Can you help????

[Siobhan]

My son won't settle at night, he can go for weeks sleeping through the night and then spend a week waking up at 1am.. I never had this problem with my daughter and this is what I have tried so far any help would be good.

I started him on solid 2 weeks early as I thought it was hunger keeping him up, that worked for about 3 weeks. I thought he might be too cold so I gave him extra blanket, that works for a few days.. I tried keeping him up longer so that he would very very tired but that didn't work as he fell asleep at his usual time and I felt bad about trying to keep him awake..

Any other ideas????

[Jojo]

Have you tried controlled crying?? How old is he now?? I went through this a bit with my youngest..then when i went in to check on him, i didn't say anything to him, just made sure he was warm enough, wasn't thirsty or need changing, staying quiet the entire time and then left him. I didn't pick him up either. It feels really cruel, but if they get used to you going in and soothing them in the middle of the night, they don't learn to send themselves back to sleep again if they do wake...

I hope it helps though - it is hard though, because your instinct is to go in and give them a huge cuddle etc. A lot of this does depend on their age though and I would only recommend this from 6/8months upwards.....

[Siobhan]

Have you tried controlled crying?? How old is he now?? I went through this a bit with my youngest..then when i went in to check on him, i didn't say anything to him, just made sure he was warm enough, wasn't thirsty or need changing, staying quiet the entire time and then left him. I didn't pick him up either. It feels really cruel, but if they get used to you going in and soothing them in the middle of the night, they don't learn to send themselves back to sleep again if they do wake...

I hope it helps though - it is hard though, because your instinct is to go in and give them a huge cuddle etc. A lot of this does depend on their age though and I would only recommend this from 6/8months upwards.....

He is 4 months next week and he stays in the room with me.. I tried just giving him his soother and hold his hand, it works for about 10 mins..

[.:SpIcYsPy:.]

Yeah, you should never pick him up or it sort of gets into a habit!!

[Jojo]

He is 4 months next week and he stays in the room with me.. I tried just giving him his soother and hold his hand, it works for about 10 mins..Whilst 4 months is still very young, I think its probably where he knows you are in the room with him - I had to move my littley out from our room at 4 months ish cause he started to do this. Once he was in his own room, he started to settle again as he could sense we weren't in the room with him. Does he get inconsolable when hes crying at night? Or is it more of an attention thing??

[Siobhan]

Yeah, you should never pick him up or it sort of gets into a habit!!

I try not to but when he is screaming the place down and waking up my little girl I kinda have to keep him quiet somehow

[Jojo]

Its hard when you have other children aswell - does his dummy work for very long ?? I changed my youngests dummy to an NUK one when he was about that age as he didn't seem to be able to get on with it properly.

Have you still got your NHS advice book - birth to 5?

I have mine still, and it has a few suggestions in there - the main one is if there is nothing wrong (apart from wanting a cuddle) then to leave them 5 mins before going to them, but there are a few more if you'd like me to list them for you :)

[Siobhan]

Its hard when you have other children aswell - does his dummy work for very long ?? I changed my youngests dummy to an NUK one when he was about that age as he didn't seem to be able to get on with it properly.

Have you still got your NHS advice book - birth to 5?

I have mine still, and it has a few suggestions in there - the main one is if there is nothing wrong (apart from wanting a cuddle) then to leave them 5 mins before going to them, but there are a few more if you'd like me to list them for you :)

I didn't get a baby book this time around... and my daughter was an angel..
He will only take the very big cheap dummy... I have tried him on all of them..
My trouble is that he won't get into a pattern, i try something, it works and I am thinking "Great" and then he goes back to his old ways

[Jojo]

I was lucky to get my book last time - they said i didn't need on cause i already had a child (even though there is 8 1/2 yrs difference between them)!!

Here are a couple of the suggestions:

Scheduled Waking
If your child wakes up at the same time every night, try waking him or her 15/60 mins before this time, then resettling them to sleep - for some children this can help to reduce night waking

Teach your child to fall back to sleep along
Check everything is alright and settle your child down with the minimum of talking
Do not give anything to eat and on water to drink if necessary
Dont take your child out of their cot
Leave your child and let him/her cry for a short period
Repeat the above routine gradually extending the time period before checking
Continue the routine each night until your child sleeps
Be prepared for this routine to take several nights or even a week or two before it is effective.

Put your child to bed awake rather than getting him or her to sleep by rocking or cuddling in your arms - otherwise your baby may not learn to fall asleep in the cot and may need nursing back to sleep if he/she wakes again


Some of these ideas may help - I was lucky as my two were pretty placid boys and slept through from about 3 months, but I did have to use controlled crying on them both.

[Siobhan]

Thank you, there is great suggestion there and I will try them... hopefully he will settle..

[Jojo]

Let me know how you go honey - if it doesn't work, we'll think of some other ways that might help :D

[Siobhan]

Em!

I tried the advice last night. Ben woke at 1am, gave him his dummy and he settled back to sleep. he woke at 2.30am.. I tried giving him his dummy, not talking, making sure he was settled, it worked for all of 5 seconds so I did it all again.. eventually after trying like a million times I decided that it would be easier and quicker just to heat a bottle and give it to him.. this was at 4am.. 1 and 1/2 hours after he first started crying and my god does he cry.....

Any other advice???

[Jojo]

How much milk did he take?? It could be that he is still waking due to hunger, in which case unfortunately its perserverance of the bottle at night. The other thing I used to do was to give my two a rusk about an hour before bedtime made with half of their bottle and then give them the other half after having the rusk to wash it down - this really helped - maybe try that?? :D

[chance]

My son won't settle at night, he can go for weeks sleeping through the night and then spend a week waking up at 1am.. I never had this problem with my daughter and this is what I have tried so far any help would be good.

I started him on solid 2 weeks early as I thought it was hunger keeping him up, that worked for about 3 weeks. I thought he might be too cold so I gave him extra blanket, that works for a few days.. I tried keeping him up longer so that he would very very tired but that didn't work as he fell asleep at his usual time and I felt bad about trying to keep him awake..

Any other ideas????
i have the same problem,so as well as getting up for shannon several times a night i also have to get up for my son at least twice.

[Siobhan]

How much milk did he take?? It could be that he is still waking due to hunger, in which case unfortunately its perserverance of the bottle at night. The other thing I used to do was to give my two a rusk about an hour before bedtime made with half of their bottle and then give them the other half after having the rusk to wash it down - this really helped - maybe try that?? :D

He drinks the entire bottle... he is hungry and as he is only starting to wean, i have put him on lunch.. he now gets 5 bottle a day, breakfast, lunch and a dinner and yet he will still wake for his feed at 4am

[Chloe O'brien]

have you tried him on the cow and gate milk for hungrier babies, I think it has a blue lid or mash a rusk into his milk

[Siobhan]

have you tried him on the cow and gate milk for hungrier babies, I think it has a blue lid or mash a rusk into his milk

I have gone beyond that.. I am on Cow and Gate Omneo Comfort which is a thicker milk for unsettled babies...

[Jojo]

Try a rusk and bottle about an hour before bed - that may help to keep him satisfied through the night - he's obviously a very hungry little man :D

I had to wean my youngest early as he was so hungry and found that helped him a lot...the rusk seems to keep them fuller for longer..

[Siobhan]

cheers everybody for all your help... will try the suggestion of rusk and see if it works

[Jojo]

Good luck - let me know how it goes :)

[Luna]

midwifes now tell you not to use a rusk - cant remember why sorry

[Jojo]

yeah, but then you are also not supposed to eat runny eggs whilst pregnant and loads of other stuff, which wasn't about when my eldest was born!!

The main thing is to make sure its gluten free - that shouldn't be fed to babies prior to 6 months in case of intolerances....

Just double checked this on NHS website -


The following foods shouldn’t be given to your baby:

Salt - it cannot be processed by their immature kidneys, and too much salt can be very dangerous to a baby. Avoid giving salty foods such as cheese and bacon, and leave it out of your home-cooked meals (it’s healthier for the whole family, too);
Sugar - encourages a sweet tooth and causes dental decay;
Honey - can cause the same problems as sugar. Rarely, a dangerous bacteria is found in honey that causes serious illness in under-1s;
Nuts - present a choking risk and also life-threatening allergy in rare cases.
If you choose to introduce solid foods before your baby reaches 6 months of age, you should not give them the following:

any cereals containing gluten, such as wheat flour, bread, rusks, rye or barley-based foods;
nuts and seeds;
fish and shellfish;
eggs;
citrus fruits, including citrus juices; and
soft and unpasteurised cheeses.

But you can get gluten free ones.....:D

[Siobhan]

Em!... got Ben settled and then the clocks went back so I was up at 4am with him... started to feed him at night before bed and it works.. thanks for you help

[Jojo]

Em!... got Ben settled and then the clocks went back so I was up at 4am with him... started to feed him at night before bed and it works.. thanks for you helpOh that is brilliant news Siobhan - I'm soooo glad it worked. You may need to increase the amount you feed him as time goes on, but I am really pleased :thumbsup: :cheer:

[Siobhan]

Oh that is brilliant news Siobhan - I'm soooo glad it worked. You may need to increase the amount you feed him as time goes on, but I am really pleased :thumbsup: :cheer:

I am terrified that I am over feeding him.. he gets breakfast, lunch and dinner and then a small bit at bed time.. he is huge now..

[Jojo]

He will only eat as much as he needs - Ciaran was such a hungry baby he always seemed to be eating but he soon stopped when he'd had enough - I always let him guide me as to how much he had - where some people only gave their baby the same as say a tablespoon of food, Ci tended to have 2 or 3!! Ci does get mistaken for a near 5 yr old rather than a 3 yr old, but he is tall aswell, (he's above the 90th centile) so need the energy. :D

[Siobhan]

He will only eat as much as he needs - Ciaran was such a hungry baby he always seemed to be eating but he soon stopped when he'd had enough - I always let him guide me as to how much he had - where some people only gave their baby the same as say a tablespoon of food, Ci tended to have 2 or 3!! Ci does get mistaken for a near 5 yr old rather than a 3 yr old, but he is tall aswell, (he's above the 90th centile) so need the energy. :D

i have no idea how much he weights now or how tall he is but he seems to be forever eating.... He only turned 4 months yesterday so technically i should only be starting weaning now but he is already on a lot of food.. Creche said he ate 10-12 baby spoons for lunch yesterday and about 15 for dinner

[Jojo]

aww, bless him - he just loves his food lol

Honestly though, its nothing to worry about, he will only eat as much as he needs to - he'll guide you to how much he wants and once he's had enough, he won't keep on eating. He's just very healthy :D

[Siobhan]

aww, bless him - he just loves his food lol

Honestly though, its nothing to worry about, he will only eat as much as he needs to - he'll guide you to how much he wants and once he's had enough, he won't keep on eating. He's just very healthy :D

It annoys me sometimes as he will eat anything for the people at the creche but if I give him the same food he spits it at me... he will only eat milupa dry food for me but will eat anything fresh at the creche.. damn kids, make a liar out of you!!!