Sleep Help

We need sleep! The girls still aren't STTN. They are 8 months old and wake up at least 1 time still to eat about 6 oz. I think it is getting to be out of habit now. I have read HSHHC and the HSHHT, but don't remember anything in there about how to get read of the middle of the night feedings. They go to bed by themselves beautifully, but are still waking up to eat.

Does anyone have any advice? We were spoiled by DS who slept through the night (7 pm to 7 am) by 3 months old! I am making up for it now.

Thanks for any help!

 

What we did was go in and pacify. If I went in more than twice I let them cry. It didn't take long.

 

I may have to give the pacifiers back again. We took them away this spring because we were going in there 20x a night. Anything for sleep!

 

I just let my 2 naturally drop their nighttime feeds. Eventually they just started sleeping longer periods, then started sleeping through & not waking to eat.

 

Over the last couple of months i started reducing the amount of formula i offered, got it down to 2oz milk & 1oz water. They stopped draining that amount in the last few wks and have stopped waking to eat consistantly for the last week and it is GREAT! Obviously the way i did it is quite long and drawn out but you could do it over the course of say a wk rather than months. I was prepared to let them CIO next week if they were still waking.

 

Tina - when did yours drop the night feeds on their own?

 

Same here. Mine woke to eat up until 9 months. Personally, if they are waking to eat and then going back to sleep, I would leave it be. But if they are just waking and playing around on the nipple, I would stop that. Once mine started playing with the nipple, I gradually started to reduce the amount of formula in the bottle and then took longer and longer to get to them. Most of the time, they would just wake and fuss for a bit and go back to sleep, sometimes I had to feed. Then they just dropped it on their own. GL!

 

:hug: :hug: I know how you feel

I don't have advice for you as mine still don't STTN. After trying several months and methods to help them STTN.. We've finally decided to just do CIO, and have been doing it for the past 1.5 wks.

GL!

 

Hmm, I think they started sleeping through occasionally at around 8 months & then gradually got more consistent.

 

I don't think 8 months is too old to be waking to eat. Even HSHHC says this may happen until 9 months, and I think he's on the early end. We tried doing CIO (as well as watering down her bottle) with Amy at 9 months and she just utterly refused to go for it. She was still hungry. After a week of listening to her cry and then eventually feeding her at 5:00 a.m. (and having her be up for the day), I went back to just giving her a bottle at night. She went right back to sleep, and although it was annoying to have to get up, we were only up for 20 minutes or so. (DH and I took turns.)

Around 12 months she started not drinking the entire bottle. That was the point when I decided it had become a habit rather than real hunger. Then I tried watering it down again, and when we had gotten to just a few ounces of mostly water, we did CIO again. That time, it only took a few days of crying for 15-20 minutes before she gave up.

I would NOT go back to the pacifiers. Isn't getting up once a night for a bottle better than giving a paci 20x a night?

 

I discussed it with our Pedi and she said (for my two based on their weights) that they were drinking enough during the day and that it had become habit. However, they were also drinking less during those times so I felt confident in trying CIO instead.