What is the deal?!

Are my babies supposed to be still waking twice for bottles through the night? I could understand one, but two?
I feed them approx 6 oz at bedtime which is about 7:45 and as of lately my ds is waking at midnight screaming his fool head off for more to eat and then by 4 am you would think he is starving to death because he wakes and downs 5 more oz in like a minute! Between the two feedings and going in to reinsert paci's this is getting old real fast!
What can I do to help them sleep much longer stretches at night?
I havent started solids yet-would this help? Also, they eat about every three hours through out the day and have anywhere between 4-6 oz at a feeding.
Help!!!! I am so tired!

 

My girls dropped to one night feeding between 4 and 5 months old (actual age). We didn't introduce solids until 5 1/2 months so it didn't have anything to do with that. How much are they taking during the day? I have friends who fed their kiddos every 3 hours during the day and had babies who slept thru (earlier than mine- 8 months here- ug!).

Also, were they preemie? What is their adjusted age? Hang in there... maybe you can offer bigger bottles at the bedtime bottle and 1st overnight bottle and see if that stretches them longer.

 

Ditto i would try offering them more at the first night feeding.... and also trying to maybe get more oz's in them durring the day??

good luck (hugs)

 

ditto what pp's said... maybe they can take more oz during the day? i can tell you solids really made no difference for us. they still got up once in the night to eat. (they just started STTN 2 weeks ago on their own).

 

Lesley, I feel for you! Have you read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child"? It helped me immensely! My sister actually came to visit me when my babies were about 3 months old & did the "tough love" thing for me (I'm a big baby & hate to hear them cry). She took their pacifiers so they would learn to fall asleep without them & let them cry it out. I KNOW this is very controversial but it is what worked for us. My little ones have been sleeping 7-7 since they were about 3 months with 2-3 naps a day.

I don't know if starting them on solids would help or not. I did give mine cereal at 4 months since there are no food allergies in my family. One thing that I definitely think helped was I "cluster feed" them in the late afternoon/early evening. Basically they still are fed every 3 hours (either a bottle or bottle & food). In the afternoon they usually have food & bottle at 1:30, bottle & food at 4:30 or 5 and another bottle 6 & 6:30.

I hope it gets better soon!

Oh, I thought of something else. Have they doubled their birth weight?? From what I have read & heard that is usually a good indicator they will sleep through the night soon.

 

We are almost in the same situation.

One of my little girls STTN. The other wakes up at 12 and 4 and eats around 4-5 ounces pretty quickly. Thankfully she falls asleep before she finishes the bottle and I am back in bed.

I know most people say it has nothing to do with weight or how much they eat in the day but my STTN'er is heavier and eats more during the day so I can't help but think "hmmmm".

I wish she would take more but when she is finished she's finished!

Oh and they are identical which most books say they "should" have the same sleeping habits.

So, I'm not sure either. I will continue to feed et night especially since she is taking so much.

 

I always wondered about the double the weight thought.

What about low birth weight? J is almost close to tripling her weight (4.3, close to 12 pounds now). Technically double her weight would have been back at 2 months, and well as posted above she is still eating twice a night.

I wonder if that only is true is a baby is "x" amount of pounds at birth?

 

Mine are the same age as yours, and they're absolutely still waking twice per night to feed (go down for the night between 6:30 and 7:30, usually eat at 1ish and 4ish, then wake for the day between 6:30 and 7:30). They're breastfed, so that might make a difference, but I would imagine they're still young enough that waking at least once is normal (though it should get better soon!)...I'm hoping we're down to one feed by 6 months.

On the pacifier re-plugging, I am a big pacifier fan, but one thing I've always refused to do is re-plug. If they fall asleep with it and keep it in their mouths, fantastic...if not, it's their loss! You may have to do a mild bit of pacifier-less sleep training so that they learn to put themselves back to sleep without them.

 

At that age we were still usually waking twice a night. Then we started skipping around a lot- some nights twice, some nights only once, and very few nights not at all. We've been consistently at once a night for the last 1.5 week. (After going a week with not at all.)

I know it's frustrating, especially with the paci issues. (I'm still in the same boat there. I get up 2 or 3 times just for that.)

 

Mine woke twice a night at that age. Sometimes I woke the other if they were still sleeping but most of the time I was just doing a "double feed." We were giving lots of cereal in every bottle from 6 weeks on due to reflux and they did not STTN until they were 9 months old. Solids had nothing to do with it for us.

 

mine are about 2wks younger then yours and mind are still waking at around 2am and 4am to feed, and then they are up to start their day between 6-630am. I think from the reading I have been doing it is normal at this age, but over the next few months it shoudl reduce. Doesn't it seem like people are always telling you to wait a few more months! argh!

Anyway, sorry I can't be of help with the paci's mine wouldn't take them - when we put it in their mouths they acted like it was some strange foreign object and it just falls right out.