Need Help Getting 5 1/2 Month Baby to Stay Sleeping

Each child has their own individual wants and needs and we must adjust for that. It will get better but right now at this age you need to bite the bullett and accept her as she is. Try and get some sleep while she naps or whenver you can fit it in. Also by this age she should be drinking more than 4 oz try increasing her milk amount at bedtime and see if that helps. Also I would try a some rice cereal in her bottle at bed to help fill her up and see if that helps. Good Luck!

Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth. It's a terrific book that saved my sanity. When my youngest was 5 months old he was waking up many times a night.

One thing that Weissbluth recommends is making sure that your child gets enough sleep during the day. It's counterintuitive, but if she doesn't nap much, it will be harder for her to sleep well at night. "Sleep begets sleep," as Weissbluth says.

I followed W's instructions and started putting my baby down two hours after he woke up in the mornings -- if he woke up at 6, his morning nap was at 8. Same thing for the second nap -- two hours after waking from the morning nap.

Within a few weeks my baby was sleeping through the night and I was in heaven.

Hello C., let me say that My first baby, was the same as ur first, my daughter who is now gonna be 3 next month only woke up once for a bottle, and that only lasted for about a month 1/2. I felt i was blessed, because i heard of kids that would wake up at all times of the night. Now with my second child (my son is going on 5 months), he still wakes up every 2 hours to eat, i kid u not, i bathe him about 6, feed him, and he is asleep by about 6:30, 7. He wakes up again at about 9, then at about 12, then 2, then 4, then 6, then 8, then he is up for the day....And it is like this everyday. Now the good part is that i have a very big bed, and i know its bad, but he sleeps with me, that way when he wakes up, its easier for me to feed him because i exclusively breast feed. Its still very exausting. I asked his doctor, about when he would start to sleep the night, but they said he should between months 5 and 6...So i would say to give it another couple of weeks... im hoping the same, i cant wait to finally get a full nights sleep.
L.

PS. I also started giving him solids, but it doesnt help, he still wakes to eat like clock work

It isn't uncommon for children to still wake during the night until age 3, their circadian rhythm isn't the same as adults, so they have a harder time staying asleep during their "light sleep" cycles. I commend you for not using CIO, it is the common answer to all problems, sadly. My 11 month old still doesn't sleep through the night, but she is getting closer.

Your daughter is still a bit too young for this, but when she is old enough for yogurt, try mixing 2 parts vanilla yogurt, 1 part cottage cheese, 1 part pureed fruit and 1 part pureed veggie, with a dash of cinnamon for sweetness, if desired. Feed it to your daughter as close to bedtime as you can. The protein from the dairy will stick in her stomach longer than other foods or formula/bm and will leave her feeling full longer. Remember not to use low fat dairy, unless absolutely necessary, as our babies need the added fat. It worked wonders for my daughter, and about 20 other moms I know.

try a bottle of rice cereal-the feeder types-then a bottle of formula...worked great for my kids-last feed was 10pm,,,slept til 6-7 am...good luck

just do what you gotta do. a baby has a tiny stomach, and triples their weight and doubles their height in a year. this is the only time (hopefully) that your baby will have this rate of growth! so that requires a LOT of feeding.

so this is life right now. believe me, you will actually miss this when they are older. i do! (though i breastfed so i could sleep while nursing!)
you just have to keep responding and im so glad to hear that you are not going to CIO!! :) :) good going mom!! :) :)

They are all so different! Good for you for not letting her CIO, it isn't necessary.

I nursed and did the family bed thing, which made it easier to roll over, soothe, feed if needed without waking up fully. However, the thing that really helped was Dr. Sears Night Time Parenting. Dr Sears has never failed me and there is also an Web site online for easy access.

Sounds like a growth spurt and more milk is part of the deal, but do remember that anything with kids, change is certain and soon you will be through this and on to some other stage.

Take care and enjoy your baby...

Growth-spurt.

She is approaching, the 6 month mark, and this is a growth-spurt time... and major developmental changes time.
This happens.
They get hungrier and need to feed.

Each baby, is different in sleep and temperament.
Don't compare to the other baby.

Both my kids as babies, fed a LOT.... and they "cluster fed" which means a baby will even need to feed/get hungry every single hour.
They need to be fed. They are growing. My kids had HUGE appetites... and woke like yours.
Its normal.

For the 1st year of life, breast or Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition... not solids and not other liquids. This is per our Pediatrician as well... and they need to be fed on-demand. And so intake keeps pace with their growth/development.

Or, when she wakes... see if she is just tossing and turning... or really waking... and crying. If she is just tossing and turning.. let her be. She may simply be sort of 'awake' but still go back to sleep on her own. KNOW her sounds. Sometimes, a baby does not have to be picked up at every sound/movement they make while sleeping... unless they REALLY wake and then cry. Then feed her.
Wakings... are either because they need to and are hungry... or they are just tossing and turning... and at this type of 'waking' they, if not interrupted... may just go back to sleep.

But your baby DOES seem hungry thus waking. She IS intaking 4 ounces each time. So yes, at that point you need to feed her. As you said, she IS hungry EACH time she wakes.
Both my kids were like that too. But I breastfed.

Or, have your Husband wake and feed her at night. So you can rest.

"Over-stimulated" babies, do not sleep well. Nor over-tired babies. Know her cues. A baby, will typically get tired, after about 2 hours of 'awake' time... then need a nap. Babies, typically nap 3 times a day. Is she napping?

**Adding this: what you could ALSO do is... instead of giving her a 4 ounce bottle... try putting more in it. Say 6 ounces. She may very well, drink that, all of it. Thus, this will indicate to you, that she needs more... and is hungry.

all the best,
Susan

We had similar issues with our now 8 month old. We kept trying every week or so to transition him to a sleep sack, and increased the amount of formula we gave him at a time. He still isn't a perfect sleeper, but it has gotten SO much better. I was losing my mind at 5.5-6 months just like you. Try to hang in there. I promise it will get better. (I agree with the other poster on making sure she is getting good naps, and putting her down later than 6:30, mine goes to be around 8:30)

Good for you. I didn't like CIO either and it didn't work for my kids. For sleep issues, I always recommend Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's book, "Sleepless in America." Good luck! Mary really helped my boys with sleep issues.

If your princess is not staying asleep for long periods during the night there are a few reasons:
1. Try to get her to take longer nap in the afternoon and keep her up later than 6:30 pm. She needs to get more activity in her before she goes to sleep for the night.
2. Low hormone time for us all is between 4-6 pm. This time is usually a down time, that's why some people call it "cocktail hour", or they may have a "short fuse" when they are coming home from work. Your princess experiences the same down time. Put her in a relaxing situation, but don't let her go to sleep. Try to feed her but keep the lights on, the activity level around her high, and try to play with her to keep her awake longer. You need to give her a bath, get her involved with reading (www.iahp.org - Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential), or music. I did the IAHP program and my first princess was reading at 2 yrs. 9 mos.
3. Another possiblity is that your princess may not like wet diapers, mine never did. It is not too early for infants to be sensitive that way. A baby's skin is 10 x more sensitive than ours.
4. Be sensitive to her...If you cannot find anything wrong with her and you have checked with the doctor to make sure that she is not going though a growth spurt, then, and only then, would I lie down with her and let her know that she is loved. Remember, if you have another child, she will never see this attention again.
5. Do not feed you infant fruit before she goes o bed. Many fruits, including apple, oranges, grapes, have salicyltes (which act ife caffeine for children). If you suspect a food sensitivity, check with the Feingold Association. God Bless!

OK, sleep is a habit. So is eating. If you watch yourself, you eat at the same times every day. So, first things first, you have to break the eating habit. At 5.5 months, she should be able to go at least 5 hours (upwards to 7 really) at night without food. So, when she wakes at 12, see if she really wants to eat. Just because they wake, that doesn't mean they want to eat. With my first child, I thought waking meant hungry, but after 12 weeks, it doesn't, it just means "waking" and inability to self-sooth back to sleep. So, really push the paci. Let her fuss a little. The game plan should be to slowly break her of each waking, till she only needs one night feeding.

I used a baby whisperer hybrid-method with my son. The idea is to not let them CIO, but to let them cry but with you comforting them. You go to them, pick them up, and as soon as they calm down, you put them back down, saying your soothing words (mine are, "it's bed time, love you.") It could take upwards to 20 times before they decide to just go back down, but it does work, and I was able to gently break my son of his 10, 12 and 2 wakings, and now, at 7.5, he only wakes once to eat.

Also, there is a wonder week at week 26. She will settle down some after this period, for sure. You could wait until then and see what happens, but seriously, sleep is a habit, and with a lot of these little ones, they get into the habit of waking at a certain time, and they keep on doing it, and doing it, and doing it.