im writing post because i know many people here are parents of at least one child.

i have a 6 month old baby. since i am a stay at home father it is my job to put him to sleep every night. until recently this was a very easy task as he seemed to simply fall asleep around the same that my wife and i do (around midnight). recently, however, something has changed, and i dont know what it is, but instead of falling asleep quickly and peacefully, he now begins crying and acting fussy every night around 11pm and he wont calm down until well after midnight (sometimes as late as 3am). ive tried a number of things to stop this. ive tried feeding him a large amount of formula to knock him out. ive tried not letting him nap in the evening so he will be more tired at bedtime. nothing has worked. all i can do is hold him and rub his back until he finally falls asleep. someone please give some advice as i would like to get to sleep at a decent hour sometime soon. BTW, yes this is my first child.

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

A few suggestions:

Try putting him to bed a half hour sooner. He may be getting too tired and babies don't know why they aren't comfortable, only that they are.

Babies go in and out of growth spurts. If he is in a growth spurt, he may be hungry. But be careful you don't get him too full!

If he is teething, go out and buy some peppermint Schnapps. This was the suggestion of my own pediatrician and it worked like a charm. You just dip your finger in it and rub his gums. I promise he won't get drunk. They love the taste and the alcohol helps numb the gum. I used about total of a lid full on all four of my kids. (I still have it).

Lastly, I have never known a Mom (or Dad) who wasn't ultimately faced with the prospect that they would have to let the baby cry himself to sleep. I had to and it's not easy! The first night, it took about 45 minutes. The second night only 10. The third night, blissfully immediate. If nothing else is wrong, you have to make yourself do it. Be strong!

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

How late does he sleep when you put him down that late? Babies that age should be getting around 10-11 hours of nighttime sleep, with 2 naps around 3-4 hours. You may find that you are getting him to bed too late and he's not able to settle himself down easily now.

We found the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth to be very valuable, as we had all sorts of issues with our 8 month old girl. Now she's on a pretty reliable schedule and we can read her signs and cues much better now. If you want more detailed info, send me a PM and we'll talk.

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Catz: "And, the ever-sage Volvo Driver:"

He usually falls asleep somewhere between 1 and 1:30 am, sometimes later. I know, this is very late for a baby, but my wife and I are both night owls, and we live in a small apartment, so if we are up, he is up. He usually wakes up sometime between 7 and 9 am. I feed him 6 oz, he plays around for about an hour and falls back asleep for another 3 or four hours until around noon. He takes another nap in late afternoon and again in the evening. ill look for that book (you can tell when im holding my baby because because i stop using capital letters, in case any of u were ever wondering about that lol).

12th, im not sure if he is teething. how can u tell? he loves chewing on everything, but during the day, hes no more fussy than usual.

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

Sounds like he's a little colicky. 6 months is a little later than when it usually happens, but it's possible. Have you started him on cereal yet? Maybe he's just hungry. I know they do things so much differently now than when I had mine years ago. Used to.....we would start them on cereal at around 3 or 4 months old. But now it seems they don't get anything solid for the entire first year. It's all so confusing. And I feel for all you new parents out there.

Hope it straightens out for you soon.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Extreme drooling. You can see that his gums are tender and swollen. Fussiness will come and go. Give him something to chew on that's not too soft or too hard. I doubt you want to get him a Barbie doll, but they are just about the right hardness. Maybe GI Joe or Ken?



Why is this making me so nostalgic?

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

Oh, I hope he's not colicky because I've heard there's not much you can do to stop it. We just started giving him solid food, but so far, he's been pretty fussy about eating it. It seems he's too impatient to wait for me to spoon it up and put it in his mouth.

Hmmm...maybe he's teething then. He almost constantly has a string of drool hanging from his mouth, but I thought 6 months is a little early for teething. I'll try that peppermint schnapps idea you gave me (had to run that by my wife first- she's from Japan and they are a bit overprotective of babies, but amazingly, she thought it sounded like a good idea). Thanks.

LOL, thinking about having a fifth?

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

Other than perhaps the better part of a fifth of Schnapps, I think I'll pass. I'd have to find another man anyway. I'll just have to wait for grandchildren.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

Hold him and rub his back (this will pass) - he will remember you for it!

Or take him to bed with you so that you all get a good night's sleep. A bleary eyed, sleep-deprived and homicidal Dad would be an alternative memory for him....

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

I wouldn't start the family bed thing. We did that with my daughter and it was a huge problem down the road.

With my son, we allowed him to fuss a little bit. I wouldn't worry about being TOO quiet as babies need to learn to sleep through some things. I'd agree with 12th, that's a good strategy for teaching a child to sleep.

Kids need to learn to fall asleep on their own, and they will. But it's REALLY hard on mom and dad at times. LOL

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Catz Meow
Badly behaved.
Hedonistic Lemming.

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JW Frogen, my new favorite noob poster:

If you are such a weak jellyfish you can be bullied on a forum where you can ignore any poster you do not want to read than I suggest you move to Tibet, convert to Buddhism, protest the Chinese occupation, be killed as you will by the Chinese and hope you come back with some form of backbone.