Need tips on getting baby to sleep longer at night.

[texasbartrambaby]

After four kiddos, and the last set being twins, I have to agree with the cosleeping suggestion. Drs. don't recommend this if your little one is prone to ear infections though. Mine all did great and we had 4 kids in four years - no sleep! LOL

The cosleeping and breast feeding worked like a charm for us - as a mother I was "aware" of where my little ones were and slept lightly, but more. It worked out great and by the time they were a few months old they slept on their own for several hours.

Congrats on your little one - wish I had another to do it all over again!!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I would cut the rice cereal...may give gas and make it worse...kinda young yet for that. However, what you can try is a little white noise. I put a fan in my babies room (not facing at them obviously) and they ALWAYS slept through the night from about a month 1/2 on. It worked for my niece too. She had a very crabby baby girl 2 months old and she just needed sleep. I told her to put a fan in there and desperate...she did. To her surprise the baby slept 6 hours!

It does work, try it

 

[Beekissed]

My middle son was started on rice cereal at one week. Yes, you heard it...one week of age. Of course, he was 10 lb. at birth and eating 8 oz. every 2 hours when we brought him home from the hospital! Doctor said, "He's as big as a 2 month old right now...start him on cereal to slow down this heavy milk consumption."

Now, this is purely anecdotal, so take it for what it is worth....but this child was allergic to milk at birth, was switched to soy and, of course, the rice cereal.

He has hardly ever ailed a day in his life, never had any allergies later on, rarely ever had the sniffles even. My pediatrician used to laugh because his file was so thin...nothing written in it except notes on check-ups.

The boy is now a strapping man of 19, huge and healthy, and still is the picture of good living. Rice...does a body goooooood!

Do what you feel is best...it's your child, after all!

As for tips to help sleep longer at night:

A nice warm bath at bedtime, warmed lotion and a light, slow massage of back and extremities, warm bottle and rocking to follow. Good burping also!

Don't jump and run at the least little mumble from the crib...tiptoe in, observe, wait and see if baby will self-soothe and return to sleep.

During the daytime napping, make sure and make a lot of normal noise...run the vacuum, play the radio, talk in normal tones...do not tip-toe around the sleeping babe. You'll be glad you did this! They will be less likely to notice every noise when it's quiet at night...barking dogs, traffic, the phone...nothing will bother them.

Keeping feedings on a schedule around the clock, napping also. Try to phase out late evening napping by making sure at least two good naps by early evening. That way, they will be ready for their next nap...night time.

Good luck and give us an update on what you did and how it worked? Cherish those little hands and feet...too soon that good time is gone!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Yikes co-sleeping is surely not for me. We were always totally against co-sleeping. One, you never get sleep becasue your worried your going to roll on baby and two it's really bad for a marriage IMO. Kids need their own space and IMO sleep better in their own bed. We did try it...hated it, neither of us slept LOL

 

[wombat]

The rice feeding at such an early age can cause problems. It was conventional wisdom for a long time ... my mother was certain it was the right thing to do, but my wife found a lot of medical advice saying not to. We didn't use it ... otoh, I survived it, and still have most of my brain cells ... well, some anyway.

"Co-sleeping" can be a problem if someone rolls over and suffocates the baby, or if the baby can fall from the bed. We went with a compromise on this; we got a small bassinet, and put it right next to my wife's side of the bed. We were able to take turns getting the baby up for breastfeeding. My wife hardly had to wake up if I got up and got the baby to her, and I hardly woke when it was her turn to get the baby herself. Putting a newborn in that cute little nursery down the hall all alone is going to cause problems. I wouldn't do that to a new puppy, let alone a child, and both would be lonely and frightened left alone like that.

One thing that worked very well with our daughter was swaddling (snuggly wrapping her). It didn't work with my son so well, though ... might be worth a try.

We also had a rocking chair in the bedroom. If our baby cried, I could get up and do a little rocking, or my wife could, and it seemed the faster we got to it, the less crying. Sometimes they just wake up and it's dark, and they need to know you're there.

Also - Babies also start out with their sleep cycles backwards ... before they are born, they are active when mom's sleeping, and sleeping when mom's moving around, and it can take a while before they shift.

You'll have less feedings through the night in about 4 weeks with most kids, and in about eight it gets easy. It seems tough now, but enjoy it while you can. They grow up too fast.


btw ... Something to keep in mind when they are a bit older ... don't go juice box crazy, and be careful with apple juice. Apple juice can be hard to digest at a young age. I had an employee who was always looking like death warmed over from lack of sleep. She had taken her child to numerous doctors because her young one was crying all night long, and they couldn't find a thing wrong. I'd remembered reading about the apple juice issue when ours were that age, and sure enough, that was it. Belly aches every night from being put to bed on apple juice! She cut out the apple juice and that was the end of that problem!

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
Apple juice is so... deceiving. It seems like such a good idea, but in reality it's little better than kool-aid.

 

[heyeddah]

Looks like you got alot of good advice. I will say wait until they are 16 and you will have the opposite problem of how do I get them to wake up? Try to enjoy your newborn. Loss of sleep can be frustrating. Hang in there it will get better every week. Sometimes when they are having a growth spurt at 3 and 6 months they need more feeding at night, You can try different suggestions, but try to see the early morning wakeup call as a special time to spend with your precious baby. They grow up soooooo fast and then you will have bigger and scarrier things to worry about like driving and texting! Good luck. Best Health.

 

[robbdebbie]

My baby was such a good sleeper, until he hit 6 months. He is 8 months now, and wakes every 2 hrs again. It is my fault though because I just breastfed him to sleep all night long. I read that you all are not breastfeeding, so none of that advice is going to work

Maybe next baby you all could try that for at least the first 3 months so that your wife could get some better sleep.

But for now, you have to get a routine down. Like everynight at the same time take a bath, eat, read a book, then go to sleep. When she wakes up keep things quiet, and do the same thing at each feeding. You might not need to even change her diaper at every feeding to not wake her up. Until she is 3 months old 2 hrs is pretty common, and you should try and take turns since she is on formula.

 

[chicks4kids]

When I had my twins, I had one that didn't sleep through the night until 1 year old. Most babies don't sleep through the night for months.

Do you swaddle her at night?? (Wrap her up cocoon like)? That may help in keeping her from waking up by restricting her movement.

 

[crzychickenlady]

My son is just now 4 months old, he started sleeping several hours thru the night at about a month old. It started out to be about 4 hours, then went to 6 and now he will sleep sometimes up to 8 hours a night.

Just hold out a bit longer, maybe things will start to get more "scheduled" soon. I know it's rough, especially with mommy going back to work soon, but baby will settle into a routine soon!
Every baby is different, that's for sure.

The only advice I can give you...don't get your hopes up too high on setting any kind of "routine" schedule. I have been trying for months now to get him to bed at a certain time at night and waking him at a certain time in the morning, in hopes of starting a routine for him. This backfires on me constantly.

Now, I just try to keep him awake and occupied most of the day with small naps in between, and usually anywhere between 10:30 and 12:30 he lets me know that he's sleepy and he gets his last feeding and he sleeps at least 5 hours or more. We do have a "method"....He has a night light that has fish swimming around it and there's a fan in his room that I have going for the noise(the fan drowns out all the other noises in the house that could disturb his sleep), and he lays down in his room....maybe you could set a "mood" for bedtime?

I still haven't given him cereal and now he takes 6 ounce bottles every 3 hours during the day. I'm considering giving the cereal, but as long as he seems satisfied with the formula, I'll hold off for now....I don't think he needs anything else...he's 17 pounds and 26 inches long now, LOL!

How many ounces are you giving at feedings? Maybe you could up it a little bit and possibly get longer stretches in between?

It takes some adjusting on both parents and baby's part, but you'll all get the hang of it soon! Good luck and congrats on your little bundle of joy!