How does your (almost) 6 month old sleep ??

Cooper will be six months in a week ! 

We were at a party last weekend and this lady (who is mother to a 10 month old) says :   "Oh, you must be happy he's sleeping through the night now." 

Problem:  HE IS NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT

Same lady says "My doctor told me at 3 months they don't need to eat for 10-12 hours at night and just let them cry and t hey'll go back to sleep." 

My questions :

1.  Do you think I have Cooper in a "habit" of waking up after about 5 hours of sleep for a bottle , then again 3 hours later for another?   Or is he truly hungry?  (I DO wait for him to wake up and try to get him back to sleep by changing his position, giving him his pacifier, etc before  I give in and feed him.)   He eats every 3-4 hours during the day and the same pattern at night - except for the first part where he'll sleep 5 hours.  

(he goes to sleep fine - so there's no issue there - it's waking up that's the problem.)

2.  If it is a habit and I need to retrain him --is letting him cry the best way?  Is there another way besides crying?


Side note -- my baby is SUCH a happy baby.  He rarely rarely cries or even fusses -- until recently, but I think that's teething and I will save that question for another post at another time!   So I hate to "make" him cry by ignoring him.....   but I would LOVE 8 hours of sleep ! 

Thanks for your input ! 

Cindy

My little gift under the tree!

What I did with my daughter was started feeding her less of a bottle when she'd wake up in the night and seeing if she'd go back to sleep after a smaller amount of food. That worked so I did that for a while and then stopped giving a bottle and would just go in and rock her til she fell back asleep. After awhile, I stopped rocking her and would just talk to her by her crib. I wasn't good at letting her cry. I did do that eventually, but in small increments. Like 1 minute first (1 minutes of crying is a long time too). It usually didn't take more than 5 minutes and she'd cry herself to sleep. But it was hard.

Each Child is different and you need to do what your comfortable with. I for one would never let my child cry it out. I have a 9, 7, 5 year olds and they are all happy productive children. If he eats a little bit and then goes back to sleep, I would say that is habit but if he takes a full bottle then he is hungry. My pediatrician said not to expect them to sleep through the night consistently until they are around 1 year old.  My youngest slept through the night from birth. I actually was told to wake him up after 5 hours to feed him. My oldest didn't sleep through the night until he was 13 months old.  My middle child was an every 4 to 5 hour baby. I would say you are doing a good job and not to worry.

My son nursed during the night until he was 7 months old and then he just started sleeping 7-9 hours.  All of a sudden, no warning...BY BREAST about popped off!! OUCH!  My girls were on formula earlier and one was sleeping thru the night at 2 months, one by 6 months and Jiada is still up at midnight for a bottle.  She will get over it.  I am probably doing everything wrong, but they will only be little for such a short time that I almost look forward to that quiet time giving her a bottle and putting her back down.  She is almost 13 months old BTW.   And she is also a VERY happy baby.  I basically am saying, i took my cues from the baby.  Blessings to you.

Max sometimes sleeps through the night and sometimes wakes a couple of times. Sometimes we can soothe him back to sleep, sometimes nothing soothes him. If he keeps swatting his paci away then I know he's hungry. I just go by him.

Try just soothing him before offering a bottle, it may or may not work, he will let you know.

I am one that does not believe in crying it out. For me it does not work, I'd rather let him sleep in my bed. I know lots who do it and thier children are fine and by 2 years in own bed. He does it once in a while to save my sanity, hubby works nights so I have the bed all to myself.

Well sorry to babble, but I hope it helps.

BTW, Cooper is so cute, I want to pinch those cheeks!

Hi Cindy and Cooper

When Nylah was 3 months old I wanted her to sleep though the night so my daycare provider suggested feeding her more during the day. So thats what we did, 6 oz bottles every 3 hours with the last one at 8-9pm. Nylah went to bed around 10 or 11pm and woke around 5-6am until about 10 months old. I did cry it out with Ny after a year, it wasn't because she wanted a bottle it was because she didnt want to go to sleep in her bed. But that stopped too.
Vannah is completely different, we do the 6oz bottles every 3-4 hours and she gets her last at 8pm and goes to sleep by 9 and sometimes sleeps until 7am. I was worried a bit at first but even when she wakes up after all that time she does not cry, she lays there and talks. I get her up and she is not even interested in eating right away sometimes hours later. So I would go with what he wants. Vannah is the BEST baby I could have asked for. I am knocking on A HUGE piece of wood! LOL

FYI... my sister didn't sleep through the night until she was 1, even then she woke up for a drink of water ****il she was 5)!

not to be the bearer of bad news. Tristan still wakes up 3-4 times a night. My friends baby is 1 week older... he's only up once or twice.

life is so not fair!

jayson is 13 months old and will sometimes still wake up for a bottle... i dont mind.. and honestly its not like ill be getting any sleep anytime soon with a new born coming soon.. he will only be little for so long.. it not even like he wants me to hold him so he can drink it.. he wants to do it by himself LOL... anyway.. he didnt sleep thru the night until about 8 months old.. then i got a few nights of full sleep

Have you tried putting a little single grain cereal in his bottle? Drew has basically slept through the night since day 1 - waking up maybe once for about 10 minutes, enough to suck down a bottle and burp. I took him to his doc and he said now that he is drinking 6oz to put a little cereal in his last bottle to start getting him ready for baby food.

So I put a little in his last bottle before sleep (he goes to bed anywhere between 7:30-9pm) and I usually have to end up waking him up to leave in the morning.

I think "sleeping through the night" is very unclearly defined- My daughter slept about six hours at five weeks. Was that through the night? I thought it was, but maybe others would not. Sometimes she would wake up and I would always feed her if she did. If she woke up, there must be a reason. He is still so little- I don't think I would worry too much unless it is really affecting you and your sleep. If you don't mind feeding him, then feed him. I don't think it can hurt. If it does bother you, or it bothered you before you heard the comment, then you can try some of the suggestions previously mentioned- I think they sound great. I am not a fan of crying it out, I think that is an outdated strategy, especially in the middle of the night. I rarely left my daughter to cry it out. I just made sure we had a solid bedtime routine, which helped her settle down, and fed her if she woke up, but I did not stimulate her in any way. She went to sleep quickly. Just some opinionated thoughts.

Carrie