Baby Wont Sleep - Santa Rosa,CA

I have a 14month old and he still wakes up every 2-3 hrs for a bottle he wont go back to sleep without one but I do water them down so hes not drinking too much whole milk. I put about 2oz of water and 1/2 to 1oz milk. I cant get him to sleep but I am going to try the cereal thing.

Are you feeding him solid foods? Maybe you need to feed him more during the day. The Gerber web site has a great feeding schedule for different age groups that is really helpful. He may also be going through a growth spurt and needs the extra calories. But it it best to give him those calories during the day so he will sleep at night!
Good luck!
T.

Dear J.,

It won't hurt to let him cry after you have comforted him, then walk away. You had better do this now or you will be sorry. I know that I am being pretty short, but you need to know that it is alright for a baby to cry ! Goodness !!
C. N.

Hi, I feel your pain. My son woke up through the night, til he was three. My twins girls that are three will still sometimes wake up trhough the night. When I asked my doctor about this she mentioned, they wake up from pure habit. They are just use to waking up through the night and do it through habit. What I found worked for us, is cutting down to eliminating naps through the day. Does your son nap during the day? If so for how long? If he does, I would cut down or even better eliminate his nap during the day. When I did this with my twins, they will fall asleep sometimes as early as 6 pm and will not wake til 6 am! But... if they do happen to fall asleep during the day, then there night is restless.

Hi J. - I am wondering, why do you put him down at 7:30? My girls (now 2 and 4) have gone to bed every night between 8 and 8:30 since birth and we have a nice routine. I think maybe if you keep him up a little bit later, he may be just tired enough to sleep soundly through the night. Also, if you time his naps right, like maybe giving him one a half hour earlier and put him to bed a half hour later, that might do the trick.

I think he isnt full enough when you put him down. I truly believe in the cereal method. I used it with both of my kids and they slept through the night at two months. I would fix the last bottle half milk or simalac whatever you use and half cereal. You may have to widen the hole in the nipple but just keep that nipple for the last bottle of the night. I could almost bet money on it that your baby will have a better nights sleep.

I am a single mom as well - this is a tough issue when you have no back up - because you will eventually get very sick yourself from the lack of sleep.

1. Try keeping the baby up until 9 or 10pm - no napping after 7:30 - move his bedtime ritual back 1/2 hour per night.
2. Don't breast feed him at night more than once in the middle of the night - you can rock him - soothe him - pat his back - just don't feed him everytime he wakes up.
2. Don't turn on any lights or change his diaper (unless he is dirty)
3. Try to soothe him for 5 minutes then lay him down - let him cry for 5 minutes and then soothe him for 5 minutes - week two move it up to 7 minutes - week 3 move it up to 10 minutes.
4. You could bring him in your bed, but be prepared to have him in your bed for at least the next 3 years if you do... I was sorry I did that with my daughters at first, but now that they are 16 and 11 - I am glad I didn't let them cry - they all sleep in their own beds now - - - LOL

Maybe he is going through a growth spirt and does need the extra calories right now...

This is probably not what you want to hear but my kids never slept through the night until we took the bottle away. My 2 year old stil wakes up for milk in the middle of the night. Its frustrating cause you hear of babies sleeping through the night at 2 months.
My doctor said to try to lay them down and rub his back and if you use a pacifier sometimes they just want to be repositioned. I give very watered down bottles or just water at night(this could either turn him off to it or just make him want more) I dont know if you ever put cereal in the bottle but try a little in the bottle right before bedtime and it may fill him up more.
Best of luck

You have never met a mom more against the cry it out method than me (I'm a therapist and very concerned with the emotional stability of kids). Another psychologist friend told me it is our responsibility as parents to teach our kids how to self soothe (and get themselves back to sleep), because it is helps build their self esteem by being able to meet their own needs. My husband also said when our son was 6 months old, that if he didn't start sleeping through the night (i actually enjoyed the middle of the night quiet time), he would not be looking to have another child any time soon. I took out one feeding at a time and once I stopped nursing, he stopped waking at those same times. Instead i would use a pacifier or just hold him, rock him, etc. Then when he wasn't nursing during the night (about a week and a half later), but still was gettin up a couple of times, we let him cry it out. The first time, he cried for almost 45 minutes and my heart broke. He woke up again that night and cried for less than 20 minutes. The next night he woke up once and cried for about 10-15 minutes and has been sleeping through the night ever since (unless he gets a cold and is congested). It was one of the best parenting moves we ever made b/c we(all 3 of us) were well rested, happy and able to just enjoy each other! Hope you find something that works well for you and your family...

Is he teething by chance? That could be causing him to wake for frequently at night. My son did that when he was teething. He would wake and want to nurse because it was comforting. Sometimes I didn't even know he was teething and then a month later he'd pop a tooth out.

I think it just depends on the baby. My daughter never slept thru the night until she was two. She would wake up at least once a night every night. Now my son is just 8 months and also goes down around 7:30pm. He'll wake up two sometimes three times every night. Each time he has to have a bottle or he won't fall back to sleep. I've tried putting cereal in his bottle but I didn't see a change. I wouldn't worry about him having extra calories. Hes so young and probably having a growth spurt....he may need it.

Hang in there ----

Hi,
My daughter was the same way. Then I got some advice from a friend. Now every night, within an hour of when I will be putting her down, I feed her at least a jar of baby food or a bunch of that baby cereal. This really helps. She stays asleep for long periods, sometimes all night long. I hope this helps you as well. Good luck!

Someone taught me this trick and it has worked very well on my son. When he woke up at night and started to cry, I just gave him the pacifier. At first he woke up 2 to 3 times a night, but soon after, he woke up once or twice. After a little while, he slept through the night. However, you need to make sure he eats enough during the day. Otherwise, this method won't work.

Hi J.,

Wanted to share my experience with the same issue. I am also a single mom to two boys who are now 7 1/2 and 3 1/2. My oldest I had no trouble with getting him to sleep through the night, my youngest however was always difficult and still wakes up once occasionally. I'm wondering if you breast feed your little one- because with my children that was the difference. My oldest son was bottle fed at that age, and I think that because it's more filling it just helps them sleep longer. With my youngest I was nursing him, and it was so difficult to keep him on any sort of schedule. He would wake up three or four times a night wanting to nurse. The only way I could sleep was to have him sleep next to me, which is a hard habit to break! I don't want to say breast feeding isn't good (I know it's best for the baby) but when you're a single gal and doing everything on your own, it can be so exhausting to not get enough sleep. Hope that helps :)

try letting him sleep with you again for a while. sounds like he misses you. i dont believe in the hard line with babies. love him, love him, love him! give him what he needs... we know sacrifice as mommies... its about the baby right? i think he's tryna tell you hewants to be close. i have a baby girl, 6 months.. and i go with what she wants and she is the happiest sweetest little thing! good luck & peace sister!!! ps. maybe he'll sleep through if you snuggle, then later try another shift to crib.

Since you are not a cry-it-out mom, you may perhaps consider having him sleep in your bed. I let my own son sleep in our bed, becasue when he wakes up, I don't have to wake up:). He just snuggles a little bit, and nurses for 1 or 2 minutes, then we are all back to sleep.
The other option is I think just to ait for a couple of months, endure this and see if it will pass. I have heard that when the babies become mobile, they tend to get up quiete a bit for the first couple of months