Easton is 7 months old (this Sunday). The last time we weighed him, which was about a month ago he weighed a little over 20lbs. He eats 2 jars of baby food and rice cereal 3 times a day, he breast feeds, and he gets the occasional snack of toast or baby snack stuff. With that all on the table (ha ha ha-get it??? Table?? I didn't do that on purpose) he doesn't sleep through the night. He gets up about once maybe twice in the middle of the night. Then he'll wake up anywhere from 5-7 in the morning and eat and then go back to sleep until about 8 and then wake up for good. Am I missing something here?? Isn't he supposed to be sleeping through the night?? My friend Tib said to let him cry it out and he'll go back to sleep. I did try that once and he cried for an hour while Brad and I just layed in bed wide awake. It's almost easier just to get him up, feed him and put him back to bed.
Any suggestions? Is this normal?? I don't remember ever having this problem with Carter, and he was just LITTLE. I have the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, but I have been too lazy and too busy to read it. HELP!
10 comments:
Funny you mention the book, I just finished reading it. Why? Cause I thought I could get a 2 month old to sleep through the night. Nice thought while it lasted.
The book did harp on two points though - if he's not sleeping through the night, send him to bed earlier and watch for the moment he starts to get tired and put him to bed then. Kinda backwards logic with the earlier bedtime but we have some friends in our ward that swear by it and their kids go down at 6 or 7 sometimes. Anyway, good book.
Jace did the same thing (and still sometimes does!) Our lactation consultant (who runs my mommy group at the hospital) said that if your baby doesn't go back to sleep without intervention, try to comfort him for 5 minutes without feeding. If he is still upset, then he is probably hungry and feed him. Turns out with us, Jace wasn't getting enough breast milk to hold him through the night and would wake up hungry. I thought it would get better with solids, but it didn't. I don't know if that helps...but I've been there, and I know how frustrating and exhausting it can be. Hang in there!
Here's somemore advice. Don't feed him right before bed. The logic we used with Abby (who has been sleeping through the night since she was 5 weeks old) was that, just like adults, we eat when we wake up, use the food as energy, then get tired and go to sleep. Same with babies. Feed them when they wake up, let them play to use energy and then they get tired and fall asleep and then the cycle starts all over again. She still takes 3 naps during the day and then sleeps from 8:30pmish to 7:30amish. You know my boys never slept very well at night. I always fed them right before bed because I heard it helped them sleep better. Whatever. I hate to say it but every child is different. Choose a method and stick to it for at least a week. Whether it be the book your reading now or Baby Wise (my sis-in-law swears by it) or the cry-out method. Stick to it and give him a chance to adjust to the new routine. This getting up in the night right now is his routine and you do have to break him of it, unfortunately. Just remember the occasional things that screw up sleeping habits, like, teething, illness, vacations, big brothers...
Could that have been a more obnoxious comment? Sorry!
We were just going through the same thing with Gavin a little while ago. He used to sleep through the night for awhile then he stopped and kept waking up around 2 or 3. I would always get up and feed him. Then finally we just let him cry for like 2 nights and he cried for awhile it was sad and very hard to sleep. But now he's out of the routine of waking up at night. Its awesome. He goes to bed around 7 or 8pm and wakes up around 7am!!! Yay! I was going crazy not getting a full nights sleep. Hopefully you will soon!
I am sorry. Lexi did not sleep through night till she was one and I feel that Josh is big enough not to have to get up so much also. I agree though about putting them down at an earlier time. It does not make sense but I also put ALL my kids to bed by 7 and they sleep so much better. I then wake Josh up at 1030 beforeI go to bed and feed him and put him back to bed and then I only have to get up with him at 4. My friend swears by healthy baby, book. Good luck!
He, He, He! I'm still laughing at your "on the table" comment, because it sounded like you totally cracked yourself up when you realized the pun! :)
I believe in the cry it out method...It can be hard but it has worked magic with my babies, and it doesn't take them long to catch on as long as you don't buckle. I swear if he cries for 10 minutes one night and you go and rescue him, the next night he'll cry for 11. That's how it was with mine anyway, it was like they all had little internal timeclocks or something! Good Luck!! :)
Christine, my doctor told me when Cam was 6 months that he was really "healthy" (meaning chubs, like Easton) and that he didn't need to eat during the night. You do a systematic cry it out method. Pick a bedtime you want to use. Give him a bath, do some sort of bedtime routine. Finally, at the end, you tell him goodnight and leave the room. Let him cry as long as your comfortable, say 10 min. If he's still crying, go back in, pick him up (no talking). When he's calmed down, you just lay him back down. Leave again. If he's crying 15 min. later, go back in, do the same thing. Keep extending the time. Eventually, he WILL go to sleep. Do this in the middle of the night if you have to as well. Just go in, comfort, (no words) and then leave again. He will learn to sleep on his own, but he can still trust you. Every night it will take less time for him to go to sleep, and by the 4th night he should go to sleep right after you lay him down. Seriously. Worked for both boys. I loved my Doctor for that advice. WOW, long post.
Sorry, one more. Like Brenda said, getting up is his routine, and you just have to break him of it. Like when they get sick, they wake up at night, and you help them. But once they are well, they are used to the routine, so they will still wake up at like 2am every night. You have to ease them out of it. Remember, no "attention", just comfort and back to sleep.
I highly recommend the book - Sleeping Through the Night by Jody Mindell - I have a copy you can borrow. (just another excuse to get together)
Also, you should push bedtime back earlier. Both my littles are in bed at 7pm and sleep until 7:30 or 8 the next morning. Sometimes getting too little sleep can make them wake up more.
It just might work :)
The crying it out sucks for a couple of nights but they catch on.
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