My youngest baby boy is 5 months old
There are some times he will sleep all night ( only has happened twice) I don't know what to do, we keep him up all day and we give him later nights then his big brother hoping that it will let him sleep all night so I can get some sleep but he still wakes up anywhere between midnight and 4am which also wakes his brother up, both my husband and I are at our witts end with it is there anything we can do to get our baby boy to sleep all night!!
11 Replies
He is 5 months old he is supposed to be waking up in the middle of the night. There is nothing you can do about it. He actually sounds like he is sleeping really well for a 5 month old.
Don't keep him awake, or put him to bed later, that will make him overtired and actually sleep less.
He needs to learn how to sleep, and how to go off to sleep when he's tired.
The thing is, they sleep in cycles of 60 minutes, then they lightly wake up, if they can put themselves back to sleep they do and that's the ones who sleep through.
If they don't know how to do that by themselves ( they only have you rocking them or feeding them) then they will wake and need you to help them back to sleep.
So if you're keeping him awake and not letting him lead his sleep, he's not practicing and learning this.
So when your baby shows signs they are tired, no matter when that is, get them ready with a clean nappy and a feed and when they are almost going to nod off, put them in their bed and let them nod off by themselves. And once he can do that, he will wake less.
Try doing a nice bedtime routine and watching his cues and put him to bed earlier.
I think he is quite normal for his age, my first didn't sleep through until 8 months. I know a lot of kids who didn't sleep through until over a year old. A lot of midwives say "sleep promotes sleep" so I wouldn't be cutting out day sleeps. Did your first sleep through quite early? I think each baby is different but he sounds normal to me. Try not to stress.
Yeaah my first slept through when he was 3 months
Sleep promotes sleep is what I was always told. At 5 months both of mine were napping twice a day still. My oldest didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 1. My youngest is 2 and never slept through until the last few months. Even then I was up twice with him last night. The difference is they need to learn to self settle and put themselves back to sleep. Also, take into account, teething, growth spurts, wind etc etc. Take note of when he starts getting tired and start working with his cycles, not forcing him to do something he might not be ready for is my advice. It sucks, sleep deprivation sucks, but they are only babies for a short time. Good luck IM x
I have a night time routine for my 4 month old of what I call the 3B's, bath, bottle and bed. I bathe her in the bedtime bath soap and then massage her with the bed time lotion. I have also started her on solids and feed her between 5 and 5.30pm. Her bedtime varies depending on her "naps" during the day but usually anytime between 7.30 and 9.30pm and she usually wakes between 4 and 5.30am most times its 5.30am. Definetly get into a routine with him.
He's supposed to wake at night, most babies don't sleep through lat that age, they need nutrients and comfort. If it's severely impacting on your household, try having him in bed with you (if safe) and just comforting and feeding when he wakes so that he doesn't wake everyone up.
Don't cut his day naps, overtired, overstimulated babies sleep worse, not better. Get yourself to bed a bit earlier so that if he wakes you've had a decent block of sleep.
This is 110% normal... Lol... Most babies do wake up of a night time, numerous times! I was extremely lucky with my first 2 as they didn't wake 'much' of a nighttime but my last bub, she slept through the night up until about 4 months old & then woke like every bloody hour!!!
My 2 year old woke (no lie) 20 plus times last night!!!! He's a tiny baby still, it's so normal for him to still be waking up. Give it time.
My 2 year old still wakes up at this age my son was waking 6 times a night. You need to let him sleep during the day they are still developing at this age and this is done during sleep
He's only 5 months old ffs! My son is 7 months and still wakes for 2 night feeds. They need to they are only on milk they get hungry and don't keep him up all day they need their naps. Your probably making it worse keeping him awake all day because he would be way over tired and exhausted by bed time