6month old sleep advice

[Joseph Cannon]

So my 6 month old son has decided that he no longer has a time... I've tried driving him around, rocking him to sleep, laying next to him, and tylenol (teething as well) we can usually get him down with a warm bottle, or the driving.. but its starting to have less affect on him... any ideas or other. "Method" I may be missing?

 

[Robert Thomas]

I will tell you a story. Long, long ago I had the same problem. I went to my very wise neighbor, Phil, who had a 17 year old boy and asked for advice.



He looked and me and my son and said, "That's the best he will ever be". Then walked away. The next day his son rolled his new truck off a cliff. Fortunately, not injuring himself, but destroying the truck.



Phil was a very wise man. Enjoy the moment at every age you son is.



:cry::grin::grin::cry::haveabeer::haveabeer::argue::angry::love:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

My best advice, don't do anything to put him down that you won't want to have to do FOREVER into the future.



Oh, that, and just stay tough, and make sure to try to keep a schedule. When it is time for bed have a ritual: bathing, feeding, dressing for bed, changing just before bed, all that...and then, close the door, turn off the lights and walk away.



Crying will happen. The question is, who will cry more...mom, dad, or baby.



If after 30 minutes he isn't asleep, then go again, change him if needed, bottle with some water (if advised by the ped) and back down to try again...



Never yell, never show anxiety, never pickup to comfort.



We did this for three kids, based on advice from our parents.



TJR

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

When our son was an infant, my wife discovered that he had a few food allergies, milk being one of them, that caused all sorts of problems. It's very easy to do your own research.

 

[Richard L]

I agree with TJR. When my oldest daughter was born, she stayed in a crib in our bedroom (1 bedroom apartment) Within a few weeks after we got her home, she would cry constantly. Even though we could get her to go back to sleep, she would wake up and cry within minutes of being placed back in the crib.



Finally, we put her in her playpen in the livingroom, closed the bedroom door so we did not have to listen to her cry, and within one week the problem was solved....and we never had any sleeping issues with her again.



Baby's will cry for attention even when there is nothing wrong. If you go pick them up and try to rock them to sleep, they will expect that every night, and you will get no sleep. The longer you keep that up, the longer it will take to break them of that habit.



...Rich

 

[Gavin Allan]

Dang! My life is hard enough the way it is. I am so glad I don't have kids. I can easily remember all the hell I put my parents through...

 

[rod denton]

you got to feed the kid milk is not cutting it no more save your gas feed him







infant cereal thinned out , slice a bottle nipple 1/8 in cross pattern and feed at tfirst he may only take a small tad but then he may suprise ya



mix mix cereal with his formula no excat ratio here as with anything about parenting go with your best guess as he gets older you can thicken or puree your typical dinnner

 

[Bill V]

TJR nailed it.



One other piece of advice--if it gets too bad, don't be afraid to see a doctor, to verify that there isn't something else going on. When our youngest (now nearly 5) was that age, he wouldn't sleep for anything. We for the most part attributed it to him just being a fussy baby. But after a while, we went in, and discovered he had intestinal blockages, which were causing him pain, and he was crying and staying awake as a result. A few weeks of various treatments for that, and things improved dramatically--we wished we had taken him in weeks earlier, for both his sake and ours. (One of the treatments was enemas--and if you think a baby who is just stating to eat solids has interesting diapers before...) :throwup:

 

[Robert Caffyn]

Tough love works! Let him cry a few times, he'll get the message. I have to agree with the guys above. Besides, it worked with my dog when she was a pup. Bob :cry::cry:

 

[Carey Frennier]

My wife and I struggle with this often. Our son is now a year old. We normally bath, put him in bedtime cloths, feed him and by then he is asleep. We hold him for about 10 minutes and then we put him in his crib.



He is teething significanlty and probably will be for some time. Most nights he sleeps all the way through. When he is teething...he wakes ups crying at least four or five times. We have tried everything but the only thing that settles him down is sleeping chest to chest with my wife on our sofa with Shrek Forever After on. We don't watch much TV and we really don't want to make him a TV zombie. Normally he is out after 15-20min.



I've done the tough love thing. My wife has not. When I'm off on Mondays, I watch him at home. His schedule is usually spot on when I watch him. When I see his is getting tired, I just put him in his crib and shut the door. He cries for a little bit and then he is asleep. It's almost funny because the crying pattern is a lot like a car running out of gas!



The hardest thing will be to walk away when he is crying in his crib. My wife and I still give in and scoop him up in our arms all the time. We just can't let him cry even though we know it's the right thing to do. We both feel good when we console him and he falls to sleep again. It makes us feel good.



So yeah...if you're strong enough...touch love is the ticket.