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We have an 11-month-old infant. H has never been a good sleeper. We have tried everything and nothing has worked.

Right now, we put him in bed around 7:30PM (after bedtime routine) he typically falls asleep right away in his crib, but wakes up some time within the first hour of being asleep. We wait 5-10 minutes before going in, lay him back down after a few minutes and rub his back, sometimes it works, but sometimes he wakes minutes later, or takes over an hour to fall asleep again.

He is now bottle fed, but also eating 3 meals of solids a day and 2 snacks. He gets the last bottle right before bedtime and we don’t feed him during the night.

We are lost with ideas on how to get him to sleep. (He is also still waking up 2-3 times a night most nights).

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  • Is he getting any foods that aren't formula (e.g. rice cereal, etc.?
    – anongoodnurse
    Apr 1, 2018 at 7:08
  • Yes, he’s eating 3 meals of solids a day and 2 snacks.
    – Jomo
    Apr 2, 2018 at 16:07

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I would try music.

Put on some calm music. Make it pretty loud, but not harmful.

A lot of times kids wake up like that because they hear something that triggers "fight or flight". Unfortunately at that age it could be something as benign as someone scooting a chair, or russeling a blanket on the couch. Music will help with that. Of course that is just a guess, but as a Foster parent I can tell you that has worked for a huge number of kids.

  • It need to be loud-ish. Your trying to drown out normal sounds.
  • It should not be so loud that you can't hear your child
  • It should not be so loud as to be harmful.
  • It should be part of your bedtime routine. If you can't do the routine in the room with the music then it's too loud.
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  • I would add, if not music, a white noise machine (or machine that plays other sleep-aid sounds). We've used one with our daughter for a couple years now (she's 3). At one point she was having increased difficulty going to sleep so we tried not using it. Big mistake. A chair moving, a truck driving down the road, etc, would startle her awake.
    – user20343
    Apr 2, 2018 at 20:41
  • Thanks! We do play music at bedtime and white noise in his room all night. He just started the last few nights sleeping through (not sure why!) but the last 3 nights we’ve put him down almost fully asleep or asleep and it seems to be working. Hoping it keeps up! He’s definitely a light sleeper so the noise helps!
    – Jomo
    Apr 3, 2018 at 19:12
  • he might be light sensitive - how dark is the room? If there is too much light he might not be making enough melotonin naturally to sleep deeply
    – bigbadmouse
    Jun 20, 2019 at 12:16

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