My baby is 13months and never sleeps at night he wakes 3 times a night, what can i do?
Answers:
try to keep him awake more through the day, especially from about after 4.00pm.
give him solid food iin the evening
Shorten any nap times during the day.naps earlier than usual..running around.and mind stimulation.
Get up and go see what he wants.
well have you tried sleeping when he does, then that way you will be ready for him. and also try playing with him throughout the day to tire him out.
Through experience my son was giving me the same kind of problem. I eve took him to hospital. The problem was that he was not getting satisfied. To the quantity of food that you do give him in a day, try to add some on top of it. Today my son who is now sixteen months sleeps the whole night. He does not wake up in the night even for nupkins change. Thry it, if he isn't sick, this is the problem.
When my baby was that age; and we were having the same problem; I got her onto a more high-protein formula, and if she had plenty during the day, and was handled with burping and changing before being put down, she began to sleep through till her 2 am feed: a vast improvement.
Try a different formula, or if your baby is on breast milk; the mum might need to increase her protein intake, along with a good high dose mulit vitamin/mineral. Good luck with yr baby and yr sleep!
He's probably hungry. If you are still breastfeeding (or even formula feeding), you might consider adding a little infant rice cereal or oatmeal cereal to the bottle right before bed. Should give you a couple more hours. My daughter went through the same thing. I would only recommend doing this at night so your baby doesn't gain too much weight.
He's probably also teething at this point. Make sure that he has access to toys that aid in teething. You can put a few in the crib. Just not too many. Tylenol is a good option as a last resort only.
Give him extra supper at bed time, by all means make him, more tired, try lavender aromatherapy in his room, use heavy black out curtains to keep the light out. but if he isn't actually hungry, wet or upset, then hes just looking for attention and hugs I'm afraid
what do you do when you go to him? Hug him? feed him? Instead, just look over him. give him water. go back to bed. change those comforts
They learn to manipulate parents within the first few weeks, they know crying = attention which is why they sleep better in their own room.
try to give him a comfort toy, but as long as you can see that he is fine, go back to sleep. He will learn that he cant have your attention whenever he wants. Its not easy, and you may have few tantrums, but it will be better for both of you to have more sleep.
It doesn't make you a bad mother to ignore him once in a while
Best thing to do is not to make a big thing about it. When he wakes up, just let him see that you are in the room, but do not pick him up, just put on some soothing music and wait until he falls asleep again. Some babies get anxious if you are not there when he wakes up, but if you do that, he wont be so anxious. also dont let him fall asleep in one room then move him to another whilst he is sleeping. like us, if he falls asleep in one room and wakes up in another, this is disorientating and if this is a habit, he may not be relaed enough to sleep.
Are you still feeding when he wakes up?
If so try water for one of them for a week and give him more during the day. Up until my baby was 2 I gave her 5 meals a day. They consisted of Breakfast (normally Weetabix or Ready Brek) then Lunch (Stew type or veggie and meat soup with big chunks) and some milk then and Afternoon snack (Yogurt and something savoury) then Dinner with us and a drink of milk at bedtime.
If not, it may just be a case of teaching him how to get back to sleep by himself. There are a few different techniques with this I prefer the baby whisperer personally, gradual withdrawal by you.
make sure he is not sleeping too much in the day. my daughter (14mths) only has about 2 hrs at most since she was about 11 mths.
also, he could be teething. if so, give him some calpol before he goes to bed.
hunger, make sure he eats enough at his last meal.
you - make sure you're not causing the problem by being too sensitive to his every move and getting him up needlessly
him - if you are a working mum, it is common that babies wake in the night with seperation anxiety. if this is the case, there isn't really alot you can do than comfort him until he gets over it.
you - if you aren't setting good and firm boundries as to what he can and can't do during the day, he may be waking again from anxiety and attention seeking as he has to go to greater lengths to feel that you are in control not him.
him - he may have things on his mind. waking up, and then getting scared of the dark or somthing. in which case a night lamp in his room.
alot of people say let him cry it out, but i'm not entirely sure that it is necessary to do that. i believe there is usually something in the day that affects sleeping at night which can resolve the issue. babies don't want to wake up and scream at night, just like we don't so the question is what could be causing him to do that. and if it isn't teething, then he has something on his mind and this is his only way to communicating that.
good luck.
Well there are 100's of things that people will tell you you can DO - but only a few of them could possibly 'work' for your baby - this is because each and every baby is different and some Iike some adults) are just programmed to sleep right through, and others just have lighter sleep patterns.
Here are some ideas:
Getting baby off to sleep - at 13 months you should already have a nice little 'calm down' routine in place with familiar bath time, quiet songs, no stimulation. If he sleeps in a different to you, shorten the amount of time you spend in the room with him once you have put him down. At 13 months my baby was insisting on taking her bottle of milk in the cot with her and no amount of telling her that it wasn't 'accepted practice' stopped us doing this. She settled well after that but another trick we used was giving her 2 dummies (as she always lost one in the night or chucked it out).
Waking - as others have mentioned, could be due to hunger. And it does seem sensible not to let him nap after 4pm.but then other babies still do this and sleep right through! Infuriating isnt it.Well, we did what we swore we would never do and if we were desperate for sleep we gave her another bottle of milk! Sorry - I know its not accepted practice again..but for millions of paretns this is reality! Water is always a good subsitute but then you may need a nappy change at 5 am..
She still wakes once or twice in the night now, but the trick for us is not to make a fuss. Also - you will learn if he is 'trying it on' - our little one did the same at the same age as yours! It was like she had just discovered 'hey mum n dad come in my room if I shout a bit and create a fuss'. We often did (still do) just ignore her if she is clearly not too upset and she re-settles herself. If things are really bad - one of us sticks the ear plugs in and the other stays on 'night duty'! But normally these days she isnt so bad, though we know we will never have those 'sleep through nights' for more than a couple of nights a week.
If she wont resettle herself - have you thought about getting a 'baby dreamer' - they sell them at Mothercare and at Argos - you can probably also get them in the USA. They are about £20 and they play a little lullaby and project a 'light show' onto the ceiling - of teddies etc - our baby had it from being a new born and it still works to do it for her in the night if she has woken herself up (she is now 27 months). We also have a CD player in her room and stick the soft lullabies on in the night if its a probelm.
Try and be as 'boring as possible' when you go to him in the night. Dont make eye contact, keep your voice flat and dull and say the same thing over and over 'ok, go back to sleep now sweetie, night night' and pat him down.
If its not a hunger issue - I think that at the age of one its more often the fact that they are really beginning to see 'cause and effect' in their relationship with you and hey - its really exciting to think you can control your parents when you are so small!
Good luck! Its tough but it WILL get better!
She still wakes once or twice in the night now that she is two
First give up the goal of 100% 8hr nights where he doesn't wake up - it's not going to happen. The best you can hope for is to mostly get him to sleep between say 10pm and 6am; some weeks he could sleep more than others, depending on whether he has a cold, tummy upset or whatever. Discounting all of the factors that can cause a normal baby to be uncomfortable and wake up, a lot of it is habit - ie the more he wakes, the more he learns to wake during the night.
I would try firstly not putting him to bed before 9pm unless he's very sleepy. Second have a calming down time for a while after he's in his pyjamas. Look at a book with him, preferably with pictures of familiar objects and scenes that are familiar to him. Let him point to the pictures rather than you just reading the words to him. After say 20 mins of this announce quietly that it's time for sleep and do whatever you normally do to settle him down.
Now the tricky bit - when he wakes. You have to make waking up as routine and boring as possible with no rewards and no punishments. Attend to his physical needs and put him back. Don't make it fun or interesting or exciting in any way. Don't get cross either as this can also re-inforce the habit. Just treat it as a boring old routine. At first he may wake more, but as you are consistent in attending to his needs and putting him back to bed with his teddy or whatever little comfort thing he has, and the same thing happens every time he wakes, unless he's poorly, you should find over a few weeks that he'll wake less. You are re-training a habit. And habits die from starvation - no reward and no punishment, just boring old acceptance and carry on. Don't reward him when he does sleep all night either, as you want him to know this is the norm. Good luck, it requires patience but it works if you work it.
* Set a bedtime and stick to it.
* A 'wind down' period about an hour before bedtime will mentally prepare your child for bed. This may include bath-time, a bedtime story, or a bedtime drink or snack. Make it what you want it, but be consistent.
* Establish regular 'sleep cues' so that your child will come to know what to expect. Sleep cues are signals to your child that it is time for bed and time to sleep. These will include your bedtime routine - perhaps with the addition of a musical toy or cot mobile, a special doll or comforter, and even a particular type of bedding such as a baby sleeping bag.
* Putting your child to bed in the same cot or bed every night will make this a familiar and special place just for sleeping, and therefore a further sleep cue for your child.
When he wakes up in the middle of the night, does he have a drink or does he just want to be cuddled? They do eventually grow out of this phase.
In the meantime, try to ensure that he is warm and comfortable during the night and has a good meal before sleeping. He can have some milk just before bedtime. Is he an active kid? If he wears himself out during the day by playing hard, then he's likely to be tired by bedtime and hopefully sleep through the night.
you gotta be cruel to be kind. Don t take this to heart but it s your fault. I know this cos my son was the exact same. get a good bedtime routine going i.e bath milk, cuddle let him get a bit sleepy then leave him in cot. make the room nice and dark and have a separate place for day time naps so he is not confused. for first few nights he might cry, let him but reassure him you are there go back into room after a few mins but do not pick him up. say goodnight give a kiss etc and leave. This is so hard to do and you will feel horrible but you both benefit in long run from good night s sleep. Obviously if your child is over one you can introduce cow s milk. you should also have weaned off baby food and your child should be enjoying family meals. babies only have small stomach s so make sure over feeding is not a factor. good luck and hope you have a good sleep soon.
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Ok.this is very longwinded but it works an absolute treat and only takes a few days. (you will get a bt tired though)
When your baby wakes up, go and settle him down, without making eye contact, simply say goodnight and put him down again.
Wait five minutes, if he is still crying, do the same. wait 10 minutes and do the same, then 15 minutes and do the same. then every 15 minutes until he goes to sleep. This helps them to get to sleep on their own, and therefore when he wakes up, he will be able to get himself back off to sleep without disturbing you.
Like i say this will be tiring but VERY worth it.
The absolute WORST thing you can do is try and keep him awake during the day as he will simply learn to keep himself awake rather than going to sleep, he will be able to stop himself sleeping at night aswell!!
My daughter is the same age. She mostly sleeps all night. She just moved into her own room a couple of weeks ago. That made a big difference. When she cries at night I don't jump and run to her right away. I leave a couple of dummies in with her so she can find one at night if she needs. Give you baby a couple of minutes fussing and see if they will go back to sleep. A little crying won't hurt a baby if its only for a couple of minutes. Try to prevent giving your baby a bottle when they wake up. If you have to water it down. They will get the idea of not getting food during the night. Good Luck!
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