Trick to Sleeping 12/13 hours?

I cannot get my son/daughter to sleep for more than 6 hours (if I am lucky) through the night. Is there some special trick that I am missing? They go to bed around 7:30/7:45 (and for those that suggest an earlier time it is simply not possible).

Also, it's usually my son who wakes up so I wake my daughter up to feed too. Any thoughts on just letting her sleep? When I have tried in the past... she'll usually just wake up an hour or two later anyway.

My son is screaming when he wakes up and acts like he hasn't eaten for days.

thx

 

I cannot get my son/daughter to sleep for more than 6 hours (if I am lucky) through the night. Is there some special trick that I am missing? They go to bed around 7:30/7:45 (and for those that suggest an earlier time it is simply not possible).

Also, it's usually my son who wakes up so I wake my daughter up to feed too. Any thoughts on just letting her sleep? When I have tried in the past... she'll usually just wake up an hour or two later anyway.

My son is screaming when he wakes up and acts like he hasn't eaten for days.

thx

 

Sorry Nicole, I have no advice for you, but simply a from another mom whose children doesn't sleep through. The only thing is I don't wake the other one up now, used to but no more. DH do a team thing where we each have 1 that we are responsible for during the night. Sometimes, you may get the one that will sleep for 6 hours, sometimes, it might be 4... It's a guessing game. I do know that alot of times ours is putting the paci in. Just wanted to let you know you aren't alone.

 

What worked for me is putting her down earlier (my singleton), at 6 pm, but like you said that's not an option for you. Just make sure they'll nap well and are put down whenever they get drowsy. With a 7.30 pm bed time and at this age, my guess is they should still take 3 naps (although the last one will be short). My dd only took 2, but in combination with an early bed time. When the intervals of wakefullness are getting too long, they get overtired, and have trouble falling and staying asleep.

 

I know you may not want to hear this (or you may have tried this) but what about CIO? By 6 months it sounds like they are waking up out of habit. (not hunger). Mine sleep 12 hrs (no eating or anything). Believe me....they used to be up every 3 hours and not staying in their crib or anything..I was sooo frustrated. I talked to my dr. and he suggested CIO. It only took one day (30 minutes of crying). Worth a try if you haven't already...

 

The girl's didn't start sleeping through the night till they were about 8 months old. I went through the same thing with Skylar - I would put her down at 9-9:30pm and she would be up at 2-3am screaming bloody murder.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a magic sleeping pill that last 12 hours that you could slip in their bedtime bottle???

Unfortunately every baby does it when they are ready. Mine started doing it around 6.5 months. One thing that helped me too, was not to go in everytime they made a little whimper. Many times they would go back to sleep on their own. I also started not giving them a bottle unless they couldn't calm down or go back to sleep.

Sorry, no advice, but your time will come, I'm hoping it is soon for you.

 

They are 6 months now. Are they sleeping on their backs still? Maybe try belly sleeping if they are turning over well.

People disagree on the validity of a full belly baby sleeping better, but have you started cereal yet?

Unless my DD is throwing an absolute tantrum, DS usually sleeps through her crying - I've let her go for 30 minutes.

Good luck and I hope you get some zzzzz's

 

Have you tried doing a dream feeding? Maybe they are hungry and that dream feed will get them over the hump? If it works keep it up for a few weeks and then try to drop it or decrease it slowly and see if it works.

 

i'm right with ya babe!

 

The earlier we put them to bed, the longer ours sleep - weird, but true - I know that's not an option for you, but the other thing I swear by is bathing them before their nightime bottle - seems to put them in the right mood for sleep... Mine sleep from 6:30 till 6:30 and have pretty much since 4 1/2 months. Although lately it seems like they are more likely to start crying when the wake up in the middle of the night now, rather than putting themselves back to sleep (I think we're in the midst of separation anxiety...)

 

Wish I knew how to get the babies to sleep that long too! We generally put the boys down around 9:30. They will sleep until about 2-3am and wake. They only go back to sleep after feeding. We had one night this week that they both slept through, but DH and I were so used to waking up we did even when they were quiet... Oy. It's got to be soon, right?

 

I did what the sleep lady suggested. It doesn't help them go 12 hours, but they do go around 9 or 10 hours. We put them down around 7:00 and then wake them up at 10:00 to eat. Then they usually stay asleep until 7:00 or so. Wow! That was nice when they started doing that! Now we are in the mode of trying to transition them to 7:00 to 7:00 without the 10:00 feeding. It worked one night, but it hasn't happened again since. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, though. I know they are on a pretty decent schedule now.

 

I would LOVE for my girls to sleep 12 hours straight! Their bedtime routine starts at 6:45pm, they get rice cereal mixed with fruit. Then at 7:30, we start baths, then it's the bedtime bottle and in bed around 8. They will usually sleep until 5 or 5:30am. We just recently went through a week of "tough love" with them trying to eliminate the late nite bottle at 2-3am. I think it was more of a habit and then they started not wanting to go back to sleep. Alivea started waking up every hour or two just wanting to be held. I was exhausted and just couldnt do it anymore. We talked to their doctor and she told us what to do and it took 7 days for them to learn to fall back asleep on their own. About twice a week they wake up in the middle of the nite but are usually back to sleep in 10-15 minutes with little to no fussing. But not always, sometimes they wake up crying for 30 minutes or more, you just never know. Alivea is the hardest! Kaytlin will usually go back to sleep with no fuss, but Alivea is such a strong-willed baby! I have never seen a child like her before. Teenage years are going to be fun!

My girls have always slept on their tummies. But they were also on apnea monitors until they were 7 months old so I had a guarantee that they were alright. If they wouldnt have been on the monitors, I dont think I would have let them sleep tummy down until after 6 months old.

Sorry, not really any suggestions, just know that you are not alone!!!

 

We got 12.5 hours out of Sammy last night and I WISH I knew WHY!!! She slept from 6:00pm to 6:30am and she would have slept longer but my breast hurt so much I had to wake her up to nurse her. She is only 14 weeks old and only weighs 11 pounds 4 ounces and she is exclusively breast fed. She ate at 5pm, then we sang song, she had a bath, and she was in bed by 6:00pm. She cried out once at 1am for about 10 seconds, and then again at 3am for 10 seconds. That's it.

Same routine for Charlie but she woke up at midnight and then at 6:30 which is when I woke up Sammy.

I have to guess that part of it is putting them down early, though as you said, that's not an option. I agree about naps, mine do nap well and often (usually 3 naps a day, from 1 - 3 hours long). Also, having a routine you do every night (for us it's singing and baths). AND, don't run in at every peep. I need to work on not running in for Charlie - her cry is more high pitched and it breaks my heart a little for some reason. Sammy has such an angry sound to her cry I usually have an easier time waiting to see if she'll just fall asleep.

I wish I had a better answer... I wish I knew why Sammy slept so well last night!

 

I want to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time

 

I sleep trained my girls to sleep for 12 hrs. through the night and they started it the day they turned 10 weeks old and have ever since. The trick for me was a very short book, 12 Hours by 12 Weeks, by Suzy Giordano. It worked like a charm for me, and I consider it to be that "magic pill". I highly recommend it! Good luck!

 

My two never slept longer than 6 hours at a time at that age. I'd be lucky if they slept 4! They will sleep through the night when they are ready. I know it is hard on you. The first year is very hard with twins in regards to sleep!