How do I get a baby to sleep during the night?

skintchick

You have my sympathy! My baby is 24 weeks tomorrow and very similar. She has four 30-min naps during the day which she has in her pram usually as she is hard to get to sleep indoors, and she wakes frequently in the night, although she goes back to sleep pretty much OK afterwards so it's a bit different to you.

I've been told that it could well be teething - that they wake in pain, want food as it is comforting, then get frustrated when it doesn;t work, so you could try giving Calpol or baby Nurofen (this apparently works for longeR) before bed and when he wakes and won;t go back to sleep.

From what you he isn;t getting enough daytime sleep. I know my DD isn;t getting enough but I struggle to get her to go longer. It's worth seeing if you can go in just before the 30 mins are up and then rock or shush or whatever them back to sleep. This doesn;t work for me but it's what they recommend.

You may also find that 8pm is too late a bedtime. If they are overtired, especially wiht such short naps, then they need to go down earlier. My DD goes to bed at 6-6.30pm, that is actually when she is in bed, we start bedtime at 5.15pm. It means OH barely sees her but needs must. Try bringin bedtime forward a bit and see if it makes a difference.

karenx wrote: »

He has just turned 5 months old and he has his 3 meals in the day and 3 full bottles of about 200ml each.

I'll go ;no comment' on you starting weaning early, but just say from what I've heard, solids make no difference to sleep at all. However, I have read that giving more food int eh day might help - so you might want to give more milk or an extra milk feed. More solids won;t really help as they don;t contain as many calories, ounce for ounce, as milk does.

karenx wrote: »

He has been like this since before I started food, I thought food might of helped by filling him up more so he is more peaceful at night but nothing has changed. Its not solids yet just baby rice etc!

I think if he has been like this for a while, look at trying to extend the naps, bring bedtime forward, and see if pain relief does anything.

I co-sleep with my DD and it's the only way I don;t look like a zombie! SHe is in bed with us, in her sleeping bag, and I feed her lying down. This is easier of you breastfeed, obviously, but even with bottles (I'm not sure if you are on formula or expressed milk) it might help a bit. It may even settle your baby and help him sleep more.

Five/six months is a time when a lot is going on for them. I was talking to my Health Visitor about it only this morning and she agreed that when the teeth comes through/she is crawling things will settle. THis is the last big growth spurt before a year I believe, so hang in there!

I know it is so so hard, but the way I get through it is to adjust MY expectations as there is beggar all I can do to adjust my baby! :rotfl:

Think on it this way - it won't last forever. YOu might like to get the No-Cry Sleep Solution and see if some of it's solutions work for you. I'm already doing most of them, sadly, but you might not be and it is a useful book with lots of ideas.

As for people's suggestions to put baby in cot and leave them all night regardless of crying, don;t do it.

Cry-it-out (CIO) is not recommended for babies under 6 months. Personally I wouldn;t use it ever, but you shouldn't do it under 6 months and when you do do it, you shouldn;t leave them screaming for ages, you should do it for a minute or two at a time. Please do not leave your baby screaming and in distress. He needs you, I know it's tough, and you can help him learn not to need you so much, but leaving him crying at such a young age is not a good way to do it.

I repeat, CIO is not recommened for babies under 6 months.

Hope some of this helps. I feel your pain.

tandraig

its just a thought - but with some babies baths wake them up not calms them down. my grandson now has his bath in the morning - cos he is energised after that!

Greener_Grass

I'm afraid your son needs to break the cycle of waking and you are there instantly. My son used to try this on occaisionally but has long grown out of it now as I just don't play the game. Its going to take a while of training to teach him you won't come instantly the second he starts crying. Leave him to grissle for 5 mins, It will do no harm. I'd also recommend using as little light as possible. I have a light with 3 settings too and the lowest is still far too bright. The only light i've ever used is a nightlight on the monitor which is hardly anything at all and you can only really make out outlines.

I know its easier said than done but a but of leaving him for 5 mins so he realises you won't come running will work wonders. Good luck, I know how hard it is to function on no sleep xx

lolababy

Hi Id check that he is not too cold or hot as this will wake him. Try moving his bedtime. to an hour later and keep doing this until he appears to sleep in longer blocks. He may then sleep longer in the day.
Another option is to give him his feed later ie nearer to bedtime so that he stays full for longer.

katieclampet

Hi, I wish I could offer something different from other posters, but I think they have all pretty much covered what I would say or advice I could give.

The only thing that might help is maybe there is someone (mum or family??) who might have him overnight? This would give you a break, and a change of scene might help him? If nothing else you will get a good nights sleep.

katiex

kezlou

My youngest son was exactly the same, he's five years old now so its a bit easier. I couldn't really leave him to cry as my eldest was 3 at the time and slept next door to him.

Heres what i did in the end to calm him down.I would start this at about 6:30pm so by 7pm he was in bed.

1) Place a bowl of hot water with some drops of lavender oil in it under a radiator
2) Bath time with lavender
3) Dry/dress and ready for bed/give feed
4)Put on a calming cd (normally Counting Crows or Morcheeba)
5)Read him a story
6) Stroke his back
7) Remove my hand if he had fell asleep and placed a teddy where my hand had been.
I would also leave a piece of clothing/cloth which smelt of me with him which helped calm him down a bit.

If he wasn't asleep i would go upstairs every fifteen minutes, leave him in his cot, stroke his back and cover him back up and normally he drift off and slept for about 6 hours. He would normally wake up about midnight, have a feed and go back to sleep. Anoither thing i did was to STOP all day time naps, the first couple of weeks i allowed 1hr naps, then follwing fortnight 45 mins etc. Took him ages (well felt like ages) to get used to it but in the end it really helped him sleep at night time.and would go from 7pm till 7am with no wake ups in between.He still like his 12 hours sleeps now.
Hope that helps.

karenx

katieclampet wrote: »

Hi, I wish I could offer something different from other posters, but I think they have all pretty much covered what I would say or advice I could give.

The only thing that might help is maybe there is someone (mum or family??) who might have him overnight? This would give you a break, and a change of scene might help him? If nothing else you will get a good nights sleep.

katiex

I really wish I could get a break but my mums on her own and she does 5 night shifts a week and sometimes her 2 nights off arent together so I cant ask her to take the wee one as she needs her sleep for her 13hour shifts in a hospital. She works with mental patients so I know its really stressful for her so Id hate to give her more stress on her only night to herself before going back to work. Other gran wont take him as she doesnt want to take him up loft ladders to bed or go up and down the ladders herself if he is downstairs and he wakes up :rolleyes:

Tigerlilley1980

HI there. My DD slept through from about 2 days old and I reslly believe that it was because I fed her at the same time every day and made sure she had 6 feeds between 6.30am and 11pm. Then when we dropped a feed it was always the latest one ths making bedtime earlier. I also believe in leaving them to cry as long as you can because if you go to them then they learn that crying gets attention. I know it is awful to do this and you feel terrible but it definitely works. When my DD who is now 2 wakes up in the night now I take her a drink and don't really speak, put her back to bed, say good night and leave her and she goes off great. I hope you can work out something that works for you and you get some sleep x

karenx

skintchick wrote: »

You have my sympathy! My baby is 24 weeks tomorrow and very similar. She has four 30-min naps during the day which she has in her pram usually as she is hard to get to sleep indoors, and she wakes frequently in the night, although she goes back to sleep pretty much OK afterwards so it's a bit different to you.

I've been told that it could well be teething - that they wake in pain, want food as it is comforting, then get frustrated when it doesn;t work, so you could try giving Calpol or baby Nurofen (this apparently works for longeR) before bed and when he wakes and won;t go back to sleep.

From what you he isn;t getting enough daytime sleep. I know my DD isn;t getting enough but I struggle to get her to go longer. It's worth seeing if you can go in just before the 30 mins are up and then rock or shush or whatever them back to sleep. This doesn;t work for me but it's what they recommend.

You may also find that 8pm is too late a bedtime. If they are overtired, especially wiht such short naps, then they need to go down earlier. My DD goes to bed at 6-6.30pm, that is actually when she is in bed, we start bedtime at 5.15pm. It means OH barely sees her but needs must. Try bringin bedtime forward a bit and see if it makes a difference.






I'll go ;no comment' on you starting weaning early, but just say from what I've heard, solids make no difference to sleep at all. However, I have read that giving more food int eh day might help - so you might want to give more milk or an extra milk feed. More solids won;t really help as they don;t contain as many calories, ounce for ounce, as milk does.



I think if he has been like this for a while, look at trying to extend the naps, bring bedtime forward, and see if pain relief does anything.

I co-sleep with my DD and it's the only way I don;t look like a zombie! SHe is in bed with us, in her sleeping bag, and I feed her lying down. This is easier of you breastfeed, obviously, but even with bottles (I'm not sure if you are on formula or expressed milk) it might help a bit. It may even settle your baby and help him sleep more.

Five/six months is a time when a lot is going on for them. I was talking to my Health Visitor about it only this morning and she agreed that when the teeth comes through/she is crawling things will settle. THis is the last big growth spurt before a year I believe, so hang in there!

I know it is so so hard, but the way I get through it is to adjust MY expectations as there is beggar all I can do to adjust my baby! :rotfl:

Think on it this way - it won't last forever. YOu might like to get the No-Cry Sleep Solution and see if some of it's solutions work for you. I'm already doing most of them, sadly, but you might not be and it is a useful book with lots of ideas.

As for people's suggestions to put baby in cot and leave them all night regardless of crying, don;t do it.

Cry-it-out (CIO) is not recommended for babies under 6 months. Personally I wouldn;t use it ever, but you shouldn't do it under 6 months and when you do do it, you shouldn;t leave them screaming for ages, you should do it for a minute or two at a time. Please do not leave your baby screaming and in distress. He needs you, I know it's tough, and you can help him learn not to need you so much, but leaving him crying at such a young age is not a good way to do it.

I repeat, CIO is not recommened for babies under 6 months.

Hope some of this helps. I feel your pain.

Thanks for all that advice! He is teething yes, I give him teething gel every 4 hours if he needs it. I dont usully give him any medicine though- might try that also! A friend had recommended a powder called ashton & parsons. Heard of that?
I let him sleep when he needs it, as if he isnt tired he will put up a fight if I try get him to sleep. So when he gets gurny or rubs his eyes I put him down for a sleep.
I might try put him down for bedtime earlier, like you my OH gets home later so he only just gets to see him for about 5 mins before he goes to sleep. But like you said- needs must!!
I do end up bringing him into bed with me half way through the night as he wont settle again. Sometimes I will lie in my bed with him to get him to sleep or rock him in my arms etc and once in his cot he is settled for a few hours. Its just after he wakes up that first time he wont settle or go to sleep easily. So I end up keeping him in my bed in his sleeping bed. I know so meny ppl say you shouldnt bring baby into bed but if its the only thing to try get them to settle then you really have no choice! And Id rather lie down with no sleep but still getting a little rest and even closing my eyes than sitting up next to the cot trying to settle him.
Believe me I never leave him crying! If I need the toilet or heating a bottle etc its about the only time I do leave him crying!! I wait about a minute if he cries in his cot before I go see to him. I could never leave him to cry himself to sleep himself and he would end up waking my other son up also in the next room!

Thanks for all your help girls!!

Kezlou- I will try the lavender under the heater also!! I use the bedtime bath, the wash and also either the cream or oil!
Might try leaving a tissue spirted with my bodyspray or perfume at bottom of his cot too!
Thank you

xmaslolly76

Hi Op i have a wondefull little music cot toy that project images onto the ceiling and plays lullabys it has helped my little one settle himself no end as there is a setting on it that will detect movement and it starts playing automatically. It doesnt go off at every little movement they have to move a fair bit to make it go off so it wont be going off every 5 minutes. It may just grab his attention long enough to stop any grissling and he may just drift back off may be worth a try. It is made by tomy and is winnie the pooh themed.