Not Sleeping Well at Night. - Fort Worth,TX

C.,

This may be something you may or may not be comfortable doing, but your son is old enough to cry it out a little. I'm reading a book called "Picking Your Battles" and it talks about how good it is for your baby if you do NOT go in there and pick him up every time he cries. It will ultimately help him self-soothe and go back to sleep on his own. It will help him become more confident in himself and while it may be difficult at times... it's the best thing for both of you. Obviously, you want to check on him to make sure that nothing else is wrong, but if you say that he's fed and changed (and there are no tags poking or scratching him)... he should be just fine to go back to sleep on his own.

Hope that's helpful! Good luck!
K.

That's what they're supposed to do. My 4 month old wakes every 3 - 4 hours because he needs to eat. When his teething bothers him more, it's more like every 2 - 3 hours. He wakes because he needs you. But as you know, it won't last forever Momma :)

For the first 2 months we had similar issues,every 2 hrs like clock work (it was very exhausting for me because she had acid reflux and screamed all day when she was awake until we learned how to manage it better) what worked for us was:

cluster feedings at 6pm, 7 pm, then change her put her nightie on, swaddle her really good, and 8pm feeding in her bedroom in the rocker with only her twilight turtle on, then rock her to sleep. she slept 6-7 hrs straight. It was like a dream come true! I don't change her diaper until I get her up for the day... we found that it was disturbing her to much and made it much harder for her to settle back into sleep when she did wake up for feedings.

Now she doesn't need the swaddling any more and can fall asleep on her own... she will be 5 months next week... she still sleeps 5-7 hrs and when she wakes up and isn't hungry she plays with her Ocean wonders Aquarium quietly... it is wonderful.

About my daughter: At 4 months she was 26" long and 15 lbs 6 oz. And wearing 6 to 9 months in clothing. She is 8 months, 22 lbs, and 29". She is not a fat baby very lean in fact she is just very LONG. She wears 12 - 24 months in clothing.

My little one did the same thing. At 4 months I was feeding her 4 oz at 10 pm, 12 am, 2 am, 4 am & 6 am, etc. Every 2 - 3 hours. I was a stay at home mom so I could catch up on my sleep during her nap times. She is a very long baby and I figured she just needed to eat that often. At her 6 month check up she was still eating every 3 hours and her doctor was concerened and said she should be sleeping through the night now and just to let her cry. Well...as a mom I just couldnt do that because she was hungry at those times. I never picked her up I would just give her a bottle and she would go back to sleep. At that time she was on 5 oz.

She started day care at 6 1/2 months old and that did make a difference! She was tired earlier and slept longer. She on her own from the time she was 4 months to now at 8 months she would constantly change her schedule. She would go to bed earlier and would cut a feeding out on her own with nothing to do with me or what I did.

Now at 8 months she eats 6 oz and when she comes home from school at 5 pm is feed her dinner (stage 2 food with 2 tbs of cereal) then her bath, she then gets to play until she is tired which is around 5:30 to 6:00 and then she is placed in bed with her blankie and fed her bottle. I wake her up at 11 pm change her diaper and feed her a bottle and she is asleep until I wake her up at 6 am. I learned to feed her more before bed (8 oz) which made her sleep longer.

The one thing I did learn is I would let her cry for a few min to let her get tired out on her own before feeding a bottle so when I did feed her she would fall asleep. It also turned out that she liked to put her blankie over her head and this gave her a comfort.

Babies schedules change all the time once you think you have a routine they will change it on you. Every baby is different what works for one baby isnt going to work on every baby. They are individuals with individual needs.

There is hope one day she will become more scheduled on her own I assure you. It will just take time and patients!!!! Lots and Lots of patients! I am married and my husband works nights and I did this all on my own 24/7...so I feel your pain!

Good Luck!!!!!

I understand! My 6 month old is finally sleeping well at night but it took her this long. I have an almost 3 year old so I understand how hard it is to be up all night then have to face the day with 2 active kids.

We tried a modified Cry It Out where we would go in every 5 minutes, then 10, then 15, etc. and soothed her but didn't pick her up. It took a day or two and she eliminated some of the night wakings. Not all at first, but a few nights ago she started sleeping 7-9 hour stretches. Of course now she is sick with a cold and we're back to square one, but I think we'll be able to get back on track.

I wish I had better advice but I read book after book and tried all the techniques. The CIO was the only thing that worked (and it wasn't even true CIO).

Good luck!