Growth Spurt/ Sleeping Advice

J.,
I wish I had some great advice for you about getting your baby to sleep more at night. I tried to be as hands-off as I could during the night so my little one wouldn't see me as a crutch or think of the middle of the night as snack or play time. It was hard, but I promise you things will get better as she gets older.
As for Daylight Savings, I hate the evil person who came up with this horrible idea. My daughter is 17 months old, so we've been through it twice now. It totally messes her up. I've been trying for the past few days to push her bedtime forward little by little so that when the clocks change she's back to where I want her to be, but it's pretty difficult and I'm bracing myself for some sleepless nights until she adjusts. Just go slow with it, and change bed and morning wake up times in 10 minute increments each night until the schedule rights itself. Easier said than done. Good luck!

Good Morning J..

My name is A.. I am too a first time mom but of a Baby Girl. I am curious to know if you started putting some cereal in your sons bottle. There might be a possiblity that he is still hungary and the formula is not keeping him satisfied.
I have been researching myself about when to start to feed your baby 1st foods. There really isn't any good answer. On the Gerber website, it says to start feeding Supported Sitters. I believe that there is a test that you can take to see if your son is ready for the next level. However, it trial and error.
I have been putting at least a tablespoon of Rice (now Oatmeal) in my daughters formula at bedtime. I have also started putting it in her bottle in the morning or I have been trying to spoon feed her. Every child is different. I hope this helps a little bit.
Have you tried contacting your baby's dr? Maybe they can give you some suggestions. Good luck to you. About the time change? I can't help you there. If you hear of anything, please let me know. Take care!!!

J.,

Sleeping through the night is such a tricky thing. I do know that my kids both were good sleepers in the beginning, but around three months "woke up" again and would do this a couple of times a night. My daughter didn't sleep solidly through the night until she was almost 18 months. I recommend a schedule like others have suggested ... that does help.

As for the time change ... it never seems to affect my kids. Their sleep patterns seem to change naturally with the sun rises and sets anyway. I stick to my same schedule for naps and bedtimes and I've never even noticed the smallest of changes.

Good Luck!

J.

Sleeping thru the night is a mystery that most of us parents had to go thru and prayed for an answer. Sleep depreviation is big with parenthood so good luck. As for the clocks, the baby doesn't know or understand that so if you usually put him down at 8pm you will change it to 7pm and you'll probably have to get use to getting up an hour earlier. Parenthood is never fully prepared for but always the thrill of a lifetime. I wouldn't have changed those years for anything.

This isn't probably what you want to hear but....you need to start with a fresh approach to sleep issues now that your baby is 3 months old. Most babies change right around 3-4 months in their sleep habits. A lot of babies that have had little to no sleep start to sleep more and others start to wake more.

I advise buying a book on sleep physiology and read up. Now is the time to start establishing the baby's schedule and sleep routines. At this age two naps and an early bedtime is what you should be shooting for. It could look something like this: up and fed by 7 - 8am, some awake time, nap for a couple hours, then feeding, play and nap from 2 - 4. Bedtime around 7:00. Figure out what works best for your family, you do not need to be a slave to the baby's haphazard sleeping.

Try to put the baby down in the same place and in the same way. Put together a bedtime routine. I liked rocking and feeding with a swaddled baby to the sounds of soothing lullaby and white noise at sleep time. I believe wholeheartedly in the transitional object, special blanket, pacifer whatever. Don't make bedtime too exciting or interactive at this age.

remember: the more they sleep the more they sleep!!

Good luck and enjoy these special times...they go by faster than you think possible.

I wish I had some advice. The only thing I can say is this: no matter what, if your baby doesn't go back to sleeping through the night, it has NOTHING to do with what you did or did not do! The only thing I am sure about is that there is no such thing as a sleep expert. Every baby is different and most babies just do not sleep through the night. In fact, if you look at the stats, the majority of babies continue to wake up until they are 5. In fact, my daughter won't "sleep through the night" no matter what I do --put her down totally awake, nurse her down, play with her till she tired, etc. She wakes up. She also just gets really clingy when I let her cry. In fact, we tried the CIO thing and all it did was destroy her naps. (I will admit we stopped after a few nights because I'm not comfortable ignoring her cries for nights on end until she just gives ups.)

My daughter was like yours, only she slept through at 5 weeks. Then we hit the 4 month sleep regression (12 weeks), and since then, a good night for me is only getting woken twice (i have had a few nights of only getting up once, but more typical is 3).

If you haven't checked out askmoxie, do so and read all about the Wonder Weeks and sleep regressions.

One thing one mother said there that really struck me as being good advice is this: sleeping through the night is a milestone and they will do it when they are ready.

Good luck, hoping you have a sleeper!

By chance, did you go back to work recently? My son was an amazing sleeper - until he didn't see me during the day anymore. Two months later, it's a bit better but still not consistent. After some research, I found it's fairly common particularly with breastfed babies - they wake up at night to get the time with mom they are missing during the day. I also found information about something called "four month sleep regression" (I went back at four months) which definitely applied to us.

I've heard mixed information about what you should do. Our ped said that if they wake up hungry (which is usually the case), you have to feed them until 9 months. There's one approach that says you reduce what you will do for them a little bit each day so it's less "worthwhile" for them to make up. Others say only offer water at night.

Honestly, I haven't had the heart for tough love so I've been waiting it out. You have to choose what's best for you.

Hi J.,

It's possible it's not a growth spurt but a change in sleeping patterns. Our daughter went through a similar thing at that age. I would suggest an earlier bedtime (maybe even as early as 7 PM). That didn't cure my daughter's sleep problems, but it definitely helped her and us get more sleep!

Best of luck,
R.

I agree with some of your responders and make sure you stick to a schedule. If you have to feed him because of a growth spurt in the middle of the night do so as he probably needs the additional calories. However, if he's taking in enough calories through the course of the day, be careful to not get into a habit of going in to comfort him in the middle of the night as it will be a hard habit to break! ;-) My only other thought is, if he's going through a growth spurt, is he waking up from his naps earlier than usual? If so and you are a scheduler like I am, feed him and adjust the feeding/play/naptime based on when you just fed him. My daughter just went through this and after a couple of days, she's back on track.

He may be teething. What ever you do don't pick him up. Just go in his room reassure him you are there and rub his back until he calms down then leave. You may have to do this a few times the first few nights but he will learn this is sleep time and you are not going to pick him up. I would try to avoid too much eye contact and i never talked i just laid them back down said it's night night time and rubbed their backs. I wouldn't worry too much about the time change. It won't affect him. In the spring when the sun is coming up earlier they tend to wake up earlier (not necessarily because of time change), but again you and he will just adjust when the time comes. During the first five years your children's sleeping times and nap times change frequently for many reasons. Accepting this as just what mom's have to deal with will make it an easier adjustment. Once they start kindergarten (or preschool) they really get on a schedule that stays consistent.