How to Get a Baby to Sleep Better

Oh I feel for you! My first 2 children did not sleep through the night until way, way, way too late! 14 months and 18 months. YIKES I wouldn't wish that on ANYONE. Then I got SMART and read the book "Baby Wise" now... that being said I DON'T agree with the entire book but the principals are what matter. Feeding on schedule through the day, and the eat, wake, sleep cycle. I am happy to say my third baby was sleeping through the night by the time she hit 10 pounds which for her was 4 months cuz she was only 5 lbs. at birth. I agree with the first post from Katrina that your baby may genuinely be hungry, going through a growth spurt or working on a major milestone. With that being said NO Baby sleeps through the night every single night...it just doesn't happen due to normal growth, sickness, teething, etc.

To me It sounds as though you have the same issue on your hands I did...My first two children were "snackers" and didn't ever really take full feedings every 3 hours during the day therefore they were not taking in enough calories during the day like they should be and thus woke up at night to eat more. Both kids would snack through out the day often only taking a few ounces of a bottle at a time instead of the full bottle or a meal of rice mush and fruit followed by a bottle. Additionally they both had their eat, wake, sleep wrong. Instead of doing it the correct way they were waking, eating, and sleeping which is NOT the correct way. The book teaches you why this is important. My life was a sleepless void with the first two guys I am sorry to admit and being I breast fed, I would stumble in groggy eyed, pick up my child and begin to nurse because it was the quickest way to get him back to sleep so I could go back to sleep. What I didn't know back then was I was only prolonging my own agony.
SO What do you do? PLEASE go get the book for your own sanity! Read it cover to cover and implement it ASAP. starting with the feedings dont worry the book tells you how! I TOTALLY agree with Sheri G post as well (and you will learn this too in the book) a baby naturally wakes every 2 hours or so and yes they do have to learn to put themselves back to sleep but within reason...I mean I personally would never let my child cry for 2 hours, you would of course tend to your child, see what is wrong, check their pants, noise, draft, food, etc. sSheri G also says something else VERY important she also that you tell the child it is bedtime/sleep time no smiles, giggles, cooing, tickling etc. all great advise and also in the book there is a reason for all of this and that reason is to have your baby happy, healthy, and sleeping so you too can sleep and all of you can be happy! Basically it boils down to eating full meals every 3 hours, proper eat, play, sleep schedule, putting child down to sleep while still awake, and persistent encouragement.Yes hon, once the eating schedule is underway, you may have a few rough night usually in a row but..... think of how awesome it will be to get 6 plus hours of sleep at a time!!! Hang in there! It is all SO worth it!

The only other two things I can say is I learned with baby #3 that I personally was not putting my baby to bed warm enough. I would put my boys in their diaper and a footed sleep and play with socks on. Figuring at that time "if I was comfortable my baby was comfortable" well... I was wrong in the fact I was comfy under two blankets sleeping in a t-shirt next to a warm husband, I learned with baby #3 that the perfect set up personally for my daughter (even now and she just turned 4) is a capri PJ set under a zip up fleece footed sleeper we live in California but it is winter and she has never liked blankets on top of her. In the summer she will sleep in PJ set with a T shirt underneeth and socks.

I hope you get the book Baby Wise and I hope you and your baby can and will get some good sleep soon, it is NO fun being a walking Zombie. I say that as all are sleeping in my house except me but I am NOT up with a baby, I am just up with myself and my back pain but that is a whole other story! I will check back on you to see if you need any help, I remember feeling so alone and everyone telling me to stop the nighttime feeding but not knowing or being able to, hang in there!

Katrina said it beautifully!

My doctor also told me that at 6 months they shouldn't need to eat at night. I'm sure there are some kids who don't need to eat, but mine did. Kids grow at their own pace, and at 6 months my kids were growing. They were hungry! So I fed them, and they went right back to sleep.

It's exhausting, but it is just a phase. My guess is she's going through a growth spurt and really does need to eat. Soon, she won't need as much food, and she'll start sleeping longer.

Nighttime parenting is just as important as daytime parenting. (They don't magically stop needing us because it's sleep time.) Meet her needs. If she's hungry, feed her. If she needs to snuggle, hold her. If you meet her needs, she will continue to feel safe and secure and won't need you as much and will begin sleeping longer.

Hang in there! It really does get better.

She could genuinely be hungry, going through a growth spurt or working on a major milestone. Could be teething. It is perfectly normal for a 6 month old to still need night time feedings. Not all 6 month olds can sleep 5 hour stretches, this too is normal.
I am a major supporter of tending to my children's needs, even in the middle of the night, especially at that age.
I did not jump at every little peep mind you. My kids were never quiet sleepers, they even talk in their sleep and have since they were little. But if they were up I would always take care of them and help them get back to sleep. My kids do now sleep well and through the night. They are only up if there is something wrong. My 3 1/2 year old can go through spells where she's up a little more because she gets night terrors and when she's going through a growth spurt she will still wake up hungry in the middle of the night.
Best suggestion I can offer is take care of your baby's needs. If she's hungry then feed her. If she just wants you to cuddle her to get the reassurance that you are still there do it. It will not last forever. She will learn to sleep when her body and brain are mature enough to do so.
It does get easier :)

Has she been this way always, or did this just start? Around 6 months has been a rough time for all mine, they are growing like mad and usually teething, so sleep is difficult. If it just started, hang in there, in a few weeks, she should be mellowing out. If she has never slept all night, then I would say it will be a try and see approach. Try feeding a bit more during the day, incorporate a bit more solids, make sure she is getting enough nap time daily bc cranky babies have a harder time settling, is she warm enough?, too hot?, does she need some teething cream or tylenol, have you tried soft lullabies playing in her room, all those kind of things. My little boys have always had a mobile that will play while they fall asleep and then come on if they cry, and that works sometimes. I also have a white noise sound machine in my baby's room and that is very soothing for him. For me it has been trial and error and then success! I think most babies her age are hurting or hungry. Also, does she have any allergies? Any vomiting that you may have thought was just normal? I say this bc my third has a dairy allergy so if he every had any dairy his tummy would be tight and he would throw up etc, so there could be some food aversion she is dealing with, especially if you are trying new foods. Six months is just a hard time in my opinion, I say try everything you can, comfort her when she cries and she and you will get through this. If you do follow the doc's advice with the night time feeding, I think it will force you to think on other solutions, like increasing daytime feeding etc, hang in there!!!

A lot of 'experts' (I use that term loosely, but I don't have a better one) would suggest that maybe you're putting her to bed too late, and she's overtired. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, and I don't know your schedule. But I found that neither of my boys could make it much past 7:30 for bed.

Our ped said once they hit 3 months or 12 lbs, whicever comes first they no longer "need" the nighttime feedings.

As for sleep training, we used Ferber, it worked for us.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

At six months I gave them a snack of rice cereal before bed, and nursed them. All babies wake up every two hours or so, that is the sleep cycle. They need to learn how to put themselves back to sleep again. If you go in and feed her or rock her when she wakes up she won't learn to go back to sleep. Do not rush in to get her when she wakes up. Give her a few minutes. I turned off the baby monitor, so if they were just fussing they wouldn't even wake me. They often just went back to sleep. If she goes from fussing to crying, go in and tell her it is time to go to sleep. Do not turn on lights or pick her up. Be gentle, but firm. Go in every five minutes, or ten minutes, but be consistent. You might have a couple of rough nights, but she will go back to sleep.

I feel your pain! My daughter was the same way, and we tried everything. We even paid for a professional sleep training expert, but it actually made things worse!

It's easy for a doctor to tell you to cut out the nighttime feedings, when they aren't the one who has to listen to an angry screaming baby at 3am!

My daughter finally started sleeping through the night when she was 13 months old, when we got rid of her crib and put her in a twin bed. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that we could lie down in the bed with her. That way instead of feeding in the rocking chair until drowsy THEN moving her to the crib, which always resulted in a wide awake crying baby - in the twin bed I could feed her until drowsy, then cuddle, and slip away as she was falling asleep.

We got a couple of bed rails to keep her from falling out of bed during the night, which makes it tricky for us grown ups to get in & out of the bed, but it's completely worth it for the improvement in her sleep.

She just turned 2 and we still have the same routine. Also she still occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, and can't calm down to fall back to sleep without nursing, but it's very rare any more.