on getting the baby to sleep through the night. Our little guy is 8 months old, still nursing, sleeps in his crib, but he wakes up crying at least once per night. He did sleep through the night back in November and December, but he rarely has since then.
Either my wife or I go up to the nursery to pick him up, bring him to our room, she’ll nurse him a bit, stick him in bed with us, and then he’ll sleep the rest of the night. At this point, we’re usually too tired to take him back upstairs to his crib, so he stays in our bed.
Our first pediatrician said a couple months ago that by 7 to 8 months that we should check on him every 15-30 minutes, but let him cry himself to sleep, even if it takes several hours. After a week or so, he’s supposed to cry himself to sleep within minutes, and eventually sleep through the night.
Our new pediatrician says that he’ll eventually sleep through the night by himself, and doesn’t necessarily recommend letting him cry it out.
We don’t want to make him cry for hours if it isn’t going to work. Has anyone had any success with this method; can you share any tips?
Patience. He’ll sleep thrugh when he’s ready to. Ours was 13 months old before he consistantly slept through the night. Even today at 23 months he still wakes at 5 am occasionally, but he’s usually good about let us sleep these days. Personally, I don’t believe in letting them cry themselves to sleep, but that’s your call.
All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.
Don’t really have anything to add here except patience I guess. I was very lucky. My son started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks.
Are you sure he/she is getting enough to eat? Formula was not enough for my son so at 6 weeks we had to start giving him a tsp of pablum a day. He was just growing too fast.
Give your children these two things: One is roots, the other, wings - Wally Wally He’s our Man
Well, hell, I dunno then. Since a) I’m American and we have the worst geography test scores in the world, and b) I’ve already mentioned that I don’t get much sleep, I suppose I’m stumped. I was somehow under the impression that someone from THE Netherlands was labeled “Flemish” and not “Netherlandish.” Where the hell is Flemland? Must be Belgian then, huh?
Thanks for the geography lesson. It is almost exciting enough to help me stay awake today.
I’m sorry to get on your nerves, H8… it wasn’t intended, really.
People from the Netherlands are called Dutch, and Flemish people are from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Calling me Flemish is akin to me calling you a Canuck
Now, if you tell your little kid all this newfound knowledge, I’m sure he’ll be asleep in notime!
C-Sue - He gets plenty to eat. He’s in the 90th percentile in weight and and 100th in length. I think we’re reinforcing a bad habit of letting him sleep in our bed, though. Thanks for replying, and stopping me from trading posts with Coldfire.
Pardon me for being blunt but he ain’t gonna sleep through the night till he’s off the tit. Bottle fed babies will usually sleep through at a much younger age, but breast fed babies seem to have this habit along with being just a little more “mommy clingy”. Stands to reason though, breast milk is processed more rapidly by their little bodies than formula. Also, the clingy part comes from the fact that in most cases unless your wife expresses her milk and someone else bottle feeds the child frequently, mommy is where the little fella always gets his goodies. This will pass eventually. That is if you plan to ween the child at 12 months, if not he may be hanging onto the habit a lot longer than that.
Oh yeah, and by the way…I have gone through sleep pattern problems. What I did was a little more subtle. I couldn’t stand to let them cry either. The first night I let the baby cry for 5 minutes, if they didn’t shut up I went in and did the comforting thing. The second night I did 7 and so on…I think by the third night the little sweetie rolled over and went back to sleep. We had a pacifier problem. We called it our foo-foo.
He could be ready for his “9-month” growth spurt. After the 6-month they don’t come as regularly. A baby is should be expected to wake a little during the night for a nursing during a growth spurt. It helps baby grow and helps mommy adjust to the supply that baby will need.
OR It could have to do with separation anxiety. He’s fine until he wakes up enough and realizes that he is alone. Then he needs held and cuddled. Asking to nurse is the best way to insure that he gets both. If a child has separation anxiety, you should NEVER try that method of letting them cry, AKA Ferberizing. It will only make the child become clingy and nervous and irritable during the day. Ferberizing was the “big thing” when my oldest was a baby. None of the stupid magazines or books mentioned that it shouldn’t be used on some children. AFTER we had already tried it and our baby freaked out, I read an article that actually contained quotes from Dr. Ferber and one was that this method should not be used on children with separation anxiety. I had already been told by her pediatrician that she had “an early and strong case of separation anxiety”. I never would have put her through that if I had known. I NEVER read parenting magazines anymore, especially Parenting Magazine.
Do what feels right for you. Don’t feel like you have to get him “back in his own bed” or he’ll never sleep on his own. Our oldest weaned herself at 9 months and she still woke up several times a week and cried for mommy (probably the trauma from the Ferberizing experience). I would just rock her back to sleep and sometimes we’d both end up sleeping in the living room. Who cares! They are that little for such a short time. Have you considered making him a bed on your floor so that you don’t have to climb the stairs?
Our little guy is 5 months old and sleeps through for 10.5 hours every night. We set one rule early on:
Once he has been changed and fed, there is no getting out of the crib unless he is holding-his-breath-and-turning-purple angry, and then we comfort him in the nursery.
So, if he cries, we’ll pat him and stroke him and talk to him while he is in the crib. We also give him music to listen to. found early on that this calmed him down readily (he doesn’t get holding-his-breath-and-turning-purple angry unless he is getting his vaccinations or is sick).
As a behaviorist, I have to say that I am afraid that he may have learned by now that crying = food and your bed. Unlearning (or extinguishing) this association is going to involve some crying on his part and some stoicism on your part.
I agree with Eissclam. When our son woke up in the middle of the night. One of us would go to his room and rub his tummy (or back if he was on his side) until he calmed down. It does take a lot of patience, but if you need to, do it in 15 minute shifts.
Also, a little night music helps A LOT. Not the nursery rhyme stuff…we rotated Mozart and Entertainment Weekly’s CD of Groovy Love Songs.
First of all, being breastfed has nothing to do with him not sleeping. I breastfed my daughter for 6 1/2 months and she was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and she never woke up in the middle of the night to nurse! My son was the same way. I nursed him for 3 1/2 months and he was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks also. Just make sure that he nurses for at least 15 minutes if your wife is nursing him right before bed. His tummy won’t get full if he nurses for 5 minutes and falls asleep and then you put him to bed.
I don’t recommend letting them cry themselves back to sleep either. It’s harder on the parents than it is on the baby. Warm baths before bed worked for a friend of mine. Also, I think that consistency is the key. Put him to bed at the same time every night and try to get him up at the same time every morning. Babies/toddlers thrive on routines. It’s important that meals, naps, baths, bedtime, etc., be at or around the same time every day.
One more thing H8_2_W8, you say you think your reinforcing a bad habit of letting him sleep in your bed. Well, you’re right. My boyfriend’s son has slept in his parent’s bed since the day he was born and now, at 6 years of age, he still sleeps with my boyfriend when he stays with him and he sleeps with his mom when he’s with her. He won’t go to sleepovers because he’s scared to sleep by himself. It’s been a pain in the ass and it’s a really hard habit to break.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do!! Enjoy your baby!
