Seeking Advice for Sleeping Through the Night

Have you tried putting cereal in his bottle?
Chanthini J., Cheektowaga, NY 14225

Hi! My daughter was born full term and she did not start sleeping through the night until around 6 months. I think that it is even great that your preemie sleeps for 4 hours at a stretch. Don't worry! He will start sleeping for longer periods during the night when his body is ready for that. Until then, hang in there and let your husband help out, if he isn't already. Also, does your son like the swing? Girl, I used to put my daughter in her swing, cover her up really well so I knew she was warm, put the swing next to my bed and get in my bed and sleep. Sometimes she would stay in the swing till her next feeding and even sleep longer than if she had been in her crib. Try it and don't worry. It's safe and you may be able to get some much needed rest. At this stage, you have to do whatever works. Good luck.

In my opinion you are lucky to be getting 4 straight hours. My son didn't do that until 4 months. He's 14 mos. now and still wakes up once a night.
Good luck with going back to work. Things will work out for you!

Hello L.,

Congratulations on your new bundle. My little guy (Marco) was also born early, 4 weeks. My situation was different, I went into preterm labor at 32 wks and was given medication to stop my contractions until 36 wks. Anyway, regarding sleeping, we were in the same situation until about 2 wks ago. Marco will be 4 months next Friday and he just started sleeping past 3 hours. Prior to that, he too was up every 3 hours eating and I was giving him some cereal too, which didn’t help either. He also co-slept with me until two weeks ago. My husband works nights, so this worked out well for us. I was right there to feed him. Now I have him in his crib and he sleeps on an average 8 to 9 hrs per night. He usually falls asleep anywhere from 7 to 8 pm and gets up around 4 or so for a feeding. What worked for us when I went back to work is that we would both go to bed around 9 pm (co-sleeping). He would wake up around 12 and I would pat his back and rock him a little until he fell back asleep. Then he would wake up 3 hours later and that’s when I would feed him. When he was born the Dr. told me that I needed to get him up since he was under weight when we brought him home. I didn’t have to worry about getting him up, he did that by himself. I think that put him in a routine, so when he reached 11 lbs, I tried to have him skip the middle of the night feeding and just feed him closer to morning. That seemed to work. Mind you, at times he still does wake up around the middle of the night, but he is now able to put himself back to sleep. Sleep is over powering hunger now. My only advice, which is not great, but hang in there, it will get better and eventually your little man will sort himself out with sleeping.

K.

not that this is helpful in terms of helping him sleep longer, but sid is ten months old and still sleeps only 2-4 hours at a time...some babies are heavier sleepers, some are more hungry than others...there isn't a concrete time table for sleeping thru the nite, as much as we all wish there were! good luck to you!

Hello L.,
I too had a preemie. She was born at 31 weeks. I also had an emergency C section. She spent 2 months in the NICU. She was born May 2, 2006. Her name is Olivia.
Olivia is now just over 4 months old and still does not sleep thru the night.As I am writing this it is almost 1 am. I just fed her last feeding. I started to give her single grain oatmeal with her bottle(I do not breastfeed). She will sleep 5-6 hours, but that is the most she will sleep at a time.
I feed her cereal twice a day in the morning and at 12-12:30 at night.
I do not know if your doctor will recommend this or not. Mine allowed me to start feeding her rice at first, then we switched to oatmeal when I brought her home. The rice cereal can cause constipation, which is why we switched to oatmeal. She is just now getting to have some pears and applesauce in her cereal.
I this helped me get a little more sleep. Also I feed her last feeding with only a night light. After I burp her she is out until morning.
I would check with your Anthony's doctor and see what they recommend.
Hope this helps
A. M

I feel your pain! I went back to work at 9 weeks and at a about week seven I was freaking out. Miraculously she started sleeping through at 8 weeks, but the night before it was up 2 times and from then on 10hrs plus.

Here is some advice:

1. Baby must be in a separate room with door open so you can get up when they are crying but not just whimpering or cooing. (we found everyone slept better when we didn't sense the other one was right there. so do away with the bassinet.)

2. i assume you are bottle feeding, i realized early on that working moms cannot breastfeed and have a semblance of sanity. My pediatrician said what's best for you is best for baby.

3. Get a really good thermos and fill it with piping hot water at night. when baby wakes you can very quickly make up a bottle. If you can minimize the time they are actually up they will eat less and go back to sleep more easily. I think this leads to dropping those night time feedings.

4. Rotate with hubby so you each get atleast a 6 hr strtech

5. Remain calm. before you blink your baby will be crawling around and into everything and that becomes the new challenge. Everyone understands how hard it is the first few months and at you job they know this is only a short period of sleepy mom.

Good luck!

Hi L.,
It sounds like you are doing a great job. 2 months is way too early to expect anything more then sleeping more then 4 hours at night, especially when you remember that he was 7 weeks early. You have to take that into consideration when looking for milestones. Babies should not be expected to sleep through the night until 6 months.....so hang in there. The sleep comes back, I promise. Be careful about sneaking cereal into his bottle. That might trick him into taking more calories that he needs and doesn't actually help babies sleep longer. Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic studied this very thing and found that this had absolutely no effect on how babies sleep. Sleep comes differently for each baby and adding the extra calories may upset the self-regulation babies are born with and lead to life-long weight problems. Good luck and hang in there.

L.
I know how anxious you must feel to get your little guy to sleep through the night. My son was born the day after his due date and he didn't sleep more than 4-6 hours until he was about 8 weeks also. I remember my pediatrician telling me that most babies start sleeping through the night at around 12 pounds (& he was right!) Keep doing what you're doing (increasing bottle when he needs it, bedtime routine, etc) & he'll come around. I know that if I let my son sleep for more than 2 hours each nap, he slept terrible at night.

Hope this helps!

I understand what you are going through...it's really hard going back to work when the baby isn't yet sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, you can't force it. He'll sleep longer when he's ready. My son was 5 1/2 weeks premature & it took him until about 5-6 months before he was really sleeping through the night. My advice is to get as much help as you can. Have your husband do the last feeding of the night and you go to bed earlier. Maybe you can get 6 hours of sleep at a time. Good luck and be patient...it will happen.

L., not every child sleeps through the night. The longer I have been a parent and talked with others, the more I realize that this is an unrealistic expectation.

He may be going through a growth spurt. Usually, they eat more at that time. Some kids just need more food. He is still very young. Being premature, he has a lot of catching up to do. I always advocate for following what the child needs and not setting routines. Routines for infants only lead to frustration because you are putting an expectation on them that they cannot live up to.

I noticed that some have suggested adding cereal to his bottle. Please, I beg you, do not do this! Babies of this age cannot digest the cereal. It acts as filler and makes them feel full before their bodies have gained the nutrients in their formula or breastmilk.

My suggestion is to try not to worry about him sleeping more than four hours at a stretch. He will gradually sleep longer. Respond to his needs as best you can and things will soon fall into place.

M.

You would be amazed at what your body is capable of when you become a mother. You will go back to work and be able to function for months with only a limited amount of sleep. It will seem pretty tough at first but you will be come used to it.

My son was a really tough sleeper and it was a year before he would go through the night. I went back to work when he was 8 weeks old and at that point he would still get up 2x a night. There wasn't anything we could do to help my son go longer. You could try to encourage him to suck his thumb or a pacifier. For my daughter that was the trick. Once she started sucking her thumb around 12 weeks, she was able to go all night long. Good luck.

You could try the miracle blanket (http://www.miracleblanket.com/) ...they're a little pricey...I believe about $25 for one, but it's perfect for swaddling and seemed to help my little one sleep great. He had a habit of whacking himself in the face every couple ;-P of minutes when he was asleep so this helped combat that and he actually slept quite well...until he was old enough to squirm out of it, at which point he no longer needed it. It's worth a try!

Hi, You can check out Elizabeth Pantley's book, No-Cry Sleep Solution, but basically I don't think there is much you can do. They need to eat frequently. My son is 7 mos. old and his 4-hr stretch is still the longest. He is also in the 90th percentile for height, so I truly believe he needs the nutrition.

At 7 weeks premature, your son is only 1 week old, using age adjustment, right? Most books I read said not to try to sleep-train until at least 4 mos. I also read that by 6 mos., 83% of babies are sleeping through the night, so it's just a few more months.

Is there anyone you can call on to help? Can your hub or mom or someone do some of the night feedings? There are night nurses for hire if money isn't a concern. You may be able to get him on a schedule, but my bet is that he's still going to need to eat frequently. Have you tried co-sleeping? It works for me, because I don't have to get out of bed, I just sit up and pick him up.

What works for me is just catching up over the weekends and realizing that it will pass, and that I am the grown-up, and if my son needs me then I am the one who is going to have to tough it out. And I've postponed harder intellectual tasks and done more routine things while I am still so sleep-deprived. Also, I discovered that there is some magic hormone or something that your body makes, because it just stopped being hard to do physically.

And, as one experienced mom told me, being a parent means being sleep-deprived until they go off to college. That put it in perspective for me and made me just accept it. Once I accepted that 8 hrs straight was a luxury I'd have rarely it ceased to bother me.

And, as your son was a preemie, I'd say a little extra comfort and spoiling was his due. For God's sake, don't let him "cry it out"--at least not for several more months.

Best of Luck.

L.,

No worries, I was so scared to go back to work with out him sleeping through the night but you really get used to it. My son is almost 4 months old and is still not sleeping through the night. I would consult his doctor before giving him anytime of cereal. I tried to give my son cereal and he got really constipated. I had to stop and now i have to put corn syrup in some of his bottle to help him with BM. He will eventually start sleeping better, you can try to give him his binky (if he uses one) when he wakes up at one point to put him back to sleep, that will help him go longer with out eating. We did that for our son and now he wakes up once a night for a feeding and then stays sleeping till we wake him for day care.

Hope that helps :-)
A.

I was having the same problems with my son what I tried was adding a little bit of cereal to his bottle. You will have to buy a special nipples for those bottles (i believe they're called crusting nipples) or my husband and I cut a SLIGHTLY bigger hole in the nipples we had. You must be careful if you cut your nipples that he doesn't suck down the formula to fast because he might choke. The doctor's had told me not to start cereal until 4 months old however every mother I spoke with regarding the sleep issue suggested trying this...it worked like a charm and he's slept throught the night ever since. If you have any other questions message me and let me know. Good Luck!!

Is he sleeping 4 hours straight and then waking to eat and sleeping more? If so, I hate to say it, but that's pretty good. If he's only sleeping 4 hours total and possibly interupted, that's really rough. I agree with the other post that it was closer to 6 months before either of mine really slept through the night and both were more than full term (12 & 15 days late!!). The best you can do is go to bed as soon as the baby does to max your sleep. If he's just waking to feed, maybe you can alternate with your husband...one go to bed early and the other stay up to do last feed before bed. Then whoever went to bed early wakes for the middle of the night feed. It could buy you both a little longer stretch and every little bit helps. Good luck

Hi L.,
Sounds like you do have him on a schedule. He is probably going through a growth spurt. Also if he is only 2 months and he was 7 weeks early, he is pretty much at his projected due date. My son was born 10 weeks early and the first few months were rough. He ate and slept a little and ate some more. Also , please use caution with cereal. My little guy was not allowed to eat solids until he was about 6 months, because of he premature digestive system. Keep up the good work and I hope you all get some sleep soon! And when you finally do, you'll be wishing you were snuggling with him. :)

Hi L.,

I am due in two weeks, so this advice is a little limited... but I read a wonderful book by this woman named Tracy Hogg called Secrets of the Baby Wisperer... and in the book she describes getting fussy babies to sleep in great detail... (no worries, it's not a very long book and is easy to read.)

From the sounds of her writing, it is good to start sooner than later, as it might take a few weeks of "training" to get little Anthony Joseph to get on a new schedule. Her advice is so loving & practical, it sounds like it would work. But again, our little one isn't here yet, so I haven't had any hands-on experience yet myself.

Hope that help! Take care, M.

Here is an article on Sleeping Through the Night/Middle of the Night Feeding:

Getting Baby to Sleep Through the Night: All babies will fall asleep eventually. Some just need a little more help than others.
By Barbara Solomon

Pulling Baby out of the Crib
Up to the time he was 10 months old, my son David had always been a good sleeper. Then my family moved into a new house, and all of a sudden, all bets were off. He began waking two, sometimes three times a night. I was sure he was just unsettled by the change and would return to his old ways soon. But after we tried every trick in the book only to suffer more sleepless nights, we caved in. One night when he called out, I scooped him up and brought him into our bed. We all slept soundly, and I was feeling pretty good -- until I spoke with a friend later that morning.

"Don't you know that you've opened a can of worms?" she scolded. "Now you'll never get him back into his crib!"

Picturing endless sleepless nights ahead, I panicked, and it's no wonder. Getting a baby to sleep consistently through the night can seem like the ultimate unattainable goal. But after I spent just a few nights leaving my son in his crib when he cried for me and gently encouraging him -- "You're okay, David, just go back to sleep!" -- from the hallway, he quickly resumed his old sleep habits. And experts say that with some patience and effort, most parents will be able to solve their child's sleeping problems, too.

The Impossible Dream
During the first weeks of life, you can't expect a baby to sleep through the night. In fact, there is no typical sleeping pattern for newborns; the only thing you can count on is that they sleep around the clock for varying periods, ranging from a few minutes to a few hours. So why can't they sleep consistently for long periods? Blame it all on biology. An immature brain is the primary reason.

"People have a genetic timing mechanism in their brain that controls sleep, and it takes time for that mechanism to develop," explains Marc Weissbluth, MD, professor of clinical pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago, and author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Ballantine, 1999). "Think of it like eye color: Babies are born with a genetic predisposition to a certain eye color, but it takes time for that color to be expressed."

A need to feed is another factor. Many experts believe that newborn babies have to eat frequently, particularly breastfed babies: There's no way to tell how much a breastfed baby is eating at each feeding, so breastfeeding mothers may be more likely to fully awaken a stirring baby to feed.

Bottlefed babies, on the other hand, may sleep for longer periods because formula takes longer to digest and leaves baby feeling fuller longer. "But babies who have birth defects and are fed continuously by tube for the first several weeks of life show the same process of sleep maturation as other babies," notes Dr. Weissbluth. He believes that ultimately, "Sleep comes from the brain, not the stomach."

Regardless of studies and experts, until she is at least 6 weeks old, a newborn baby will undoubtedly wake several times during the night. Around the 6-week mark, many babies show subtle signs of organizing their sleep. They may get drowsy at 6 or 7 p.m. and may sleep at night for consecutive blocks of four hours or more.

At about 3 months, most can adhere to a sleep schedule that includes a morning nap, an afternoon nap, and two or more longer blocks of sleep at night. According to a poll of primary caregivers by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), a nonprofit organization, by 9 months some 70 to 80 percent of babies are sleeping a straight 9 to 12 hours every night.

That's great news -- unless yours is one of the 20 to 30 percent of babies who don't sleep so well. "My son was a horrible sleeper!" recalls Lisa Henahan of Peachtree City, Georgia. "Until he was 15 months, he would sleep for an hour and a half and then wake for an hour -- all night long!"

If your nights sound similar, rest assured, these tips can help parents solve a range of stubborn sleep problems.

Sleep Tight, Baby
To exhausted parents it seems that there are as many sleep issues as there are children. But most babies fall into the following categories:

"My 2-month-old son sleeps all day and is up all night."
A common phenomenon during the early weeks of life, day-night reversals often clear up with a little time and a lot of daylight. Try exposing your baby to bright light or sunshine in the morning hours and keep the lights dim in the evening. It also helps to move your baby to a busy part of the house throughout the day, play with him during the daytime, and wake him for daytime feedings.

Then, keep your interactions with him quiet and subdued at night. As babies approach the age of 6 weeks, they begin to respond more to environmental cues, so it helps to have a bedtime routine such as a bath and a song. It may take several weeks, and a baby this young still probably won't sleep through the night, but he may consolidate his sleep into two large blocks at night.

"My 7-month-old daughter won't sleep through the night. Why?"
From around 6 months on, a baby should be able to make it through the night without a middle-of-the-night feeding and without waking his parents. But that doesn't mean he's sleeping all those hours. The term "sleeping through the night" is misleading, points out Lawrence Balter, PhD, professor of applied psychology at New York University, in New York, and editor of Parenthood in America: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2000). "All people -- including babies -- wake and put themselves back to sleep several times a night without realizing it," he says. "That's something babies need to learn to do."

Some kids learn on their own; others need a little help. There are several ways to teach your baby to soothe himself to sleep. Most of them involve listening to some crying. So how do you stay focused amid the tears? Remember that crying isn't going to harm your baby. And the reward -- a good night's sleep for all -- is worth a few teary nights.

The Ferber Method
"My neighbor has recommended the Ferber method to help my 6-month-old sleep through the night. What is it?"
This method was developed by pediatric sleep expert Richard Ferber, MD, author of Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (Simon & Schuster, 1986). He advises parents to check periodically on their baby when she awakens at night. Here's a sketch of how it works: On the first night, when you hear your baby cry, you go in, give her a reassuring pat, and then leave. If she's crying 5 minutes later, you repeat the process, but this time you wait 10 minutes before going in, increasing the time in five-minute increments. The second night, you start at 10 minutes. Dr. Ferber's system has worked for many families.

"We're trying the Ferber method for my 7-month-old, but I can't stand the crying. Is there another, less drastic way to sleep-train my baby?"
There are also ways of making gradual changes within the routine you already have, notes Jodi Mindell, PhD, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Sleeping Through the Night (HarperCollins, 1997). If you've been putting your baby to sleep by rocking her in a chair, for example, start by just sitting in the chair together. "Then choose the next step -- putting your baby in his crib and holding his hand.

"A few days later, you can sit three feet away from your child's bed," Mindell says. Within a few weeks, you should be able to work yourself out of the bedroom.

"We've tried the Ferber method. My 6-month-old becomes enraged every time we go in to soothe him. Any suggestions?"
Some children respond better to a cold-turkey approach. If your baby cries, you don't go in her room (some parents call reassuringly from the hall). This is not for the faint of heart, and, as Balter points out, is better for younger babies. An 8-month-old may be able to sit or stand in her crib, which makes it hard for her to settle down if her calls aren't answered.

More Sleep Issues
"My 9-month-old insists on a 3 a.m. feeding. How can I get her to give it up?"
For many parents, a final obstacle to an uninterrupted night is that middle-of-the-night feeding. If your baby no longer needs to be fed at night (check with your pediatrician to be sure), simply stop giving him the bottle or breast when he calls for it. Alternatively, you can use a sequence of progressive steps, which might include offering him diluted formula or breast milk for a few nights and then gradually replacing it with water. He may not find it as appealing as milk, and, subsequently, won't cry for it.

"My 10-month-old son used to sleep through the night, but lately he's been waking up all the time."
Chances are, there's been some change, however subtle, in your child's routine. Everything from a vacation to an illness to an overnight guest can disrupt a young child's sleep schedule and cause her to awaken and need comforting. Some parents report that developmental milestones, such as learning to walk or use the potty, can also upset sleep patterns.

"When a child takes a developmental leap forward, neurons are firing and there are probably connections being made in the brain," says Mindell. "It's no wonder their sleep is disrupted." Most babies are also keen on practicing their new skills; when they wake in the night, sleep takes second place to getting up on all fours or babbling.

At times like this, you may need to repeat old steps, such as sitting in your baby's room for a few nights and gradually working your way back out. But don't despair; experts say children with established good sleep patterns will return to them pretty quickly.

"How can I get my 8-month-old to go to sleep at the same time every night?"
If your baby isn't sleepy at the same time every night, her daytime sleep routine may need tweaking. "Make sure to wake her at the same time each morning, keep naptimes consistent, and avoid letting baby nap after 4 p.m. A reasonable bedtime for a baby this age is around 7 or 7:30 p.m. If she wakes from a nap at 5:30, she's not going to be sleepy enough to go to bed then," says Mindell.

One strategy to avoid, however, is shortening her naps in the hope that this will make her sleepier at night. The fact is, overtired children have a hard time falling asleep. And evidence shows that babies aren't getting enough sleep as it is. Many experts recommend that infants ages 3 to 11 months get 14 to 15 hours of sleep daily, but according to the NSF poll, most babies get fewer than 13 hours.

Even if you've succeeded in creating a great sleeper, remember that every child occasionally has wakeful periods. When this happens, reassure yourself that you're not going to be sleepless forever. Says Peggy Nona, a Rochester, Minnesota, mother with two school-age girls, "I used to worry about getting them to bed at night; now I worry about getting them out in the morning!"

Barbara Solomon is a mother of three and a writer in Scarsdale, New York.

Originally published in American Baby magazine, July 2004.

In addition to that....

A local parenting coach wrote this:

I know that Dr. Ferber is less strict than he used to be about getting kids to sleep. However, his techniques are still very useful for kids that have actually taught themselves to stay up and/or to demand/expect a parent to be with them until they actually fall asleep. Also watch one of the Nanny TV shows for examples of being firm yet loving with setting limits.

Briefly, the basic idea is that you (1) stop paying any attention to your child after their bedtime--no hugs, kisses, stories and no yelling either. Just make believe they are little critters that you are putting back where they belong. and then, if necessary (2) let them cry themselves to sleep. Also, and actually first, develop a bedtime routine and STICK TO IT! Letting them cry is very hard, and against some people's principles. What we did when my daughter was little (she is now 21) was put her to bed with the musical mobile playing. If she was still crying when the music stopped (less than 5 minutes) we would go in to her. This happened very rarely. I felt that a short period of crying was not a trauma and having her go to sleep on her own was a learned response. It worked and we had very few bedtime hassles.

Good luck,

Marion
Coach and parent
Marion C. Bloch, Psy. D.
____@____.com
www.mayaresources.com

Hey there,

I just read your post and wanted to chime in. I gave birth to my son Kieran on 5/28 (full term). I think for having been a preemie, your son's sleep patterns are right on track (even ahead of the game) for his age.

From about 1.5 to 2 months old, my son wouldn't sleep any more than 4 hours without waking for a feeding (he's on formula exclusively). He went down around 7, would wake up around 11 or 12 to eat, then again around 3 or 4... and then he'd wake up for the day around 7am. Once he got to be around 2.5 months old, he started to sleep for longer stretches until his midnight feeding eventually disappeared... now he goes down around 7, wakes up once around 3-4am and then sleeps through until he's up for the day. Now that he's 3.5 months old, over the past 2 weeks he's slept through the night twice. He still wakes for the 3-4am feeding regularly, but knowing he CAN sleep through the night is like a light at the end of the tunnel. We're sure it won't be long before he's sleeping through more than he's waking.

Considering the typical age for most full term babies to start sleeping through the night is around 3 months old, I think your 2 month old is right on track. You have to remember that you son's body's development isn't going to fall into the typical patterns of the average baby because he was born 7 weeks early. Milestones you'd expect in a full term 3 month old might not happen for him until he's 4 or 5 months because he came early. So for a 2 month old preemie to be doing 4 hour stretches is actually pretty good!

I know it's frustrating to have to deal with the sleep deprivation... but hang in there -- once he starts sleeping through one of his night time feedings consistently, you'll know that sleeping through the night is just around the corner =).

Take care,
T. =)

You need to go by his adjusted age not actual - I think for a baby his age sleeping just 5 hours at one time is considered sleeping through the night so he is doing great. And really until a child is 4 months old you can't really control night wakings with any kind of sleep training. So just enjoy this time with your infant. You are building trust with him and that is very important.

Hi L.,

I don't know if this book applies in the case of premature babies, but we've used the book "Babywise" by Gary Ezzo and so far 3 of my 4 kids were sleeping through the night(I definr that as 8 hours) by 8 or 9 weeks. (My fourth child is only a month old, so I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how it works for her!) Some of the ideas in that book are a little extreme and controversial, though, so you need to read it with a grain of salt and use what you are comfortable with. Good luck!

Both of my kids were full term and didn't sleep through on a regular basis until about 6 months. Unfortunately I don't think there's a lot you can do until they do it for themselves. You can try to drop out a feeding and see if he'll just go to sleep, but he's pretty young to do that yet. I'd wait and try to tough it out. I remember being beat after I went back to work, but it does get better!

Hey , I am a mom of three and my doc told me most babies do not sleep for long stretches till they are 4 months or 13 lbs. whichever comes first. Sure enough that is exactly when all of my kids began to sleep through the night.( 10pm-5 am) . Hang in there... I think it is still a little early.

Sleeping for 4 hours straight at his age is great. My son didn't sleep through the night until he was 7 mos old and we had to force him to do it. We let him cry and he went back to sleep, the longest 6 mins of my life. You have to remember his stomach is only the size of his fist, it doesn't hold much. And so 4 hrs is great, be thankful to get those 4 hours. Try feeding him just before you go to bed, even if he's not awake and hungry. Then you get 4 hrs in a row of sleep yourself. The average for children to sleep through the night is 6 mos, so you still have a way to go. I know this isn't what you want to hear but...this is the way it is. Welcome to motherhood.
P.S. Just because you add cereal to the bottles doesn't mean that he will sleep more. My son started on cereal at 4 mos and like I said he didn't sleep through the night until he was 7 mos old.