How Can L Get My 5 Month Old to Sleep Through the Night?

You can't. I know you don't want to hear that. There are stages these babies go through and honestly just as soon as you think you have found a "normal" routine it will change. Not until she is a bout 12 to 12 1/2 months old will you finally find something normalish. GOOD LUCK!!!!

One of mine has sensory issues and did not sleep through the night until age 4 1/2. Even with intervention, etc...

My next one did not sleep through the pm until she was one (ish). Even with some solids. If we took a long walk outside around 7pm in warmer weather/fresh air, it would help a bit, but, not always. Crying it out worked only once...

I wish I could be of more help.

I want to cry. I truly want to cry. Neither of my kids slept through the night before they were 18 months old, and even then it was because they were allowed to come into our bed if they woke in the middle of the night.

Almost every night for 5 straight years I did not get to sleep through the night without having a child wake me at least one time.

Clearly there do exists babies who do sleep through the night at 6 weeks, but I have yet to meet one of them. This is not the norm. What your baby is doing now really is the norm.

Feed her. She is 5 months old (only 5 months old). If she is waking, feed her. You are not going to set a bad habit. If babies that age were truly capable of sleeping habits, they would never change and yours would still be sleeping through the night.

Feed her. She's clearly hungry. Feed her, go back to sleep and know that even though you have not previously had to feed your babies in the middle of night, this is totally normal and she will grow out of it.

She is 5 months old.

You got extremely lucky that she (and your others) was sleeping so well when she was younger.

Babies typically hit growth spurts around every 3 months... So, at 5 months, I would hazard a guess that she is gearing up for one. Or maybe teething. Or she is restless from all the changes her body is going through.

Twice a night really isn't that bad for 5 months. Give her a bottle, trying to stay as quiet and calm as possible, then put her back to sleep. Eventually, her body will adjust to changes and she will start sleeping again.

I really don't mean to sound nasty but be grateful your first four slept so early. I only have one who did not sleep through the night until 19 months. I tried! You admit your infant falls back to sleep after being fed so clearly the baby is just hungry. Just roll with it. Most likely you will get lucky again with an early sleeper once the baby is old enough to hold on through the night with a full belly. Seriously, you have been very lucky so far. Your baby is still so young. Sleep deprivation is rough but will pass . Enjoy your little one.

I nursed my baby twice a night until she was 12 months old (midnight and 5:00). Then she slept through the night. You've been extremely lucky up until now. Waking up twice a night is normal. She'll grow out of the need to eat at night when she's ready.

Hardly any babies really sleep through the night at 6 weeks. If you had 4 that did that, you're extremely lucky. 6 months is much more common. The binky is fine until it falls out of their mouths - so it doesn't work most of the time.

If she's eating a lot and not just wanting to cuddle, she's hungry. Could be a growth spurt, could be some other adjustment. If she just wakes up and can't self-soothe herself back to sleep and expects you to do all the calming/snuggling, that's another issue. You can give her some solids, or you can look into something like Ferber or Cry It Out depending on your philosophy. If you don't feed them, they cry back to sleep (it's hell for about 4 days but if you can stand it and don't think it's cruel, it works), and then they eat more during the day. Whatever you choose, think it through and then stick with it. If you change it up every couple of days, they don't get any message you're trying to convey.

Of course, by the time you get it figured out, she could be through this phase and on to the next one!

But you definitely need some rest, and she'll soon be at the age where she needs it too. Good luck while you get there!

Wow. Count your blessings! I only have two - the first one didn't sleep through the night (ever!) until 4 years old, and the current 4-year old still wakes up at least once every night. We've tried *everything* except for cry-it-out (no thanks). Yours is probably having growth spurt, teething, and/or maybe is aware that her diaper is wet, now that she's getting older? Good luck and hang in there. (I truly don't mean to tease, and I am sorry you're so exhausted. I'm still jealous, lol.)
=)

Wow I agree you got lucky with your first four! You're still lucky she goes right back to sleep after her feeding. My first three woke up regularly till they were at least a year old. I bet she'll resolve this on her own as she gets more active and starts eating food(so she gets tired and full during the day). In the mean time know this won't last forever, hang in there!

She is more then likely just having a growth spurt. When she does wake give her a few minutes to see if she will settle on her own and try to comfort he without food when you can.

This is a typical growth-spurt age where babies often wake up at night and need to eat. Just roll with it. Feeding her is the right thing to do. You should not try to change that at the moment.

Have you started any solids yet? Right around that time, my 1st, who had been sleeping through the night, stopped. He started sleeping through again when I figured out that a bowl of oatmeal baby cereal, made with breastmilk, was a good bedtime snack. I think he was just hungry.

I know the common wisdom today is to wait until 6 months to start solids, but your baby girl is pretty close...

Actually sleeping through the night never happened with any kids I knew. I thought it was a myth...lol.

I think your little one is about to grow. She's hungry and feeding her is the only way to accommodate her.

Feeding her solids will make her more hungry since they don't have any nutritional value. They are flavored goo that is only used to teach a baby to chew and swallow. I really hate baby food and other stuff being given to a baby when they really really need formula or breast milk. They are full of every nutrient that baby needs.

Solids take up room in the tummy and make the baby feel full but their body will be starving for nutrition so they want more and more and more. Then they're fat little baby's and they're starving all the time. SO please give her more formula or breastmilk, she needs the nutrients very much.

Every baby is different. My son had sensory issues and didn't sleep through the night till he was 6 years old. We got a weighted blanket and boom- sleep.

I have a friend with 4 kids and each one had different sleep patterns.

I could never do the cry it out, so I'm no help there. She may just have different sleep patterns than the rest of your kids.

I wish I could help. My kids too slept through by 6 weeks. My last one was doing 11.5 hours at 10 weeks. But around the 5 or 6 month mark, she had a growth spurt, we went away, and all hell broke out. She started waking twice a night!

What I usually do is feed but cut down on the amount. I nurse, so I reduce the time I nurse by a minute every few nights.

I don't understand why people think it's unreasonable for a 5 month old to sleep through the night. They are able to sleep though the night, without eating starting about 6-8 weeks.
Like yours, My 6 have all slept through the night (from 10-6 at least) by the time they were 6 weeks old.
A couple of them did what you are describing and what worked for me was this... go ahead and feed her but only until she falls asleep. Then the next night, try to shorten that time by a little. You might need to switch the breast/bottle for a pacifier really fast. Keep shortening it each night and she shouldn't be waking up anymore at all within a week or so!
I hope this helps! It's not fair when they DO sleep for you, then start waking up again! Lol

Feed her. She needs to eat. It is totally normal for babies to eat until 9-12 months of age if they are sleeping. No, 5 oz of formula around 9-10 won't get her through the night. I would expect her to be up 4 hours later - or 2am. And 5 months is a growth spurt - she needs to eat more often to get enough calories for her growth spurt.

I don't know about your other children but mine didn't sleep through until past 12 months - but they were nursed. If your other children sleep, then you should go to sleep after the 10pm feeding, sleep 4 hours until she wakes up, feed and CHANGE her, then put her back down and sleep from 2:30ish until you have to get up - even if it is 6, that is 7.5 hours of sleep. More than I get most nights - be grateful!

Try feeding her solids before bed time , lighter yet tummy filling food. I've noticed most babies change their sleeping habits every 3 months till they are 1...
Hopefully she will settle..
All the best !

Both of mine slept "thru the night" (6 hours at a stretch, or more) by 3 months, so I understand where you are coming from. My kids are older, and perhaps coincidentally (?) the old best practice was to begin solid foods around 4 months. Both my kids were eating a small serving of cereal twice a day (or maybe 3 times--at "regular" family meal times) by 5 months. It may be that she needs a little more than what she is getting.
Check with your pediatrician first, and see if it's ok to offer some solids during the day. It might be what she needs.
ETA: btw, I don't mean sneak it into a bottle. I mean feed her with a spoon. :)

Is it possible she's ready for some cereal for dinner, in addition to her bottle? One of my kids *needed* solids at this age. Bottle/breast was NOT enough for her. When she began eating solids, she began sleeping a lot better at night.

The other thing I'm thinking is that she went through a growth spurt at 4.5 months, and you fed her (as you should have), but now she's trained to eat at that hour, therefore she's hungry at that hour. I think you could gently re-train her by cutting down on how much she eats during these feedings over the course of a few days. Finally, just give her a bottle of water. She will decide that sleeping is better than waking up for water. ;) Of course, in order for this to work, she will have to eat quite a bit before she goes down for the night, but I imagine you're already doing that. The other thing I'd add is that I would put her down for the night around 6pm; my girls slept very well when I put them down at that hour, even though it sounds absurdly early. They slept until 6am, so it didn't make them wake up too early. Good luck!

babies that are hungry wake up..

try to get more calories in during the daytime.. start solids..

if you go to bed at 11 give her a twilight feed.. scoop her out of the crib and feed her while she is sleeping..

Updated

babies that are hungry wake up..

try to get more calories in during the daytime.. start solids..

if you go to bed at 11 give her a twilight feed.. scoop her out of the crib and feed her while she is sleeping..