I should of known better since this is my third son but with my other two I would feed them and then lay them in the crib to go to sleep. They were used to it so they were good about self-soothing. With my third he ended up sleeping in our room a little longer bc my aunt was living with us and with him being right next to me I was able to jump up real quick to give him his paci when he would stir. Now he is on the other side of the house and when he stirs he doesn't go back to sleep. Last night it was 3 times. I'm exhausted. He is 6mths 2 weeks old, he eats roughly 2 jars of number 1 baby food with cereal (Sometimes I make it but about the same amount every time), he eats around 7:30 then bed time at 9:30 accompanied by breast milk. Seems to usually be a full 5 ozs. But never fails around 2:30 or 3am he's awake. By the time I get in there if I try to just give him his paci and sneak back out then he's full blown crying. Our 4 yr old is in the same room and likes a night light which doesn't help bc then it seems bright. Last night we moved the nightlight into the hallway to make a little darker and instead of waking up once he woke up twice. In the morning when he wakes up around 7 if I don't get in there quick then he'll fall back asleep sometimes. I try to work on self-soothe during nap times but hasn't been working. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? I'm tired and sometimes fighting him to go to sleep takes up to20 minutes. Othertimes I do my best to wait until he's about to pass out but can't always wait that long. HELP!
Thank you all for your input. I'm getting that this is probably just normal. I've been pretty spoiled with all three between my first 2 sleeping through the night almost shortly after adding cereal to their food if I remember right. I like the idea of alternating mom and dad although we may only be able to do that on the weekends due to the job my hubby has and me being a SAHM. I'm still new to being a SAHM and has been an adjustment but I'm slowly getting more of a routine down and maybe once school is in it will be a better routine. To answer the questions about food. He has been eating 2 - #1 jars mixed with cereal usually sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 then roughly 5oz breastmilk around 9 or 9:30 when we are getting kids to bed. I'll try to remember to get a nap at some point during the day to try to offset the amount of sleep I get at night. Thank you again to everyone.
My son came home from the hospital at just over a month old and was sleeping through the night. I had to set an alarm to wake him to eat every 3 hours, he was under 5 pounds and needed to eat that often. Now with my daughter I'm still waiting for a full night sleep and she's 18 months old😩 so I feel your pain...
I can't help, I honestly only know 1 or 2 friends who had any kids sleep all night through until they were closer to 1. None of my grand kids slept all night until they were nearly 18 months old.
That's what happens when you have kids. They don't usually sleep all night until they're older. Those that have kids that do sleep all night don't know that that isn't the common thing that happens. I have over 13 years in child care. This has to be the most common misconception that all parents have.
Kid's don't sleep all nigh when they're babies. They are hungry every 3-4 hours even if they eat right before bed. They are supposed to be hungry every 3-4 hours. It's what their body needs.
Tough as it is, this is pretty normal. Take naps during the day when the baby sleeps.
You mentioned he gets breast milk. I have nursed two babies for about a year and have found that in comparison to those that formula feed, my babies didn't sleep through the night until a lot later than theirs. I think it is because the food goes through them quicker. My daughter woke up every night until she was five years old. Son was pretty much asleep through the night by 1 year old. It's probably a combination of things - new room, new lights, teething, growth spurt, etc. I'd just say suck it up (nicely) because it will pass!
Sounds normal and reasonable for a child that age. No two kids are alike. Some are amazing sleepers from the moment they come home, and others just aren't.
Mine don't sleep through the night consistently till about 3, they start giving me nights here and there at 2, and stop waking 3-4 times a night around 1. That's who they were, they weren't ready to go hours with no food or comfort. I wished I could have been one of the lucky ones, but I wasn't. I knew kids woke through the night so it's not like it was a surprise to me.
Your baby...is a baby. Six months on this earth, that's not very long.
I don't think you are doing a thing wrong. My daughter nursed every night at midnight and then again at 5:30 a.m. until she was 12 months old. I didn't think anything at all was wrong with that. I just changed her, fed her and she (and I) went back to sleep.
Your son has a schedule, for now. As he gets older his schedule will change and he'll sleep longer.
Try cereal at the last feeding before bed.
Mine liked a full tummy and that cereal sure did make them sleep!
I kept my DD in my room until she was a little over a year old. I fed her when she needed it, but she went straight back to her crib when we were done. I would stay with her and pat her back or rub her tummy if she needed it... And yes, if she was having a really hard time I picked her up for a snuggle.
I did try to sleep train her her with CIO around 8 months, but decided it wasn't worth the misery after several days. I read the no-cry sleep solution, and tweaked the methods found there to fit our needs. She was closer to 10 months when she usually slept soundly through the night.
When I moved her into her own room around 16 months (when she weaned herself from the breast) she had a couple of nights where she woke up once or twice... Then started sleeping through the night on her own.
I don't think you are doing anything wrong. If he is hungry in the middle of the night, you simply need to feed him. Food at that age is simply for practice. He should be get the vast majority of his nutrition from breast milk or formula, not solids. You might be able to move his last feeding to later at night and thus move his next waking to early morning. My son went to sleep when we did (11:30 - midnight) when he was an infant. Then if he slept 5-6 hours it was actually almost morning.
I have successfully sleep trained 2 of my kids with Dana Obleman's advice. Here is her link. Yes, you have to pay for it, but truly, it saved my sanity. My son was sleeping 11 hours through the night after just 2 days of sleep training and it does not involve CIO.
http://www.sleepsense.net/share.html?p=brandyklein&w=...
You're not doing anything wrong. Kids are different and have different patterns. It's possible that, because he was with you longer, he got into this habit, but it's also possible that he's just different.
You're also more exhausted because you have 2 others this time around.
I never used a paci because they can't self-soothe with it - they can't get it into their mouths.
I did sleep training on my pedi's recommendation. She said they make up for food intake during the day. I know not everyone likes cry-it-out and there are valid arguments on both sides. One argument is, never let a child cry, just feed him. Another is, kids need to sleep and so do parents - we taught self-soothing with back pats and soothing words but no picking up. I also had a baby monitor so I heard him sooner in the process. Some people find it helpful to alternate mom visits and dad visits, and more with the dad visits if you are nursing since the baby doesn't see dad as a source of breast milk!
Is it possible to move the 4 year old in with the other child for a few days while you try sleep training? We had 3 nights of hell and then everything was fine.
I don't think he's hungry. It sounds to me like he has learned that you will come to him if he cries in the night. You might have to move your 4 yr. old temporarily to another spot to do the training. Pitch a little tent out of blankets or something somewhere and tell him it is just so that you can teach the baby how to put himself back to sleep at night.
Then do the Ferber method. Look it up. There are people opposed to it but it was absolutely necessary for our sanity with my daughter. She became a good sleeper for the rest of her childhood. And she is one who needed her sleep! You decide what works for you and your son. My son, for example, was a good sleeper on his own. It doesn't take long to train your son if you are diligent. You may need your husband's help to keep you from going in too soon. I liked this better than the cry-it-out method because it teaches your child that you have not abandoned them, but that the middle of the night is the time to sleep not be cuddled, sung to, rocked, fed, etc. If your pediatrician says he still needs to eat in the night, then wait, but my kids ate fine during the rest of the day.
What is your routine before bed and naps? What's the nap schedule and what's the time between nursing during the day? He should be going a good 9-10 hours by now.
I do think he is going to bed way too late. He should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night. So from 7-7, not 9-7.
How are you working on self-soothing? I use the pick up/put down method...and it took my daughter one week to find her thumb.
In any case, pm with your answers....I may have some suggestions.
