Baby Sleep Help - Natalie's Response

Mum Zone's resident Sleep Expert Natalie of Sleep and Settle is available to answer some of your questions about settling your baby and more.

Topics include: Sleeping and settling, moving from bassinette to cot, cot to bed, breastfeeding/formula, solids, floorplay for babies and play for toddlers/children, wrapping/sleeping bags/dressing baby, behaviour/tantrums, what's normal? bedroom environments, music, lights, entertainment, mattresses, mattress protectors, sheets, unsettled babies and the 0-12 week afternoon arsenic hours, reflux/colic, teething, worms, toilet training, night terrors/nightmares, the older child issues 5-10 years and single parenting/separation/divorce.

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Reader's Question

I have a 5 month old who wakes every 1 to 2 hours overnight and then is very hard to settle (can take over an hour) what can I do, I am exhausted and can not rest during the day when baby does as I have a 2 year old son too!!

Natalie's Response

Hi,

I appreciate that you are tired especially looking after two children. My answer is very general without further baby history.

• The most common reason for your baby waking frequently overnight is that they are hungry. It is normal for babies to have night feeds at 11pm, 2-3am and 5-6am until 9 months. The other issue at this age is 'the age of distraction'. In between 3-6 months babies become big sticky beaks and are so curious about what's going on around them that they don't feed properly during the day. Because baby has a quota of milk that they need everyday... what they miss out on during the day they make up for during the night.
  
  
• So while it is normal for your baby to require night feeds, baby should settle quickly back to sleep unless there is a problem.
  
  
• The next most common reason for night waking is that baby does not know how to 'self-settle' to sleep, therefore baby cannot resettle themselves back to sleep. In order for baby to self-settle to sleep they are put in to bed awake and can calmly self-settle without any 'props' (like dummies, bottles, breastfeeds or anything from mum and dad that puts baby to sleep).
  
  
• If you would like a gentle as possible self-settling sleep strategy please see www.sleepandsettle.com.au
  
  
• For all unsettled babies I suggest seeing a paediatric chiropractor in case there is a nerve being pinched from the position in the wound or the birth process.
  
  
• Feed on demand in the daytime and encourage as efficient feeds at all times if possible. Active floor play encourages great feeds and great feeding and playing encourages great sleeps as long as baby is self-settling.

Hope this helps,

Natalie

Hope this helps,
Natalie

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The opinions expressed on these pages are of a general nature and are by no means a substitute for professional advice. Therefore neither Mum Zone or Natalie Ebrill of Sleep and Settle are liable for any actions pertaining to the use of the supplied information.