I feel like I post stuff on this web site everyday, but you guys are just so helpful! My 6 month old still sleeps in our room cause he's never really slept thru the night yet. But as of the last week, he's been waking up every 2 hours! It's wearing me out so much! So I asked our pediatrician if we could start rice cereal. She said yes (the baby's not really quite 6 mo yet). So we started the cereal and he almost seems to be worse now. Help! Anyone got any good ideas???
Thank you all for your awesome help! He's doing much better now after 2 nights of crying it out!!!! Also, switching to motrin instead of tylenol made a huge difference!!!
The cereal could be giving him gas which could be waking him in the night. I would suggest mixing the cereal with apple juice instead of formula and make it thinner. This is what I had to do with both of my boys and it worked like a charm something about the apple juice helps with their stomache. Good luck.
I would definitely keep him in his own room. My baby is 9 months and got her first cold yesterday. Last night was awful because she didn't sleep through the night and went to bed last night about 11:00 (8:30 is her normal bedtime). Anyway, how are you making the cereal? I was told to make the cereal with apple or pear juice rather than water or milk (breast or formula). My daughter liked the flavor of that much better than the bland taste it would have been otherwise. I made sure she was full.
Could the cereal be giving him gas? Mylicon works wonders for that. Make sure if you do give him Motrin, he should have a full stomach. A family friend just had a child die from an ulcerated stomach caused by giving him too much Motrin on an empty stomach. The Hylands teething tablets and baby Orajel work well too if he is teething.
Good luck.
Is he teething? If you suspect it, get some hylands teething tablets, baby oragel, and some infants motrin. This should really help him out alot.
First I would say that alot of babies go through this at 6 months. If it is teething I would try infant ibuprofen instead of tylenol. Ibuprofen does a better job at helping them sleep while tylenol can wake them up.
I would definantly move him out of your room, babies can wake up many times during the night and put themselves back to sleep with out you even knowing it! I would even turn the moniter off just leave the doors open so that you can only hear him if his is really crying. It will be hard at first b/c he is used to you being there everytime he wakes up! But babies have the ability to sleep through the night w/o eating anytime after 2 months! He is definantly old enough to sleep all the way through the night.
One of the best things you can teach your child is how to go to sleep by themselves no matter what time of the night it is. Babies need 10 hours at least of uninterupted sleep. They will be much happier in the daytime! I know it will be hard but I would try to let him cry it out. I would go through the archives of how to get your child to go sleep by themselves and how to cry it out. I have read some good advice that was said better than I would be able to. :) Your sleep is important too, to be the best mom you can be! Good luck.
Hi S.,
Just a few thoughts. My kids slept in our room too. Try the tylenol at bedtime if you think it is teething. Is he eating normally or resisting the bottle and food during the day? My youngest had trouble with ear aches. She would not get fever. Our clue was she would not eat during the day and not sleep well at night. Generally if your little one is sleeping with you he feels more secure. Rice cereal can be constipating. My oldest did not like rice cereal. Try another kind of cereal and mix with juice. Mylicon was a life saver in our house.
Just know you are not alone. Hope you find the answer you are looking for.
Rice cereal in the last bottle before bedtime really helped my baby sleep all night, and at that age when she woke up in 2 hours, if I could tell her diapers weren't needing changed, I gave her a pacifyer, patted her, and she went back to sleep. If they wake up that soon after ceral, I don't think they are actually hungry, just need somethingto soothe them.
Oh, gosh. I remember those days with my daughter! She was sleeping so nicely through the night, then all of sudden she started waking up again. Most likely it is because she is teething. I am surprised you haven't started her on baby food yet; that should help. This is what I did... I just was consistant. I knew that she could sleep through the night and it was not because she was hungry. I would give her baby tylenol for the teething before she went to bed and make sure her little tummy was full. If she woke up in the middle of the night, I would check on her but not get her out of the crib. If I needed to change her diaper, I did that in the crib as well. It drove my husband nuts because she would start crying in the middle of the night and he would turn to me and say, "maybe you should feed her." Now she had not had any food in the middle of the night for 3 months and now he wants me to start feeding her in the middle of the night again! The best advice that I can give is do not revert back to feeding her in the middle of the night or get her out of the crib to rock her it will just prolong her night wakings. Obviously, I don't think there is anything wrong with feeding her in the middle of the night; however, I spoke to a mother that was still having to wake up in the middle of the night to feed her baby at 9 months old! This is just something you could do if you want your nights back :) Just know that this is a phase and it will pass. She should start sleeping through the night again for you soon. Just know that it most likely will happen again at a later age (I can't remember now at what age; however, I will soon learn again b/c I have a 2 month old now). Good luck!
Both my kids started having sleep trouble at this age because of eating, crawling, growing, and teething all at once. I know how I feel after pushing my muscles while exercising; I can only imagine that they feel that way to them too. Add that to growing pains, teething pains, and adjusting to new foods and you've got a pretty achy little baby. After a few months and a few teeth both of mine started sleeping better again. (She whispered hoping her 8 month old won't hear her and start waking up again.)
On another point, I have no experience keeping my kids in my room. My first slept in his own room from night one. My second might have, but her big brother wouldn't hear of her sleeping anywhere but the crib in their room. All has gone well since. They've never really bothered each other.
I do have a friend who had trouble getting her son to sleep through the night. Her daughters all had by 6 months and had gone to their own rooms. He on the other hand was a year old and still waking up regularly at night. She said she finally got fed up and put him in his room. It worked like a charm. He slept through the night on the first time. Mom and Dad were the ones waking him up. Hey, anything is worth a try. Just try not to get him at every whimper, my kids "talked" in their sleep from an early age. I had to train my self not to get them if it wasn't a full cry.
