11 Month Old Wont Sleep at Night

K.,
Sorry I am so late in responding. I would definitely recommend Elizabeth Pantley's book "The No Cry Sleep Solution". http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/ My DS never slept through the night until he was a little over a year old, then I found this book. It is great, especially if you aren't a fan of the "cry-it-out" method. I so understand where you are coming from! Good luck,
J.

If your daughter was sleeping through the night until 4 months of age and then stopped and has not been sleeping as well for the last 7 months, my guess is that the ear infections disrupted her learning to self-soothe when she wakes at night. By 11 months, any baby - breastfed or not - should have the ability to sleep through the night. Things like illness, teething, etc. can temporarily disrupt sleep - but not continuously for 7 months. I think that your daughter just needs a little sleep training to learn to fall asleep by herself & then self-soothe in the middle of the night when she wakes (we all wake periodically during the night), so that she doesn't need you to help her get back to sleep. There are a lot of theories about sleep training out there, and I'm sure many of them are effective. Of the ones I tried on my 3 kids, the one that worked the best for us was the Ferber method. You can read all about it in the book, 'How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems' by Ferber. He is a sleep scientist & explains a lot about all of the issues that can keep a baby from sleeping well. He also gives very practical advise of how do correct those issues. It worked like a charm on my 3 kids - all of whom (to varying degrees) have been GREAT sleepers. I like his method because it makes sense and because you don't have to leave your kid to cry it out without reassurance that you are still there for them, but it still teaches them that they will be okay without you. I'm sure you can google Ferber & read about it, get the book, or you can message me & I'll tell you what I did that worked for me. Good luck!

At 11 mos is she eating three solid meals?

Teething, growth spurts all can disrupt what is going on with her sleeping habits. Is she crying hard when she wakes or just kind of wakes up and isn't getting herself back to sleep.

The ear thing could be a build up of fluid, which won't always go away with anti biotics. Laying down can worsen that feeling and it can be painful or uncomfortable. My son had them, it had nothing to do with viral issues, it was the fluid was getting trapped in his ears, he never had signs of infection but irratation and they had to finally put tubes in to resolve the problem. After that there was no problem.

If it is reflux, that can be painful when she is laying down. How is she napping?

If it is teething, try motrin before bedtime or teething tablets.
She at her age shouldn't need to eat in the middle of the night at all. Don't rush to feed her right away. Some kids through growth spurt may but try not to feed her if she wakes, give her at least 10 minutes to try and help teach her to soothe herself.

I never did crying it out until after 6 mos (then rarely did it) and gave it ten minutes to let them settle themselves, they had a fan for white noise and a I got a voice activated sound maching where the music would kick on if they fussed and would wind down after 5 minutes. Those things saved me big time as other then teething issues or growth spurts my kids slept through the night. I just tried different things until I found what helped my kids soothe themselves or sleep better.

My suggestion is figure out if she really crying hard, like she is hurting? Is she just fussing and if you left her alone for a bit give her a chance to fall back to sleep herself.

I wouldn't run in if it wasn't a painful or really upset cry, I would leave her be for a bit. Teaching her to fall back to sleep herself is giving her a gift. If she is in pain, take her back to the Pedatrician and see if you can find out if it is associated with her ears, reflux or may just be teething.

Good luck, it is hard when they should be sleeping through the night and don't! All kids are different.

HI K.,
I was reading the other responses and I like Erika's the best. I am a mother of 5 and my youngest is putting me through this too. She is 10 1/2 months old and has never slept through the night. She is bottle fed and was waking to eat at 10, 12, 2, 4 and up at 6. Finally we decided to eliminate a couple of feedings, at 10 she just gets her pacifire as well as at 2. So she gets a bottle at 12 and 4. But the bottle at 12 is just water so she doesn't drink it for very long before taking her pacifire and going back to sleep.

We also DO NOT get her up for her feedings. One time we did and she woke up and was up the rest of the night. We give her the bottle in bed and let her fall asleep to it. Yea yea that's a no no but when's the last time your pediatrician was up with your baby all night? Most of the time she'll drop the bottle and replace her pacifire when she's ready to go back to sleep, so she's not sleeping with the bottle in her mouth.

This is what works for us for now. Sleeping through the night will most likely come this spring when she can be more active with walking and playing and be outside in the sunshine. Hang in there, good luck!

C.

if she's still having ear infections, go to an ENT and have them do a culture on it. They can figure out the exact medicine that will work that way.

I went through a something like that with my daughter when she was that age. I actually decided the only way I would ever get her to sleep through the night was if she no longer nursed at night time. AT this age babies don't need to eat during the night but a lot just do out of habit. I actually had a nurse tell me to give my daughter Benadryl to help her sleep and then I just let her cry it out when she woke up. And i know you said you tried that already but did you really try it? I'm not talking about 15minutes here. My daughter cried for about 3 to 4 hours for almost a week. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But after that she has slept through the night. She is now 2 years old and still sleeps great at night. It was really hard to let her cry it out like that but I would do it again if I had to because after that horrible week it was all over.

K.,
We need to talk gir. Ok, so you need really good vitamins, being a full time mommy your body is wearing down, vitality for life the best vitamins you will find ever, now for baby, I had this problem with my first born. You want to get rid of toxins first. These include, chlorine bleach products, ammonia based products, furniture polish like pledge, Johnson & Johnson baby products also have formaldahyde which causes infections too. I spent over $60 thousand dollars in medical for my son, I am a clean freak, and cleaned everday, I was poisoning my son, I never read labels before thought if I bought them at the store they must be ok, wrong, I found out the hard way. Don't let it be too late. gotgreennow.fourpointmoms.com

We went through something similar and after trying everything we could think of, our daughter's pediatrician casually said that she might be hungry during the night because we had sort of made her accustomed to the middle of the night feedings to get her back to sleep ... because nothing else worked. He was right. She was hungry. So we gradually started giving her less and less in the middle of the night. At the same time, we also eliminated one feeding. She was waking up at 11 pm, 2 am and 4 am. At 11 we let her try to get herself back to sleep without a feeding. Soon she was getting up twice a night ... then once ... so it was easier to keep track of the feedings. Now, she's been sleeping 10-12 hours straight for over a month.

Consider too, that it might be her teeth. Our daughter got her two top teeth in around 11 months and then the two adjacent to those top ones weren't far behind and came in about three weeks ago. If you think it might be her teeth, try a little Baby Motrin before bed and see if that helps.

Also, one last thing, we have run a white noise machine in our daughter's room since she was about 4 months old. I swear she has bat ears, would hear us and want to stop sleeping to play. The white noise machine really helps to drown out the noises of the house and has worked great for us.

I literally feel like we've tried everything so if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message. I'd be happy to share what I've been through. Our little girl was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and then — like you — around 4 or 5 months, we took a trip and it completely disrupted her routine and I felt like it took FOREVER to figure out how to help her sleep.

Give him Babies magic tea twice in the night in his feeds and you'll see a difference.

Sounds like you are trying to figure it out by trying different things. Does she sleep for a few hours and then wake up? When you do go in, what is she doing (assume crying)? If you do wind up getting her up, is she tired and just wanted you? Is she cranky or gassy (wonder if the formula is bugging her)? Does she want to play? Or did she just want you? How does she do with naps?

I tried to keep my kids up a bit later and then I would warm a blanket in the dryer and wrap them in it. Worked like a charm to get them to sleep. The other thing is run an air unit or white noise machine so every little noise doesn't wake her up. Keep the room very dark too (great for everyone's sleep). There is also a pad you can put in the crib that has technologies that can help her sleep better (magnetics and infrared). I got introduced to it for my insomnia and it has helped me and countless others too. My kids and pets sleep with the sleep system or pet pads as well. Numerous other benefits too. www.nikken.com/sleepcenter explains the technology. You can email if you want additional info or for ordering. I was a huge skeptic, but it changed my life.

Also, make sure if you use a baby monitor, it is on the other side of the room. Electromagnetic fields/radiation can disrupt sleep patterns too.

Finally, a visit to the doctor is in order too to make sure she does not have a chronic ear infection or anything that would make lying down or getting into a deep sleep possible.

Good luck.
S.

She just wants you. Work on her waking up less, get a white noise machine, make sure she is not teething (if she is give her tylenol before bed), and do NOT do anything besides pat her on the back and check her diaper and teeth when you go into her room (and say the same words over and over-ex."i love you, night night).

Keep going back after she has cried 2min, then 4, then 6 (use a digital clock --a big one). Eventually she will not bother waking you up for a causal wake up, you'll know she is either wet or teething if she cries longer. My daughter needed a 4 am diaper changing everynight for months, then she would go back to sleep. Also try using desitin on her bottom at night for comfort from the wet diapers and use pricey diapers at night.

Good luck she is old enough to go 8 hours without eating.

R.

This is so hard....I feel for you! My baby did not sleep through the night until he was 16 months... then when he was finally sleeping through the night, I had a 5 week old that has kept me up for 7 months. So here's one tired mom to another! I hope you get some good advice! After my baby gets over his cold, I am going to start to try and eliminate feedings just as someone else here said. Go from three to two to one. But it's hard when they are teething, etc. My first baby was a formula baby and this baby is a nursing baby. They are both about the same, so it's probably all my doing! :)

i have also had the same problem my 2 year old slept all night until he was about 13 months i tried letting him cry it out he would cry for hour so now i go in and rock with him for a couple minutes and reassure him and tell him it is time for bed and he goes right back to sleep i think you should just be consisent about bed time and it will get better. my first child we would just let him cry it out the first night he cried for a hour and every night it got a little less you need to find what is right for you and your child.

Hi K., Have you tried a nice warm bath before bed?? Also maybe a watered down Chamomile tea would help calm her. Also my sister in law gave me a great book called Good Night Sleep tight the sleep lady by Kim West. My sister in law claims it was her bible with two boys who would not sleep either.

Good luck,
B.