My 5-Month Old Won't Sleep For More Than 1-3 Hours At a Time At Night ... Please Help!?
Please only answer this if you do not use the Cry It Out Method. My 5-month old baby boy is so sweet, takes hour long naps during the day, but has NEVER slept longer than about 3 hours at night. I try putting him down early (7pm) like all the books say, but then he wakes at 8pm, 10:30ish, midnight, 2ish, 4ish and up a little before 6am. I feel like I'm going nuts with sleep deprivation! We used to co-sleep, but we wanted to move him to his own crib, which he sleeps in great WHEN HE'S ACTUALLY ASLEEP!) I've read The No Cry Sleep Solution, and those methods have not helped yet (it's been a month), & the only way he goes back to sleep is by nursing or he'll just fuss & fuss & fuss.
Any suggestions? Please only nice people respond ... I'm too cranky & sleep deprived to deal with mean judgmental comments. Thanks!
Megan2008-09-20T04:11:10Z
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Try some of the following, they worked for my baby, but he did sleep a bit more than your to start with..
- Put him to sleep in the same place he will stay throughout the duration of his sleep, they freak out and wake if they stir and they are in a different place.
- Try put him to sleep in his cot/crib or wherever he is sleeping and just stay with him patting him etc. It shows him that its ok to fall asleep on his own.
- When he wakes at night, make everything you do very "down to business". Just take a nappy into his room and change him in his bed.. easier to do if not a #2. Dont make eye contact, talk to him or play in any way. Take the bottle in with you - or if you breastfeed, even better. Sit in his room (get a comfy chair in there) and feed, burp and put back in cot/crib. Do the same to get him to sleep as you did at the start of the night. If he is shown that waking at night isnt fun, he will eventually only do it if he is in fact hungry. Also, dont turn on any lights, a little glow light in the room is best, lights wake them and the ideal thing you can do is not have him completly awake.
- Try feed him more before he goes to sleep at night. Even if this means every hour on the hour for 3 hours in the lead up to bedtime. He will be full and therefore sleep a little longer. I think the term for this "cluster feed".
-Also you could try "dreamfeeding". Just before you go to bed late at night, feed him while he is still asleep. As soon as he feels the bottle or breast, he will begin the sucking relfex as he still young enough to have this.
-A good bedtime routine definately helps. I give him a bath, a massage and bottle in his room and he has learned what bathtime means - settle down for bedtime. As soon as I put that routine in place, I noticed an improvement!
Just a few tips that really helped me, but ever baby is defferent. I think the main thing is consistency. Most of the time new techniques dont start to work until after you do it for a while, so dont give up on whatever you decide to try.
He's waking up because he is hungry, hence him only falling asleep when you nurse him. He is only 5 months old. Unfortunatly some babies wake up more often then others. You have a hungry little guy there and if he is hungry , he will wake up, no matter what you do. Sorry about that.
My daughter is 22 months and still wakes up about 2 times a night. So you want to talk sleep deprived, try it for almost 2 years.
I was having alot of anxiety before sleeping and could not fall asleep. Had many many sleepless nights.
I was just playing with the program one afternoon and wanted to listen to the �Power Nap� track. Next thing I knew I was waking up! Fell right asleep without trying. After using the �Fall Asleep� track, I could fall asleep right away. But I didn't realize that I shouldn't be using that one all night. Switched to Whole Night and have been using it ever since.
I can go to sleep with ease now. I just lay and listen to the sounds and next thing I know I am waking up from a nice sleep. I don't suffer from lack of sleep anymore. I keep an IPod with earbuds next to my bed and take it ALWAYS when traveling. The earbuds help block out ambient noise and the sleep tracks keep me sleeping sound :)
If you want to put your baby to sleep in 20 seconds you must get the "Instant Baby Sleep" MP3 sound track. Here is their official web-site: http://www.instantbabysleep.net
The sound track gently produces energy over the full human hearing spectrum with an embedded pulse that gently eases the brain to the Alpha state well known for drowsiness and sleep induction.