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Guys, I’m about to crack up! I cannot get my little fella to sleep through the night. Do any of you have any good ideas? He is still on the boob during the night and formula every second feed during the day. Any advice would be really welcome.
No advice really other than I feel your pain as my dd breast fed through the night till much older than your child.
I don’t actually remember when mine slept through the night , I know she was well older than 1.
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Didn’t really try to do anything about it though, as its wasn’t my style to take away her main source of comfort… I was just happy she was still getting the Breast Milk as I believed the long term benefits would far outweigh the annoyance at the time..and I know I made the right decision ...I just caught up on rest during the day which I appreciate may not be an option for yourself if you have other children/ commitments, so I am sure there is a wealth of advice on here to come to help you.
By the way congratulations on the breast feeding, I would defiantely recommend you try to continue in some capacity as long as you are able as studies shown the huge benefits of extended breast feeding..society as a whole and advertising from companies all make us feel that at 6 months a child should be automatically stopping breast feeding and this is certainly not the case.
Maybe you yourself are thinking this about your child bf at night and that if you weren’t bf then maybe you would be getting more sleep..I know I used to.
Yep, the lay down approach worked for us. You put baby to bed, after being fed and stay with him, repeatedly telling him that ‘its time for sleep, you are going to sleep all night’.
Say this over and over again until he falls asleep. Stay with him and stroke his belly or back (depending which way he sleeps) until he is asleep.
Each time he wakes during the night say this over and over again. They understand what we are saying even at this age and if you keep repeating it, he will get the message
Do this for 3 nights and on the 4th night, put him down and repeat ‘its time for sleep,you are going to sleep all night’ and leave the room while he is still awake. He should know by now, this means he has to go asleep.
I honestly did not believe this would work but I was at my wits end and I was willing to try anything and this worked for us.
It took 4 nights and the first two nights were not easy but we stuck with it and by night 4, we had a sleeping baby and it was nowhere near as stressful and the ‘let them cry it out’ approach which we had tried before hand and the person most upset by that, after baby, was me!
Good luck, if you want more details please PM me, I know its tough now but there is light at the end of the tunnel 😆
Thanks for the replies. Sabbi, we tried this method on our first and I remember it worked but I think he was a bit older and didn’t really need feeds during the night. The 5 month old is taking full feeds every 3 hours all night and day. It is just so frustrating, I have pals that had babies before and after me and all are sleeping from 7pm to after 9 am in some cases. I am going to introduce a bottle during the night which I am going to insist my hubby gives him because I really need a sleep. My 3 year old is a bit of a live wire which I have all day for most of the week. I own my own company so I have that to do all day at homes aswell therefore I unfortunately don’t have any chance during the day for a snooze. The 3 yr old does go for 2 hours kip every lunch time but its the only chance I get to get anything done and it is usually when the baby starts acting up too!!! God I sound like a right moaner!
Yep, the lay down approach worked for us. You put baby to bed, after being fed and stay with him, repeatedly telling him that ‘its time for sleep, you are going to sleep all night’.
Say this over and over again until he falls asleep. Stay with him and stroke his belly or back (depending which way he sleeps) until he is asleep.
Each time he wakes during the night say this over and over again. They understand what we are saying even at this age and if you keep repeating it, he will get the message
Do this for 3 nights and on the 4th night, put him down and repeat ‘its time for sleep, you are going to sleep all night’ and leave the room while he is still awake. He should know by now, this means he has to go asleep.
I honestly did not believe this would work but I was at my wits end and I was willing to try anything and this worked for us.
It took 4 nights and the first two nights were not easy but we stuck with it and by night 4, we had a sleeping baby and it was nowhere near as stressful and the ‘let them cry it out’ approach which we had tried before hand and the person most upset by that, after baby, was me!
Good luck, if you want more details please PM me, I know its tough now but there is light at the end of the tunnel 😆
its a tricky one all kids are different… my ds1 went through the night at 3 weeks but ds2 (both BF) didnt go through the night for a good bit longer….
I use the pick up put down on ds1 ds2 that just wont work with he gets upset when being put down, so much that he would get sick… so i just do kinda like what sabbi said, i give the doody and some comfort and say "ist okay mammy is here its just sleepytime" over and over… believe me i do be nearly falling asleep… the difference with me i comfort and leave the room… if he cries i will return and repeat and leave…. Dont like to give a habit of picking up or staying… dh would stay but NO WAY would i unless sick…kinda agree with hmm, think we are conditioned to believe oh 6 months time to give up… which is such a pity really
our ds only started sleeping through the night recently and he is 15 months!! 🙄 🙄 The control crying technique worked for us. I couldnt do it but dh did and took control of the whole training – was brilliant and now ds sleeps so well 😉 Your baba is so small maybe when solids are introduced it might help keep him asleep for longer periods. Taylor is right – every kid is different – our first slept solid from 6 mths and then this little man took 14 mths – best of luck – try to get rest yourself where you can 😯
Hi there,
Maybe the problem is not with the sleep but that your little ds is hungry. You do not mention whether or not you have weaned onto solids yet. If he is a big child, the milk may not be enough to keep him. Try him on some baby rice to fill him up – not sure if it would be recommended just before bed but you could try it around teatime.
Up to 6 months it is apparently a lot easier to sort out a sleep problem with a child. Once they hit around the 6 months mark, they have appparently developed a bad habit which you will have great fun sorting!!!
My ds was a nightmare. He was great up to about 5 months – sleeping through from 3 months. He then starting waking at night looking for bottle. We got into the habit of giving it to him. It really got beyond a joke when he was 22 months – he was waking several times a night looking for bottle and soaking in the morning. Changed the teeth on the bottle and he gave up bottle and waking at night completely within the week.
On dd, was determined not too make the same mistake – she was sleeping through the night by 8 weeks.
We have started him on baby rice about two weeks ago in a bid to fill him up. He is not a really hungry baby to be honest. The bottles he is taking are lasting him the 3 hours during the day but he will only drink about 4oz (+4 scoops). I reckon if I could stay up late enought that it would push his next feed to a later time than 1 in the morning. The next feed instead of 4am would be a bit later and I might not feel so tired. I wake up feeling so tired I want to go to bed as if it was night time. I am so tired in the evening that I cannot stay awake though. Poor hubby isn’t getting a look in! 😕
slr have you tried dream feeding him? Or cluster feeding?
at 5 months i would have had both mine on 4hour feeds but theywere bottle feed.
My older girl wasn’t great at drinking formula BUT she was sleeping, the phn nurse tld me to start waking her again for her feed but instead we gave her a bottle at 7pm, then dream feed her a small bottle at pm & again around 11/12, in our case it was more to top up formula intake than anything else but i did something similare with my 2nd girl and it did help her sleep throughOh you poor thing – three hour intervals at 5 months is not long. I think that bottle fed babies tend to drink more and have longer gaps between because they are not so much on demand – not that we starve them but that they have to wait for a bottle to be made. A breast fed baby can get in the habit of just taking a top up because they know that when they want a bit more, it is ready and waiting.
The cluster feeding sounds like a good idea.
What about giving drinks of water during the night? We tried this too when the babies were small. I would send my hubby in so they could not see me or smell my milk! he would give a small drink of water and sometimes that would settle them back.
I guess anything is worth a shot at this stage!!
Good luck, hope things settle for you all soon.
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