6 Mos Old, How to Get to Sleep Through the Night

If baby is going to bed at 7:30pm he's not going to make it to morning without feeding. At six months of age my babies were sleeping through the night, but that meant going to bed at 10:00pm, waking at 5:00am for feeding, and going back to sleep until 8 or 9:00am. I did Ferber at six months to eliminate the feedings between 10:00pm and 5:00am. You will probably have to wake him for a feeding before you go to bed and expect an early morning feeding.

I think your expectations are not realistic. None of my kids ever slept 11 hours in a row. If she is going from 7:30PM until 5:30AM and only nursing twice in that long time, then I think she is doing great.

The standard is to say that many babies can sleep through the night around this age, but the definition of sleeping throug the night is usually 6 hours in a row. You are expecting double that. Sorry mama, but your baby is totally normal and is actually already a really good sleeper compared to many.

If you want to cut down on the number of times you get up in the night, rather than letting her wake you to eat, you could consider doing a 'dream feed' just before you go to bed (I assume you don't go to bed at 7:30). This is when you pick up a sleeping baby to nurse. She will nurse in her sleep without ever waking up. And she fills her belly so that is one less wake-up for you.

Check out the book by Jodi Mindel. It is called "Sleeping Through the Night-How babies,toddlers and their parents can get a good night's sleep"(or something like that) She is a sleep doctor...an M.D. I read the book before having kids. It is a sleep Bible!!

All three of my kids were sleeping through the night between 8-10 weeks old...yes I typed weeks. I nursed them each for over a year and did not have them sleeping with us or in our room. They became deep night time sleepers and great daytime nappers.

I am so grateful that a girlfriend of mine gave me the book before I had kids. Sleep is so important to a M....and for kids.

The book explains so much about sleep...it also has great info for parents of toddlers and preschoolers. Lots of troubleshooting helps. But also teaches you how to teach your baby to soothe themself to sleep. It is NOT a let your baby cry til it passes out due to exhaustion.

Good luck! Now mine are 14,11 and 7. They are still great sleepers. On weekends they get themselves up in the morning, make their own breakfast and get ready on their own all without waking us up. Your day is coming too M.!!

Wait, she is up twice a night? In my book that is sleeping through the night. My baby is up 5 times a night and is a little older. Nursing all night.

Which is it. Sleeping from 7:30 PM to 5:30 am or getting up,during the night. I am confused.

Our child started sleeping through the night when she was on formula and could sleep on her tummy. She could lift her head early. I was able to prove this to her pediatrician so we had the ok, to let her sleep on her tummy at 8 weeks.

This meant final bottle of formula at 11:00pm and did not wake up until
6:00 am.

This helped me immensely, since I had to go on a buying trip for 2 weeks when she was 8 weeks old. This meant my husband was going to essentially be a single parent for that time.

7:30 to 5:30 is practically sleeping through the night. That's 10 hours! Not all babies can go the same amount of time without eating. I actually think this is pretty good.

I'd be thrilled if my baby was sleeping 7:30 to 5:30! My almost 8 month old is doing way better than she did at 6 months and still is up 2-3 times before we get up at 7:30. A great night is once before then.
I think some kids are just different. My son slept all the way through the night at just a few months, but my 2nd child did NOT and was an even worse sleeper than my current baby.

Make sure to not go longer than 3 hrs between feedings during the DAY. Expect some cluster feedings in the evenings to help stock up for the night. Also sleep habits can be formed very early on....I would suggest to do activity right after feedings during the day, then lay baby down while still awake in order to drift off by his/herself. This will help with night time sleeping.

It's not really normal for them to sleep all night. Really, people say it happens but it's rare. She needs to eat every couple of hours due to her stomach being so tiny.

Our kiddos schedule was pretty set between all the kids. They all were up around 7:30-8am then took a nap during the day then up for a few hours then a late afternoon nap, then up and laid down for the night around 9pm. They'd sleep for a few hours then up to take a bottle then down until morning.

We used Ferber, it worked for us.
At 5 months, I used to nurse to sleep at 7, then wake him at 10:30 to feed him, and again at 6am, when I woke up. By 6 months, we stopped waking him to feed, and it seemed he didn't get up on his own accord.
Our ped had said that once they hit 3 months, or 12 lbs, whichever comes first, they can make it through the night without feeding.

Best,
F. B.

If she's sleeping from 7:30 - 5:30 that IS through the night. Or if you mean she nurses twice between those times, that's normal, too. Mine nursed at 9:00, 1:00, and 5:00 every night for the first 12 months. Perfectly normal. Doctors seem to think babies go "by the book" when they are instead human and their behaviors and needs vary.

I wish I knew!

Two out of my three slept 10-12 hours by 10 weeks, and then, at 6 months, it all went to hell!

I do think your baby needs to go to bed earlier. She should be in bed for 12 hours. Gradually move sleep time up by 15 minutes. The 11 wake up is an overtire wakeup that has turned into a nursing habit.

Every child is different.
It will get better as she gets a little older & supplements breast milk w/baby food.
They have little tummies so they are hungry every few hours. Not a fan of CIO.
Feed her at 10:30pm. If she is asleep & you are going to bed, gently, quietly pick her up & let her breast feed (a dream feed), change her diaper then put her down to sleep at 11pm then you go to bed.
Make sure she's not teething. Rub Baby Orajel on her gums. Infant Tylenol when she gets a wee bit older.

If she's ONLY six months old (not "already" six months old) and she sounds like she's still exclusively breastfed, then there's no way she's going to make it through all night without waking. She's too young anyway, even were she bottle-fed and taking small amounts of solids during the day.

The books aren't always right, not even half the time. :-) You won't be able to "make" her sleep longer if she's not ready.