Sleeping info, pls help us.

michealmyers wrote: I know this is a general question that gets asked a lot but I would like some imput on what all you guys have done to help solve this prob.

We have a 4 month old boy, he's been eating cereal morning/night since 3 months old per the pedi. He's on a 4hr schedule, 5am bottle, 9am bottle/cereal after, 1pm bottle, 5pm bottle and cereal at 6:15. bed @ 7pm and we get him up at 9-9:30 for bottle.

He'll sleep from 9:30 and sometimes get up crying @ 11....but most of the time he's up crying at 1am, sometimes he'll settle down after a while but if not we'll put passy in and he'll go back to sleep till 3-3:30. Now at this time it's way harder to get him back to sleep.....he'll cry in his crib and shuffle all around and so we'll go in again and settle him back down and try to hold him off from the bottle till around 5am. So again, he's back up at 4:30-4:45 and we'll start getting the bottle ready. We're trying to get him to sleep through the night but are not having any luck. He used to sleep in a positioner in his crib but he'd move himself down to the bottom and then start rolling to his belly. So last night we took the positioner out and he flipped over to his belly and went to sleep. Slept like this most of the night but as usual.....he was back up at 1, 3, 4:45. We're following all the usual stuff....calm afternoons and winding down time with bath at 6:45 and then he's usually ready for bed at 7-7:30. We get him up at 9:30 cause we figure might as well give him the bottle then to try to get him to sleep through the night instead of offering the bottle when he gets up which might be 11-12 and then he'll get used to having that bottle then.

We've tried all sorts of stuff, we leave fan on, radio on and off, etc but it still does not matter, he's constantly shuffling around and getting up crying. We're thinking when he starts baby food in a few days this might help....but I'm not so sure, the cereal hasn't had much effect on him at all.

Our Lil' Family replied: Sorry you are having trouble. It might make you feel better to know that my son didn't sleep through the night until 5 months.

Have you tried increasing the ounces he takes during the day? I've heard that they wake at night because to get what they didn't get during the day....not sure if that's true or not. Guess I'd try to add 1 oz to each bottle and see if that helps.

PrairieMom replied: do you swaddle? it worked wonders for my kids, the tighter the better

Boo&BugsMom replied:
First, I would certainly stop waking him up for that bottle. Give him a bottle right before he goes down instead so he's full. JMO.

Is he upset because his pacifier is falling out? Our son did this and we had to get rid of it.

moped replied:
BIg swaddler here as well!

michealmyers replied: we did swaddle, but he just breaks loose and sometimes the cover slips over his head which worried us. We thought about giving him a bottle right before he goes to bed but didn't know if he'd take it....he takes one at 5pm...then cereal at 6:15......so bedtime is 7 and that'd only be 2hrs since the last bottle, wouldn't this throw him off his 4hr schedule? He's generally taking 5 1/2 to 6 oz each feeding.....most of the time this fills him up.....he does not want anymore if we attempt to feed him more. Sometimes he has taken more....but usually if he does he'll end up spitting it up.

As far as the passy....sometimes he goes to sleep with it, sometimes not. But when he's asleep he'll spit it out and sleep. Usually at 3:30 when he wakes up we have to pop it back in and he'll go back to sleep, we try to let him cry for a bit of course before doing so.

I think overall he's hungry......we'll give him the bottle at 5am and for the most part he'll sleep until 7:15-7:30 am.

I don't know what to do schedule wise.....he's doing real good during the day, finishing all the bottles etc.......and we're sticking to the 4hr schedule to the T.....and I'd like to give him a bottle right before bed, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't take the whole thing since he just had one 2hrs earlier. Keep the suggestions coming......any help is appreciated.

PrairieMom replied: I would suggest using a swaddeling blanket, they make some that have velcro tabs to help hold them on.
tiny babies can't control their extremities, so when their arms or legs flail around it freaks them out and makes them cry. It would be worth a shot anyway.

I would also suggest not being so rigid with a feeding schedule and feed more on demand, just make sure he is getting enough food.

Boo&BugsMom replied: I was going to suggest the same as Tara about the schedule. Sometimes when you are that rigid it can backfire. Try letting him lead his own schedule and things may fall into place a bit better.

michealmyers replied: well during the day he's like clockwork....seriously, thats why we're sticking by the schedule. I think tonight we'll give it a shot w/ him eating at 5...then we'll try another bottle when he goes down and see how it goes, hey anything that works

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Just to let you know, with our 2 month old, we give him a bottle right before bed even if he has eaten an hour or two before hand. Even though he wont eat the whole thing, if he eats just a little bit to refill himself back up, he tends to sleep longer before he wakes to eat. It's worth a shot. Hope it works for you and lightens the load a bit.

michealmyers replied: we'll try it, how long does your 2 month old sleep and when do you put him down?


OH forgot to add.......we have kept him up later also, but that does nothing at all. I think however, we'll try keeping him up till 8 instead of 7 and then give him a bottle then.

moped replied:
I wouldn't keep him up later - then he will be overtired

Boo&BugsMom replied:
He falls asleep anywhere from 8-9pm, then gets up about 4am to eat, then falls asleep for another couple hours. My first son though never slept like that! He put himself on a pretty good schedule after about 3 months or so, but he never slept for long periods at night like this one does. I'd like him to be in bed by 8 though, but he's a huge fighter when it comes to the initial falling asleep.

Sometimes trying to keep them up does more harm than good when they're that little. Like Jen said, then they become overtired and that's never a good thing. We've tried that too and he seems to get worse when he doesn't sleep enough or early enough. Keeping him up til 8 though sounds like a pretty good bedtime, unless you know he's tired then I'd let him sleep. Also, I don't know how it is around you, but here it stays light out later at night now that it's summer. Because of the sun staying up later and it rising earlier, it seem to mess both my kids up really easily. I have no problem with bedtime in the winter time!

michealmyers replied: well what really triggers it, is his bath. He can stay up later......but after he's had his bath he knows bedtime is near. I think this will help keeping him up a little later......then getting bath a little later, then a bottle before bed. We'll give it a try and see how it goes.

michealmyers replied: OK kept him up till 8:45, he did great......was happy and playing, etc. Like I said he's great till his bath...then he's ready to go to sleep. He didn't really want the bottle, but we coaxed him into taking it...he had 5oz out of 5 1/2. He went to sleep @ 9pm on his belly (he likes it this way now) and slept till 2:30, woke up crying a little so we let him cry for 10 minutes. And when I say crying I mean stirring/whimpering, etc not just flat out crying at the top of his lungs. He fell back asleep and then at 5am we went in and he was stirring some so we gave him a bottle. Slept till 7:30.

I think we'll stick to this schedule and maybe move up the cereal to right after we give him the 5pm bottle, that way he'll take the bottle a little better at 8:45 or so. I think we're going to shoot for 8:30-8:45 bedtime, unless he's just really really tired. It's just something around the 2:30am - 3am mark that gets him up for some reason, I don't know if it's just him just used to getting a bottle at this time or what. We just recently cut it out.....probably 2 weeks ago so maybe he's still adjusting? Anyway, him stirring a bit at 2:30 wasn't bad......I think we'll stick to this schedule and see what happens.

moped replied:
That sounds like a pretty good night to me! At 4 months!

michealmyers replied: Back to the old schedule looks like, except we're putting him down around 8pm. He won't take the bottle at 8....he'll drink an oz, if that and then wake up more through the night. So we switched back to giving him the bottle at 9:30 and he does better and takes the whole thing. He is still getting up at 2:25 for some reason...I guess hungry, we put pacifier in and he's good till 5am when we feed him again, then he'll sleep till 7:30. I think overall it's not too bad, I'm just ready for him to sleep through the night, I just need to realize that it might not happen until he's used to this schedule for a while. We just started baby veggies (carrots) so maybe that'll help as well.

PrairieMom replied: 4 months old isn't so bad for still getting up in the night. He may still need those feedings. How big is he?
Mine was 11 months old and still getting up twice. She was only about 16 pounds, and way at the bottom of the weight scale. She got a lot of calories from those night feedings. We finally out of desperation started ferberizing at 11 months, and after about a month we had phased out all three of her night feedings, and she was FINALLY sleeping though the night.
some kids just don't sleep real well. There are some people on here who's kids didn't sleep though the night for years.

Boo&BugsMom replied: I know how you feel. I'd LOVE for our little guy to sleep through the entire night. But, it will come eventually. They are still so young yet. Getting up once or twice though isn't bad at all. My other son use to get up 3 times a night until he was about 6 months old. I'm blessed this time with only getting up once or twice.

michealmyers replied: We just went for 4 month checkup.......he's 16 lbs and 75% in his weight/height.

We've been on cereal for a month so we're able to start veggie's as well. He eats cereal/veggies really good and takes his 5 1/2 oz's each time every feeding.

Last night we kept him up till 8:45...he was fine and not fussy.....gave him a bottle which he drank all of, and put him down for bed at 9pm. He was up at 11, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30.......then from 3:30 on he slept.

I really don't understand it......every single person we talk to that has an infant, they put them down anywhere from 8:30-9 and they sleep till at least 5 without waking. So we give it a shot and it turns out to be a nightmare. I'm really out of options here....we've tried everything and somethings gotta give. I don't know if we should stick to the going to bed at 8:30-9 or switch back to 7-7:30

PrairieMom replied: double post.

PrairieMom replied: Have you tried swaddeling him tighter? I'm sticking with my original suggestion that you get one of those swaddle blankets, and tip him on his right side to sleep.
swaddeling SAVED OUR LIVES!!! with both our children. I used the methods from the book happiest baby on the block.


http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/excerpts_book.html

it works. I swear.

Not all kids sleep the same, you may just have one of those kids that is a bad sleeper.

michealmyers replied: Currently he's not swaddled. We've tried that and he just breaks free and is now able to flip over on his own. He's now sleeping on his belly. It's just really frustrating when you put him down at 9pm and think "wow, he's finally going to get some sleep" only to hear him crying at 11pm. I guess we've just got a fussy baby at night...thats the only thing I can figure, nothing seems to work with him, he fusses regardless.

Boo&BugsMom replied: I don't know how you feel about letting him cry it out, but we started to let our oldest CIO around this time. He was not that great of a sleeper until we started that. In fact, it was pretty much how you describe...up every hour.

Who told you it was a nightmare? I've never heard them getting them this young, which is why I ask. There are also night terrors, but kids are unconsolable during that time and they usually wake up after each sleep cycle and not every hour.

Kaitlin'smom replied: just wondering are you stll giving him cereal at night before bed or close to it? I am wondering if it might cause him some discomfort, hench the waking up so much.

I do agree swaddling worked wonders for me and the tighter the better, also feeding more on demand and she did not get solds till she was 6+ months old, even then it was only for taste and texture and not for her primary source of nutrition.

michealmyers replied: No I'm not saying nightmare's for him....it was a nightmare for us last night with him getting up so frequently. Currently he is crying it out......we'll just go in after he's settled down and back asleep and just make sure he's positioned ok, etc. But yes, he's crying and then putting himself back to sleep....only to wake up soon afterward though.

His eating schedule is as follows
5am - 5 1/2 oz of formula
9am - 5 1/2 oz formula, then 1 Tablespoon cereal
1pm - 5 1/2 oz formula
5pm - 5 1/2 oz formula and 1 Tablespoon cereal and half jar of carrots (1)
9pm - 5 1/2 oz formula

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Oh..got it! Thanks for clearning that up.

michealmyers replied: THERE IS HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!

OK last night, we did the usual
Bottle @ 5pm
Cereal and carrots @ 6
then bath at 7:15 or so and he played a little bit and got a little sleep at 8
so we put him down at 8:15
got him back up at 9:45 for a bottle....drank about 7-7 1/2 oz
back to bed and slept soundly till 5am, he stirred a bit so we gave him a bottle at 5.
back to sleep and then up at 6:30

He did great.......going to try it again tonight and see how it goes.
I think bedtime is going to be 8-8:30....I think before when we tried putting him to bed at 9 or later he was just exhausted. He acted fine...but in reality I think he was just worn out and didn't sleep worth a flip. On the other hand, maybe it was because we made his bedtime later and this was the first day keeping him up later???

michealmyers replied: Ok 2nd night in a row.

Did the exact same schedule as previous post and he slept the whole night yet again. I heard one little peep from him, but thats it......he was right back asleep. I think we've finally found a schedule that he likes.

PrairieMom replied: