My son is just over 3 months old & he's been a pretty good night sleeper since day 1. He goes to bed at around 8:30pm, wakes at around 1:30am to eat, back to bed by 2:30am & gets up around 7am. We'd LOVE for him to cut out the 1:30am feeding & I know if he's hungry, he's hungry & there's nothing we can do about it...it's developmental more than anything...but is there anything we can do to help him phase out this feed?
Also...although he'd been a decent night sleeper, he's always been a horrible napper. I know babies work out night sleep before day sleep, so it's no wonder...but the hubby & myself are getting frazzled from going in to comfort him/pick him up several times per nap. He might sleep 45 minutes, wakes up screaming, goes back to sleep after we soothe him & then will wake up crying several more times throughout the course of his nap. We've just started weaning him off the pacifier, as he was needing it to be replugged constantly...
Any tips to promote better naps?
-Anonymous
4 comments:
Try offering him water during the night, he might decide its not worth getting up for. Its really hard to get a baby to stop wanting the bottle in the night. make sure he has lots to eat during the day and a nice warm bath followed by a quiet massage with lotion, then into cozy clothes and off to bed. Is it too warm to cold in his room at night? Would some white noise help him sleep?
back to the bottle part, maybe try offering gradually less and less at night time. The human body adjusts its metabolism at night time and babies can do this too but it does take time. dont expect an overnight change. if you gradually give him less and less at night time, his body will eventually (hopefully) get used to it and adjust it's metabolic rate while he's sleeping. At 3 months my kids were napping 2 times per day. once in the late morning and once in the afternoon. maybe try adjusting the nap time a bit.
I know it sounds bad, but I found the best way to get my babies to sleep through the night was to let them cry it out.
I made sure they had enough to eat through the day that they really didn't need a bottle at night. It took no time to get them sleeping the night through.
I also noticed a difference when I started giving rice cereal. (I started my kids at about 3-4 mths, although I know they recommend starting at 6 mths). They seemed to sleep better with the extra food in their bellys!
I'm having the exact same problem with my 4 month old daughter. The only difference: she won;t take a bottle or a pacifier. She will only fall asleep at the breast....It's frustrating. She only wants me, and ALL the time. I can't even go pee without her screaming her head off. It's nice that she wants me, but it's driving me nuts. This past Sunday was the FIRST and ONLY alone time that I have had since school got out last June (for my older daughter). Baby was born on the first day of school. I had to run to the stpre. I was back within a half hour bc I figured that she would be awake and screaming by the time I got home. She screams usually from 7:30 pm to 1:30 am every day. We recently went to visit my mother in law for a few days. She annoyed the heck out of me by saying i was spoiling her. Who would want to have a baby cry for over 7 hrs is they can possibly help the infant? Not me. And i have to try bc my h has to go to work in the morning and my other girl needs her sleep for school. (not to mention that it bugs her own hubby bc of his hearing aids) I don't think that I'll go back anytime soon for a visit. I am at a loss/ I wish there was a magic wand. The last wand I used got me into this situation, LOL.
With both of my kids I found that if we offer a snack before bed like cereal or yogurt, then we gave a hot bath afterwards followed by a bottle before bed and they would sleep all night long, but if for some reason they didn't get there night time snack they would wake up hungry.They go to bed at 7:30pm until about 7:00 am. hope this helps
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