feeding at 4 months

This is my first time posting.
My girls are turing 4 months next week, they are eating about 6 oz. at each feeding. They are not sleeping through the nite yet. For the most part they go to bed between 7:30-8:30. They end up waking for a midnite feed and then again around 4:30 and on the rare occasion 5:00. When I hear them in the early moring getting ready to cry I will give a binky and she(they) will usually sleep for another hour.

My question is how do we get them to skip that midnite feeding? We have had suggestions to start cereal by putting it in their bottles at that 6-7:00 P.M. feed. It was said that the added cereal will fill them up and they will sleep longer.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

IMO they probably still need the nourishment. I would not add cereal to bottles without a medical reason for it. Babies will sleep through the night when they are ready. At four months, getting up to eat only one time a night is great! Good luck. I know you want to get a good night sleep yourself but in time you will.. :hug:

 

No suggestions here - I posted a similar question and was also told that I should be grateful that they are only waking once! I'm keeping an eye out to see what others say!!! My dh really wants to try cereal in the bottle since a lot of his friends continuously tell him that is what they do, but we did start cereal (and now oatmeal) with a spoon and that made no difference, in fact the two nights we have skipped solids they have slept until 3:00 and 3:30AM from 7:30 PM!

 

You could try doing a dream feed before you go to bed for the night. I would consult your pedi before you put cereal in their bottles. Solids only made mine sleep worse. :hug: I hope they sleep better for you soon.

 

I read that cereal in the bottle before bed was linked to higher rates of babies aspirating and could be dangerous. My pedi is against it. I agree - check with your pedi first.

One of my boys sleeps all the way through to 7am about 3 times a week. The other wakes around 2-3 for a feeding then sleeps until 6. The one that sleeps through will wake around 4-5 for a feeding on the nights he doesn't sleep through.

We are into a highly regimented routine and it really helps. We bath each baby starting around 8:30 and then give each baby a nice warm bottle. Directly after the bath each baby gets a little massage with baby lotion and then dressed in pj's and a sleep sack. For their night bottles, we make 8 ounces per bottle but sometimes they fall asleep after consuming 5-6 ounces. We've rarely gotten them to consume more than 7 ounces. During those night feedings we rock them and keep the lights low. I often sing lullabies to them or play classical music. In their bedroom we softly play the same lullaby cd and turn their turtle on for low light.

If we do this night-time routine any earlier than we end up with screaming babies around midnight. Once they consistently sleep longer then we'll consider moving the bath time to earlier.

I hope that helps!

 

I think most doctors and other experts now believe adding cereal to the bottle does not help babies sleep longer. Honestly at 4 months if they're only waking up twice to eat, you're doing pretty well. One of mine did start sleeping 12 hours straight at 3.5 months, but I think she was the rarity. The other one woke twice (like you said, around midnight and 4:00) until 6 months, and then once around 3:00-4:00 for several months after that.

You could try a dream feed (waking them around 10 or 11 before you go to bed) in hopes that they'll do their long stretch of sleep after that, rather than from 6 to midnight or whatever. It didn't work for us the few times we tried it -- they just woke up at 1:00 anyway -- but it does work for a lot of people.

 

QUOTE(Becky P. @ Feb 4 2009, 03:28 PM) [snapback]1176275[/snapback]
This is my first time posting.
My girls are turing 4 months next week, they are eating about 6 oz. at each feeding. They are not sleeping through the nite yet. For the most part they go to bed between 7:30-8:30. They end up waking for a midnite feed and then again around 4:30 and on the rare occasion 5:00. When I hear them in the early moring getting ready to cry I will give a binky and she(they) will usually sleep for another hour.

My question is how do we get them to skip that midnite feeding? We have had suggestions to start cereal by putting it in their bottles at that 6-7:00 P.M. feed. It was said that the added cereal will fill them up and they will sleep longer.

Any suggestions?

Thanks



How often are they eating during the day? I found our boys at 10 weeks can sleep for long chunks BUT if they did not eat 6X a day first, woke up for midnight-3am cluster feeds....

They are bottle fed...

our 10 week old babies, from last staggered feeding beginning at 8pm to 4 am usually don't wake up, we give them the first bottle at 4 am, then 8 am, then every three hours so they have a total of six five ounce bottles a day.

when they don't have this much they will do as said...

How many times do your babies eat during the day? Perhaps try to increase the number of feedings during the day, less at night, this worked for us.

 

mine are 4 months old too. i wake mine before i go to bed at around 10 and feed they go right back to sleep. they still usually wake around 4 to eat and i put them back to bed and they wake for good around 8:00.

QUOTE(Becky P. @ Feb 4 2009, 03:28 PM) [snapback]1176275[/snapback]
This is my first time posting.
My girls are turing 4 months next week, they are eating about 6 oz. at each feeding. They are not sleeping through the nite yet. For the most part they go to bed between 7:30-8:30. They end up waking for a midnite feed and then again around 4:30 and on the rare occasion 5:00. When I hear them in the early moring getting ready to cry I will give a binky and she(they) will usually sleep for another hour.

My question is how do we get them to skip that midnite feeding? We have had suggestions to start cereal by putting it in their bottles at that 6-7:00 P.M. feed. It was said that the added cereal will fill them up and they will sleep longer.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

:welcome: to TS and the First Year!!

At 4 months, I think what they are doing sounds totally normal and really awesome. We added tons of cereal to their bottles due to reflux and it never helped them STTN. They will give up the midnight feed on their own. Are you doing a bedtime routine before you put them down? That might help them settle in. GL! Keep up the great work. :good:

 

We did a dream feed, but it depends on how much they weigh. I would ask your pediatrician if you can get rid of that feeding.

 

:welcome: to TS and the FY! I would agree that putting cereal in their bottles will not make them sleep longer. It sounds like they are doing pretty good through the night, I would do as others suggested and implement a nighttime routine if you have not already. Good luck, they will eventually get out of it. Hang in there!