STTN

Hi Everyone,
Yet another STTN question! My b/g twins are almost 6 months and NOT sleeping through the night, not even the "technical" 6 hours in a row STTN. It sucks! They wake about every 2-3 hours still. What am I doing wrong? They seem to be eating plenty (bottles and 2x/day for solids)...No changes w/ the introduction of solids either. WAH! We have a great routine, but they both continue to wake up at night and are hungry...so we feed them. UGH. Any suggestions? Support?

Thanks!

 

I think some babies just take longer to STTN. Hang in there. I know my SIL's twins started sleeping longer right at 6 months and 6 months is when mine started being more consitent about it too. So maybe it's just around the corner, and if not then just remember that in the grand scheme of life this really is a short time. (Just trying to think of something, I know how much you want sleep!)

 

I feel your pain. Mine didn't STTN until 8 months old. Have you tried a dream feed before you go to bed? Or a couple of bottles closer together before they go to bed (to 'tank them up')? Unfortunately some kids have tiny stomachs and can only eat so much at a time and will need those night-time bottles for awhile longer. :hug:

 

Mine still don't STTN either, but at least they only wake up once a night in average (and have slept through a few times). I'd try to increase their bottles during the day and reduce the feedings size during the night - we've just started to only give them 4oz when they cry, and we're planning to decrease to 3 then 2 in the next few weeks.

Something that might have helped me is when I just stopped giving them a bottle as soon as they got up during the day. I've extended their schedule to feed them only every 3.5/4 hours, so they usually play for one hour before a bottle now... so they're not used to waking up and having a bottle anymore. I don't know if it helped though... but they stopped waking up for the 10pm feeding at first, then woke up later and later... this morning at 5 and 5.30am.

Dreamfeeds never worked for me, actually if I woke them up at 10pm for a bottle, they would wake up earlier afterwards. They go to bed at 6-7pm, depending on their day schedule... If their last bottle is due after 7.30pm, I sometimes wake them up around 9pm for a feeding if I think they've not eaten enough.

 

Sounds like you are doing everything you can. Mine did not STTN until they were 9 months old. I guess it just depends on the baby and not so much on the age.

 

we're right there with you, up for a re-binkie or cuddle/rock at least every 3 hours. I can't belive that I havent' slept more than 3 hrs in a row in 5 months! i'm kind of just waiting it out until we feel ready to do CIO, or some version of CIO which involves them learning to self sooth at all.... everyone keeps telling me that it will get better, but that's what they said at 4 months and it hasn't really... I might go crazy if this continues until 9 months.

sorry no especially helpful hints, we're trying to feed more oz during the day, get good naps in, and not be napping too close to bedtime. Also, DH wants to try changing diapers, we had previously not been changing pee diapers but we think maybe being wet is waking them up? we'll see... good luck to us all

 

Mine still dont sttn...and they really are hungry in the middle of the night...I am hoping for them to get the hang of this soon!
Do yours eat enough during the day? I think this is my problem, they barely finish 6oz bottles but will gulp down 8oz in the middle of the night-go figure!

 

I feel your pain. Both of mine were sleeping through the night 8pm-6am until 1 1/2 months ago when one decided she would wake up at 3am every morning for a bottle & then fall back asleep. My girls are 7 months old (5 months adjusted). Babywise has gotten me this far by feeding them every 3 hours during the day (about 6 oz each feed) and then solids twice aday in addition to the bottles. Are you feeding them every 3 or so hours? Maybe they can't destinguish the day from night (that's what baby wise says anyway). I was trying to get my girls to feed every 4 hours & that's when I think we got off track. I am trying to fix it now. Good luck!! Try feeding more consistently (& maybe more food?? who knows) and see. Again, good luck!!!!

 

Mine didnt STTN until 10 months.. (12 hours) then it stopped and now started to STTN again. I remember at 6 months we were still doing the every 3 hours thing. It will get better soon!

 

Mine are just over 7mnths and still not sttn, so you are not alone. we too have a great nighttime routine and the babies go down like clockwork at about 530pm everynight. But they still wake up at night to eat, I have been trying to wait out doing cio until they are ready, hoping they will do it on their own soon.
Slowly over the past month they are lengenthing the time between feeds at night, so it is slowly getting better. Our babies wake up, eat and go right back to sleep, so it's almost easier to feed them then to let them cio for hours at a time. So we will continue to feed them for now - my deadline is 9mnths for night feedings.

 

I'm right there with you as well. Mine are the same age and still eat 1-2 times during the night. They eat quickly and go right back to sleep, so I plan to continue feeding them for the time being. I haven't found anything that helps. We feed every 3 hrs during the day (and they eat about 28oz during the day), dreamfeed doesn't make them sleep longer for us, adding cereal didn't help....sigh...I guess we'll just be waiting it out.

 

My twins are 9 months (6.5 months adjusted) and just started STTN about 10 days ago. At their 6 month pedi appt he told us to stop feeding them when they wake during the night and just increase their intake during the day. Well we never listened to him and we found it easier and less nervewracking to just give them a small bottle and rock them back to sleep. However, they were waking a different times and sometimes twice during the night. One day I just said NO MORE! Mamma needs some sleep! I let them CIO the first night - DS didn't even wake up but DD cried at 10:30 for 10 minutes, 12:30 for 45 minutes and 4:00 for an hour. I know that seems like a long time to let her cry, but it took TWO nights (the next night she only woke once and cried for 30 minutes) and now they sleep through the night. I don't know if it was me doing CIO or if they were just ready, I'm not sure. But I feel your pain because I just didn't know how much longer I could go on with hardly any sleep. Hang it there, I know it is tough. :hug:

 

I hear ya it is tough some just take longer than others to get it. DS got it at 4 months and DD just got it a month ago. They still have nights where they will wake (teeth, learning something new). Hugs to you, I cannot believe they are almost 6 months already, where did the time go??!!

PM or email sometime

 

If they are getting plenty during the day (along with solids) then they might just be waking up out of habit - babies are creatures of habit, and for 6 months they have been waking up.

I noticed that my boys were waking up out of about at around 2 months - so I talked to the pediatrician and he agreed and gave me this hint: When they wake up feed them JUST UNTIL they are content (if nursing) - if you give them a bottle then decrease the amount by an ounce every night. Then eventually every night you give them less and less, to where they realize it isn't worth it to wake up... if you do a bottle you can eventually just give them water and then they really won't want to wake up for it. We tried that for a week or so and then my mom came to visit and gave us a better idea that worked like a charm in a matter of 5 days!

This was her plan: Every night when they wake up I immediately woke up and put a pacifier in before they truly woke up - when they got COMPLETELY inconsolable, then we fed. I did that about 20 times the first night, but instead of them waking up to eat after 4 hours, we extended it to 5.5 hours. Then the next night i only had to wake up about 10 times and they went 6.5 hours - then the next night we got up about 6 times and they went 7 hours, and so forth... Within 5 days we went from sleeping 4 hours to 8 hours. I didn't like that plan at first because I didn't want to get attached to pacifiers but it worked - once they slept those 8 hours in about 2 weeks they were sleeping 12 hours (and still are! - Praise the Lord)

 

I'm just curious but when you feed them during the night, are they chowing down the whole bottle or just an ounce to a couple of ounces?

 

QUOTE(spiveyplustwins @ Sep 11 2008, 11:01 AM) [snapback]974976[/snapback]
This was her plan: Every night when they wake up I immediately woke up and put a pacifier in before they truly woke up - when they got COMPLETELY inconsolable, then we fed. I did that about 20 times the first night, but instead of them waking up to eat after 4 hours, we extended it to 5.5 hours. Then the next night i only had to wake up about 10 times and they went 6.5 hours - then the next night we got up about 6 times and they went 7 hours, and so forth... Within 5 days we went from sleeping 4 hours to 8 hours. I didn't like that plan at first because I didn't want to get attached to pacifiers but it worked - once they slept those 8 hours in about 2 weeks they were sleeping 12 hours (and still are! - Praise the Lord)


We tried that. Never worked. They still woke up as much after 2 weeks.