Question about 8 1/2 month olds and night feeding

My boys will be 9 months old in about a week and they still get up between 3:30 and 5:30 am for a bottle. They are definately hungry when they get up and won't go back to sleep until they've eaten (they scream and spit out their binkies). I was just wondering if anyone else still gets up with their nine month olds at night. From what I understand, they shouldn't be doing this anymore, but, they're hungry. I have them eating 3 solid meals a day, plus a solid snack and a bottle around 3pm. They have a bottle before they go to bed and then they get up for their 3:30 am bottle. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

Mine stopped night feedings I'd say around 5 months. What I would do is give them water instead of formula and maybe they'll eventually stop waking for just water.

 

Ours stopped waking up for feedings at 7 months. At that point i think they were waking out of habit not because they were hungry (although they would suck down the bottle at every night feeding) Have you tryed to CIO. i had some great advice from the ladies on this site that helped walk me thru it. Ours were sleeping thru within a week of starting CIO.
Good Luck

 

They could be waking out of hunger habit, but they could honestly be hungry/thirsty.

My 2.5 year olds sometimes wake up at night wanting a 'nank nank' as they call it, and I give them a sippy with something in it, and they drink the whole thing, gozzling it down. To me, that proves they were hungry/thirsty. If they are waking and only taking a sip or two and falling back asleep, that is a sign that it is just a habit or soother.

 

The girls stopped waking for a bottle at night around 7 months. But they did get 4 bottles a day (in addition to solids twice a day) until 10 months. Now at 11 months they are getting 3 bottles a day, three meals a day and a snack if their afternoon nap doesn't go to long.

Are they getting at least 16 ounces of formula a day? Maybe they need more in their bottles?

 

QUOTE(Hillybean @ Jun 18 2007, 08:50 PM) [snapback]297349[/snapback]
Are they getting at least 16 ounces of formula a day? Maybe they need more in their bottles?


I was going to ask the same thing. my guys just stopped taking their last bottle but they are still taking anywhere between 24-28 ounces PLUS 3 meals which includes 5 jars of solids (the big 4 oz jars) during the day. If they are only taking a bottle or two during the day, then I'd say they probably are waking for hunger. Are you giving them water at meals? Maybe you could try giving some formula in a sippy? That's what we're doing at dinner time just to make sure nobody is hungry at night time. (Otherwise they get water with meals, but bottles before hand.)

I hope that helps.

Shannon

 

Declan still wakes in the night and sucks down a bottle. Ronan goes without, most of the time. In Decky's case, I think it really is hunger--he started to wean himself off the night bottle (only finishing a few ounces, then back to sleep) starting several weeks ago, but then got sick, and hit a growth spurt and went back up to the full bottle. I know it's frustrating, and I've heard many opinions that he doesn't need the bottle, but just IMO, I still think it's the right thing for him right now. We do two meals a day and about 25oz formula/ebm during the daylight hours, but it still makes sense to me that he's a growing boy, and he gets hungry and thirsty during the night. Don't get me wrong--it's a pain to get up and feed him during the night :winking0009: --but I'm hoping that as we add in more food, and once he gets through the growth spurt, it'll get better. Just my $0.02.

 

Their bottles are 9 oz bottles. The bottle before bed and at 3:30 am they drink the whole thing and their bottle in the afternoon they usually only drink about half (give or take a little). I offer them water with each meal, but, they usually only take a few sips and then want nothing to do with it. I've tried watering down juice, but, they won't drink anything at all when I do that. I've also tried giving them formula with their meals and they do the same thing as with the water. I truly believe that they are hungry during the night just for the simple fact that they suck down the whole bottle and won't sleep until they do. I've tried watering down bottles and they just cried after drinking the whole thing, so, I'm assuming they were still hungry (that's why I didn't bother trying just water). I've tried giving them a solid snack before their bedtime bottle to fill them up more, but, they would get up ALOT during the night, crying, after I did that. I think it gave them a tummy ache. I've also tried putting cereal in their bottles before bed and had the same results as giving them solids before bed. Am I doomed?

 

hmmm...This is what I would try...I'm not a huge fan of CIO. Granted, I've done it before with some success, but it was so gut-wrenching that I'm just not brave enough to do it. So, I'd start cutting back on the amount you give at night. Even if they cry, they need to learn that the daytime is for eating. At least by giving them something to eat, then I would hope the crying wouldn't last nearly as long. If they aren't taking all of that bottle during the day, I would expect to start seeing an increase. I would keep cutting it down until they weren't getting anything. They really do not need to wake during the night to eat. They've just learned to expect a meal then, kwim? They could truly be hungry, but what you're doing by cutting them down slowly is to help them transition that "meal" to daytime hours.

You could always try cold turkey CIO. It would take a few days but it might be worth it to get them to sleep thru. They will wake up super hungry and may start waking earlier, but even if you could start getting them closer to a "normal" wake-up time that would be better than 3:30am. Along those same lines, even if you decide to keep giving the full bottle, I'd always start pushing them an extra 15-30 minutes. Maybe you would eventually end up at the same normal wake-up time.

I hope that helps. I know you're exhausted! Shannon

 

Mine still have one bottle around 5.30 am. As soon as they're 9 months, they'll have to wait until 6 am. It's been taking way longer than expected already but since they do sleep 11 1/2 hours straight I am still willing to do it.

I would go cold turkey.

 

I think you are saying that they only get a 9 ounce bedtime bottle and a 9 ounce middle of the night bottle (18 ounces a day) and just water or juice during the day. If I am not understanding correctly let me know.

Here was our schedule at 8.5 months.

7 - 7 ounce bottle
8 - breakfast
11 - 6 ounce bottle
12 - lunch (this was added after their 9 month appointment)
3 - 6 ounce bottle
5 - dinner
6:30 - bottle and bed

I would suggest trying to give them a bottle before you give them their solids. They should still be getting a lot of their nutrition for formula and not solids. Our pedi didn't add lunch till 9 months. If you can get 16-24 ounces in them during the day they might not want to night feedings.