How to Get My 5 Month Old to Sleep Thru the Night?

Hi Cari!

Congrats on the lil one! I second the rice cereal idea! I started using Rice cereal at 6 wks and I am proud to say that it was the trick! My lil boy slepted in his crib but the doctor told us to out rice cereal in his bottle. I am not sure what his last bottle is but mine was 8oz at that age and I out 2 scoops of rice cereal! It was more filling and he slept right through the night! Good luck I know its tough at first but so worth it!

try reducing the amt of formula each night. if he's taking a 6 ounce bottle, go down to 4 ounces for 2-3 nights, then to 2 ounces for a few nights. then if he's still waking up, try 2 or so ounces of water. He probably will realize its not worth his time to get up anymore. We did this with my son around that exact age and it worked. the transition took about 1 week.

Hello Cari,

I remember these days. Do you put the cereal in his milk in the bottle? If not, I would try it. It worked well for me. Also, the time you put him down to bed at night may also make a difference. I would try to keep him up a little longer if you put him down early.

Bless you, I know you must be tired with all that you are doing. Believe it or not, sleeping for 5 hours is technically considered sleeping through the night. I think my daughter was 9 months before she slept more than 6 hours. My best suggestion is that you go ahead and crash early--even if it means things are left undone at home. I know this may be hard, but this time will pass, your baby will start sleeping more, and you will be able to catch up. With everything you are doing, life is going to be tiring for a couple of years. Best of luck to you! God Bless!

Cari,
You have had some good responses, thought I would add my 2 cents. First off, I always laugh at parents who believe the child should direct their sleeping habits and the parent is just merely an observer. As a parent, it is not only advised, but our job to direct and steer the child torwards good sleeping habits.
I agree with the mom who advised adjusting the baby's formula. I, however, didn't decrease the amount of formula, I started adding water to it to water it down. I still heated it, just like before, but I gradually added water to thin it out. After about 4-5 days, it was basically all water and the baby stopped waking up, why bother.
Lastly, watch out with loading the baby down with tons of food before they go to sleep. I had 2 kids who woke up more often with more food. You know how when you go to bed just stuffed and then wake up early starving, this would happen to my kids. Increase that last feeding a little bit, not too much. Good luck, be consistent and believe it will happen and soon.

I think its really quite normal for a baby to wake at 5 months, for crying out loud my dd is 22 month and just recently got to the point where she will sleep through the night......

But you might try some lavender in his room, or a good relaxing massage before bed. I would also get him to start taking naps. At 5 months he should be getting 2 naps a day, and atleast 3 hours total of sleep during them. Studies show that well rested babies sleep better at night.

I had a very similar situation except I let it go on much longer. My 11 month old was not sleeping through the night, he would wake up at 12am, 3am, and 5am... I knew he wasn't hungry it had just become habit. He wasn't napping during the day either. I was so confused since my two yr old has always been a great night time sleeper and napper. My advice is to read the book, Solve your child's sleep problems, by Dr. Richard Ferber. It took my 11 month old 2 or 3 days to start sleeping through the night. It's now been two weeks and my child now sleeps through the night and also take 2-3 hours naps.