Waking During the Night

I noticed that someone suggested putting honey in her bottle. I just wanted to tell you to absolutely not do that. Honey causes infant botulism (a kind of food poisoning) which causes various muscles in babies to become paralyzed. Common symptoms are poor sucking, a weak cry, irritability, and lack of facial expression. In extreme cases, the diaphragm becomes paralyzed and causes the infant to quit breathing. Here is a link where you can read more about it if you're interested.
http://www.drpaul.com/library/HONEY.html

She is only 5 months old. She is more than likely hungry. I would say that might not be the case if she had been going a while with sleeping through the night. Then maybe it would be a habit thing. Either way good luck.

My daughter is 17 and has NEVER slept all night unless she was extremly tired. When she was a baby I did lengthen the time she would sleep by adding a tablespoon or two of dry baby cereal to her formula in her bedtime bottle. That made her sleep longer. If she isn't normally a fussy baby she may just need something to "stick to her ribs" to keep her from waking up hungry.

Here is what I understand about sleep and babies (and have seen it work with my baby) 10:00 is a very late bedtime for a five month old. I know this doesn't seem logical, you would think that if you put them to bed later they will be tired and sleep better and longer, but this is not the case. It actually makes them overtired and causes them to have sleep problems. A general rule about when bedtime should be is to count back twelve hours from the time the baby usually wakes up in the morning. So for example my baby wakes around 7 every morning so the appropriate bedtime for her is 7 at night. Experts say that within the hour of 6 is appropriate for a child under 1, I know this seems really early. So we tried putting her down early. It helped her sleep through the nite and after a few months of doing this she started waking up between 7 and 8 in instead of 6am. You also have to watch out for them during the day, making sure that they aren't getting over tired about two hours awake is all they can handle at this age, maybe less. As for the night feeding, she is still young and may be hungry. It will get better. If you are going to let her cry it out you have to be willing to always do it, naptime, bedtime and in the middle of the night because it is the consistancy that makes it work. But I wouldn't sugest it at this point. I think she is a little young for that and if you are happy with rocking her to sleep then i see no need to change that. I only did it because mine was very difficult to get to sleeep sometimes i had to nurse her for an hour just for her to wake up when I layed her down. But I still toughed it out till 6 months. I just couldn't do that to her any earlier. I hope this helps. A lot of my info came from the book "healthy sleep habits, happy child", and a workbook/sleep training method my mom gave me. Terrible method but it had some good information on how baby's sleep. Good luck, Understand that the baby is young and really, it just takes time.

A.,

Your daughter sounds like my son at that age. THe solution was to put a little rice cereal in his last bottle before bed. this did the trick. When he started waking up again. then I would increase the amount of cereal in the bottle. be the end it was so thick I had to cut the entire end off of the nipple. I started with just a couple of teaspoons for an 8 ounce bottle. as it gets thicker you can cross hatch the opening with an x-acto knife or purchase cereal nipples. good luck

If your doctor would approve of this, you might try putting a little rice cereal in her bottle and using a cross cut nipple. I did that with my all of my babies to help them sleep through the night. It worked! I think I put about a tsp. of rice cereal in a full bottle and just mixed it in when I heated it up. This is what the other moms told me to do when I was losing my marbles because it had been so long since I had slept through the night! I feel for you!

I tried to let my girl cry it out and she started hitting her face against the baby bed and busting her lips . So if you decide to do that make sure the sides and rails of the baby bed are cushioned.it never worked for my daughter though. I just had to get help from friends and family so i could get the rest i need to take care of her.it was very hard.good luck.

I know a lot of people do not give there babies a lot of food at this age, but if you think she is hungry then you need to feed her more food at her last meal. When my son was that age I had to feed him baby foods and some real veggies for dinner and then give a 4 ounce bottle of water before bed.If you want to keep giving a milk bottle then add some rice cereal to it, not enough to make it real thick though and give a 1/2-1 ounce water to rinse your babies mouth. Hope this helps..

She's probably hungry, being only 5 months old.

It is still not that unusual for a five month old to wake during the night for a feeding. My son slept great, but would wake around the same time as yours for a bottle(sometimes), I would give him a bottle (4 oz) and he would fall right back to sleep. I would have it in the frig ready to go. When he was about 9 months old, I started diluting his formula (if he woke at night) with water and eventually just gave him water. He won't wake up for just water. Try that and see if it helps. But I think it is pretty normal for babies that age to still wake up some. It may just be a stage and of course their is always the teething issue. Good luck.

Hi! I did this with my little girl, so I hope it works for you! I would add 1/4 teaspoon of honey to her bottle of milk for her last feeding.

A.,
Babies tend to have wakeful times. Meaning they are awake at a certain time for a longer period. Her time might be between 1 and 4. You might want to make sure she is fed really well before you put her down at night. All babies are different. You might want to get her on the floor and really play with her to make her more tired so that she might sleep more through the night. I've tried the staying up late and it doesn't help, all it does is make me more tired. If she is hungry, then feed her. She doesn't understand letting her cry it out. Babies are still going through the trust versus mistrust stage. When she cries, she trust that you are going to come into her room and take care of her needs. It will eventually work itself out.

i would just give her water in a bottle. she'll wake up everytime if she is getting the good stuff. switch to water and i would bet she'll stop waking herself up to eat b/c water is not what she is wanting. she'll probably cry about it at first, but at 5 months they really don't need that night feeding anymore - she is really just wanting to see you. and eventually she'll stop waking herself up b/c water is just not worth the trouble. hope that helps!

I just got thru talking to my Doc. about my 2 1/2 yr old daughter who wakes up everynight around 3:30-4:30. She even has woke me up to let me know that her cup of milk is not in fridge. He asked how long her naps are have recently found out that her daycare makes them lay there for 3 hrs. Dr. said that is way to long I started letting her run in the hallway to run energy down. I am also switchin daycare to one that only lays down for 2 hrs. I also have an older daughter who has slept thru the night at 3 wks old. Sleep when you can get in a nap when you can. My mom used to tell me to let her eat cherrios before bed time till she could just not eat any more. It did work every now and then.

I had a child that woke up everynight like clockwork at 3 am. I started putting some cereal n his last bottle at night and he was soon sleeping all night. I would suggest that and see how it goes. Good luck

I would ask the pediatrician - I have heard that some babies won't sleep through the night until they are a certain weight - so maybe she needs that night time feeding still?

A.,

This is completely normal. It is actually a blessing that your first child didn't wake through the night. Feed her when she is hungry and she will outgrow it (normally when they start eating table food). My first born slept pretty much through the night, but my second child woke up twice a night to feed. When she started eating table food she soon began to quit waking in the night. Hope this helps, C.

Babies may wake up to eat once at night until 9 months old! Every baby is different. I have 2 year old twins - one slept 12 hours straight every night at 3 months, the other woke up once every night to eat until about 6 or 7 months old. I think keeping her up late at night is counterproductive - she'll be overtired and won't be able to sleep as well. I highly recommend reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. His techniques work, they make sense and they are based in real-world research with real children (he is a pediatrician and children's sleep researcher). He promotes an early bedtime and it works GREAT for us (our kids all go to bed between 6 and 6:30 and sleep 12 hours (the 4 month old still often gets up once at night to eat, but not always).
good luck!

Hi A.,

The "Cry it out" method is tough but it works. I'm no expert but I have 2 kids, a 6yr old son and an 8 month old daughter and both of them were sleeping through the night very early on.

Babies do not need to eat in the middle of the night, they should be getting enough nutrients/food during the day to keep them full through the night. I think she has just become use to the bottle and doesn't want to give it up.

Here's how the crying method works or how I did it.

- Your baby wakes up.
- Check her diaper and if she's wet or dirty, go ahead and change her.
- DO NOT turn on the light, use a lamp or night light to see.
- DO NOT talk in your normal Mommy voices. If you say anything, say it in a whisper and do whatever you can to not get her excited.
- Once you are done changing her, put her back down and walk out of the room.
- She's probably crying right now but it's ok and she'll be ok.
- Wait 5 minutes and if she is still crying after 5 minutes go in there but DO NOT pick her up.
- Rub her back or her belly (don't know which side she sleeps on) and quietly shhh her. Like...shh shh shh shhh
- Then leave again. I know it's tough but everyone will be happier in the end.

So here's the deal. You pretty much follow those steps every time she wakes up. After the 5 minute check in, go in at 10 minutes then 15 minutes and then 20 and so on and so one. I read somewhere that you are supposed to go in at 5 minutes and then at 15 but I couldn't do that.

I had to do this for about a week. It is the hardest thing to do and I was in tears once but they really are ok and everything will work out in the end.

Many people may not agree with this method but it is your lil one and your life, you have to do what you think is best for you and your baby. And a happier mom means a happier baby.

If you would like to chat or anything you can email me at ____@____.com. I also have a blog if you would like to see my little J.Bean who currently sleeps 12 hours straight at night. Something to look forward to. :-)

http://thepitterpatterboutique.blogspot.com/

Good Luck!

My first child was still waking up NEEDING a bottle by 9 months. When my peditrician found out, he almost died laughing because I thought she NEEDED the formula. Well, to make a long story short, I started diluting the formula gradually. Then I had to do the difficult thing, which was not jump up when she cried. So over a few weeks she no longer NEEDED the formula, and I left a water bottle in the crib so she could get her nursing fix...and I had to let her cry ( a little). But just so you know, she is 12 years old now, and she is not scarred for life. She doesn't even remember it!
So good luck and try not to stress too much. I'm sure there will be plenty more things that you'll mess up and your child will remember those! ha,ha
G. B

hey A.
i had a similar problem. she is past 4 months so talk to your pediatrician about adding cereal to her last bottle. It sounds like she is waking out of hunger but you are right that it will become a habit. see if you can delay her getting that middle of the night bottle later and later by a half hour until she makes it to the morning. but still add the cereal.. it gives more substance to last longer. i recommend using oatmeal cereal as our pediatric gastroenterologist stated it was better than rice cereal b/c the rice constipates little ones. and stomache pain will cause more sleep disturbance. good luck.

Every child is different. My son is 7 months old and he started seeping through the night around 3months but then around 5 months started waing in the nightad wanting a bottle and even wanted to just play! It is frustrating but he has finally gotten back into the habit of sleeping through the majority of the night again. He make wake up now for his binky but that seems to be it most nightsunless he ate early in the evening before he went to bed. My daughter on the other hand slept through the night from like 4 months old and on so I would say it will pass. Thee is always the wait it out option that I was told about by a DR when my daughter was young and just did not want to sleep try 30 second intervals then move on to 40, 45, and so on Go in tell her you love her and that she is fine, give her her binky if she uses one, pat her back or belly and leave, if she continues to cry count to 30 and go back in,and continue on extending the time. She may just be testing your limits. Good luck! Hope this has helped. I have a 10yr age gap between mine and had not realized how glorious a quiet full night sleep could be until a few months ago! I feel your pain

She could be going through a growth spurt. I know that whenever my daughter (7 months) starts a growth spurt she will wake up a night for a bottle for about a week and then she will go back to sleeping through the night until she hits the next one.
Is she on solids? If she is, try feeding her cereal before bedtime. The cereal will help her not feel as hunger at night.

A., I was having the same issue with my 5 month old. She would wake up 3 hours after she went to bed and every hour after that until 5 am. I found a wonderful book "The No-Cry Sleep Method, Gentle Way to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night" by Elizabeth Pantley. I highly recommend it. After using her methods, my child only wakes up once at 4am for a little feeding, (which is normal for her age) and then sleeps to 6:30am. Good Luck!

My 25 month old wakes up nightly still so hang in there! He never was a good sleeper, often waking up three or four times a night. Currently his habit is to go from a sound sleep to what sounds like night terrors instantly. At five months of age she's still growing and may need the extra nourishment. However, it's quite likely it's a habit too.

We have taken the step of moving our son to the opposite end of the house so that when he stands up screaming he's not so easily heard. After a while ("while" meaning upwards of an hour) he will lay back down and resume his sleep. If you do this enough nights in a row with your daughter she will eventually quit calling for you. But, take heart 'cause it's sure hard on the mommas!

Both of my older girls did not sleep through the night until they were 9 months and 11 months. They needed to be fed during the night. I tried letting them cry it out and after many tearful(on both sides)hours of going in and checking on them, calming them down I realized that their little bellies were growling. They needed to be fed. It may be a habit that your little one has developed, but it could be that she is hungry and needs to be fed! I know that having to get up in the middle of the night makes it tough the next morning to go to work...I hope that she will begin to sleep all night for you soon! Good luck!

My daughter did that until she was a yr and a half. just hang in there, it will stop over time.

I have an 8 year old girl and a 4 year old boy.I know from experience and from hearing from others that every child is different in their sleep patterns. My son slept through the night starting at1 month however my daughter did'nt until she was over 1 years old!!! I never let her cry it out and looking back on it, I don't regret it.I feel that letting them "cry" it out is torture not only on the child but also on the parents. It was much easier (although tiresome at times) to deal with it .

A.,
Have you tried to put a little rice in the last bottle before she goes to bet? This use to keep my children full so they could sleep through the night. You may need to cut a little slit in the nipple to allow the rice to pass. Also, I would put a little syrup in the morning bottle to stop constipation if it was a problem.

Try the book BabyWise to see if it can help you.

babies are all different as I'm sure you already know. I have two boys, one of them slept through the night at an early age (about three or four months) and the other one woke up through the night until he was about a year. I asked his pediatrician about it and he told me what I'm telling you. Some babies get hungry in the night for a longer period of time. It's perfectly natural for your five month old to wake up hungry. You should continue to feed her in the night until she starts sleeping all night. She hasn't formed a habit, she really is hungry. It will get better for you soon until then hang in there.

I realize that this goes against what most doctors tell moms now but i've raised 2 boys and still stand by the process of putting some cereal in the last bottle as well as the first one of the morning.....or feeding the cereal to the child by spoon.....my oldest was always hungery.....i started giving him cereal at 10 days old...and the youngest at 2 weeks....we have no allergies in either of them...i know this isn't the popular thing now but if i had another child now, i'd do it again.....R.

my 15 yr old use to do that when he was little in fact I would feed him two bottles before bed and he would still wake up so the doctor suggested I put 1 tsp of rice cereal in his bottle before bed and it really worked or even try feeding the baby a small amount of baby food or cereal and it works also good luck

Try putting less than a teaspoon of dry baby cereal in her last bottle and see if that works. I did and mine slept through til next morning.

She is hungry, please feed her if she acts like she is hungry. All babies are different. You should not judge your baby against any other including her siblings. 5 month old still have a very tiny belly and need to eat more often. This will not be habit forming. I nursed my daughter many times a night for 12 months and now she is 15 months and sleep through the night just fine. She got a bigger belly and didnt get hungry in the night so doesnt wake up.

My only suggestion is to make sure she is getting enough to eat during the day. Are you giving her baby cereal yet? she may need more nourishment during the day. The book "on becoming babywise" is a book that helped me. There is a book for every stage. I give it a lot of credit for how good my boys are.

that is completely normal. you were lucky with your son, but don't deny your daughter food that she clearly needs. you shouldn't consider eliminating night feedings until she is much older, maybe around her first birthday.

another poster mentioned that cry it out was really hard to do. it is hard, because it goes against your instincts as a mother and it's not at all natural or good for your baby. it basically trains your child to know that crying won't help because mommy can't be bothered. therefore they don't cry. babies in orphanages stop crying at an early age it's not because they are happy and well adjusted.

the study from harvard: http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNee...

Here are you options. To break the "habit" Hubby must do it. It will require 3 nights of going in to reassure her that she is okay lights out and let her cry. On the other hand, I fed all 7 of mine ( I nursed ) once a night until they were eating solid food. They started sleeping on their own. Giving her a bottle at 1o:00 pm.should hold her over until the morning,but only you know that.

I have to agree that it has probably become a habit. My child did the same thing. And now she's almost 6 and until just recently she was still waking up between 1 and 4! Sounds so familiar. But you can put a stop to it. I just found this website this week! Wish I'd had it earlier!!

My pediatrician told me that I would have to just let her cry it out. Now is the time that you can do that because once Kat was out of a crib, I couldn't stop her from coming into my room to wake me up!

Good luck.
Bernadette

Hi, looks like you got a lot of great advice. I don't have anything to add, just wanted to second the opinions of some. I liked the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and would recommend it. Especially the part about putting your child to bed earlier. But I would also say that all babies are different and I don't know that any one formula will work with every child. Letting them cry it out is also always an option if you are ready to do that. It takes me awhile to get desperate enough to do it, but once I do, it is always worth it. Of course, make sure your child is gaining weight well before assuming she doesn't need that night-time feeding. Most don't, but there are some exceptions. You can always ask her pediatrician as well, he/she may have a good idea on if he thinks she's ready to go all night. My doctor told me when he thought my son was big enough to go all night and told me I could let him cry it out. Thankfully, within the next week, my son started sleeping through the night on his own (12 hours straight). So, I didn't have to cry it out except for naptimes. It should get better, but for me it always helps to get a book on sleep habits and read it, you will often find something you haven't tried and it may be the one thing that works. HTH
M.

A.
Have you tried putting Baby cereal in her milk at night. This might help. If not try letting her cry it out one night if you can.

My daughter did the exact same thing at that age. My husband and I finally let her cry....and boy did she. It took 3 or 4 nights for her to get the idea that we were not going to get up to give her a bottle. She does still wake at night on location but it is usually because she is unable to find her pacifier in the crib. They do make glow in the dark pacifiers from Avent if you think your baby will take to it to assist in soothing her. I promise this process will be harder for you than she but a few nights with broken or less sleep now will pay off with nights of full rest in the future. I suggest starting the process on a Friday night so you will have a couple of nights where you can sleep in the next morning.

Has your daughter started eating solid foods? My son woke up during the night at least once most nights until he started regularly eating at least one solid meal a day. I don't think it is too unusual for her to still be waking up at her age. If she is still doing this at six months I would let her cry for at least 15 minutes and if she does go back to sleep then try giving her some water instead of milk or formula. My friend tried this with her son and he stopped waking expecting to be feed at night. Just remeber, though, every child is different. Good luck

A.,
I have 3 under 4yrs. I know all about the nightime feeding stuff. I have always fed them. Even if they just ate 2 hours earlier. Your little girl is only 5 months, if she were 15 months I would say there is a problem. She is hungry, and maybe just wants your tender comfort. Babies know when they need something, it's us the parents who need to trust their cues. I woke up to feed all three of my kids all the way through breastfeed (12 months), mostly b/c I needed to empty my breasts and go back to sleep. I also needed to just decide I would feed them whenever they woke so I wouldn't have to constantly be making the decision do I or don't I every night. Don't forget to factor in growth spurts and changes in their routine/schedule, stress you may be going through or sickness/shots. All these things can really alter their sleep patterns.
C.

You didn't say if she was eating solids?

If not give her cereal for the evening meal, and then her 10:00 bottle.

If she still wakes, it is probably habit. If this is the case give her a bottle of water. Her stomach thinks it is hungary.

Also, if she does wake and she isn't crying leave her alone she will go back to sleep. It is not uncommon for them to wake up and play at night paticularly if they are practicing a new skill.

She is probably hungry. Babies feel pain when they are hungry. She will grow out of it, she is still very young. I have 4 children and they each had different eating patterns. Its hard to miss your own uninterupted sleep but it won't be forever.

My daughter slept all night until she was 5 mos old! She was on the same schedule you're having so I know how you feel. It eventually changed from middle of the night to early morning to sleeping all night again. I'm sure it's just a growth spurt and she'll start sleeping better soon. I would mix a little bit of cereal in her last bottle of the day. It should keep her full & help you BOTH sleep better!

Have you tried cereal? sounds like she is ready. try it just for the evening feeding...then give her her regular bottle before bed maybe that will help!

do u give her cereal in this bottle she may not be getting completely full at night.. or she may be having gas pains most children sleep through the night by this time...