My main question about my six month old is how to go about weaning baby off night time feeding. She gets up once a night but it can be 1 am or lately 3 am which means her breakfast will be late. Do I just let her cry it out?
Also, I am finding establishing a bedtime routine tricky. I think mainly it's because her dinner can start at 5 pm or be as late as 6:30 or 7 pm. With an older child ( age 5), I try to juggle both of them with baths and meals. I try to have dinner ready for my oldest between five and six. Then I might be rushing to bathe the oldest after I bathe the baby.
Thank you for the information.
I would try a dream feed around 10/11 pm (about 3 hours after she goes to sleep). That's where you rouse the gently and offer bottle or breastfeeding. It helps keep their tummies full for the rest of the night.
My daughter used to take a bottle this way and never really wake up at all, my son would wake but go back to sleep easily.
My son is 5 months. He has a bottle at 6 and is in bed by 7, depending on how his nap was at daycare that day. I give him a "dream feed" at 11ish, where I pick him up while he's still asleep, give him a bottle, and put him back to bed. He sleeps until I wake him back up at 6 for the day.
His daily meal schedule is 6:15am, 10ish, 2ish, and 6ish, he has between 4 1/2 - 6 oz of formula at a time.
A 6 month old should sleep through the night without needing a feeding. You probably do have to do a little bit of crying it out.
Does she eat baby food? I give my 7 month old a "dinner" the same time the rest of us eat around 6 pm. Babyfood and some sips of water. Then he gets an 8oz bottle after bath (around 7:30), and off to bed for the night. You don't say if your baby's dinner is food or formula/breastmilk. Maybe try doing food at the same time your older one eats, then the nite-nite bottle (or breastfeed) right before you put her down. Then you will know she is good and full for the night.
She may still wake up because of habit, so just leave her to soothe herself back to sleep (does she have a cuddly blanket or anything that helps) OR go in and pat her back, or pick her up for a few minutes and sing a song, then put her back. It may be a lot easier than you are anticipating and she'll fall right back to sleep. Or not, and you'll have to power through a few times of crying.
Remember that babies are always evolving so you will probably not be able to settle into a routine for very long. I also have two older ones, and with the age difference (a 4 and 7 y/o) I cannot do that many bedtime routines without a little help. My husband has to get the older kids moving through bath and PJ time until I can step back in with them. Do you have any help? Is your 5 y/o interested in bathing with the baby? My older kids love to take a "baby bath" and get in with our little guy. The more things you can combine the easier it will be (starting with dinner- have your baby sit in the high chair with all of you at dinner and eat some baby food, whether she is hungry or not, she can sit there and go through the motions).
Another option is to rotate who takes a bath, every other day for the 5 y/o and the baby on the other days.
I have never had a little one that slept all night.
I also would never let a hungry child cry it out so I could get some sleep. How very sad for that child.
If your baby is hungry you feed your baby. I'm sorry that isn't what you're asking but if a baby is hungry you get out of bed and feed them.
6 months is too young for food so if you're introducing solids to her she's going to be starving and want to nurse like a greedy little monkey.
Baby food has no nutrition. Formula and breast milk is full of nutrition. It's all they need. It's complete. Baby food is a tool to teach them to chew and swallow. They get their tummy full of flavored goo that sits there and gives them no nutrition so then when they get more they're so hungry they'd eat anything. Repeat and repeat. They get fat because the baby food is a bunch of junk that makes them fat and they eat and eat and eat because they're starving for formula or breast milk.
So if you are giving them food you're taking away from their nutrition and they are starving and will wake up more and more and more needing milk.
Your baby does not need a bath every day (unless your Pediatrician has specifically said you need to do this) - baths are actually really bad for you, especially now that we are going into winter. Just wet wipe them off and continue on.
I agree about family dinner time. Watching the 5 year old will be great modeling for your baby.
However, I am not sure a 6mo old is ready to go 12 hours without food on a regular basis. Check that out with your pediatrician. You may need to do a late feeding - like 10:30 to get her through the night until she wakes up at 6ish.
I would give fewer ounces for a week, then CIO w intervals. I suggest dinner at 6:30, bed by 7:30. Put down baby awake!
A six month old probably needs an earlier bedtime, like 6-6:30pm. She should be eating prior to that (not falling asleep eating), and then you should put her down awake, but calm (with her pacifier or swaddled, or however she needs to be in order to self-soothe). If she can fall asleep on her own when you first put her down to sleep, then she can fall asleep at night when she wakes up. But I really have found that an early bedtime works best with babies. Something about going to bed at that time of night really lends itself to babies getting a really good, solid night's sleep. As long as she has had a big, full meal before bedtime, is dry and burped, and clean, she should be able to sleep through until 6am at this age. Moving her bedtime back may help her do this without any crying being necessary. However, if she does wake, you could go in (don't pick her up), pat her back, or give her a bottle of water, and leave. Pretty soon she will realize that if she's not having mommy playtime in the middle of the night, and she's only getting water, it's not really worth waking up and making a big fuss. ;)
