C.O.
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Minneapolis
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I agree: give him a bottle and put him back to bed.
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My infant is just turning 7 months old. I nursed my other two until about 11 months and only made it until recently with my little guy. The last nursing I "had left in me" was that 4-5:00 A.M. feeding and now I have nothing left then either. The problem is he's still looking for it. I try and try, but he gets a few drops at best - I can tell by the way I feel and the way he reacts. I never minded the 5:00 feeding. I loved it. I used to feed him, put him back to bed, head to the gym while the house slept (husband home) and he'd sleep until 7:00ish. Now he's up at 4:45, happy as a clam, and thinking he's up for the day. We've tried giving him his nuk over and over and over - but by 6:00, he's hungry and angry. Any suggestions to get him over this wake-up and start just sleeping through until 7:00? This morning he did it again. I tried to nurse at 4:45, nothing much there. Then put him back in his crib and left for the gym. When I came home at 6:00, my husband was up with him - he said the baby was relatively happy the whole time I was gone, babbling to himself in his crib. He'd been in there 5 times since I'd left and finally picked him up at 5:50 when he started to really cry. I gave him a bottle and went immediately back to sleep. Hard to keep him on any regular schedule this way... Anything anyone can suggest would be great...
I agree: give him a bottle and put him back to bed.
I agree with giving him a bottle at the 4am (or so) wake up time. If he wouldn't take anything much, you'd know it was just for his comfort/habit, but since he is eating at that time, he is probably hungry. I had to give my son a bottle at that time until he was a year old...he is a tall kid for his age, and he just needed the extra feeding until he was really eating "normal" food at about age 1.
It really sounds like he's hungry. I know you'd rather sleep in, but I'd give him a bottle. He'll sleep through the night (and later) eventually.... and then be waking up again at 5:30am (like my almost three year old did this morning!) lol Good luck!
Hi C.
It sounds like he is waking because he is hungry. I would try to give him a bottle at 5:00 and just cuddle him like you would well nursing and I would assume he would go back to sleep and then you can go to the gym. Good luck
What I've read in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth (GREAT book, you should get it for yourself) is that babies start to be capable of sleeping through the night at around 6 months... so you could stop going to him at all at this 4:45 awakening, and I'm sure he'll cry for a few days, but he does eventually need to learn to sleep through until a reasonable time in the morning (to me, 4:45 is NOT reasonable to wake up for the day). He will eventually learn to fall back asleep on his own, and sleep through until 7, if you leave him alone. Right now he likes your comfort and company, and is probably waking up hungry since he's used to getting milk at that time.
They say how bad it is to give the baby a bottle in bed, it rots their teeth, much worse than if you feed him a bottle right before putting them to bed. And if you do the bottle option, you'll eventually have to battle with him to take away the bottle feeding.
To me, it's really whether you want to face the battle now or when he's older. I have a 22 month old, and I can tell you that she has much more willpower now than she did when she was 7 months. I say battle it now.
Good luck!!!
My son was on formula by that time I stopped producing at 3 months and he to would wake up at 5am to take a bottle and go back to bed. If you are not producing anymore milk then he needs formula now so when he wakes at his normal time give him a bottle and put him back to bed. Many children at his age are not sleeping all night yet so its ok to still give him a bottle at that time.
When my son was 9 months old he was back to waking up 2 times a night and I was tired of it so to get him to sleep all night we let him cry, it took a week and each time he would normally wake up at night the crying got shorter and shorter and then he was sleeping all night. That worked great for him seems a little harsh but at that age he could go all night without eating feeding him in the middle of the night was just a "habbit" and he was use to it. So to get past the 5am feedings we let him cry and he slept longer but only til about 6:30, he's 2.5 years old now and still wakes about 7am or so. Hope this will help you! Good luck, L.
