[Hopingsoon]

How do you do it?

John goes to bed at 7, I wake him at 11 to feed him and change him, and he then sleeps until somewhere between 5:30 and 8 am. I'm going back to work soon, and really need to eliminate the 11pm feeding if I want to be coherent at work. He's almost 7 months old, and I see a lot of people with babies younger than that that sleep straight through.

Last night, I watered down his bottle. He only drank 1/2 of it, and woke up a 3am. I let him "cry it out", and he went back to sleep until 7. I thought he would be really hungry, but he only took 5 oz (he normally drinks 6-7 at that feeding).

Thanks for your help!

[jules17]

I am a new rookie mom, but since Sam was 7 1/2 months old (when we picked up) we have gotten him on a schedule where he consistently sleeps at least 11 hours a night. This was after we picked him up and his FM assured us he needed to be up 1-2x a night.

He gets cereal with fruit at 6:30, bath at 7:00, warmed bottle (8 ounces) at 7:40 and is out like a light at 8:00. He sleeps until at least 7 or 8.

I have found the warmed bottle helps him sleep. (you are not supposed to microwave bottles and you probably know that, but we put the bottle in a bowl of very warm water for 10-12 minutes.)

GOOD LUCK!

[Saya]

Also a new mom here. We brought Anabel home at 8 months, and she was waking up generally twice a night. As the weeks went on, she actually got worse and worse - she would wake up and then we couldn't get her back to sleep for hours. It got to the point where my husband and I were only sleeping about 3-4 hours per night, and Anabel was really overtired all the time. I also had to go back to work and was desperate.

So . . . after much soul searching and deliberating, and consulting with our pediatrician, we decided to use the Richard Ferber method of sleep training (The book is called "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems") which is a modified cry-it-out method. I know many people out there don't approve of doing this or any sleep training with a recently adopted child. But for us, it was amazingly successful, and she is now sleeping through the night like a pro - in fact she was sleeping through the night within just a few days! All three of us, including the baby, are a lot happier, and it hasn't had a negative impact on the attachment process at all. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[JustBarbara]

Hi there - well, now I think back on the last 5-6 months since my son has been home He started sleeping through the night at around 7 months ... and had a great schedule - asleep by 630p - one diaper change at night - and awake at 530/6am ... morning nap 930-1030 and afternoon nap 2-4/430pm.

Now at almost a year he goes down around 730pm - up around 2am for diaper change/sometimes a bottle - and up at 445am! No more am naps just pm for 1 1/2-2 hours.

I am trying to keep him awake until 8pm so he'll sleep through the night ... the odd thing is he seems to KNOW when it is a work/school night - ie Sunday night - went to bed at 8pm - up at 2am - crying in his crib - diaper and down - 5 minutes later standing and crying in crib - bottle - then toss the bottle from crib, then some more crying. Hmmmm - the good thing is I know he has a good throwing arm.

And now the daylight savings time will kick in ... so perhaps that will help our little dears in sleeping through the night. Good luck - I've found the bath as close to bedtime is a HUGE help - plus all the other things you've already heard/read about - cut out all extraneous sounds and lights about 30 minutes before desired bedtime.

Barbara

[godfrey544]

I have 3 bios, which does not make me an expert by any means. However, all of them are alive, thriving, and happy, so I think I've done pretty well.
I recommend that you do not wake him up at all to feed or change him. (If the changing part is necessary, be as gentle as you can to try not to wake him. No cold wipes!) When he's hungry, he will let you know, I promise. Unless he's underweight, or your doctor specifically wants you to, I just think you're making it much harder on yourself than you need to. Plus, you may be interrupting his normal sleep patterns by forcing him awake for a feeding. Just something to think about and discuss with your doctor.
Over time, they start to go longer between nighttime feedings. And none of us are bringing home newborns, unfortunately, so by the time they get home, in all honesty, they shouldn't be needing any feedings during the night at all. (In a perfect world, huh?) My doctor actually told me to stop the nightime feedings ASAP(at 9 month check-up) because of tooth decay, and they didn't need the extra calories. He said day time was for eating, nightime was for sleeping,....period. I'm sure that's not one size fits all advice, but defninitely ask your doctor about trying to cut out the nightime feedings.
Good luck! It truly does get easier.
Anna

[JustBarbara]

Hi Anna,

That was a great post - I'm going to tell my son that daytime is for eating and nighttime is for sleeping.

Seriously, you're right - never, never wake up a baby to feed them and after a little while you can become an expert at changing the diaper without waking up the little one - definitely, DEFINITELY, not cold baby wipes or wipes of any kind (unless absolutely necessary ) Thanks - Barbara

[Hopingsoon]

Thanks everyone!

He does get a bath, a bedtime story and a bottle within an hour of going to bed. He has no problems falling asleep, just staying asleep in the middle of the night. I suppose if he didn't get the 11pm bottle, then changing his diaper would probably not be necessary.

[tiffanygilbert]

We used a great book called "Good Night, Sleep Tight". We brought our son home at 11 months old and had some major sleep issues. This book is very easy and quick to read...within 3-4 nights of implementing the author's "sleep shuffle" he was sleeping 10-11 hours straight. I highly recommend this book. Our son now goes to bed between 7 and 7:30p.m and sleeps until 6:30 or 7:00a.m. It is great and he is happier, healthier and a better adjusted baby becuase of getting his much needed sleep. Hope that helps.
Tiffany

[StorkWatcher]

In order to prevent nighttime leakage, we put our son one size larger diapers than he wore during the day. We use Pamers, but have begun using Huggies Nighttime (or are they called Overnights?) diapers at night. They seem to hold more liquid.

A WONDERFUL book that helped me when our son was not sleeping well around 8 mos was the No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers (they have one for infants, too).

Good

[afl]

I have to agree with the others. Unless you're needing to get extra weight on him, I would not wake him up to feed him. Like someone said, if he's hungry, he'll let you know.

We brought home DD at 5 1/2 months old and (pleeeease nobody shoot me for this ), she has NEVER once gotten up in the middle of the night and she's now 11 1/2 months old. She's been on the same nighttime schedule the entire time and goes to be around 7:45-8:00pm and usually wakes up around 7 or 7:30.

They can definitely survive a wet diaper too(unless severe diaper rash or something)! If you have problems with leaking, try the nighttime ones or something else. But, I sure wouldn't wake him to change him.

[annaguat]

At that age my girls took an early morning nap and a mid noon nap of up to 2-3 hours. Then I kept them up till ten and gave a bottle. They would sleep till about 7-9 am. Now at 17 months they take an afternoon nap at 1 pm for up to 3 hours and no morning nap. At night I keep them up till 8 and then put them in bed after a bottle. They might stay awake another hour or so in their cribs before they fall asleep but they sing and hop around in there. They wake up around 7 am. One baby sleeps alot more then the other.

As for diapers, different ones seem to work better for some people. We switched to Huggies Supreme after they started soaking out of the pampers over night. I might switch to a larger size or just double diaper.

Double diapering-Put one diaper on and with your finger pull a small hole towards the back on girls and towards the front on boys.(they wet different)Then put another dispossable diaper or pull up over that.

Anna

[Hopingsoon]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to put him down at regular time tonight, and not wake him. If he just whimpers during the night, I'll let him cry it out. If he gets really upset, then I'll feed him.