Solids and Sleep
The addition of solids may not have helped the baby to mature in his sleep-wake cycles. Others may have told you that he'll "sleep through" when you give him cereal at night. But the job of helping him "learn" to sleep through is not just a matter of having a full stomach Don't be discouraged.
The spurt of interest in sights and sounds that disrupted his sleep pattern and feeding at 4 months should have passed by now. But he may still need to be taught to get himself back down to sleep after each 4-hour waking. If you are still feeding him every 4 hours, you are setting yourself up as part of his sleep-wake pattern. You may have to reconsider this approach as you head for bed yourself.
As we suggested earlier, you may want to try waking him at 10:00 or 11:00 P.M. to break his 4-hour cycle of waking. Rock him, sing quietly to him, feed him, and get him into a sleepy state—but don't put him down asleep. He won't learn anything that way about getting himself to sleep. Put him down when he's quiet but still awake. Then encourage him to put himself to sleep: "You can do it. You can do it yourself." You may need to rub his back, or sit nearby, but don't hold him, unless you want to remain a necessary part of his sleep-wake cycles. If your baby can find his thumb or a pacifier, if he can squirm himself into a comfortable position, he'll have learned to become independent at night. He can rouse and get himself down the next time he wakes up—at 2:00 A.M.—without feeding.
More on: Feeding Your Baby
Excerpted from Feeding: The Brazelton Way © 2004 by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., and Joshua D. Sparrow, M.D. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Perseus.
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