometimes she would be awake for 5 hours without a nap. Finally, I started to lay her down when she was getting sleepy and now she sleeps consistently through the day. I did have to go through a couple days of her crying for a little while when I laid her down, but now she usually goes to sleep pretty quickly with only a little whimpering. I hope this helps!! Good luck.

I know it's hard right now, but my girls (now 3 & 5) didn't sleep through the night until closer to 12 months and the little one didn't until closer to 18 months. They're still so young and just can't be expected to conform to our schedules yet. Also, please talk to your pediatrician before adding food to her diet - there are medical reasons that babies are to be on a strictly formula or breastmilk diet. You will eventually sleep through the night again! Good luck.

Hi C.! My daughter is only a couple of months older than your child and I found that she needed a little bit of cereal in her bottle right before going to sleep to help keep her full longer. I think I started with about a teaspoon. Mine sleeps through the night pretty much, but ocasionally has those nights where she wakes up every few hours. It's working pretty well. Sounds like your baby is getting to the age where you can start feeding her stage 1 foods during the day. At 4 months my doctor said to introduce something new every 3 days to make sure there are no allergic reactions, but to start with something like pears or applesauce (a light taste) and then work up to others.

Hope it helps!

D.

Limit your intake of caffeine and sugar if you are breast-feeding. And you could limit her naps in the afternoon. Also, if you take her on walks so she can see that the day time we are awake. Night-time we sleep.
Oh, and turning off the tv about an hour before bedtime and turning off most of the lights in the house so they can see hey, its nighttime.
One other thing my doc suggested was routine. There has to be a routine so the child knows whats coming next.
I have 4 children 11,7,3,2 those are the things my doctor suggested with mine. So far so good..Hope it can help....

I know it is frustrating, but with a baby that is only 12 weeks old you have to expect some inconsistency still. I have a 2 1/2 year old son who did not sleep through the night until he was 4 months old and a 3 month old that is still sleeping very inconsistently through the night and is breastfed exclusively. Some people will tell you that once your child reaches the 12-14 lbs range he/she will sleep through the night, others will tell you to give it until they are about 6 months of age before trying to use any of the major sleeping techniques (Ferberizing, etc)...I am in your same position and, at this point, I'd advocate patience, although I know it is tough, esp if you are a working mom, too. Good luck!

I am in the same boat but I am back to work. My 12 week old is in day care and srrms to be very stimulated all day. I start a bed time routine around 7:30-8 pm and he goes down for 3-4 hrs and then the every 2-3 hour thing occurs. I would love to hear what others say too.

Thanks and hope this helps.

Greetings,
It is tricky with a wonderful spitfire...we found that sleep changes every 2 weeks! You may have already tried this, as we did, and it seemed that our son wanted to be swaddled more as he got bigger than when he was little. However, his spitfire legs never stayed tucked in the velcro swaddle so we were handed the swaddle blanket. That is the name and it lasted a long time. I too did a little formula and breastfeeding and the formula bottle was given to him before I wanted the 5-6 hour stretch. Good luck...the swaddle saved us!

Of course, babies have times of inconsistency. I found that with each of my four children, that if I fed them on a regular routine during the day, they got enough and did not wake up at night to eat. I breastfed all four of them and each slept through the night at 8 weeks. I would recommend starting a routine at whatever hour you want to wake up, I chose 7 am, and feed at 3 hour intervals, feeding when they awake from their nap and not to get them to sleep. That way you have a well-rested, full, happy baby. They will go to sleep because they are tired, not because they have a full tummy. If the 3 hours has passed since a feeding and they are napping, wake them up to feed them and start the cycle over again. Feeding on a routine will also help stabilize their digestive tract. I know this works--it worked for us and I have a friend with 11 children ranging in ages from 15 down to 2 months and they ALL slept through the night at 2 months. Give it try and blessings to you.

My youngest is 14 weeks old. I went back to work 2 weeks ago, so I know what you're going through. We usually get a 7 hours stretch in the first part of the night - usually in between 7pm-3am. Then it's every 2 hours. He's my third. With his brothers I tried every strategy I could find in books, online and through friends. We struggled till the point of frustration to figure the sleeping thing out, but to no avail. What works for us now and what I wish I learned with my other two is that the sleeping schedule for my guy is whatever he determines. I just accept whatever he gives or doesn't give us. When he starts fussing my husband or I (who evers turn it is) gets something to drink, finds something entertaining on TV and just waits it out. Try not to watch the clock, think about how tired you'll be or remember what life was like w/ consistent sleep. It'll get better and you'll be surprised at how much you can accomplish on only 4-5 hours of sleep a night.

You've got a lot to read here and who are we kidding...who has the time?! :) So I'll be short.

My son changed around 12 weeks when i stopped nursing him at 2am. I would only soothe him back to sleep. Then I cut out the midnight feeding...I realized he wasn't hungry...he was just accustomed to being soothed by the boob to get back to sleep. No magic recipe, but it worked for us.

I read healthy sleep habits, happy baby too.

and don't worry solid foods are right around the corner. That will most likely change things up again.

One thing you should be aware of is that at 12 weeks a growth spurt could be about to happen. Your baby shoud be eating like a fiend and her sleeping might be kinda screwed up. She'll get thru it and so will you.

Another thing is that she's still pretty young to be sleeping through the night. It really is a milestone that babies reach in their own time. Don't rush her mommy. She's ok.

I only had two children but they were different as day and night. The best thing you can do is try to put the baby on a very regular scedule: same time for naps, meals, and bedtime, everyday. But some babies just sleep more than others. Our son slept through the night when two weeks old and ever after. Our daughter did not sleep through the night until she was 18 months. She would sleep 5 hours then scream. I'd breastfeed her and rock her, then she would sleep another 5 hours. Nap when baby naps if yu can.

Some babies don't sleep through the night until they are a year old. My friend's son is nine months old, so is my daughter, and he hasn't slept through the night but once or twice. My baby girl has been sleeping through the night since she was eight weeks old. It just all depends. I do think you should try swaddling her if you don't already. We swaddled ours and she slept better than unswaddled. It wouldn't hurt to have some music playing, lullabys or something. We also have had our daughter on a feeding schedule pretty much since she came home. She usually eats every 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours, longer sometimes now since she's eating solids and less formula. But if she's hungry, she's hungry. She'll get there, don't worry. Until then, take naps when you can! LOL

If you are breastfeeding and working you may find that she wants to nurse more at night and eats less during the day. This is not a problem if you sleep with your baby. You will get more sleep than you may think and then you both continue to benefit from breastfeeding. I would recommend "The NO cry sleep solution"by Pantley as well as "Sweet Dreams" by dr. Paul Fleiss. It has great info on sleep for infants-adults and is a quick easy read. I have found that having realistic expectations for my children at each stage of development makes a big difference. they're only little for a short time enjoy every minute.
stephc

The best book I read on it was "The No Cry Sleep Solution." I will give you the highlights of what helped me most but it is worth checking out of the library. (The only problem with it is that she charts a lot of stuff and I didn't have time to do that.) 1)Daytime sleeping is not totally dark or quiet. 2) Create a routine and stick to it. 3)Swaddle. 4)Pacifier. 5)Full belly. I'm sure there is more I can't remember but that much got us to the next level and both of my kids sleep 10-12 hours a night. Good luck!!

Hi - I am a mom of two boys and have a 31/2 month old as well. I am breastfeeding and use formula too. I have found the he will sleep longer if I feed him a bottle about a hour before bed and then brestfeed him at bedtime. Last night he sleep from 8pm-4am! I have also found that their sleep pattern changes all the time and with my older son he didn't sleep throught the night truly until he was a year old. My pediatrician reccomends a good bed time routine (bath, story, massage) and then putting him down when he is drowsy. I also play his music and that helps too. When your daughter wakes in the night wait for a little bit to go in and see if she falls back asleep on her own. There is a great book by Kim West - the "sleep lady". I believe it is called Good Night Sleep Tight.
Good luck!

She is only 12 weeks old. She will eventually have a more regular schedule. Her body is still doing a lot of growing. Just keep nursing on demand :-)

Every parent and every baby is different. A lot of people are recommending books or methods that worked for them. I read so many books I got so confused and frustrated, because they all contradict themselves, and none of them seemed possible for my baby. He was colicky and a terrible sleeper starting out. The book I trust the most on sleep is Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, but even then I hesitate to recommend it because I think it made me pretty obsessive about sleep. I know you're probably desperate for a good night's sleep right now, but I'd go with some of the other responses on waiting out the inconsistency, waiting till at least four months, maybe more like six months to do any "sleep training." If you can, try to nurse twice at the most during the night - otherwise it could create a nightwaking habit. The other times, try sending your husband in, or see if you can calm her while she's still in her crib rather than picking her up (never worked for my baby but I've heard it's a good idea). Good luck!

Hi there- My daughter is 12 weeks and we have her sleeping 7-9 hours. I also breastfeed only. What I did is at first, I would bring her into my bed, breast feed her around 9:30, then give her 4-5 ounces of formula. She stayed asleep for 5 hours, then I got up and pumped, and gave her what I pumped the next night.. She does sleep with us in a co-sleeper and she's not a spitup kind of kid, meaning she can tank up.The key is to wake up when you hear her fuss, and rub her head and speak softly to her(SHHUSH). I don't turn on the light and try to keep stimulus down to a minimum.
If she does spit up a bit, then breast feed her every hour before you want to put her to sleep(cluster feed) and then tank her up with your formula or breastmilk.
I also recommend "Baby Whisperer" by Tracey Hogg-it works!!!!
K.

Honestly, hon, at that age, they NEED to wake up that often. At that stage, her stomach will only hold about 2 oz of food, and since you are breastfeeding her (GOOD JOB!!), she need to wake up about every two hours to eat. I would just go with it...and what I did was to sleep with mine, to nurse them during the night.

If you do try the family bed, always do it carefully, with no other children in bed, and no covers or pillows on or around the baby.
L., mom to 6 great kids

I don't think most babies, esp those who are breastfed, sleep too consistently before 16 weeks (4 mos) - getting 5 hour stretches at 3 months is great! The best thing I found with DD was to put her to bed at 7 or 8 (can't remember) after nursing and then before I went to bed around 11, I would pick her up and nurse her again. She was still half asleep, but that way I got the longest stretch possible of sleep!

One of the things you should remember that "Sleeping through the night" equates about 4-5 hours max at this age. If baby goes much longer without eating it could effect growth and development. Bed sharing or at least sleeping in the same room is the best bet for maximum sleep for you. My kids sleep in the bed with me, at least the nursing ones. It's a wonderful thing to only have to half way wake up and adjust your bra to feed the baby at night. It's gotten so my 11 week old likes the side lying position best. If you go to bed with her at the bedtime feeding, you will also get more sleep. It's a wonderful thing you're breastfeeding! Also, establishing a bedtime routine will help give her cues that it's time for bed. This will pay off down the road as well. Here is a link to an interesting study that found that breastfed babies slept more than the formula fed ones. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&amp...
So much for the old wives tale that topping off with formula makes them sleep longer... Keep up with the breastfeeding, and if you're only giving a bottle a day, consider pumping or feeding from the breast to eliminate the risks that formula use poses (food posioning from manufacturer contamination, ear infections, etc) You're doing a great job by breastfeeding your baby, not only for her, but for yourself. Keep up the good work!

C.,
I remember those nights when our daughter would wake up in the middle of the night just wanting to play and chat away. We thought that's the end of us having used to sleeping 6-8hrs of sleep every night! But my husband came home one day and brought home a whole bunch of CDs from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Our daughter seems to like the soothing sound in her room and it helped her to fall asleep immediately. We kept it playing in her nursery, our bedroom - day and night; and in our cars. Within days, our daughter (and us too!) would just fall asleep as soon as she listens to these music.
Another thing to remind ourselves is that babies have this special sense in them - they can sense whenever you are stress, mad, sad or happy. At the same too, I too, have to remind myself to constantly relax and just enjoy that moment whenever I was breastfeeding her, putting her down for nap, or even just by cuddling or laying down next to her - it sure helps to calm all of us!
Our daughter, now 4yrs, still has music playing in her "big-girl bedroom" as well as our bedroom!

I hope this simple tip will help your baby and you to enjoy those precious moment and relax.

- R. D.

I definitely think you need to feed the baby whenever she needs it. Kids go through so many changes the first years.....teething, growth spurts, aches and pains. I always fed my kids on demand and always soothed them as needed. The first year was rough but it always gets better and it goes by fast! Hang in there...everyday gets easier and better.