Does Your Baby Sleep at Night?

Updated on November 18, 2009
L.S. asks from Duluth, GA
10 answers

Just wondering what others are experiencing as far as their baby's night time sleep/feeding schedule. My daughter is 5 months old. For the most part, she was sleeping for 6-8 hours at a time by the time she was 10 weeks old. However, for the past month or so she wakes up and fusses every few hours. By 7:30 p.m. she's spent so we do our bedtime routine (bath, warm jammies, sit in the rocker and nurse her) and she goes right to sleep. I usually pick her up and nurse her again before I go to bed around 10 p.m. (she eats but doesn't fully wake up). For the past several weeks, she has been waking up by 1:30 a.m. so I nurse her. More times than not, she wakes up crying an hour or so later. I don't want to get in the habit of feeding her every time she wakes up but I do end up picking her up and rocking her a bit. By 5 a.m., she's up again and ready to eat. I feel like I'm up and down constantly at night. I seem to recall my son was going at least 5-6 hours at night between feedings by the time he was 5 months old. My daughter is tiny - only in the 5th percentile - so I want her to eat all she needs. I guess it's harder b/c she was such a good sleeper in the beginning. What has your experience been?

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G.M.

answers from Atlanta on

start feeding her breakfast and dinner with either rice or oatmeal cereal, or both. she probably is hungry! at 5 months she needs to eat, especially since she is at the bottom of the chart for weight. Also increase the amount of times you breastfeed her in the day...NOT THE NIGHT! You will cause her to get used to waking up at night to feed, then you'll be sleepless for a long time. Feed her in the DAY.

also buy this program...sleep sense program by Dana Obleman. It changed my families life in a matter of days!! It took over a month for my son to completely do what she says easily, but seriously within days we were all functioning better and sleeping! And he wasn't waking up to feed at night. Well worth the 50 or 60 bucks we paid. (can't remember now)

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C.M.

answers from St. Louis on

My son will be three months old next week. His schedule is roughly as follows:

Bedtime 7-8 pm. He'll usually sleep until 12 or 1. Then he'll wake up 1-3 times between 12 and 630 and I'll feed him.

Then at daycare, he's usually awake four hours and asleep four hours (off and on) and eats anywhere from every 2-4 hours.

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E.H.

answers from Atlanta on

Have you started solids yet? When my daughter was five months old, we were in the same position. Then, I slowly started her on solids, like on jar per day and it helped to keep her pacified. My pediatrician has always explained that a baby's food intake it cumulative in a 24 hour period, so they have to eat enough from beginning to end to sleep well, not just stay pacified from one feeding to the next. To be honest, the one jar is all I changed for a couple weeks until she required more and she has been fine and sleeping since. Good luck!

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S.H.

answers from Hartford on

My 4 month old son has been a good sleeper from the start, like your daughter, but the uninterrupted length of his sleep can be erratic. He has been known to sleep 9 1/2 hours straight or to wake up one, two, three times in the night. I feed him every time he wakes up because night-feeding is really helpful in maintaining a good milk supply (at least in my case). I've been particularly diligent in feeding him at night after a drop in my milk supply due to his sleeping through the night. He has put on a good amount of weight as a result - most likely because women produce more milk at night. Her night feeding sounds like a blessing in disguise and as long as you make sure that she is not waking up due to gas from not being burped, it couldn't hurt to feed her.

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M.G.

answers from Athens on

Hello L., I have a 5 month old baby girl. I am exclusively breastfeeding her. She still wakes up about 2-3 times at night. She goes to bed around 9pm, then eats around 11pm-12am, then eats again around 3am or 4am, then again around 7am, and is up for the day between 8am and 9am. There's some nights when she'll sleep for 5 hours sraight, but doesn't happen very often. I always feed her when she wakes up and she eats, so I know she needs the nourishment. I suggest just feed her when she wakes up, she probably needs it, and know that it won't be like this forever!

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A.F.

answers from St. Cloud on

Hi L.! I just want to encourage you that you are doing the right thing and to let you know that you are not alone. My daughter woke 8 to 12 times per night for a YEAR!!! It was terrible! We did everything we could to help her sleep longer, literally!!! If she woke 4 times we celebrated! I still remember the night she slept through the night. I got up several times to check on her! go figure!

Your daughter may be going through a growth spurt and she probably needs to eat a little more often in the night. Could she possibly have an ear infection? I have no clue what it could be, I am just throwing out ideas! :) My son was a terrible sleeper when he was born. We took him to the Chiropractor and he slept like an angel from that day on!

I wish I could offer more advice, but know that you are not alone! I hope and pray you all get some sleep soon! I know how miserable it is!

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B.

answers from Augusta on

sounds like she may be in a growth spurt. I'd just feed her when she wakes up and ride it out.

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M.C.

answers from Savannah on

Well, a four month sleep regression is normal unfortunately. My daughter could sleep 6 hours when she was three months and then bam, up every two to three hours. Feeding her solids has not changed a thing. I'm always amazed at breastfed babies who sleep nine and ten hours at night because I don't seem to produce those children. My first woke up even more often and didn't sleep completely through the night until he was 2 1/2 years:-(

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C.C.

answers from Savannah on

Hi L.. My daughter is 4.5 months old and we've just been going through this same thing. Luckily, since we've changed some things, she's slept from 8 to 4 for the past 3 nights. YAY!!! I feel like a new woman...not sure what to do with all this energy!

I was reading that babies around this age need to know the difference between day and night so they can get in the habit of sleeping through the night. The best way (and it's worked for us) is to go back to feeding every three hours during the day until your baby is sleeping through the night. AND, we've done the eat/play/sleep pattern throughout the day consistently. I'm sure I'll get a lot of flack for this, but I read Babywise and put some of its principles to work. You have to use some common sense, and decide what is best for you and your baby. Anyway, I feel your pain. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

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J.S.

answers from Atlanta on

HI L.,
My children both had vaccine reactions at their 2 month shots which caused slight digestive disorders (which grew worse becuause I failed to recognize), thus waking every 1.5-2 hours until I finally figured it out and treated with enzymes, proibotics, eliminated milk (in your case, from your diet). You may be experiencing the same thing. I would delay or vaccinate very slowly while you try to treat yourself with good proibotics and food enzymes (I like Zyme Prime and AFP Peptizide). You may see a difference after only two weeks of being entirely off milk products.
Good luck, Happy sleeping,
J.

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