waking up at night and eating very small amounts

our guys eat every 3 hours, night and day. one of our boys definitely needs a full bottle at each feeding. the other one wakes up screaming bloody murder but then only eats a half ounce to an ounce before falling back asleep. if we really stick with it we can sometimes get him to eat as much as an ounce and a half at one of these night time feedings, but only with a lot of work.

what i'm wondering is, why would he wake up like clockwork every 3 hours screaming his head off for food, and then only eat such a small amount? during the day they usually eat 3 ounces and in the last week have been doing between 3 and 4 ounces. is this comfort feeding or does he really just need these micro-meals to get through the night? we can't get him to eat more than he wants to, so it's not like we can get him to fill 'er up and sleep longer. it doesn't help to offer a pacifier because he still seems hungry and sucking the pacifier keeps him from settling back down to sleep.

we bottle feed so it's not a breast thing. any idea what's going on here?

 

Mmmmm, it seems he´s waking from habit and I was going to suggest the paci as my DS went through a similar thing. In my case though the paci worked.

Would it be possible for you to put an extra ounce in his last bottle before night or offer a little more at each feed during the day? Or maybe you could extend their feeds by 5 or 10 mins each time and offer a little more? If one´s taking a full bottle then he obviously needs it but you´re right to question your LO who drinks so little.

This might seem crazy but have you tried patting him back to sleep? Why doesnt the paci work?

 

I think at this age they need to eat at night, so I'd keep trying to get him to eat... It shouldn't last before he starts eating more.

 

I'm wondering if he's gassy. Maybe call the ped to describe the symptoms and ask what you can do in this case.

 

QUOTE(Rach28 @ Dec 15 2008, 04:30 PM) [snapback]1111685[/snapback]
This might seem crazy but have you tried patting him back to sleep? Why doesnt the paci work?

we have tried to soothe him back to sleep but they're both so restless these days they don't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time anyway. as far as the pacifier goes, there's something about the pacifier that makes him excitable. he never soothes back to sleep. he sucks enthusiastically and if it would stay in his mouth he would keep doing it all 3 hours between feedings and never quite drop off to sleep. but since it doesn't stay in his mouth he drops it and then cries until it's put back in his mouth. we've started limiting the pacifier and soothing him back to sleep without it. honestly he sleeps better without the pacifier.

i'm actually now wondering if we're creating this. we're scared to death of the idea of these guys eating at different times and thus never getting any sleep at all, so when one asks for food we feed both. i wonder if jacob would sleep through a feeding if we let him. then again, i'm scared to try because i can't face the idea of waking up to feed one, then having the other one wake up an hour and a half later, and then the first one waking up an hour and a half after that, ad infinitum.

i mean, how do we manage it if they have such different needs? we're barely keeping our sanity as it is, due to the way they're waking up every 20 minutes. we're already exhausted and some nights i'm so tired i just sit there rocking them back to sleep, crying. i don't think i could handle it if we suddenly had them cycling on different schedules.

 

i feel for you my girls are almost 8 months old and they still wake up once a nite to eat! that doesnt include the uptempt time they wake to just plain wake up

 

QUOTE(piccologirl @ Dec 15 2008, 10:00 PM) [snapback]1111730[/snapback]
i'm actually now wondering if we're creating this. we're scared to death of the idea of these guys eating at different times and thus never getting any sleep at all, so when one asks for food we feed both. i wonder if jacob would sleep through a feeding if we let him. then again, i'm scared to try because i can't face the idea of waking up to feed one, then having the other one wake up an hour and a half later, and then the first one waking up an hour and a half after that, ad infinitum.

i mean, how do we manage it if they have such different needs? we're barely keeping our sanity as it is, due to the way they're waking up every 20 minutes. we're already exhausted and some nights i'm so tired i just sit there rocking them back to sleep, crying. i don't think i could handle it if we suddenly had them cycling on different schedules.


The scenario you are describing is exactly why instead of shifts, we each took a baby. We were responsible for that baby all night no matter what. That way if one started sleeping longer stretches he got too and mom or dad did too. Tyler was a much better sleeper than Derek. I mostly took Derek since I was at home all day and DH had to work. But over the weekends he would take Derek so I could get some rest. Maybe this would help??

 

Mine usually finished their bottles at night, so I don't have much advice on the snacking. Though like others have said, I would probably try pushing some of the night feedings back, even by 15 minutes to see if this helps break the cycle a little. They are still pretty young and probably need their night feedings, but I have heard babies sleeping longer stretches at this age too. Especially if they are getting what they need during the day. I think it just depends on the baby - and having two that you're trying to sync up on the same schedule makes it all the more difficult.

I thought for sure we had "trained" them to wake every 3 hours because we fed them on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule during the day and woke to feed them at night the first few weeks until we were given permission to stop. Once we stopped, they woke 3 hours (or less) on their own. But I always woke the other when the first one woke and fed them together. I never had the nerve to let the other one sleep. And they did both eventually start to stretch out the feedings and STTN consistently between 3 & 3.5 months. I think my son would have been doing it sooner, but my daughter still woke once and I kept waking him too. The night I swaddled her with the miracle blanket for the first time, was the first time she slept through. Mine were always big eaters though, and were getting 5-6 oz every three hours during the day. We extended their schedule to 4 hours and gave them 8 oz bottles around 3 months - also around the time they started sleeping through.

Do you swaddle them? Like I mentioned before, that helped my daughter sleep through and drop the last feeding. I know some people say their babies hate it, and mine did too. But she really needed it.