Still waking up in the middle of the night to eat

Are my boys the only ones in their age group or older that still wake up for a feed at night. It is usually around 3 am, they eat like little piggies during the day so I know they are getting enough. Seriously I thought at this point eating at night will be loooooong forgotten. I was so wrong.

 

Nope!! DS JUST dropped that feeding on his own maybe 2 weeks ago. He has had 2 bottles in 2 weeks and this was an EVERY night ordeal with him and has been for months.

Try doing smaller feedings. For example if they eat 6 oz, drop to 5 then 4, and so on. If after an oz or 2 they STILL want it, try water. they will soon realize water isnt good and wont wake for it. that was recommended from our pedi however about when we started at 4oz, he just dropped that feeding. THANK GOODNESS!!!

 

Nope! Not at all! Annabella ate at night until she was a year old. I know I should have probably stopped that sooner. However, I didn't have the heart to, she was my last one, and well-she consistently drank a full bottle! The boys I did do CIO with at six months old and there was no turning back. Annabella also did wake every single night. She would have long spurts of sttn, then wake sporadically, or wake at 5am. It was crazy, but I dealt with it. But like I said-she was my last! And there was only one of her. By her first birthday she was consistently sleeping through the night on her own. I did try to make sure she was getting enough food during the day. I found if she did-she did much better throughout the night. Good luck!

 

Thanks girls. I will try doing smaller feeding starting Monday and will see where its going to take us. I hate doing CIO, we did it at 5 months since they were still waking up every 3hrs although it was horrible to hear them cry it did work.

 

I posted on this recently. My LOs were waking up 1-2x a night to eat, and they were eating a lot in the middle of the night. For a variety of reasons that I won't go into here, we decided to do CIO. OMG it was the best decision. The bad sleeper cried for 10 minutes on two nights. The good sleeper cried for more than an hour for four nights, but now we all get a full night's sleep every night. I know it's hard, but I'm so so glad we did it. It's helped a lot of stuff, including my marriage

 

I'd guess at this point that the night feedings are more for comfort than anything, so I wouldn't blame you one bit for doing CIO to get rid of them. Probably within a night or two they won't be waking at all, and I found that when they get a good solid 10-12 hr stretch of sleep at night they're in much better moods the next day.

 

Mine still wake up once to eat. They eat quickly and go right back to sleep. It doesn't really bother me, and I think still waking at that age is normal for many babies. I consider it a blessing because it sure beats when they used to wake up every two hours! :laughing:

I think we place such a huge emphasis on them learning to sleep through the night, and for some kids that just does not come until later.
I am personally against CIO, and I really like the book No Cry Sleep Solution. It's an easy read and has great information about ways to help them sleep longer stretches.

ETA: They are 11 months old.

 

My one daughter (last singleton) similar to Meaghan she was the last so I got up in the night. I also when home for 6 weeks and I didn't want her waking up my parents so I went to her each time (she was 8 months old then). Because she was more plump than my other two I just figured she was more hungry and more normal. Now I wish I would have CIO sooner. At 15 months old now she is only now finally going to sleep at 6 pm and sleeping until 5 am before looking for a bottle.

I am a Healthy sleep habits happy child (book) which allows various parenting styles -- various methods towards the same goal. I remember reading in "what to expect in the toddler years" that sleep issues NoT dealt with in the later half of the first year can continue on. I find that with my daughter. Had I been more firm like with the twins I'd have a more rested child who could return to sleep better.

Just giving you my thoughts on how I see my situation.

Heather

 

My singleton daughter was like that. Something else worked for us . We gave her water in her bottle (boiled water). She had that maybe 3-4 nights and then stopped asking for it. Honestly, I did not expect that work but it did work.

 

I havent read all the replies but maybe you could introduce more solid food during the day that woudl fill them up more? Im not sure if you already do that or not. I´d cut back on the milk intake during the day and up the solids and snacks though you say they eat "like piggies" I was lucky as mine stopped eating at nights at 4.5 months when they started STTN 12 hours. They ate every 3-4 hours during the day and 2 of the meals were solids (I eliminated milk at those meals on advice from the pedi). With the other 2 meals, they had cereal mixed into the formula. Obviously if you BF it is a different story plus I know of kids who wake up at nights to eat. One of our friends´ then 2 year old was drinking a litre of milk during the night (he´d wake up twice!)then one day he just stopped. I think he was doing it out of habit as he was adopted and his previous carers had given him a bottle at nights to go to sleep with. It´s up to you what you do but I´d try upping the food intake during the day (if you havent already) or doing CIO if you´re comfortable with doing that. You could also try substituting the milk with water instead then they´ll see it isnt worth waking up for!!! GL!

 

Thanks everyone! Wouldn't you know it they slept without any wakings last night!!!! I am so happy!! :ibiggrin: Now, what do I do when they wake up tonight, which I know they will. I think we will try soothing them to sleep without giving them bottle or at least water instead of milk. Hopefully they will go with the flow