Food amounts and sleeping though?

HI!

Do you up the amount of food you give if you are starting to "condition" them to sleep through the night? I know about cluster feedings (which I couldn't do because I have a very slow eater), but I was wondering if you give a bigger bottle before "bedtime" in order to help them sleep more? Or, do you stick with the usual amounts you typically give and one day they will just sleep through? Thanks

jen

 

HI!

Do you up the amount of food you give if you are starting to "condition" them to sleep through the night? I know about cluster feedings (which I couldn't do because I have a very slow eater), but I was wondering if you give a bigger bottle before "bedtime" in order to help them sleep more? Or, do you stick with the usual amounts you typically give and one day they will just sleep through? Thanks

jen

 

At 9 weeks, I have on that sleeps through the night and one that does not. They eat as much as they normally do through out the day. I don't think I could force them to eat anymore if I wanted too! It will all come in time. Plus, the one that doesn't sleep through the night has some reflux problems and that wouldn't be good because it would just come back up.

 

We did the same amount at every feeding. I can never get the girls to eat more than they usually do. Sometimes at the last feeding they actually eat less and still sleep through the night, it's a mistery to me!

 

You can try! They are still probably going to need some food in the night at this point, but you can try. They won't really sleep through till they are just plain ready. Good luck!!

 

quote:
We did the same amount at every feeding. I can never get the girls to eat more than they usually do. Sometimes at the last feeding they actually eat less and still sleep through the night, it's a mistery to me!


Same for me. Sometimes they would refuse a bottle all together and still sleep through. Mine were 5 months before theyslept through the night...don't rush them just yet

 

Thanks Everyone! I do want to force feed them ever!!! People kept telling me to cluster feed and give them more and I just don't think it is right for us. Thanks again.

 

Weissbluth once said to me: sleeping comes from the brain, not from the stomach ...

Of course their tummies need to be full, but you can't force them to eat if their tummies aren't big enough. My oldest was sleeping through very early but she was also a major (happy) spitter upper and my ds (twin) has reflux symptoms ... the more I put in, the more comes out ...

 

ALthough I think weissbluth disagrees with this, I have heard that the night nannies here in Boston tend to do a "top off" dream feeding around 10 or 11p -- that essentially refills their stomachs so that you get the longest sleep session during the main sleeping hours.

Essentially you just dream feed (feed without fully waking) your kids when you go to bed with as much food as they will take... and then put them back down to sleep. that way from the time you go to bed to the time they get hungry again is longest.

Might be worth a try instead of trying to get them to eat more at one sitting.

Good Luck, mine are breastfed and at 5 months we are a long way from sleeping through the night... but I've found that as long as they go back to sleep after eating, it's not so bad.

Teri D

 

The key for us was to stick to a three hour schedule during the day until well after they were sleeping totally through the night. The dream feed worked great for my older two but not my younger three. At 8 weeks the twins were eating at 7:30 and in bed by 8 then I'd dream feed them between 10:30 and 11 then they'd wake again on their own about 3. One night I was TOO tired and decided to let them go as long as they would and deal with it. They went til 3 anyway! I never did a dream feed again! By 12 weeks they were sleeping from 8 to 6:30. All of my kids were sleeping 11ish hours by 12 weeks. I agree that you can't force a baby to eat more than their stomach can hold but you can help them learn to take full meals rather than snacking and help their body get a good rhythm going.

 

Thanks Everyone! Those thoughts are very helpful. The dream feed sounds interesting.