Does anyone have any suggestions on things I can try to get my 6 month old daughter to sleep through the night? For the past few months she wakes 7 or 8 times during the night, and when she does sleep through the night she cries out a lot. We have her on a pretty good night time routine, dinner, bath, snuggle time, read a book and put down to sleep, but she just doesnt seem to be wanting to sleep through the night anymore. She also has stopped napping during the day, she went from taking two, two hour naps to maybe one twenty minute nap. HELP PLEASE!
She is eating one jar of stage 1 veggies and one jar of stage 1 fruit at night, sometimes mixed with cereal, as well as has a bottle before bed. She is teething and i've tried to give tylenol but she still wakes up a lot during the night. Maybe this is just a stage and will pass. I hope.
Maybe the bath is waking her up...I have a 8yr old, 6 yr old and a 2 year old and the 2 boys really liked their baths at night but my 8 year old daughter had to have a morning bath!
I recommend reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr.
Weisbluth, and Dr. Ferber's book. I bet she's over-tired, which is messing up all her sleep. Those books really helped me. She may not be ready to go all night without maybe one feeding, but she needs to nap more (2-3 times), and you both need less interrupted night sleep. Good luck! PS- the experts say that what you feed a baby and how much doesn't really effect how long they sleep, unless there are serious allergies or something.
A., my daughter is almost 20 months and she just recently started to sleep all night. Unfortunately babies have their own schedules. This will pass eventually but you just have to be patient.
Our daughter has always slept through the night... and I think it is because we have always kept her on a pretty strict eating schedule. We always feed her about the same times every day - lay her down to bed the same time every night and get her up the same time every morning... the only time she stopped sleeping through the night was when she was in a in home daycare for a few weeks when she was younger... the lady wouldnt feed her on my suggested eating schedule and she would often skip a bottle all together when she was over there!! I had to get her up and feed her once a night while she watched by that lady - we didnt have her over there very long. Anyway... babies thrive on routine... now our little girl is 11 months old and she knows that we sleep in a little longer on the weekends and doesnt mind playing by herself in her crib until we get up... all in due time I am sure you will find out what helps and works best for your family
PS - we always used to put her down with this lullabies cd we have... it put her right out! Now we dont even worry about it - when we put her down and cuddle her up she knows it is sleepy time...
If she's teething you can buy things called Teething Tablets at walmart (probably target to, but I dunno). They are like $4-5 bucks for 100 pills of so. You simply dissolve them in water and either use a medicine dropper to put them in her mouth or mix them into a bottle. Its all natural so it doesn't hurt. Not sure what makes them work, but they worked wonders on my son. Good luck
I had the sleep nightmare from hell when my then 10 month old (born preemie) daughter came home (adopted). She was up EVERY hour on the hour for EIGHT LONG WEEKS! I have sleep issues from time to time myself so I knew that the less sleeps she got the les she could get in the future and also sleep patterns develop quickly so she had trained herself to wake every hour basically, not intentionally of course.
After trying literally everything from co-sleeping to removing all naps, I consulted my dad who is a doctor and he said give her some benadryl every night for two weeks longer than she has had the issue. It did the trick. The first night she slept 3 hours instead of one and then woke every hour on the hour, the next night it was 4, then 5....and now she sleeps 12 hours 7:30p-7:30a (I have in home child care and children come nearly every day and some eves so she IS tired!).
I would encourage you to give her benadryl for a few weeks. I also discovered that teething was the culprit at least some of the time. A little tylenol once in a while helps her at bedtime too.
In case you are wondering, benadryl is very safe and has been used in infants and children longer than motrin so please do not feel concerned about using it. You may find that it helps at first and then once she is off it returns. It is ok to use it as needed at night.
Some children get excitability from benadryl though this is not common so watch for that on the first night but I bet she sleeps!
My best to you....and if YOUR sleep is messed up from this you can take 2 yourself!
L.
hi A., what is her feeding schedule like ? i watch a 5 month old little boy that he was eating 6oz bottles every three hours. so now ive gotten him on a schedule that his mother and i agree is good for him and us. he usually gets up at 5am and feeds hima 6oz bottle and then he is usually here by 8 or so. at 9am i feed him 4 or 5 tablespoons of cereal and a 60z bottle then at 10 am he goes down for nap by himself. he wakes up at 12 or so i wait for a half hour and then give him lunch which consists of 3 tablespoons of cereal 1 jar fruit, 1 jar veggie both in the first foodsand then a 6 oz bottle, 2 of the ozs are in the cereal, and i try to hold of the bottle for at least a half hour 45 mins, he then gets this again at dinner around 6 pm (his mom works odd hours) and then when she gets him home she will spend some time with him and gives him another bottle and puts him to bed. this has solved his waking up in the middle of the night and being real restless when trying to sleep. he has now put on 3 pounds and grown like 3 inches. i know it seems like alot of food but some babies have a faster metabolism than others. i would start with breakfast and in a cereal with the fruit and her normal bottle then after playing some lay her down for a nap. look for the clues rubbing her eyes whatever she does whenshe tired and then lay her down, her sleeping may very well be caused by not eating enough which will fix the nap in the daytime and then fix also her going to bed at night. i have another little girl that i started watching her when she was 6 months old and by the time she was 9 months she was eating 3 jars of the 3rd foods every meal. she was walking at 10 months old. she was na really good eater she was on table food shortly after that. W. mom of 4 and home chilg care provider
Hi A.. It does sound to me like she is just really worn out. My baby girl, now 10 1/2 months did would get that way too. What seemed to help was consistency. Just like your bedtime routine, make daytime consistent too. I really tried to get a good schedule down for daytime. A really good book that gave some great guidelines is by Dr. Weissbluth and called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. He emphasizes the importance of rest and how we need to help them get the rest they need. I've checked it out at our library at least 4 or 5 times over the past 5 months. It is a little overwelming to get into at first, but he has great tips. With my baby I found that I had to give it at least 1-2 weeks before things got better. So decide what you are going to try then stick to it. I think daytime napping can be the most frustrating thing. As far as night goes, I finally had to let her cry it out. I was going in to check on her some nights, giving her the paci other nights, and really being inconsistent. Our pediatrician said to put her to bed like normal and then not go in until morning. It didn't take long at all and pretty soon she was sleeping all night. She still occasionally cries out but, no longer than a few seconds. Hang in there, this to shall pass!
Just wanted to let you know you are not the only one out there. My son just turned 8 months and he still gets up 2-3 times a night. If you find something that works please pass it on.
She may need her schedule changed. She definitely needs more sleep during the day. She's overtired, so she's exhausted by bedtime and can't sleep restfully at night.
Here's a website to the Baby Whisperer. I highly recommend posting there for some help on naps and sleep. http://www.babywhisperer.com/smf/
HTH.
Hi A.!!
Does your daughter take cereal? When my son was about 3 1/2 months old he started doing the same thing and my Mom told me to give him cereal. After a couple of days of that he was sleeping longer and not waking up nearly as much. His bottles just weren't holding him over until morning. As far as naps go if my son wakes up after only 20-30 minutes I just leave him alone and he will cry for a while but eventually he will go back to sleep. Sometimes he does get hysterical and then I have to get him and rock him. Does your daughter use a pacifier? I read that babies that use pacifiers are able to soothe themselves back to sleep versus babies who don't. My son has always used one and he can usually get himself back to sleep. I hope this helps.
My 6 month old was doing the same thing. She was still taking naps throughtout the day but at night is crying and sleeping crying and sleeping. I think she was teething. We had her 6 month check up and the doc just said to give her motrin in case her teeth are hurting. Does she seem to have a cold or anything because sometimes they can get fluid behind the ears and it can hurt a little. I gave my daughter some motrin and it seemed to calm her down and then a few nights later she was sleeping like normal and a tooth had appeared. I was giving her tylenol and it did nothing. Motrin did the trick.
For Sleeping through the night i would try to give her some cereal before she goes to bed. Thats is what worked for me and i started that at 4 months with both of my kids.
Is she waking up screaming, she could be teething, maybe give her some tylenol before putting her to bed if thats the case. Every baby is different, my son always slept thru the night but woke when his gums bothered him.
G.
The "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth is my sleep 'bible'. It really, really helped me understand the sleep habits/needs of my child at different stages of his development.
It's true what someone else said: sleep begets sleep. The more she sleeps, the more she'll sleep. This may sound counterintuitive, but try putting her down for a super early bedime for a while. Once she catches up on this sleep deficit she's going through she should regulate herself.
Good luck!!
J.
My baby went through that recently & now he has 2 teeth. You might try giving her an infant pain releiver before bed if you think she might be cutting teeth.
Infant motrin or store brand ALWAYS has worked better on my kiddos than tylenol. Sorry I cant think of more to offer right now, I have a sick little one clingy to Mom!
Best of luck!
S.
Hey A.,
Around six months is when I starting working on getting my son to sleep through the night. Just some suggestions, if you haven't already tried this stuff: feed her cereal shortly before bedtime, put it in her bottle if you formula feed, so her tummy is real full while she sleeps, when she wakes up do all you can to not pick her up or take her out of her crib At all, pat her back, give her her pacifier, swaddle her in the crib, but don't take her out and hold her! This might take a few days/ weeks and alot of patience. If nothing works and she seems to just cry all through the night talk to her peditrician before waiting for her next appt.
hope some of this helps.
J.
The book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child is very helpful ( I can't remember the authors name). The main point is that sleep begets more sleep... So I'm not surprised that your little one isn't sleeping during the day or at night. This book really helped us get over some sleeping hurdles. Godspeed!
Hi, A.! Looks like you already got plenty of advice! I just wanted to tell you about a fabulous book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. A six month old doesn't usually have the capability to sleep through the night, but waking 7 or 8 times is too frequent. If she doesn't nap well during the day she will be overtired and find sleeping difficult. Work h*** o* getting three good naps, try to stick it out during the night until the naptime routine is back and know that it will likely get worse before it gets better!
I noticed you are a home daycare provider in Park City, could you give me some information on that? We may be interested in daycare on Mon and Wed from 2:30 to about 8pm? Most daycares dont go this late, but we desperately need it for cheap. I may be starting a new job and need the care. Please let me know!!!
Thanks,
--S.
