Expectations for My 5 Month Old's Sleep Patterns?

I was blessed with a baby who slept ten hours a night at five weeks - which is what your child is doing! Everything I read at that point said that "sleeping through the night" for babies is not the same as it is for us adults - that for a baby, it means four to five hours at a time - so count yourself as blessed! I went through a horrible time with my "baby" (number 3), who also slept through the night early, but we had "slow growth" issues, and at six months, I was told I should be WAKING her up to feed her during the night - which I had never heard of! I thought the goal was to get them to sleep through the night! Maybe if you want to sleep later in the mornings, you could try to shift her sleep hours a little . . .

Good luck!
B.

Hi B....
My daughter is also 5 months old...well almost..
she was born 8/11. Babies who are breastfed normally require more feedings because breastmilk is digested faster and easier....
My daughter still wakes up once at 1am and once at 4am then sleeps till 8:30. She is in the 75% on her weight chart. I also feed her a jar of baby food before she goes to bed. I dont think we should expect any baby to be the same...
Babies will eat when they need to and wont when they arent hungry.
She is still little....giver her some time. She will sleep longer when she is ready....
As far as mommy time.....well she is still little and needs alot of time from you. Sleep deprivation comes with the territory

I echo what others say about letting your baby follow her own rhythm. Our second son is 4 months and wakes 2-3 times per night. If her waking at 4 is not a huge problem for you, don't let others make you feel it is a problem. Enjoy it as much as you can--this special time will fly by and be gone forever. Also, though many recommend it I would not let my baby cry it out at any age, unless my personal/family situation were such that I NEEDED to have him sleep through. I can't easily imagine such a situation but maybe there are some. Good luck and felictations on your baby!

Good morning B...

My daughter who is now 9 years old would wake at around the same tine as ur daughter so did my son and my both my best friends lil ones.. All these babies were nursed. From my expierence I have noticed this is not uncommon for lil ones of that age group that are nursed.. The cereal may help a lil but I feel personally that there is nothing wrong with it.. Unless it is an issue for you or your schedule. I would not introduce formula unless you are planning on going all the way with it. Also it is not as sweet as breast milk and your lil munchkin may not even take it and can sometimes cause tummy upsets or constipation.. I just feel that if she wants to eat feed her. There is also nothing wrong with letting her lie in her crib and play with her self for a while as well.. Good luck Dear.. Nicc
Oh PS ur friend may have sweet intensions however I do not feel there is anything wrong with waking up for a lil Nursy "mommy time" Ur sweet lil girl is gonna grow very quick n have to face wordly challenges if she wants to spend a few extra months waking to be with u let her and savor it.. soon she will be off n busy n you will miss her 4 am cuddle/feeeding..

A breastfed baby will wake up more often. It is normal. You will have to make the choice which is more important to you - a baby that is exclusively breastfed on demand or controlling your baby's sleep schedule by using formula. I don't think using formula is a guarantee. Also, getting up and making a bottle at 4 am is not any easier than nursing! Again, it's up to you ... there is no right way or wrong way. I just followed my kids' schedules. For baby no. 1, if he was sleeping in the crib and woke up, I would just grab him and take him to bed with me and doze off while nursing and keep him in bed with me. With child no. 2, I never even set up the crib and did co-sleeping and nursing on demand. I got more sleep that way.

Whatever you decide, just follow your own instincts. When friends and family make suggestions, just nod and smile and say "thank you for the suggestion, perhaps I will try that". If you have certain people who are really over-bearing with their advice, don't complain to them. Just tell them everything is fine. Then you don't have to listen to their advice and follow up with them etc... That is my advice!! Take it or leave it!! Good luck! Enjoy that baby!!!

B., there is nothing wrong with nursing or giving the baby a bottle after 9 hours of sleeping. Lucky you! that she goes back to sleep. A baby needs to feel secure and you responding to her makes her feel secure. At 5 months old a baby cannot "manipulate" an adult. Give her all the attention and love you can. My mom gave me this advice and my kids are very secure.

My daughter was waking up at 1, 3, 5, and then up for the day at 7 until almost sixth months...(and she didn't nap well). Having to work full time, I was going a little crazy. Everyone has different thoughts on the matter, but I wasn't ready to let her just cry it out until about 5 1/2 months. She was growing well and my doctor assured me that at this point she was waking out of habit and not necessity. I read a book (more like a handbook/manual...really easy read and very user friendly) called Sleepeasy, by Sleepy Planet. It lays out what should be expected at each age, for nighttime sleep and naps. They use what they call a "dream feed" to wean them off of nursing at night. At first it sounded kind of crazy to me, but it really worked. I felt comfortable with it because it was a nice balance between training them to sleep, letting them cry a bit, but not cutting everything off cold turkey. Within four nights she was sleeping through the night (about 11 hours-- this is from a baby that was waking every 2-3 hours!) and has continued to be a GREAT sleeper and napper. She is now almost 10 months. I highly recommend that reading- it was recommended to me by my sister and friends. Best of luck!

My oldest daughter nursed every 2 hours round the clock for 6 months, then gradually started doing longer stretches, but she was a year old before she was sleeping 8-12 hours without waking at all. My other two were doing 6 hour stretches when they were about a month old. I wouldn't worry about it. She probably still needs this feeding.

There is NO such thing as "sleeping through the night". Even adults don't sleep through the night. You should consider yourself lucky a nursing baby will sleep that long. We co-sleep and my son nurses every two hours and he is 20mo. It doesn't bother me because I go back to sleep while he nurses. I'm enjoying this time while it lasts because I don't know how much longer he will be nursing. FYI- rice cereal is too harsh on babys stomach especially at this age. Babies don't produce the necessary enzymes to break down grains until the age of 1yr. This can cause stomach upset or constipation. A bottle for formula can affect your milk supply, especially since she is going so long without nursing. I would disregard your friends "detached motherly" advice.

B., Every baby is different. My 61/2 month old 95th percentile son still wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat. This is my fourth baby and babies 2 and 3 started to sleep through the night sooner. There are no "shoulds"...it's too soon to start worrying about that kind of stuff. She's too young for established routines, don't discourage her from eating....babies are not natural over eaters, they're taught that, she'll start sleeping through the night at the right time. Sometimes formula for that late night bottle will make the difference but for some babies it won't. You can certainly try it. Right now it sounds to me like you're dead tired but you love nursing your baby. Do it! Remember this is only a season and then she'll move on. There are no 18 year olds getting up every two hours to nurse ;)

GOOD LUCK

It's a cheeseball thing to say, but don't let anyone "should" on you and your baby. Do what works for you and her. She's healthy and growing and her schedule sounds fine. You know what? No 7 year old is waking mom at 4 am to nurse. The truth is, most kids in the first few YEARS don't sleep through the night regularly. They are small for such a short time. Enjoy it, be flexible, and don't stress out.

Also, I disagree wholeheartedly with your pediatrician's food advise. This goes against the recommendations that the American Academy of Pediatrics gives today. My 90% percentile 7 month old is gaining like crazy on just breastmilk, and only comfort nurses in the middle of the night. Please see feeding info on askdrsears.com . If you have been reading babycenter.com please remember that they are hilariously pro-bottle because they are sponsored by the formula companies. Why should you give a bottle when you are nursing? It's easier for you, and you are what your baby wants.

Wow. Honestly, I am a bit disturbed by your "friend's" advice. It sounds like you have an AMAZING sleeper, so I really cannot see the need to give her the bottle at 4am - am I doing the math right... isn't that 8.5 hours of sleep - straight??! The comment about giving the bottle so that your daughter doesn't wake up for "Mommy-time" is the part that I really don't understand... isn't that such a special, yummy time for you too? Especially since you've had a really long stretch throughout the night? I could understand about wanting her to sleep longer if she'd been up a lot during the night, but you sound like you have it made! (I have a one-year-old who wakes at least once or twice at night - sometimes a lot more, so I really cannot even fathom what 8.5 hours feels like!) You've got a great thing going. If I were you, I wouldn't do a thing to screw that up.

Here are some articles about sleep that I think are more realistic...

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html

This one is about 4-month-old sleep patterns specifically -
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html

One thing I know is please don't let someone else dictate your and your daughter's sleep schedule. If you like your morning snuggle time with your daughter, don't put an end to it because someone else is making you feel like your child SHOULD be sleeping longer. And, obviously your daughter likes/needs the Mommy time, so why would you deny her? Let me just say that I would LOVE to have your problem :)

My second daughter is now 6 months. She's been sleeping from about between 7 - 9 pm until about 6 - 7 am in the morning. She also wakes up and wants to nurse and then will go back down about 2 - 3 hours later so I think this is normal. And, I don't think there is really a norm because like you mentioned, each baby is on their own time clock. There are some great websites to check out like babycenter.com. They usually have some pretty good info and good bulletin boards too. Also, what did your ped say about your daughter?

Neither one of my sons slept through the night until 15 months, so I'm not sure how to respond to trying to get a 5 mo. old to do so. I breastfed exclusively and knew that breast milk has much smaller, easily digested proteins that are broken down faster than the huge proteins of cow's milk which led to the baby being hungry sooner. They generally fell asleep about 8:00 pm, woke at around 11:00 or 12:00 and again at around 2:00 am, up for good at around 6:00 am.When they were small, I kept the cradle next to my bed and just picked them up, nursed them, then put them back down, hardly waking myself. When they were older and sleeping in a crib, I got up. I didn't add any solid food until 6 months, which helped. They only woke up once during the late nights. I was lucky enough to not have to work at the time so didn't have to be bright in the mornings. They never had a bottle and I nursed them until 24 & 34 months. My last boy gave up on his own, but I probably would have nursed him until he went to school. It was such a wonderful experience.

Try and relax and enjoy the time you have together. It is sooooo short!

Hello B.;

I have four children that I nursing all of them until 1 1/2 yrs old. The mother's milk is the best gift we have to feed this precious gift from god. Not only the mother's milk is healthy and clean. It will help you and your daughter a good bonding together because of the closeness when you nursing her. The challenge of being a mother is wonderful and rewarding after we do lot of sacrifices with raising our children. My eldest daughter is 25 yrs old and married, have a first grand daughter of mine at the age of 17 mth old. My eldest son is 21 yrs old and in college doing Video and Games Designer in NY, my 16 yrs old is already in Junior College and 14 yrs old son is freshman from high school and involved in Marching Band and Boy Scout. I am a homemaker mom and give up my career because my time with my children and family is the most important job for me. I took all of my four children with me every where I go, I don't have any family here in California and mostly of my family lived in
Alaska so I took care of everything myself while my husband is providing us everything. I schedule everything what my four children do including play. They're all routine and when they went to school, the routine is such a good idea because it will help them to use their time wisely. All of them has to go to bed at 8:30 pm. When they finished school, I always pick them up right away and I have them sit down in our big family dining table and doing their homework first while they're eating their snacks and drinks. I make sure I bake them some cookies and cake so that when they come home they have snacks to eat. I always advise them to work first before play or sometimes they requested for a time off for 30 minutes then work with their homework again which I allow them and teaching them how to negotiate with me. But their priority is work first then play. Being a mother is a hard work but it is rewarding when you raised them properly. Since I am housewife, I was active to volunteered in my children school to be a room mom,PTA,Soccer,fund raising,doing Chairperson etc., I used to teach Art in elementary until my children went to middle school. I chaperone with their school field trips everywhere I could see my children growing up. I was involved to be Girl Scout Troop Leader because I am helping my 16 yrs old work with her Gold Award even thought she is in Junior College already. I am helping my son also to reach his Eagle Scout Award right now. My 25 yrs old,16 yrs old and 14 yrs children are playing 5 musical instruments and they loved music so much that I have them a private tutor to come to my house to tutor them with piano. I also drove them to a private music teacher to teach them drum,alto saxophone,clarinet,trombone,electric guitar and base guitar and it is worth it my time and effort. It is tiring but if they are all happy to do it, why not and invest with your children. My 21 yrs old is also musician but his passion is art and very good and had a natural talent in art. So if your daughter wanted you to nurse her in order to sleep, do it and enjoy the experienced of being a mother because she will grow so fast and you will be surprised how she turn out. Being closer to her all the time, she will be close and she will be very good child. Invest those time with her and she needed you. Since this is your first time, give her the best time and milk in her life. She will be good to you later on in my life because she will remember those moment of you and her. My advise to you, if she goes to sleep, go to sleep and take a nap because that's what I do when I nursed them. You have to take care of her and yourself. Enjoy every single time of her because she is precious gift to you by god. Imagine a lot of women all over the world would like to have a child, but unfortunately, they can have it, so think about it. Some paid to have in-vitro fertilization in order to get pregnant but still sometimes it did not work. Be thankful and appreciated her that you have a wonderful daughter and healthy. Please take care of her and adore her. We as a mother, we have to sacrifice to have this child in our womb and then giving birth to them. Don't you think that is miracles to have this process to our body and why do you think god gave us this mission to have because we as a mother, we are more stronger and understanding,patience and lovingly to be a mother than giving this to a man. Man does not have a patience that we have to raised children. By the way, my mother had 10 children 5 boys and 5 girls but one of younger sister died when she was a baby. I don't know how my mother did it but she done it. Look around you and you will see and heard that there is so much children neglected in the streets all over the world and mistreated,molested,abandon. Love her and do your best to raise your daughter, the first child is our first experience. It is okay if we make mistakes,we are just a human being and we are not perfect. Also take photo of her every month and start her scrapbooking which I only took photo of each one of my children then gave it to them when they grow up to see what I have to go through with them. I noticed that children that are breastfeeding,become a good children and they're not perfect but they turn out to be a good children. None of my children are in drugs,alcohol and other stuffs that this teenagers do. I was raised in strict catholic family but since I was living in america, I have to try my best to raised my children in Christian way and make sure they understand how to respect themselves and others. I hope I did not bore you with my experienced with my four children, I just wanted to share with you how hard to raised four children into one child. A big difference but they're all in a good situation right now and doing what they suppose to do. Good luck and take care of your precious gift and yourself,husband. Always cuddled and hug,give her kisses and she will be a fine child.

A.

I think your baby sounds normal and healthy! Bottle ( formula ) fed babies usually sleep longer, but there's no guarantee and nursing is far better for her and you, too! My son, now 2 years old slept only 3 or 4 hours at a time and then wanted to nurse @ 5 months old. My daughter, now 5 years old, slept all night at 8 weeks old! But now they both sleep all night (7-7) and yours will too! My point is every baby is different and as long as it's not completely ridiculous you could meet her needs and pat yourself on the back for being a good mama! Sleep (never enough) has to be the hardest part of motherhood. Her wanting "Mommy-time" at 4 a.m. could be her wanting reassurance you're still there and you consistently show her you are! It's great that she's thriving! Honestly, I've heard a lot of sleeping horror stories, the norm is not sleeping 12 hours at this age... KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, your daughter will be a very happy little girl!
Sincerely, M.
SAHM 5yr old girl and 2 yr old boy

Hi B.,
First off there is no "norm". Your baby will sleep through the night when she is ready too. And your baby is a great sleeper. If you want to force her to adhere to sleeping thru the night, just let her cry it out. Personally, I think 5 months is a bit young for that. If she wants Mommy-time at the 4am feeding then have your husband give her a bottle at that time(it doesn't have to be formula, you can express breastmilk into a bottle).
My 16 month old didn't sleep through the night until she was around 1 year old and I too breastfed her. We cosleeped for close to a year so she was fed on demand. Check out the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Weissbluth. It is really informative and good for each stage of development.

Oh yeah, stop comparing things with your friends and what they think your child should be doing. You know your child the best!
Hope that Helps!

If you don't have a problem with her waking up for a nursing, whether it's for food and/or mommy-time, then don't worry about what your friend is saying. Substituting a bottle for nursing will not help with your milk supply and could jeopardize it. Your daughter's sleeping schedule sounds exactly like my son's. He is now 14 mos and still wakes up for an early morning feeding. It doesn't bother me, I am happy to give my baby some mommy-time/feeding since I am away from him all day. Enjoy the time they are little, it goes by so fast!

Absolutely DO NOT give her a bottle at night. That is the absolute worst thing for a baby who will be getting her little teeth soon. I have a 5.5 month old baby girl as well. She started waking up at 4am to nurse as well. But my pediatrician had warned me about it. She said that baby will stop sleeping through the night at some point and will be waking up wanting to nurse again and that is an indication that she is ready to eat solid foods because the milk is no longer satisfying her for long enough to sleep through the night. So after three nights of me having to get up with her to nurse my husband and I started feeding her rice cereal and she immediately started sleeping through the night again. And since my pediatrician forewarned that it would happen and how to get her to sleep through the night again, I'm sure its probably similar with every child. So please try that! No bottles in bed please. My daughter now is eating three meals of rice a day, one meal we mix in a vegetable. She nurses still four or five times a day, and sleeps twelve hours through the night. Its great:) I think your baby is just hungry, she's not trying to manipulate mommy time from you this early in her little life, that comes later:)

I have 4 kids ages 20 months to 6. They still do not sleep through the night. Every child is different. Their sleep patteerns change often and if she is waking up she is probably hungry or wet. If you give bottles to her fine, but if you exclusively nurse why introduce the bottle? Just giving her a bottle is not a guarantee she will sleep through the night anyway. good luck! There are no rules on this one.