Great sleepers BUT do they still need that night bottle?

Our twin boys are 5 1/2 months old. They go to daycare during the day and absolutely love it but of course take short naps. When they get home they are extremely exhausted. We do baths and usually give them their dinner bottle around 5:45pm-6pm. We have tried to hold them out longer thinking if they would only eat later then they could possibly STTN. The boys will finish their bottle and will be asleep by 6:30pm. They are so exhausted from the day it is really easy to put them to sleep - they actually want to sleep and get mad if we try to keep them up. We went through the entire CIO process for getting them on a bedtime routine. They are great sleepers and have STTN only one week and then it has been very inconsistent. They still wake anywhere between midnight and 3am. We give them a 4 oz bottle. My question is do they really need this bottle and should we try CIO for this middle of the night wakeup? We did try it once but they just would not stop crying and we finally gave into feeding them. So we are back to feeding thinking they probably would not be waking if they did not need it but then I think the other way that they just might be used to getting it. They eat at 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, and then 6pm and they eat most of the time 6 oz bottles. Any thoughts? I loved the one week they did STTN and would so love to experience that again. I have friends that told me getting then into daycare would help get them to STTN because they are so tired/over-stimulated from the day which they are but the STTN has not been consistent. Maybe it is just too soon? Any suggestions on that middle of the night feeding? Cole weighs almost 20 lbs and Dylan is probably at 18 now. We go for our 6 month wellness check the first week of September; I know they get plenty to eat during the day and are at great weights for their age. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

We too have exhausted little boys after daycare and they are usually ready for some sleep within an hour of getting them home… In order keep the boys from waking up hungry in the middle of the night, once our pediatrician gave the go-ahead on letting them sleep through the night, we started letting them nap for about an hour after daycare, then they are back up for an hour to an hour and a half and get one more bottle before going down for the night. An added bonus is that getting them up for the last (8 pm) feeding means that my wife and I can both get some play time with the boys after a long day at the office.

 

I wonder if a dreamfeed would work for you all? Giving them a bottle right before you go to bed to help them get through the night?

 

My husband and I just talked about this the other night. We thought if they are so tired when we get them home from daycare maybe we just put them down to bed and then wake them an hour or so later and give them their dinner bottle. Thanks for throwing the idea out; maybe we will give it a try. I do miss the time I get with them since I am a working mom; I get so sad when all they want to do is sleep when I get home

 

We used to do a dreamfeed but when we went for the 4th month checkup our pediatrician told us to cut it out to see what the boys would do in regards to STTN. She said they definelty did not need that dreamfeed anymore. They do get a good 5-6 hours in before they wake but its just frustrating when they do wake because you hear other babies at the same age STTN. I know every baby is different but you can only "hope" that yours one day will STTN; every parents dream I am little nervous to back to the dreamfeed but we have thought about it.

 

When you were doing the dreamfeed before were they still getting up to eat in the night?

 

Yes, they were still getting up in the middle of the night that is why doc said to cut it out to see how long they would actually sleep. They do a nice long stretch and most of the time it is closer to 3am when they wake. If they could just hold 3 hours longer it would be perfect.

 

Have you tried upping their bottles during the day to 7 or 8 oz instead of 6? My babes are 6 months today and we've been doing 8 oz bottles for about a month now. They were taking 5 8oz bottles up until last week when they dropped a bottle and now take 4 8oz bottles a day. They don't drain all of them all of the time, but they are getting roughly 24 oz of formula a day minimum.

Mine sleep from 10pm to 9-10am.

I also agree with letting them take a nap as soon as you get home from work, and then waking them up after an hour or so to play and take their night time bottle before going to bed!