12-19-2006, 08:22 AM
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Nighttime feedings - seeking advice
Hi all -
This is my first post in this forum. I desperately need some advice. My baby is now over 6 months old. He was sleeping very well until we went on vacation and really messed with his schedule. For the past month or so, he is eating every three-four hours! During the day AND at night - I don't mind the daytime. It is the night that is becoming hard to handle. I put him down at 8-8:30pm and he is up again by midnight, looking for some chow. Then he is up by 3 or 4am.
I am going to lose my marbles if I don't break him of this.... and SOON! Last night, he woke up at 11:30 and by midnight, I gave in and gave him a bottle. He woke again at 4am and I was up with him crying until 5. Obviously, I am doing something wrong here.
Suggestions?
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12-19-2006, 09:08 AM
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Is he on solids? If so much solid food does he eat? Can you roughly work out how much formula he's drinking in 24hours?
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12-19-2006, 10:17 AM
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Yes, he eats 2-3 servings of rice cereal with 1 &1/2 jar of stage two veges per day. (about 1/2 jar per serving of rice cereal.) He averages 32-40 oz of formula per day in addition. At first, I attributed this to a growth spurt, but it just hasn't changed.... My thought is to increase the bottle size at his bedtime feeding, but (last night for example) he doesn't always drink a full bottle before falling to sleep... So increasing wouldn't help, there.
Last edited by ljb : 12-19-2006 at 10:18 AM.
Reason: spelling
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12-19-2006, 10:48 AM
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I know this is not what you want to hear, but in my experience babies at about 6-8 months do this. You're not describing anything that sounds abnormal to me at all. When you say it's not changing do you mean it's been like this for months or for a few weeks? A few weeks is pretty normal--every single one of my kids did this.
If he's crying because he's hungry then I would move his bottle before bed time up a little earlier so that he'll finish the whole bottle and maybe even a little extra before falling asleep. But at least for my kids, at this age, they were always getting teeth and it made them miserable and that was why they woke up extra.
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12-19-2006, 01:46 PM
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This might sound mean to do to a baby, but are you letting him cry a little bit before running to get him and feed him? I know Riley would go through phases where he would suddenly start waking up during the night (usually due to teething) but after 5 minutes of crying would fall right back asleep. I didn't want to start feeding him at night again once we'd stopped because I didn't want him to wake up expecting it. If you let him cry for a little bit he might learn to soothe himself back to sleep once he knows food isn't running his way everytime he makes a peep. HTH!
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12-19-2006, 02:06 PM
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I'm sorry that I can't offer any advice because I'm a bit in the same situation. My son is five months and will wake up once or twice to eat, but he goes right back to sleep, so I don't mind as much. I probably should night wean him, but I'll wait a few more months.
My friend recommends the book, The No Cry Sleep Solution, but I haven't tried it, yet.
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12-19-2006, 03:28 PM
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It sounds like the at the moment the majority of his diet is still milk so I think he could just find it hard to take all his calories during the day. I would wait till hes on more solid food then gradually water the milk down during the night feeds till hes on water which he probably won't find nearly so worth waking up for.
I agree it hard work when they are still waking frequently through the night.
Good Luck and I hope he settles soon for you.
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12-19-2006, 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by MamaWrites
I'm sorry that I can't offer any advice because I'm a bit in the same situation. My son is five months and will wake up once or twice to eat, but he goes right back to sleep, so I don't mind as much. I probably should night wean him, but I'll wait a few more months.
My friend recommends the book, The No Cry Sleep Solution, but I haven't tried it, yet.
mamawrites are you breastfeeding? (I almost always associate the word weaning with breastfeeding. . .but I could be wrong!) If you are breastfeeding, 5mos is way too early to initiate night weaning. Bottle feeding is a different bag though. 
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12-21-2006, 11:34 AM
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Yup I am breastfeeding. Hope it is okay to post here in the formula feeding area. I just found out that my little guy has a massive ear infection (yes bf babies do get ear infections), and that is probably why he has been up at night!
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12-21-2006, 03:09 PM
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OMGosh--ear infections do keep little ones up no doubt! I hope he feels better soon.
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