My daughter is almost 5 months old and has been sleeping through the whole night since she was 2 months old when my husband and I learned about "swaddling". She has a very structured schedule. She wakes up around 5:30 a.m. to be fed and goes back to sleep until around 9 a.m. We play, read, etc. until 11 a.m. which is nap time. She wakes up around 1 p.m. and we play, read, etc. until 4 p.m. which is when she, again, starts getting sleepy and goes down for another nap. She usually wakes up from this one around 5:30 p.m. She gets a bath at 7:30 p.m. and is asleep for good around 9:15 p.m. Here is the problem...until a week ago she kept this schedule and was doing very well. This last week, she started getting up in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. and is insistant upon a feeding. My comforting, rocking, nor singing lullibies to her just will not suffice. I don't want to continue this pattern and was hoping someone has some advice as to how to break her from this 2 a.m. feeding she has started. Any advice?
Thank you to all who gave valuable information for this situation. After reading the responses, I started giving her rice cereal and she is now a happier, less hungry baby and is sleeping unitl 6 a.m. again!!! And just to calm some of your minds, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER let my baby cry it out! That's just not the type of momma I am. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not for me. Thank you, again. You have truly helped!
Hi,
I have a eight month old and went through the same thing around 4 months. I started feeding him some cereal in the evening before bed and it worked great. Since she is growing so fast she is probably just getting hungry in the middle of the night. Hope this helps.
Good luck,
L.
Sounds as if the last feeding is not sustaining her through the night. Possibly give her some rice cereal either in her bottle or if breast fed, by spoon.
Good luck, this too shall pass.
She may need a heavier bottle before bedtime. I had to put rice cereal in my little girls bottle,because she wasn't getting satisfied at night. You will need to make the whole in the nipple a little bigger for that feeding. But this should work just fine.
The AAP now recommends waiting on solids until 6 months, so I would hold off on that for filling her up. It's possible that she is having a growth spurt & needs to eat. In fact, an infant's wants ARE needs - they don't yet know the difference.
With my son, as soon as I figured out his routine, it changed. I wouldn't be too surprised that things have changed. Also, babies wake frequently throughout the night to help prevent SIDS, so keep that in mind.
If you are nursing, she may not wake so much (nor you) if she sleeps with you. I'd be happy to share safe co-sleeping tips. If you're using formula, maybe you could have it already made? (I don't know how long it lasts or when you go to bed).
Last thought - crying it out is now known to cause brain damage, so please don't even consider it! I'll send more info if you're interested.
Good luck! I know it's hard to parent at night, but an infant's needs are no less intense at night than during the day.
Hi T.,
When our girls went through that phase, we started giving them rice cereal at the bed time feeding and they went back to sleeping all night.
I agree that it sounds like a growth spurt. My baby just went through the same thing at a little before 6 months. We just went with the flow and fed her when she woke up. It lasted for a few weeks, and now she's eating more at her daytime feedings and sleeping through the nights again. Is she breast fed or bottle fed? Our daughter is bottle fed, and we discovered that one of the problems was that she was ready for the higher flow nipples. Once we switched, we went from taking 30 min to drink 6 oz to 5 min to drink 8-9 oz.
T., this isn't a sleeping problem; it's life with an infant. Your baby is growing and she's hungry. You can't train her not to expect nourishment; you have to feed her. Five months is way too young to expect her to sleep through the night. Feed your baby and she'll quickly go back to sleep, comfortable and satisfied. As she gets older, (anywhere from nine months to a year) she'll outgrow the need for nighttime feedings.
She is 5 months old and growing - feed her. I have 4 girls - your daughters schedule may not always be your schedule. It won't last long and you can do it- you probably spend more time up trying not to feed her than you would if you fed her and went back to bed. When they have growth spurts they will change their patterns and settle into another one- go with the flow!
Hi T., I am a mother of three and had a strict schedule with my first child. I soon learned that babies change. It sounds like your baby is needing more solid food. Some great first foods are avacado, banana, sweet potato, porridge. Make certain her tummy is full before she goes to sleep. One of my favorite books is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It is a wonderful resource on how much to feed your baby at each age. I still make Super Baby Porridge and use her recipe for pancakes for my whole family (my oldest is 7). Try not to be so rigid with the schedule and just enjoy your little darling. Whatever you do, do not let her CIO. It is just too dangerous. I tried this Ferber-based approached with my first for a short time while she was "soothing" herself to sleep, and I went to check on her and her foot was caught between the slats (even though our crib is code). Another time I checked on her she had spit up and was laying in her urp and it was all over the back of her head. Another time she was wet. She may also need more stimulation. Take her shopping with you, take her on long morning walks (before it gets too hot). Good Luck!
She may really be hungry in the night, especially if she is in a growth spurt. She is old enough to be getting baby food and cereal in her diet. Try feeding her more babyfood throughout the day. If you aren't giving her rice cereal, try it before she goes to bed. If you are giving her rice cereal, try the oatmeal cereal, it has more fiber for her tummy to work on longer. Good luck.
I have a 4 month old who is on a very structured schedule (Babywise). I have not had any issues but I do know babies do go thru a growth period. A lot of times they wake up in the middle of the night to eat.
Maybe you could try to up her ounces during the day and see if that does the trick?
If it persists, you might want to see if she can cry it out.
Could she possibly be cutting new teeth? My daughter would wake up for a 2:00am feeding until she was seven months old.
My grandmother told me to give her water with formula and then slowly end up with all water and she would stop waking up when it was all water. It either worked or she just stopped on her own because I never made it to the complete bottle of water. My daughter is now 45 years old and grew up to be the perfect Mom and daughter. Her children both boys are 17 & 19 and they are wonderful caring young men. She also has a wonderful husband, who is the world's nicest man. I hope your daughter goes back to her old routine or close to it. But let me warn you she will probably not be taking so many naps. As they get a little older usually at her age they tend to stop napping as much. Good luck and you sound like your a great mother already!
Your daughter may be teething. You could try giving her some Tylenol when you put her to bed at 9:15. She could also be hitting a growth spurt and may just be hungry. My six month old still wakes up for a 2AM feeding. Also, be aware that her sleeping pattern will continually change as she grows. There will be growth spurts, and nightmares and teething and changing nap schedules and varying levels of activity in the day that all affect her night time sleeping. Good luck.
Hi T. - this is not uncommon. She needs more and is trying to tell you this - although it's inconveniencing your sleep, this is what happens and it's important to listen to her and help her. She may be going through a growth spurt or something and just needs a little more right now. When she is comfortable, she will sleep - when she is not she will wake. If she is hungry - which she is showing you she is, she'll want food in the middle of the night - she is still very young and needs this little extra right now. Listen to her and help her - she will be fine soon. This really is very common - don't expect to have regular sleep until she is near a year old. Some kids don't sleep well until they are three to five years old but it sounds like this is not the case with your little one - she just needs a bit during the rough times - growth spurts and teething - she'll wake too with that - so know that until one year this will happen from time to time. She will settle when she feels better and until then you are there for her to help her soothe.
She sounds so wonderful - you are so very lucky!
Alli
Well, since she has slept thru the night before you know she is capable of it...so I'd say that she may be going thru a growth spurt! The 2 AM feeding may last a couple more days. Try feeding her a little more each time during the day, and also at her last feeding before bedtime. If she gets what she needs during the day, she might not look for it in the middle of the night. Whatever you do, DON'T try to keep her up during the day in the hopes that she will be really tired at bedtime and sleep thru the night. This doesn't work; it just results in an even fussier baby that fights sleep even harder.
When my four month old son does this I up the amount of formula before bed. Like when he was taking four ounces the "bed time bottle" was five ounces and he finished every bit of it. He still wakes up every now and then but its not often. Is she eating cereral and baby foods. Mine just started a week ago and I think it makes him hungerier. Like when we eat a big meal and a while later its like were so hungery we have never eaten in our life time. Hope upping the bedtime bottle works for you and you get a good nights rest. God Bless.
Have you started her on solids yet? She may be getting hungry,now, during the night. My daughter will be 5 months old at the end of May and she has slept thru the night her whole life. When she started waking up early, my doctor suggested starting her on rice cereal. She eats it before her breakfast bottle and before her dinner bottle and has slept thru the night (8:30 pm - 7am) again like clockwork. Maybe you could try that? Good Luck
it sounds like a growth spurt. i would feed her and not worry about what all the books and pediatricians who advise that developmentally she doesn't need it. her routine will re-adjust after she gets through the growth phase. my daughter did the same thing- she had a really great sleep schedule and then out of the blue starting waking up in the middle of the night starving to death. i'm not one to let a truly hungry child cry so i fed her. the waking up in the middle of the night lasted for a few weeks and finally wound down to her normal routine.
It's probably a growth spurt. Feed her cause she is hungry. It will work it self out in about a week then you can slid her back into her sleeping through the night thing. This will probably happen again at about 6 months and then after this age (6months and older it works it self out differently like a sleep problem not hunger problem - but it's usually a growth spurt) and fixes itself over about a week then you get back on to the routine. Sounds like you are doing a great job.
Is she getting enough to eat during the day? Eating every 3 hours or so and finishing an adequate sized bottle each time (or adequate amount of nursing time). Often I've seen babies do this waking suddenly for feeding if 1. they need a bigger opening in their bottle nipple so that they are getting plenty to eat (if she's taking more than 30-40 minutes to eat, chances are she needs the next size nipple). It may also be that she's ready for bigger bottles....if she's consistently finishing her bottle, try adding an oz. at a time until you see how much she will eat at a time. Most babies won't take a second bottle once the first one runs out so making two different bottles isn't always the best, but making bigger bottles and seeing if she finishes them will tell you how much she's needing now that she's a little older.
A good night's sleep is dependent on good day sleep and eating full meals....every 3 hours eating and every 2 hours or so sleeping at her age is about right.
Good luck!
L.
I read the other responses, and a growth spurt is a good possibility, but my initial reaction was teething. My oldest baby (now 3) slept through the night at 3 weeks, and my youngest (now 1.5) slept through the night at 8 weeks. Great sleepers -- until teething. Then they would be waking up. It's possible that your daughter is indeed hungry from a growth spurt, but it's also possible that sucking on the bottle/nipple helps her teething pain. So hard to say! Even if you can't see the teeth under the gum, they may still be on the move. My youngest even fooled the pediatrician -- I had suspected teething, asked about it, she said she didn't see any teeth ready to break through, and ten days later he had new teeth. So you never know! But I might go with what one other mom said -- try some tylenol when she wakes up, or some teething gel. Good luck! She'll sleep again, I promise. :-)
I had the same problem with my little girl, who's now 1 yr. She was indeed hungry and I had no choice but to alter her schedule. I started giving her a 4 oz bottle and 1 tbsp of rice cereal to tide her til the next morning. And she did amazing. She started sleeping until 7am most mornings and that set her new schedule. Awake at 7am, up til 9-9:30, nap until 10:30-11am. Lunch at 12. Nap at 2-3pm Supper at 6pm and bottle & rice cereal at 8pm. With snacks in between meals. My little girl is healthy and growing strong. She's almost 13 months and she's 22.80lbs.
Goodluck, and don't worry---you're doing a great job, and if you ever doubt that, just look at your little girl...
I was strict with my kids schedules too. By 4 months their schedule was bottles at 8am, 12am, 4pm and 8pm with naps in between. Your daughter will start dropping that evening nap soon and you are probably getting close to time to start cereal with before bed. I know they say 6 months, but it probably won't hurt anything to give a few bites and they may carry her tummy over the hump in the middle of the night.
S. Jameson
www.sherman.jbfsale.com
Keep to your schedule. At the time she may remain insistant but let her cry it out until 5:30 to begin her feeding, otherwise it's just going to get worse.
This happened with my baby girl too. About four night of letting her cry (Of course we checked on her consitently) she was back on track again. She even slept later than she did before after we did this.
I can guarantee it but it worked for me. Good luck!
Probably a growth spurt...mine did it too. I would feed her and in a few weeks she was back on schedule. They go through that at certain times.
I wouldn't break her of this pattern....she's hungry and wants something to eat!! Feed her!! My baby is almost 11 months old and I have her on a very structured schedule also. She was in a pattern very much like your daughter's but she too started waking up around that time. I think she was having a growth spurt and needed the extra calories. She now sleeps through the night (I put her down at 7 pm and she doesn't wake up till 6;30-7am!!) I know you're probably tired and want to sleep through the night again and it WILL happen. Your baby just needs the extra food right now. SHe's still very young. It will get better.
Feed her!! She's hungry!!!
She is probably growing and will change her schedule several times. Although my doc use to tell me that babies grow when they are sleeping?!?! Who knows! Try increasing her food intake a little and see if that helps! Only you know what your baby wants. If my little ones woke up in the night, I'd just go in their room (sometimes) and give them their pacifier and that would do the trick. I have 3 kiddos (11, 8 and 5)...worked for us! Good luck!
Make sure she is eating well at the nighttime feeding. If you stay up later than 9:15, then you might consider waking her up right before you go to bed to feed her. You might also consider shortening, or eliminating one of her daytime naps. She might be going through a growth spurt, but you would notice increased appetitite during the day as well if that were the case.
She's hungry. Feed her.
My daughter turned 5 months yesterday. She did the SAME thing about 2 weeks ago. It then went back to normal again on its own. I don't know if it is just a growth chage but it resolved itself and we are now back to normal (thankfully).
Good luck
I've read the other responses and I want to offer this; you mentioned that you used to swaddle you baby - my husband and I did too. However, when we made the switch to sleeping completely unswaddled; our daughter who had been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks; started waking up in the middle of the night wanting mostly to eat but sometimes she could be comforted back to sleep. We guessed that she wasn't ready to "sleep free" so we loosely swaddled her legs and then moved to just her feet and finally to no swaddle and she continued to sleep through the night. (During our initial attemps to get her to sleep out of the swaddle; we swaddled her with one arm out and then both arms out and then we attempted no swaddle.) We started to transtion her out of the swaddle as she turned 4 months.
Good Luck
