Baby Advice for New Moms

A new mom friend of mine recently asked me for some advice on how to get her 5 month old baby to sleep through the night and help with his diet. After I typed it all up I kind of liked it and wished I knew all of this when I was a first time mom. So here it is. First of all, I am just a good guesser and have been given very helpful advice over the years for other knowledgeable moms. I feel now that I just simply “pay it forward.” And I also try to really listen to my Mother’s Instincts or my gut feelings when it comes to my kids. I don’t think we are taught to do that really anymore. So, look through all the advice you get today and then pray about it and hug your baby close and really listen to what God is telling you is right for him. Just because it was right for my baby doesn’t mean it is right for yours.


Ok that said, my daughter slept through the night at 12 weeks and my son at 9 weeks with a few exceptions here and there due to teething or the common cold. I think this is partially due to birth order and personality. I’m not of fan of 2 things: the book Baby Wise and the cry it out method. I believe both break connection. I’m more a fan of attachment parenting to a degree. Cry It Out means letting your baby cry unconsoled for longer than 10 minutes at a time. I think this is unhealthy due to the spike in cortisol it can cause. It throws them into fight or flight mode and it cause future chemical imbalance if too much cortisol is washed over the brain for too long. Plus it doesn’t feel right or natural to any mother. My pediatrician told me that if they cry longer than 10 minutes and still can’t fall asleep then something may be wrong. With my daughter we would do our whole bedtime routine then lay her down and if she cried we would go back in every 10 minutes to pat her back and reassure her that we still existed. Instinctively I felt that she was not in need of anything, but was trying to manipulate her way out of her crib. We made a decision together that we would not pick her back up but still help soothe her so as to teach her that she can go to sleep and needs to learn how to self-soothe herself to sleep. There were times that we got on both ends of bed and bounced her crib mattress to help soothe her to sleep. I hear there is a thing you can buy to make the crib mattress vibrate. When all else fails hire a Sleep Coach. A friend of mine did when her son was 8 month old would still not sleep at night or for naps and it helped her tremendously.

With my son I would wear him in a sling and sit on an exercise ball to bounce him to back to sleep. When he got bigger I would wear him in the Ergo in the middle of the night for about 5 minutes and sway or bounce then lay him back down for the night. He just needed to be up close to me to regulate his heart beat and breathing with mine then he was fine. I also gave him Tylenol if it was teething and that seemed to help. Or Gripe Water if it was gas or hiccups. Rhett gets the hiccups when he is teething and they keep him from falling to sleep, but Gripe Water helps instantly.

Both my kids sleep with a small fan on the floor in their rooms for white noise (which I later learned reduces the chance of SIDS), have black out curtains, and they both sleep with some sort of lovey to encourage self-soothing (my daughter has 2 little bear blankies, my son has a huge knit blankie that my friend made, both are completely different textures and were selected by them around 5 to 6 months of age).

Right now we are dealing with seasonal allergies and some all-natural alternatives that has helped has been the saline nose drops, and humidifier, but I add a few drops of Eucalyptus oil and tea tree oil in the humidifier and I give them D-Hist Jr . All 4 of us take vitamin D and D-Hist and probiotics everyday. Rhett takes his in the form of baby D drops, Kellyn’s is a chewable, and I put the powder form of probiotics in the kid’s milk each morning. A friend of mine gives her son Congaplex for teething and to boost immunity, but we haven’t done that.
How much did we feed your little ones when they were 5 to 6 months? We did rice cereal once a day for 1 week then twice a day for 1 week then the next week we introduced oatmeal then the 4th week gave it 3 times a day, but I nursed before giving solids so as to make sure they got the antibodies and benefits from breast milk first until they were about 8 months old then I gave them breast milk or formula in the nubby straw cups. But yes, I would say let him eat first then give him formula 2nd, but he will get some vitamins and minerals and fluids from the veggies and fruits. Then at six months we introduced veggies (green first then orange 2nd and then fruits). I bought a cherry pitter and a mango slicer both of which I still use and love. I used Superfoods: for Babies and Children and First Meals by Annabel Karmel to guide me.

As far as constipation goes I follow the 3 P’s – Pumpkin, Pears, and Probiotics.
Avoid cheese, bananas, and anything high in iron.