Going Backwards on Sleeping Through the Night

Hi A.. I went through the exact same thing with my son when he was about five months old as well. He is now 8 months and I put him down at 7:00 every night and he wakes up at 6:00 every morning. This is where it gets hard. At his age he as established a patern that you have helped him create. My advice to you is to create a knew night time routine. Give him a bath, feed him, read him a book ,sing him a song and then put him to bed. Or something similair to that. The earlier you put him down the better. Seven pm is a good time. Do the same routine step by step every night it's all about consistencey. Do you have a white noise machine? It also might be a good time to possibly loose the binky. I know this might soung hard but I finally had to do it as well. He relize on you to come in the room give him his binky so he can go back to sleep. The key is to get rid of his vices. So he is able to put himself to sleep without mommy! So my best advice is to put him down sleepy but not asleep. This way when he wakes in the night he can put himself back to sleep. I know how hard this can be. Just hang in there you can do it!

I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND !! I was just getting ready to ask for advise on the same thing until I read yours ! I have a 5 and a half month old son who for the last month has been getting up in the middle of the night again after sleeping from 10pm to 530am. and i put him down with 7 ounces as well. Last night he went to sleep at 9am and was up at midnight for an hour. i had to feed him as well. i was wondering if it had to do with hi smoving into his crib from the bassinet or his teething. He is not rolling over to his belly though. Just his side. Hopefully somone has a good suggestion on what to do.

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html

please see the following link above. even if you are not bf'ing it might give some insight into the developmental changes your baby is going through. also, it could be teething. i don't think CIO is the answer, but before you make a decision on that, just be sure to read arguments from both sides and make an informed decision.

my son stopped "sleeping through" at exactly four months. he had been doing so from 2-4 months which was great. but after readin the article at the link above, i understood why he stopped and relaxed. Good luck... hang in there... lots of babies don't sleep through the night and it's actually normal for them to have night wakings. I'd check out books by Elizabeth Pantley and Dr. Sears for more info.... best to you!!

Hi A.,
I remember asking for advice about this same issue! My son is now almost 10 months old, but he started doing the same thing around 6 months. I agree that your son may need more in his bottle before bed...8 oz sounds about right. It's amazing what an ounce or two can do. Do you put gas drops in his bottle? That might work before bed if he's squirming around because of gas. As soon as my baby boy was able to move around on his own, he started rolling all over the crib when sleeping and still does.
This may be too soon for your baby, but when we were trying to get ours to sleep through the night without eating (about 8 months), we would give him a bottle of water when he woke up at night instead of milk/formula. We knew he was waking up because of habit instead of being hungry because he would go back to sleep. And now, he hardly wakes up at night. Maybe your guy just needs a midnight cuddle to remind him that you're there. Good luck!

Hi A.,
These things happen just about to everyone!! Have you started using rice cereal to make his bottles a bit thicker-especially at night? With a full stomach he should sleep longer and better.. He also might be going through a bit of a growth spurt.. Even now my son, at 3, has changes due to those.. and it does effect their sleep pattern.. Or he might be teething.. If you notice a LOT of drool and the fussys and putting his hand or blanket in his mouth that would be a good indication!- I tried Orajel-it's in a small packet that looks like Q-tips! -they work good, or the natural teeting tablets- I forgot the name but any pharmacy should know what you're talking about if you ask.. Hope this helps!
M.

i agree with the gas thing...my 3-month-old does the same thing some nights, squirming around like crazy until i hear her let some gas out--then she goes right back to sleep. the other thing is that he could be going through a growth spurt, and just be hungrier than usual. and, finally, unfortunately for us parents, sometimes they just go through phases where their sleep patterns are different...and just when we think we're going to be getting enough sleep! ha.

No you should not let him cry it out. During the day thats one thing, yes he is still hungry, my daughter is 5 mos also, the same thing happens to us i give her a bottle and she is out again she barlly ever drink the hole thing. Also try to put him to sleep a lil later like say 9 oclock. I put my girl to bed at 9:30 she will wake up at 2-3 am then i give her the bottle, she will sleep for the rest of the night. Babys get hungry in the middle of the night. You give him a binki, those arnt so good, try not to let him get attatched to it, it really hurts there teeth. I dont know if you feed him rice cereal for diner if you dont, try it, belive me that get my girl full and ready for bed, but not to late about dinner time.
Hope i have helped.

Your son sounds like he might need a little more to eat before going to sleep. Try giving him 8 oz for his final feeding at night. If he's acting like he can't get comfy, it might be that he has gas cramps. Try hold him with his back against your belly, bringing his knees gently to his chest to help move the gas out. As far as the scooting around the crib, I don't know. I have to scooters at home that I could never figure out what to do with. They are 2 and 4 now and still toss around in their sleep! Best wishes to you and your son.

Hi A., has your son shown any signs of teething yet? My son was about the same age your baby when he started teething and it completely through his full night of sleep out of whack...It could also be that he isn't getting enough to eat before bed. My son would have the 8 oz bottle along with a little bit of the infant rice cereal in it. Did wonders for his sleeping habits. Well, good luck with getting your baby to sleep longer.

Your baby is hungry. He is probably going through a growth spurt. Sleep goes through different cycles, go with the flow. He could also be teething. Teething can be a mystery, fussing, crying can't sleep for weeks and then a tooth pops and everything is better. my advice is go with it.

i know 5 months sounds early for this, but could he be getting teeth? thats usually what makes them uncomfortable, and if it is the case there are topical gels you can put on his gums to help with the pain. its not uncommon for patterns to change, also, so it could just be a new phase of his sleep cycle. good luck!

Hi A., it sounds like your baby is just going through some changes. Is it possible to put him to bed a little bit later? Sometimes that helps. My daughter is 6mos and has been sleeping through the night until about 4mos,but she did go through some changes also. At first, she would go to sleep around 8 or 8:30 and sleep until 6am. Then she started waking up at 3:30 or 4am so I started putting her to sleep at 9 or 9:30 and now she doesn't wake up until 7 or 7:30. I also give her plenty of tummy time before bed so she can tire herself out. She had the same trouble of only rolling onto her tummy and would get really worked up cause she couldn't roll back and now she rolls all over the place. It seems that your baby is hungry when he wakes up, I would just feed him a bottle so he can go back to sleep. Though I have a hard time with letting my baby cry so if she fusses for more than 10min, I will pick her up and rock her to sleep. I know my advice was a little hodge-podge,but basically I would just make sure he is active so he gets tired and put him to bed later. Hope this helps!

All that moving around makes me think he has gas. Maybe try feeding him more right before bed and also giving him some gas medicine.