Click on the ‘Play’ button above to start video!
Hi! I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program. If you’d rather read than watch, I’ve transcribed the text of this video below.
This week’s question comes from Maria and she writes:
“Our seven-month-old goes to bed fine after a bath every night around 8:00 but he does not stay asleep. He falls back to sleep after I nurse him but how can I help him stay asleep all night long?”
First of all when you say he goes to bed fine at bedtime, one of two things I think is happening. Either it’s possible that you rock him or nurse him to sleep and then transfer him to his crib or maybe he falls asleep completely on his own at bedtime. I have a lot of clients who are doing the Sleep Sense Program and they email me or call and say, “I have done everything. He is falling asleep great at bedtime and totally on his own; he just chats to himself and falls asleep but is still having night wakings.” If that really is the case, then great! Half the battle is already won; he is falling asleep great at bedtime and that is really the main goal.
If that is the case and he is still waking up to nurse, my next issue is that he falls asleep while nursing through the night. What can happen then is the baby learns the skills they need for falling asleep at bedtime but then falls back into the old familiar ways for the rest of the night. He might wake up randomly and you let him get on the breast and take the easy way back to sleep. If that is the case, you want to break the connection between nursing and sleep altogether, 100%.
It really cannot linger as a habit or else the baby will think you might go back to that and you may even find that he starts crying again at bedtime in hopes that you will nurse him to sleep again. I would say goodbye to that completely. For a seven month old, (you could run this by your doctor first and make sure he gets the clean bill of health and his weight is fine) he can probably be sleeping totally through the night without any feeds. So you might consider just pulling his night feeds cold turkey and then every time you have a night waking, you would either go back to your stay in the room method or use the leave and check method, until he goes back to sleep.
The good news is because he does it well at bedtime, it really only takes a couple of nights to get him through for the night wakings. That skill base is already there, so it is just a matter of teaching him that every time he wakes up, he is going to handle the situation exactly the same way. I would just pull him cold turkey from the night feeds.
However, if you want to keep a feed, or you are not confident yet he could go the whole night without food, I would keep one feed and I would make it really businesslike. Turn on the light or the lamp next to you and keep a close eye on him. Let him nurse enough for a feed but do not let it linger. You don’t want to let him start suckling his way back to sleep. Try not to even let him close his eyes. You won’t be as bright eyed as we might be during the day either, but you really want to break that connection between the breast and going back to sleep, so talk to him. Tickle him and even gently poke him a little if you see his eyes start to get heavy but make sure he stays awake through the feed. He then goes back to his crib awake and that way, you will have a better chance that he is going to start breaking that whole connection between nursing and sleep.
So that is my best advice for you. Either the eliminate night feeds or keep one but make sure he stays awake through it all and that should keep him asleep.
Thanks for your question, Maria. Sleep well!
To learn more about The Sleep Sense Program, click here — or you can click here to order now!
To ask a question about your child’s sleep, just leave it in the ‘Comments’ section below! I’ll choose one and create a new video answer each week!
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98 responses so far ↓
1 Julie Green // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:02 pm
My 9 and a half old son wakes up a couple of times through the night. I will go into his room and check on him, I leave and let him cry for a few minutes and then go in again. I continue this for sometime as I do this he will get more and more upset each time I go in, that eventually he will vomit. If I stay use the stay by his bed method he continues to cry and wont stop.What do I do for my baby, that I can’t let him cry himself to sleep?
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2 Marsha Mendel // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Devin sleeps through the night 7to7 with no feedings. The problem is he will not nap!!!! Sleep during the day consists of little 10-15mins in a swing or bouncy seat. Cries and continues crying up to 45mins in his crib at scheduled naptimes. Help!
Should he go down after eating(food and/or bottle)??
He goes down at night with out a sound. Day naps are becoming a battle. Help!! We try white sound noise, and he refuses to sleep or lie on his stomach. He can roll from his back to tummy but cannot return to his back!!! Need help getting him to go to sleep for naps during the day!!!
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3 Julie Green // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:07 pm
My 9 and a half month old son wakes up a couple of times through the night. I will go into his room and check on him, I leave and let him cry for a few minutes and then go in again. I continue this for sometime as I do this he will get more and more upset, that eventually he will vomit. If I stand by his crib he continues to cry and won’t stop. What do I do for my baby, who I can’t let him cry himself to sleep?
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4 barbara stirbis // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:30 pm
my grandson, samuel cole, won’t sleep on his back for very long. He’s 6 mos. old and the pediatrician says he must continue to sleep on his back until he’s proficient at rolling over from his tummy to his back while he’s sleeping. So, he wakes up every hour or so because my daughter’s constantly moving him from his tummy to his back. She has a sleep positioner, but it doesn’t keep him on his back anymore. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!
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5 KB // Aug 12, 2008 at 9:20 pm
My 21 month old daughter routinely skips her afternoon nap. She is clearly tired by noon, and seems to want to sleep, but cannot settle. We have her bedroom dark and quiet, much like night-time. She will lie down, but then after a few minutes she pops up, or twitches, and wakes herself up.
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6 Laura Loudon // Aug 12, 2008 at 9:39 pm
My 14 week old is sleeping in intervals of 4-5 hours,2-3 hours, 2-3 hours. I want to get her to sleep 5-5-2. How can I get her to go back to sleep without a feed when she is waking at 3 hours into a sleep?
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7 Alissa // Aug 12, 2008 at 9:50 pm
My son is almost a year and still gets up at least once a night fro no apparent reason , he just cries. He goes to sleep fine at night . What is your sugestiom for this problem ?
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8 Roshni Bhakta // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:06 pm
MY son is 14 months old – still nurses. He does not sleep by himself any time during day or night. either we need to rock him or I nurse him to sleep. It is causing us to be tired all the time. Please help!!!!!
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9 Traci Sherman // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:20 pm
My 5 mo now rolls over, and settles face down into the mattress. He wakes up numerous times at night, stiff back and face still face downward, arms out, crying…When I roll him to his back, he rolls right back to his belly, this can happen 5 times in a row….He has rolled to his back a few times in the day, but does not apply it at night…What do I do? Im not worried about SIDS, I am worried about applying your technique and him suffering face down as I let him self soothe……
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10 Ashley Corbin // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Dear Dana,
My son is one year old. I was wondering if someone of his age could have nightmares or maybe just bad dreams? The reason I am asking is because sometimes at night he will start screaming at the top of his lungs. When I go to his room to check on him he is not even awake. It takes me about twenty minutes to get him to wake up and realize I am there to soothe him. If I don’t get him fully awake then he just continues to scream. If this is possible can you give me some advice on how to stop the bad dream/nightmare, and what to do in order to help prevent them?
Thank you,
Ashley Corbin
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11 Tahra // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Hi. My daughter Tatum is 10 months old. She was sleeping through the night perfectly a few months ago but then started waking up quite often and would only go back to sleep with a bottle. She doesn’t have any teeth yet and ive been blaming teething for this but they just havent come yet. This has been happening for a few months now. I have tried not giving her a bottle and just going in and checking her and going back out but she doesnt go back to sleep. She can go to sleep by herself during the day and at bedtime but during the night she doesnt. Please help.
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12 karla // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:52 pm
hi dana my name is karla mother of jr i have a ? for you is it normal for my month old baby to cry so loud for a quite a long period of time at night
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13 Sarah // Aug 12, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Hi Dana,
I have a little boy who is just over 2years old…..i have tried very hard and i still cannot get him off the breast….he is extremely attached to it! He is having 3 feeds a day still, and i desperately want to ween him. I have managed to get him completely off during the night (he was waking for feeds still). But he still wants one very early in the morning, for his midday nap and just before bed/going to bed. Please help!
Thanks
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14 renae // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:11 pm
having trouble going to sleep. we have a dinner, bath, quiet time and bed time, but she is not falling a sleep until 10pm, we have to sleep in the same room on the floor for when she wakes in the middle of the night.
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15 Sabrina // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:17 pm
AQ (5.5 months old) I am still nursing him just a tad bit at night. However, I am weaning him from nursing period. So that is posing an issue because he is now moreso leaning towards I want to nurse but formaula makes me full type of setting. He is a little aggetitated at times due to bottle vs nursing – he wants both but I have decreased nursing very drasticlly that he is not getting enough to satisify even a little.
He is still waking up at night & this has become a but annyoing for him as well because he can not sleep being in the transition of weaning.
Any solutions to this? When he & dad goes out & sleep in the other room he would sleep for 4 hours at a time but when he sleeps next to me he would sleep maybe 2.5 to 3 hours. I am not coherent all the time… I’m losing my self confidence of being compentent some days not all…. due to my lack of sleep.
Help us
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16 Sabrina // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:19 pm
• My son is (5.5 months old) I am still nursing him just a tad bit at night. However, I am weaning him from nursing period. So that is posing an issue because he is now more so leaning towards I want to nurse but formula makes me full type of setting. He is a little aggatated at times due to bottle vs. nursing – he wants both but I have decreased nursing very drastically that he is not getting enough to satisfy even a little.
He is still waking up at night & this has become a but annoying for him as well because he can not sleep being in the transition of weaning.
Any solutions to this? When he & dad goes out & sleep in the other room he would sleep for 4 hours at a time but when he sleeps next to me he would sleep maybe 2.5 to 3 hours. I am not coherent all the time… I’m losing my self confidence of being competent some days not all…. due to my lack of sleep.
Help us
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17 pamela // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Hi, your video was very informative, my question though is this… my son is only 3 months old so is it too early to start weaning him off of his night feeds? The reason i ask is because im doing i think everything right at bedtime… he doesnt use a soother to fall asleep, i dont rock him…. I put him to bed fully awake and he puts himself to sleep usually within 30 mins. his bedtime is now between 7-8, And then anywhere from 6-8 hours later, he wakes up for food and when he gets sleepy on the breast i wake him up. He finishes and then i put him back in his crib fully awake again. He has no problem getting to sleep, i just dont know if maybe its to early to wean him and thats why he wakes up?
I have even let him fuss or cry for up to an hour before i go in to feed him thinking he will go back to slep and sometimes he does but he then wakes up within an hour for food…… Any sugestions? Thanks so much!
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18 nicole // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:36 pm
zachary is 15months old and i have put him into a single bed. he wakes at night probably evey hour or two. he some times gives 3 hours. i have to lay down beside him for him to go to sleep.
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19 Jane // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Thanks Dana, this was my question aswell. Our little one self settles beautifully during the day and at bed time but is determined to get nursed at 3am, back to sleep. I think i will take your advice and go cold turkey because i dont think she is really hungry. Thanks for your help, it makes sense and gives me confidence that we’re on the right track.
Jane
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20 Alicia Busby // Aug 13, 2008 at 12:20 am
Thank you so much for including me in this email at a time when I really need some guidance. Last night was a typical night. Isaac settled in his bed but an hour later wakes and needs breast to settle. He then woke as follows – went to bed by 9.30 as learning to settle and it took an hour, wakesat 10.30, 11.45, 12.30, 1.30, 3.30, 4.30, 5.30, 7.30. Yep that right only 2.30 was missed. He was in his room unitl 4.3o when I resorted to bringing him back into our bed as I was so worn out. He turned one 2 wks ago. HELP. I think I am getting worn out. Do I go cold turkey and make sure I leave him in his room or can he come in early hours of morning?
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21 jayne // Aug 13, 2008 at 12:46 am
our 7 month old goes down each nap & at night ( 6.30pm ) fine – may cry for a min or two but self settles – she wakes around 10-11pm and we feed her – then she wakes at 1am – 2am and she doesnt cry – just chats & laughs & yells & this can go on for HOURS – Its really upsetting everyone in our home and we had to take our 4 year old out of the room as they share and she was waking him – i would like to stop the 10pm feed but she has been ill so I feel unfair to let her cry ( croup ) however i have been living like this for 6 weeks now & im getting an average of 4 hours broken sleep a night – Please help – I have been to the GP – many hours on teh phone to Sleep school – they tell me to leave her – and she isnt upset etc so I Know that she is ok – but how long does this last ?? please help
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22 kenia // Aug 13, 2008 at 12:56 am
hi, my name is kenia ihave a 15 month old boy and o wanna know if it’s okay that he is still geting a bottle before bed to go to sleep?when should i take his bottle away?
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23 Hayle // Aug 13, 2008 at 1:22 am
In line with this question, my daughter (4 months) is still waking at 12:00am-1:00am. We have cut that feeding out for the past several weeks. (She still has a 4:00am feeding). Our routine is as follows: 7:30pm-change diaper, J&J night time lotion rub, into PJ’S, nurse and to bed sleepy but awake. She is in bed by 8:00. It is about 50/50 if she drifts off by herself of if she cries for a bit. At the 12:00-1:00 wake up call I go in and give her a binky and leave. I do not nurse again, pick her up, talk to her, or change a diaper (unless I can smell that it needs to be changed), very business like in and out in about 10-15seconds. But the night waking continues. If we do not go in she will cry for hours until we go in. Any advise?? Thank you
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24 Charlotte Hall // Aug 13, 2008 at 2:21 am
Hi Dana, my 9 month old baby Harry goes to sleep well in the evening, bath and bottle then bed awake and falls asleep at round 7pm. He sleeps all night until 5am and then is ready for the day – any tips to make him sleep longer. Have tried putting him to bed nearer 8pm which makes no difference and have also tried going into him at 5am and settling him again, this does not work either. Any ideas or is Harry just an early riser! Thanks.
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25 Margaret // Aug 13, 2008 at 4:38 am
Hi Dana
I have been trying to put my 8month old to bed awake and also trying to wean her off night feeds but everytime i lie her down in her cot she sits up or stands up in her cot and starts to cry. So its actually difficult to just leave her to sleep because as long as she is awake she will not lie down. She prefers to sit up and then stand up. She has been exclusively breastfed and still is, even though she is now on Solids as well. She does not like the formular milk so i am stuck with giving her milk or water. I will be going back to work in 6 weeks time and I am really anxious for her to start sleeping though the night.
Hope you can help.
Regards,
Margaret
Hope you can help
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26 Elise Beattie // Aug 13, 2008 at 4:49 am
Sounds great Dana but what about for a 16 month old who is draining 2×250ml bottles throughout the night & happily goes back to sleep once they are empty?
We don’t remove him from the cot, he simply calls out. How do we put a stop to the night hunger so he’ll sleep right through?
Luca used to sleep right through when he was much younger but he seems ravenous during the night which we find difficult to control.
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27 Carol Rose // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:24 am
Jake had been sleeping through the night from about 5 months going from 7pm through to 8am the following morning. He is now 7 months and around 3 weeks ago he has started feeding every 4 hours again throughout the night sometimes every 3 hours. If I don’t feed him he gets himself so worked up – I have tried various ways of stopping it but without success. He is so happy and content throughout the day but as he is my 3rd child (eldest is 5) with sleep deprivation I am finding it hard to cope during the day. I am desperate to find a solution to this so any advice is welcome.
Kind regards,
Carol.
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28 nikita // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:38 am
hi dana
our son is 6 months old, since birth he has been a real hanful, crys ALOT will not play on his chair or gym, just wants held constantly. he still wakes during the night around 3 times and is awake for a hour or so, i also have a 3 yr old so this is extreamly tiring and is actually begining to ruin our life, sounds harsh but its true.
we have the whole routine as suggested, and he cosleeps as he would not go in his crib he just screams. he falls asleep most nites in bed with me, but when he is asleep i leave the room, then as soon as i ’sneak’ in the room, its like he senses i am there and wakes up, so i ssshh him and he settles. he tosses and turns and moans and groans all night, and seems too ‘root’ for me all the time, if i move too far away from him he wakes up or starts stirring and rooting!!! its so strange my hubby thinks its amusing watching him do it, but hes not the one up the whole night!
he does not nap in the day, and in a 24 hour period he gets about 6 hours sleep, not straight. which is no way near enough.
i have tried not too attend him or anything during the night but he will scream and scream, which wakes my 3 yr old then i have 2 kids screaming at 2am
please dana, i need your help.
i just do not know what too do, i even took ashton too the docs as i was thinking maybe he was sick, as the way he screams 24/7 and he said he is fine and too ignore him!! but i cant!!
thankyou for reading and i really hope too recieve your help, i am 22 and i have gray hair!! big bags, and bloodshot eyes through lack of sleep, i am exhausted, i have lost 2 stone in 6 months and really cannot take much more of this. i need help fast
thankyou so much for taking the time too read this.
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29 Mimi // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:59 am
My 16 month old started waking up 2 to 3 times a night about 3 to 4 weeks ago. He’s had a couple of nights here and there that have been alright. I would go in his room after 15 to 20 minutes and then rock him back to sleep. Then I decided that was enough of that and started to let him cry figuring he would cry himself to sleep. He has cried up to 2 hours standing up in his crib. I don’t know what else to do. How can I get him back on track? How long should I let him cry for?
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30 Kelly // Aug 13, 2008 at 9:16 am
I still hold or rock our 10 month old at night until falls asleep. How can I teach him to go to sleep on his own in the crib?
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31 Robin // Aug 13, 2008 at 9:20 am
At what age should a baby begin to sleep through the night and not require a night time feeding?
Thank you!
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32 Amanda // Aug 13, 2008 at 9:30 am
I have a really hard time getting my one year old daughter to go to sleep at night. She takes two to three naps a day and stays on a pretty good routine. At night she wants to feed and then when I go to lay her down she will scream for hours and I always break down and let her lay in bed with me and feed to go back to sleep. I need to get her to stay in her bed and sleep without needing to feed. I work seven days a week and its hard for me to get up with her at night or to stay awake with her. I don’t know what to do. Please help
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33 Joan // Aug 13, 2008 at 10:09 am
I have a hard time getting my 10 month old to fall asleep and stay asleep in his crib. It all started when I transitioned him at 4 or 5 months from a bassinett to the crib. He knows how to go to sleep on his own but not in his own bed. Even those rare occasions that he falls asleep and I put him in his crib, he will only stay in there an average of 2 hours. The longest is 4. What can I do?
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34 nancy // Aug 13, 2008 at 10:18 am
my baby girl is 9 month old she was a good sleeper around 6-7 month then she got sick for a week and went to hospital for couple of days so at this ime i was nursing her when ever she wants then when she was fine and in good health she returned to be a bad bad sleeper she wakes up at night and wont go to sleep until i nurse her and whenever i put her in her crib she wakes up after 10 minutes or so , it returned to be a nightmare for me and my husband if we want her to sleep well she should be sleeping beside us and i nurse her whenever she wakes so this is becoming frustrating, we need u to tell us what shall we do to get her on track again.thx
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35 Kari Pringle // Aug 13, 2008 at 10:43 am
My daughter will go to bed around 7:00- 7:30 each night on her own. She will sleep through the night but around 5:30 ish ( like clock work) I can hear her start to wake up. Is there anything I can do to help her to sleep longer in the morning? Thanks
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36 Daya // Aug 13, 2008 at 11:56 am
Our thirteen month old goes to bed by 8.00 pm & sleeps just fine by himself in his crib. He sleeps through the night but wakes up early by 5.15 a.m. How do I get him to sleep a little longer till 6.00 a.m ?
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37 Amber // Aug 13, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I have a 10 month old little girl who is starting to sleep better and longer each night. The problem is every night at about 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. she wakes up wanting to play. Please help because I cannot get her to go back to sleep when she wakes up this way.
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38 Keri // Aug 13, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Okay I know you have a ton of emails and comments to sort through so I’ll make this as short and simple as possible.
We have been traveling a lot in the last 4 months. My son just turned one. He sleeps pretty good at night except during transition times from one time zone to the next. We have one more travel day and then we are settling into our new house-My thing is this: I still let him have the pacifier because of all the change and traveling we’ve had to do I didn’t want to take it away-and b/c of those reasons I still hold him to sleep for naps. So this has caused some problems for traveling. He will not sleep in the car even though he’s had like no sleep skipped nap or what have you, he will scream and try to get out of his seat but will not fall asleep even after 2 hours of driving. He will also not fall asleep on the plane-he screams and everyone around me hates me-I even had some guy cursing at me and I got many glares-It was so awful I wanted to cry. They finally let me up so I could put him in my carrier and bounce him around until he finally fell asleep but it only lasted 20 mins. I Really wanted to cray then! So we have one more fly day coming up in a week & a half and then we are settling into our house-so Is there anything I can do to make the traveling less painful? How do some babies just fall asleep on a plane while sitting there-mine fights sleep so hard during the day-he is on a good schedule 2 naps about 1.5 hours each and he goes to bed between 6-7p.m. and wakes about 6a.m. so he’s good in that department-but I have to hold him to sleep for naps and use the paci-I figure I’ll stop that once we move but i’ve tried before and he just skips a nap I give him an hour and 10 or 20 and he still is awake-its very painful-maybe I give up to soon but I usually give it a few days and its the same. At night he falls asleep on his own though-
sorry this was longer then I wanted
help!
Keri
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39 Marie Wright // Aug 13, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hi Dana my grandaughter 2yrs 9 mos has never been a good sleeper. She wakes about 5 times a night and usually has a bottle to go back to sleep, she has now started as if she is having nightmares and goes into her mom’s bed, dad then gets in her bed, she still doesn’t settle well in there but is better than being left on her own, it is as if she is afraid of something. She cries for hours if left unattended, but is good all day besides that. Any suggestions? Marie
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40 Melissa // Aug 13, 2008 at 3:12 pm
My 18 month old daughter has been sleeping with us for the last year. We have tried on occasion to transfer her out to her room, but she becomes hysterical and vomits all over herself and the crib each time. I thought that she might be frightened by the confinement of the crib, so I converted it to a toddler bed, but she did the same thing. How can I get her to start sleeping on her own and eliminate the fear that is leading her to vomit? Thanks!
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41 Brigitte // Aug 13, 2008 at 3:38 pm
My daughter Nshirah is 12 weeks old,she has no trouble sleeping, only she keeps getting startled and then wakes up. i have stop nursing and rocking her to sleep. i still swaddle her to keep her still. is it too early to stop swaddling?
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42 Poorni // Aug 13, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hi Dana, My son Prithvik 2 months old is not a good sleeper during day times. He sleeps pretty well when we hold him upright for burping or during nursing. But wakes up as soon as we put him in bed or in crip or bouncer. Hez not able to agree with change in place or position during sleep. What can I do?
Thanks!
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43 waiana kerrich // Aug 13, 2008 at 4:41 pm
hi Dana my son is over 3mnths old and always wakes up in the night/morning 4 me 2 nurse him back to sleep. And stays up all day sometimes he has a nap for 5minutes or less in the day time then wakes up and crys again. And i dont let him cry for long because sometimes he chokes on his siliver….plus i am a first time mother so i dont really no wat routine to put him in or how to make him have better sleeps. So please help with any suggestions that would work please.
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44 waiana kerrich // Aug 13, 2008 at 4:43 pm
i forgot to write that he wakes up 3-4 or to 5times during the early hours of the morning.
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45 Traan // Aug 13, 2008 at 5:48 pm
My 8 week old son is getting better at going to sleep for his naps on his own, with just a little bit of grizzling. The problem is that he is still waking up after 30-45 minutes and crying. Sometimes if I leave him 5-10 mins he will go back to sleep but usually I end up having to rock him back to sleep. This can happen 2-3 times in one nap, and I know he’s tired and needs the sleep! Any suggestions?
Thanks, Traan.
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46 katie greenhill // Aug 13, 2008 at 6:50 pm
hi dana!
i have a 4 and a half month old daughter who has suffered terribly with colic, however she always seemed to sleep well at night, despite this. From about 6 weeks she slept through most nights, and now the colic has begun to go away… she still is occasionally colicky! However now she is waking most nights for a feed. She goes to bed around 9:30… i put her in her cot awake, just after a feed, and she has burped well for me. Then she wakes around 3 or 4am for a bottle. Afterwards i put her in her cot again (awake) so she can put herself back to sleep. she usually sleeps another hour or maybe two at the most. I know compared to most mums i’m lucky, but what else can i do to ensure she learns to sleep through the night again?
many thanks,
Katie (teacher & 1st time mum)
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47 Linda G // Aug 13, 2008 at 7:33 pm
My 26 moth old son will not sleep more than 8 hrs a night. I read that he needs 12 hrs at least. I have been able to get him to sleep that long once or twice, but it was with out a nap in the afternoon, no sugar after 6 pm and he got in our bed at 5 am. What do I do? If he dosn’t have a nap he is unbearable. He also sleeps the last half of the night in our bed.
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48 AB // Aug 13, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hi Dana,
I’m in a similar situation to last weeks question. My DS (12 mths) goes to sleep fine with me in the room (no feeding or rocking) – but he still wakes a lot! I resettle by going in to him & staying until he is asleep again – usually pretty quickly. Just me entering the room, saying ‘mums here’ or a touch is enough. Am I his sleep association? Aside from that, I can’t think of anything else that is causing the waking & inability to go back to sleep on his own – everything we ’should’ be doing, we are.
Thanks
AB
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49 Irene Park // Aug 13, 2008 at 11:14 pm
My 10mths old daughter goes to sleep ok at night and she wakes up from 1am and won’t stop cyring until I come to her bed.
She goes back to sleep in her cot when I am present in her room but if I leave the room, she cries again endlessly until I come back. Even if she goes back to sleep she wakes up again soon when she finds out I am not in her room any more.
How can I reassure her even I am not in her room for the entire night?
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50 Ashley G. // Aug 14, 2008 at 1:22 am
Dana, my daughter Shaylee is cutting teeth. She has a hard time falling asleep period. We try Tylenol, teething tablets, and feeding her, nothing puts her to sleep. At night we have a routine of play, bath, bottle, then bed. Shaylee will not go to sleep until she is ready, and until that time, she cries, screams, wiggles, and is just a hard pill to swallow. Once she finally falls asleep, which may be as late as 1:00 am, we find her only waking up 3-5 hours later-screaming mind you. We feed her and try to put her back to bed, but she thinks it is time to wake up and play or just not time to go back to sleep. She has better nights than others, but this waking up at night is not working for no one. But what do I do about her teething phase? I know I can’t be doing this at night until she is two years old, there has to be a solution. I will try to start the sit in room method again on Monday to see if we can get an improvement. Thanks, Ashley (notice what time my message is posted)
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51 louise earley // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:26 am
My eight month old has very erratic sleep patterns at night. She always had one night feed while I was breast feeding her up to six months and just woke for that,for a while we continued with a night time bottle, if and when she woke. I gradually weaned her off this as I saw it as a habit and gradually reduced the milk until it was phased out. She began to sleep from bed time at 7.00 until 6.00 ish with a dream feed at ten. Then suddenly began to do wake ups all over the place last night she slept thru, the night before she woke up every hour, the night before that she woke up twice. We don’t feed her but do use a comforter/dummy. We can’t work out what’s going on. Any advice? In the day she will nap and if she is relaxed will take herself off to sleep, but if wound up (she is a live wire) needs the dummy to chill, before sleep. I tend to keep the dummy as a last resort though.
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52 Belinda Mills // Aug 14, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi,
Writing in realtion to Riley. He is still not sleeping through the night and is now 18mths. I have strated working 3 days a week and it is getting very tiring. As well as him waking during the night I have been told it is normal but he has major seperation anxiety and gets that distressed when I leave that majority of the time he gets physically ill and vomits. And that is even if he is with his father. I need help urgently as I am at my wits ends and besides that i suffer from postnatal depression and it is not getting better with Riley the way he is and i dont have a good support base either. And we live in remote county NSW and there are no clinics near us.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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53 lisa price // Aug 14, 2008 at 8:40 am
my baby is 20 months old and for one reason and another is sleeping in our bed. he also wakes approx 3 times during the night for a bottle. as you can imagine, this is exhausting! we have now ordered him a bed, rather than try to get him back into his cot which he doesn’t seem to want to do, but i don’t know to get him into his new bed, into his own room and stop the feeds! to go cold turkey on all of these at once would be too much….
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54 karen // Aug 14, 2008 at 9:32 am
how much sleep does a two and a half year old need during the day if they are getting approx. 12 hours at night?
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55 renee // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:32 am
my 7 mnth son likes to nap in my arms.he naps thrice a day-each about 1hr to 2 hrs.i am tired of holding him and everytime i lay him down he wakes up.i dont want him to loose on his naps as i heard its imp that they nap during the day.pl help as to how i break this habit.
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56 cara // Aug 14, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hi my 1yr old needs to be weaned off nursing to sleep, he doesn’t have a problem during the night just to take a nap and bedtime he only knows how to fall asleep by nursing.(all my fault of course). Most people say let him cry to sleep, but havent we come up with a better way? since day 1 I have held him and nursed him to sleep its not his fault, I didnt know any better.I just feel like letting him cry to fall asleep is a bit like torcher. any suggestions please forward them…Thank you
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57 Elna // Aug 14, 2008 at 2:31 pm
My daughter is 11½ months old. How soon after waking in the morning, does she need to take her first/morning nap? Then, how long after waking from her morning nap, does she need to take her afternoon nap? How long after her afternoon nap, does she need to go for her nighttime sleep? Thank you.
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58 Holly Heap // Aug 14, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Hi Dana,
Having gone through numerous sites, I hope you can help. I have a 22 month old son. He has always been a very lively baby and very alert. He used to go to sleep without any problem but then started waking up throughout the night again. WE have moved him into his own bed and most of the time falls asleep after his bottle but wakes up at around 2is for a feed or even if he is just wet, I can sometimes skip the feed. I don’t mind these as much but he wakes up every morning around 5 am and will NOT go back to sleep. We have started to set our alarm for 3:30 just to make sure he goes back to sleep again. This seems to be really disturbing his routine during the day as he is exhausted by 7/8 O’clock. He will have an hours sleep at about 9am and then nothing more for the res of the day making him unbearable to be around. We are so drained and find that any spare time we have with him just isn’t ejoyable anymore. PLEASE HELP…
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59 Linda Southby // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I have a 22 month old boy who wakes at 5am ready to start the day. How can I get him to sleep in longer? I go in and tell him it’s still sleep time and lie him back down in his cot, but he just gets all excited and wants to get up. I have taken to giving him a bottle in bed just so he is quiet for another 20-30 minutes (but not asleep) so he doesn’t wake my other 2 kids. I have tried ignoring him but he just winds up and wakes up the whole house, and by then it’s close to 6am so we all get up. Help me get some more sleep! Linda
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60 Lisa Cranmer // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hi Dana, I have had problems getting my daughter to sleep and keeping her asleep all her life. As a baby, she was unable to fall asleep on her own and used to wake MANY times every night. She is now 6 years old and still needs me to stay in her room every night until she is asleep insisting that I stay or she becomes very distraught and follows me out of the room. She also wakes EVERY night in the early hours and gets into my bed. As you can imagine, this is quite waring night after night, year after year and I am at the stage where I need to change this. She just seems very scared to be alone for some reason. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated. Thankyou.
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61 laura P // Aug 14, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I can’t get my son to sleep more than a half hour for each of his naps at 7 months.
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62 Melissa M // Aug 14, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I’ve been successfully following your plan for putting my baby girl of 7 months down for naps and nighttime. My question is, I’ve been doing this for 3 weeks now consistently, and we’ve noticed my baby changing the times she goes to bed at making it earlier each night. The first few weeks were around 8:30-9:00, and then just this week she’s been 7:30-8:30, and now today she went down at 7pm. Is there a time she should not be going down for a nap in the afternoon…such as 5pm? She still sleeps between 20 minutes to an hour and a half for naps ever day (about 2 naps a day now..one taken between 9-10am and another around 1-2pm). She will also wake up in the morning between 6-7am (I will not go to her before 6am). She is still getting pretty carnky in the late afternoon because she doesn’t give herself a long enough afternoon nap. What do you think I should do to tone down her crankiness in the evening, and what is an appropriate bedtime (or the earliest one should occur for a healthy baby?) Thank you!
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63 Brandi // Aug 15, 2008 at 3:43 am
My son Kristopher was recently diagnosed with autism and just before that we moved from Texas to Ohio. While in Texas he would sleep through the night, most of the time (may wake for water or milk). Since we have been in Ohio, I can count on my hands how many times he’s slept through the night (we’ve been here almost a year now)! I understand that people with autism usually have a problem falling to sleep and/or staying asleep. Since we cannot get an appointment with his developmental pediatrician or any other doc/specialist for months, I’ve resorted to the internet. I’ve read several suggestions on autism websites of using Benedryl, Valerian Root, Melatonin and other relaxing herbs/scents. I think I’ve tried just about everything by now…All the medicinal suggestions, bath, quiet-time/story-time, back rub/massage, lavender in bath water (and on linens), warm milk, etc. A routine is sort of nonexistent…We are trying very hard for that, but when your family is getting 3-4 hours of sleep @ night it’s really hard to stay awake until bedtime (or only take a short nap). We are in desperate need of help…Any suggestions?!?
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64 Jane // Aug 15, 2008 at 11:53 am
I can get her to sleep after 30 min of crying and she will sleep 4 hours until she turns on to her belly where she will scream for hours and not calm down. If she starts out on her belly she does fine but most of the time she sleeps on her back. Any advise?
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65 katie R // Aug 15, 2008 at 4:41 pm
hi dana,
i have a son who is 2 yrs 8months and he has never slept through the night, ive tried everything, if i leave him for more than 5 minutes, he vomits everywhere. he is waking up 4 or 5 times a night, he cant fall to sleep by himself and hates sleeping in his own bed. it takes around an hour to get him to sleep then he wakes up throughout the night for a bottle, he has between 2 or 3 full bottles a night. how do i stop him from his night feeds without him crying and vomiting. it has gone on far too long now and im in desperate need for sleep. please help me!
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66 shi // Aug 16, 2008 at 10:33 am
hi dana my son is four months old he’ll sleep through the night for the most part but it’s getting him to sleep that is the problem. It seems like he has been fighting his sleep from day one. He throws himself backwards screams pulls his binky out throws that too, he just freaks out and its pretty hard to deal with, sometimes he’ll do it for fifteen twenty min. by then i’m so exausted from the fight i just want to cry it makes me irritable too. I’v tried to lay him down to self soothe himself but he just screams literaly screams face bright red the whole works. Is he to young to let him cry himself to sleep. Even for naps he fights horribly sometimes, he’ll dose off himself if you hold him and take cat naps now and then. It’s not fair to my oldest son because my patience is gone after these fight i also get irritable with him and it’s not his fault, what should i do??
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67 Tracey // Aug 16, 2008 at 12:28 pm
For the most part our son is off the middle of the night feedings, but our Pediatrician just said it is ok to bring him into the bed in the morning for cozy/nurse/nap time…I fear that after denying him this in the middle of the night and letting him cry and learn to self-soothe himself, would bringing him in for this morning time that we absolutely love be sending him a mixed message?? He definitely associates nursing with sleep.
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68 Jessica // Aug 16, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I am in the same situation as Roshni. My son is almost 10 months and will not sleep on his own to nap or bedtime. I still have to nurse him to fall asleep. He will not sleep in a crib, he will cry till he pukes and he will not stop crying. It is really taking a toll on us all. He sleeps in bed w/us and I’m worried that we will never have our bed back. I want one more child, but not if I can not get this one out of our bed!!!! HELP!!!!!!!THANKS!
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69 jo hemstead // Aug 16, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Hi dana, I have a thirteen month old boy named alex, He wakes constantly through the night expecting a bottle I’ve tried to do what you said by giving him a feed and then putting him to bed, That works ok sort of only if I give him his soother but then I still have to sit with him and hold his hand while he goes to sleep, When he wakes I try to put him back to sleep with his soother but he gives me a huge screaming tantrum untill I give in and get him a bottle im really tierd and I’m not a stong mum at all what can I do jo?
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70 Varinder Dhaliwal // Aug 17, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Hi Dana,
I want to ask a question about my 15 months old son Rohan.
Rohan has never slept well since day one whether its his day time nap or its night time sleep. To increase his nap time lenght I have tried to go into the room before he gets up after his 30 or 45 mins nap, and as a success I managed to increase it to an hr and half for some days and always try that he goes to sleep in his cot which will also help to make a routine that he can only go to sleep in his cot at night aswell. Which works and he goes to sleep in his cot but I have to tap his back or arm or need to tap on the matress to put him back to sleep. This happens every time when he gets up at night after every an hour or two hours some time. ONE thing I would like to mention here is that Rohan sleeps in his cot but in our room and due to some reason I cant give him a separate room.
In short could you please answer my QUESTION THAT “HOW CAN I KEEP HIM ASLEEP DURING HIS NAPS AND AT NIGHT WITHOUT HIM GETING UP OR WITHOUT TAPPING HIM”
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71 Jacqui Paterson // Aug 17, 2008 at 5:55 pm
My 4 month old baby boy started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old then about 4 weeks ago our whole routine was upset by a death in the family. My milk supply dropped through stress and he started waking through the night.
I thought maybe it was a wee growth spurt at first but i was wrong. My milk supply is back to normal and he still wakes numerous times. sometimes, if he has been recently fed i will give him his dummy or rock him back to sleep and if its been a few hours since his last feed i will feed him. He always falls asleep on the breast.
I know im doing things completely wrong but i dont know how else to get him to sleep. Ive tried controlled crying but he just gets in a state and is way too stressed to sleep.
Please help us!!!
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72 Christine // Aug 17, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Hi Dana
My daughter is 11 weeks old. I currently offer my daughter a soother but not all the time. She isn’t a fan of it “yet”, but does use it at times during the day or during the night. Often we have to hold the soother in her mouth or coax her into using it to stop her from crying. I would prefer her not to use it all, but I don’t know if that will make her a thumb sucker. We swaddle her to bed and only recently have one arm out so she is only just finding her fist/hand. She still has a hard time falling asleep and transitioning during sleep. In your opinion what is the likelyhood of her becoming a thumbsucker if I take the soother away completely.
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73 Jessica // Aug 18, 2008 at 6:46 am
My 10 month old now goes to bed like a pro (thanks to your program) the only problem I’m having is that recently, he has begun waking up around 5 am….. which isn’t ok to me. hehe. It may be possible that he’s getting up so early because my husband now gets up for work then…. and he might hear the squeaky floor boards…. but I don’t know what to do. He cries for so long and for so hard….. most of the time I either go and feed him and allow him to just be up….. or I turn down the volume on his monitor and go back to sleep. On rare occassion (like right now) I try bringing him upstairs to feed, change, and then plop him back down in bed for a little while longer. I’m at my wits end….. what should I be doing to solve this issue?
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74 ako // Aug 18, 2008 at 10:51 am
Hi Dana!
I’ve read your answer to how do i wean off my baby throught night. My doughter is 7 minths old.she wakes up somenight once but another nights 4times and cried. normally fed her 1or twice and we let her cries.we started not nursing her before naps,so that she thinks it doesn’t have any connection between nursing and sleep.but still nursing before night sleep.(just I don’t want her to be hungry)do you recomend not to feed even before noght sleep?
but before night sleep.
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75 Jennifer // Aug 18, 2008 at 11:17 am
My baby is 4 1/2 month old. He is still being swaddled and cannot go to sleep without it. We started to swaddle him b/c he had pretty strong reflex. Is it the time to break it?
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76 Tanya // Aug 18, 2008 at 7:32 pm
My daughter Ava is almost 9mths old, she started sleeping through the nite at 2 and half mths old and it stayed that way for a few mths, but now shes stopped doing it, I put her to bed at 8:30 and now she will wake up at around 10 and not even be hungry, she is wide awake crying until i hold her and she instantly falls back alsleep, she then will sleep until 3 in the morning and i usually give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep, everyone says its her gums that are bothering her, since she has no teeth yet? I dont think this is the case, i would love for her to start sleeping through the nite again.
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77 Nicola // Aug 18, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Hi, I have just been able to get Ben (6 and a half months) to go to sleep at about 6.30pm and for 2 nights he slept till 5am but the last two mornings he has woken up at 4am. We have left him to cry for an hour and he just won’t go back to sleep. How do I get him to go back to sleep, HELP!
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78 Christine Drgregorio // Aug 18, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Hi, my son is 14 months and still wakes 2 to 3 times a night. I am still feeding him, mostly at night. I know it is wrong to put him to breast to fall asleep, but I am so tired I do not have the energy to fight for an hour to get him back. I would like to stop feeding all together but don”t know how. I have tried a soother,water bottle,toy, blanket and he wants nothing. Please suggest how to stop. Does my husband need to go in or can I still, because every time he sees me he points to the chair to feed. He is getting better but still having a hard time liking milk. What do I do, please help before I have a nervous breakdown. Thank You
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79 Cameron // Aug 19, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hello,
We have been implementing this sleep program on my 6 week old daughter since she was about 3 1/2 weeks. Sometimes, she does really well going down, but other times (most of the time) she really protests. There have been several times where we have spent 45 minutes or more (up to 1 1/2 hours) trying to get her to sleep. Nothing seems to calm her down when this happens. Eventually, we’ll get her to fall asleep on her own, but it takes forever and really wears on us. One thing that makes her really mad is putting her arms in the swaddle. She doesnt like this, but we think its necessary because if her arms are out, she takes longer to fall asleep because she keeps waking herself up with her moro reflex. How long does it take a baby to become more consistent with falling asleep without a lot of intervention on our part?
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80 Chelsea // Aug 19, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hi, I have a 5 month old little girl. I just started to get her to sleep by 7pm. She usually wakes at 4 or 5 am for a feed but am wanting to break her of that because she only does is every so often. Also she has started to suck her thumb as a comfort…So she cries for awhile and then sucks her thumb…and then goes to sleep… Not sure if you can help with that one at all??? Any advice…
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81 Matt // Aug 19, 2008 at 11:38 am
My wife and I have a 19 month old boy who wakes up every night calling for “mommy”. She goes in to sooth him where he will always check to make sure she is still there multiple times before falling back to sleep. Should we just let him cry? If we do, he will cry for hours waking up his older brother who is in a different room.
What should we do? Please help.
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82 Jeannette in NZ // Aug 19, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hi Dana
I am able to get my just turned 3 year old to go to bed and stay in her room ok. She has always been a shocker with regards to sleeping! My routine is I read her a couple of stories and leave her with a book to read herself, the trouble is trying to get her to go to sleep after that – it usually takes about 1.5 hours to get her to actually lie down and close her eyes – it doesn’t matter how many times I tell her to lie down as soon as I disappear she gets up and gets another book or chats to her teddy sitting up, she constantly calls out for me too. She goes to preschool 5 days a week as I work but bed is at 7pm and she does not have a sleep in the day and hasn’t had one for yonks. She goes mad if I shut the door and turn the light off on her. It is odd as when she goes to stay with my ex husband he pops her to bed, reads her a story turns her light off and that is the last her hears from her, although he leaves her with a book and just lets her fall asleep of her own accord. I hope you can help! thanks. PS the other thing she does is she gets up in the middle of the night screaming and comes into my bedroom, often I put her back to bed but sometimes I just let her get into my bed as it is easier.
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83 Amanda // Aug 19, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Hi Dana. My daughter Evie is 10 weeks old and wakes twice a night for a feed, this only takes about 15 mins from waking to back to sleep is this normal i.e. at this young age should she still be waking twice a night for feeds or should I start weaning her? A friend of mine suggested a dream feed at 11pm so she would sleep for longer is this a good idea?
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84 Cindy // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:22 am
Hi, my 6 month old is sleeping mostly through the night (she wakes occassionally and fusses and goes back to sleep on her own), however she has begun waking earlier and earlier each morning. Some mornings it starts around 5:15am and sometimes is can be 6am. I would prefer closer to 7am which she has done, but more often she is up much earlier. How can I get her to sleep later so that the whole day is not affected? Thanks.
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85 Susan // Aug 28, 2008 at 5:30 am
My 3.5 month daughter wakes every 3 hrs for a feed day & night. She has been doing this since she was a newborn and although I am guided by her, the routine has not changed, except for how long she is awake during the day. At night she goes straight back to sleep after a feed but it leads to a very broken night. Is this okay/normal for her age?
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86 terry // Aug 28, 2008 at 1:27 pm
my baby is 8.5 months old and she cries a couple of times during the night and the only way she stops is if i nurse her back to sleep.
i tried letting her cry herself back to sleep but after a while of her hollering i just nursed her and she fell back asleep and woke up again after an hour or so(the usual)help help help!!!!!
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87 Bevin // Sep 4, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Hello. I have 2 sons, 9 years old and 2 years old. They share a room. My toddler has always had trouble sleeping properly. For a while I rocked him to sleep as an infant with a bottle right before. Then I got him to fall asleep on his own in his crib. I let him cry it out, as nothing else seemed to work. Then all of a sudden, he refused to sleep in his crib and wanted to sleep in the bunk bed (his brother sleeps on the top). He also became extremely attached to me, and now will not go to sleep without me lying next to him, facing him. He’s even started climbing on top of me. SOmetimes it takes one or two hours before he falls asleep. It’s also interfering with my older son going to sleep on time. My husband travels, so is not always around to help me. I am very frustrated and concerned. I tried leaving the room a few times, but he cries so much, sometimes he vomits! Please HELP! Thank you for anything you can offer.
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88 Sarah // Sep 11, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Hi my 3.5 month old is going great following your routine..He self settles during the day when he has naps and when he goes to be at 7pm he also self settles. I thought that he would be sleeping through by now… however he wakes at 2.30 add 5.45 every night demanding food.. so I feed him and then he goes straight back to sleep. Do you think he genuinely still needs the feeds? or is he just in the habit of feeding at these times? I would love to drop the feeds but don’t want to do this if he genuinely needs them. Is he still too young to drop these feeds.
Regards
SVM
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89 gemma // Sep 23, 2008 at 9:42 am
my 9month old started sleeping through the night at around 3months old.. she then had a cold at 6months, and ever since she hasn’t slept, could this be linked to her sleeping problems? or is it the fact she has a dummy, how do i stop the dummy, slowly wean her off or just take it away? she does only have it at sleep times.
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90 Nazarena Dominelli // Sep 23, 2008 at 10:09 am
Hi! Our 9 month old daughter still needs that nurse in the middle of the night. Sometimes its once but sometimes she wakes up 3-4 times for a nurse. Its the only way she calms down from crying. We’ll try the ferberizing tequnique, leaving her to cry in intervals of 5-10 mins with reassurring checks. She usually goes to sleep that way and it takes anywhere from 5 mins to an hour. Her routine consists of an ending nurse with her dad brushing teeth and sleeper on. Ive been getting her dad to put her in her crib at her bedtime cause we thought it might help her initially going to sleep so she wont want to nurse If im right there. It helps her go to sleep but she’ll wake up at least once… does she really need this feeding or should we leave her to cry….. im worrying it might terrorize her….
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91 Megan // Sep 23, 2008 at 11:29 am
Hi Dana,
My 3 month old goes down for her naps on her own, I still swaddle her and she sucks on her pacifier, then spits it out before she falls asleep. She was taking hour and a half naps no problem until about 2-3 weeks ago. Now, in the mornings I can’t get her to sleep longer than 45 mins. Typically, she will do three 45 min naps, and then a 2.5 hout nap in the late afternoon. At night she goes to bed at 7:30/8:00, sleeps for 8 hours on average and then nurses and sleeps untill 7:00/7:30. How can I get her back to 1.5 hour naps? Or more? It messes up her eating schedule.
Thank you,
Megan
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92 Paige // Nov 17, 2008 at 4:37 pm
My 11 month old often wakes from his nap after only 5 or 10 mins sleep. Is this enough to rejuvinate him? He is still clearly tired & after trying many methods attempting to get him back to sleep, I’m not sure what to do?
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93 Keryn Main // Jan 4, 2009 at 6:05 pm
My 7 month old daughter from the age of 3 months old started sleeping through the night and taught herself how to go back to sleep. However now she is only sleeping 10 hours a night and is wide awake at about 4am every morning, she eventually puts herself back to sleep after playing and chatting around 5am, she is then awake again about 45 minutes later ready for breakfast. I am baffled as too what has caused this change in her sleeping pattern.
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94 stacy // Feb 21, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Hi my name is stacy and i am having soo much trouble taking my little girl off the bottle she drinks her sippy cup all through the day except for naps and bedtime what can i do she throw herself on the floor and just cries
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95 Krysten // Mar 10, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Hi Dana,
My daughter (almost 8 months) is not on solids yet and is still waking in the night to nurse 2-3 times. Sometimes she eats alot and I know that she was hungry and other times I think she just wants to nurse for comfort. She is awake during her nursing session and I put her down awake and she goes back to sleep, but if I try to not nurse her we’re up for 2-3 hrs because she just wants to nurse. What can I do? Is she hungry? Should I wait till she’s eating more solids before night weaning?
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96 Shannon // Jun 4, 2009 at 4:07 pm
HELP!!!! I know I created this problem but I swear I don’t know when or how it got this bad. Leah is my first child and we have gone back and forth with good and bad sleep spurts but one thing reamains the same she will only go down if I nurse her… Now that she is almost a year its getting really old. It’s not just at night it’s for naps as well. I do not night feed her anymore so if she gets up in the middle of the night I let her cry it out and about 75% of the time it work but if not she must be rocked to go back down..I need help I don’t know how to change this habit I worry more about weaning her for the naps more than the bedtime. I don’t know where to start please help
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97 Raj // Oct 26, 2009 at 3:26 pm
my 6 month old used to sleep through the night up until he was 3 months and then it changed to waking up every 2 or 3 hrs. We have recently bought him a new crib but as soon as we put him in the crib he wakes up and starts to pound his feet on the matress and wont stop crying. In desperation we let him sleep in our bed. How do I get him to sleep through the night in his own crib? Also recently he has refused night bottles and I do not understand why. Please help as I do not want him to get into the habit of sleeping in our bed.
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98 Paul // May 9, 2010 at 10:54 am
Hi Dana,
Our 6 month old daughter, Cherise, does not want to stay asleep for very long throughout the night. I know that perhaps the main reason is that she sleeps alot in the late morning and afternoon. One thing about her is when she’s hungry, she lets you know. She literally cries and wales most times. But after she eats and is sleepy the only thing that seems to put her to sleep is rocking because most of the time she’s still crying which makes it all the more difficult. Is there anything that we can do to have her sleep on her own after feeding time?
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