Baby Parenting Guide

How can my baby sleep longer hours during the night?

My baby is 3 months old today and he still wakes up every two hours for his feeding. The books that I have been reading guaranteed at this stage babies should start to sleep for about 5 hours throughout the night. He is following a good healthy routine and is generally very well behaved, but my broken nights of sleep are really upsetting me. Please any advice would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks in advance!

Public Response to How can my baby sleep longer hours during the night?

1. I heard that if your baby doesn't sleep enough during the day, he won't sleep well at night. Maybe put him down for more naps?
2. "The books that I have been reading...." Toss them out the window. They are not written for YOUR baby, are they? All babies are different so expecting them to go by what a book says they should be doing is silly. Many babies at 3 months are still waking frequently to be fed, it is normal. I know it can be frustrating and exhausting but he will sleep longer stretches when his body is ready to.
3. Your baby hasn't read the books, and any book that would 'guarantee' baby sleeping this long should be thrown out, since the author is clueless. How often is he nursing during the day? You could try offering more often during the day in the hopes that the extra calories will help him go a bit longer at night, but beyond that, just be patient and focus on making those night feeds as easy as possible. (Keep him close by, or have daddy bring him to you for some of the night feeds.)
4. What books? We did eat-play-sleep putting the babies to bed drowsy but awake and they became great night sleepers on their own. Generally at 3 months the recommendation is to give him a little time to settle himself back down. He may wake between REM sleep, so try to give him at least a few minutes before going to pick him up, soothe him etc. He may just be going in and out of REM sleep. Sleep training books DO help. But you don't say what book you are following. I have known lots of moms whose children were MISERABLE, then the parents did sleep training with them and a complete turn around occurred. But I don't know what book you read, so don't know what you tried. I don't agree at all with the posters who say just let your child go sleepless night after night because they are not able to teach themselves how to sleep through the night. A friend of mines baby was SICK from lack of sleep until she did sleep training. Luckily, that isn't your problem though!
5. When my first born kept waking up but was not wet or hungry I tried offering plain water. That soon did the trick.
6. My son slept through the night at 6 weeks. My nephew didn't sleep through the night until he was 8 months old. It totally depends on each kid. The "guidelines" that you have been reading are just general ideas. It is no guarantee that your child will follow them directly. It is so hard no to get sleep. Try pumping and have hubby take a turn giving baby a bottle. When your baby wakes up make sure he has a clean diaper and eats and gets a good burp. Also, one thing that babies really love is to be swaddled. You can get safe swaddlers or sleep sacks at the baby store and sometimes that really helps them to stay comfortable and fast asleep. All things considered your baby will eat when he needs to eat and eventually that will space out to 5 or more hours at night. Until then, try your best and don't worry it will end soon!
7. You're apparently reading the wrong books. There's no guarantee that any baby will sleep a certain length of time, and waking every 2 hours to feed is not at all abnormal. Some babies don't sleep for 5 hour stretches until they are well over a year old. Get a better book, and adjust your expectations to something more realistic.
8. my 8 month old still wakes up every two hours. she will sleep at most 4, if we are lucky. if you find out the cure please let me know! i think we have to wait it out. and at 3 months, your baby is still very young. i would expect them to still wake frequently. oh my daughter is a very early teether. she had her first at 3 months. now she has 5 at 8 months. at this rate, she will have them all by 15 months! haha jk but hopefully she will get the teething done with early, and i might get sleep one day. maybe your child is an early teether too, and between that and growth spurts, there is not much you can do