Night Time Bottle

Have you tried increasing the amount he takes at his other feedings? Try giving him 9 oz each other feeding to see if he can feel more full through the night.

Hi Lynelle, there is no need for a "cold turkey" methods here. Just start diluting the 1 am bottle with water until it is just water. He will figure out that there is no point waking up just to get water. You can do the same later with the 4.30 am bottle and he will start getting what he needs with the other feedings. With this method expect changes in his feeding and sleeping schedule. Follow your mother's instincts, you are the one who can tell when your baby is hungry or sleepy... Good luck!

He is still young and may want to feed at night still. I would let him eat if he wants. My 6 mos old still wakes up at 2am to feed. Good luck!

I'm not sure why you're considering this a problem? I think it's normal. You can either deal with his needs, or let him cry it out. My 6 mo. old (who is now 17 mos.) woke more than 2x per night. We did the cry it out and then got lazy... she currently still wakes 2x per night to nurse. I don't think it's a problem, I think it's completely normal. But... if you don't want to deal with it, I think the only way is the cry out. (I've tried lots of things - water, obviously she's eating solids, comforting through words - no picking up comfort, etc. etc.) and that's the only one that worked, although temporarily)

That cry it out crap is for the birds. Maybe you could just slowly nudge him during the day to take his bottle a little earlier each time. My son still wakes up every three hours but's he's breastfed and I guess that's the way it goes. I'm just going to provide it for him until he's ready to sleep through the night. I think you should trust your instincts and listen to your son. You're a good mommy and you know what to do.

Technically, I guess he could start solids but at this point he really doesn't need it and the mythe that solids cause a baby to sleep through the night is just that, a mythe.

There's my two cents for what it's worth.

HI Lynelle-
If he just started doing this, it might be a growth spurt. I do not believe in the cry it out method either. I tried it and found that it just didn't work for us. But I also learned not to get up at the first wimper. If my daughter woke up, which she did, I usually let her fuss for about 10-15 mins. Just fuss, not full on cry. If it lasted more than 10-15 mins, then I usually got up. She too would down a whole bottle. What I found was that it was the end of a sleep cycle and if I just left her alone for those few minutes, she learned to go back asleep.
Solids might help. It is a try and try and try again type thing. I heard you can put a little in their bottles, but I never tried that. Maybe at dinner time when he can watch you eat, try giving him a little cereal. Buy some plastic spoons, dip it in cereal and let him hold it. Eventually it will go in his mouth - babies just can resist putting stuff in their mouth. And you can sneak in a few bites in between. My daughter wasn't much for the cereal, so we started mixing in vegies or fruit a little at a time.
If nothing works, talk to your pediatrician. She/He might have some great ideas on how to help you get thru this time.
Good luck.

Dear Lynell..I feel sorry for you..This is frustrating..
Does he have any reflux with the formula hes on now?
I would certainly start trying him on some other formulas..and try mixing some Gerber Rice Cereal into a puree.
This will take a larger holed bottle..mix very well.. or give him a good feeding of the cereal by spoon at nite time feeding as close to tennish as possible..He should be sleeping thru the nite by now..and I think he is hungry when he wakes all hours..hes not getting enough nutrients for the growing little body..elevate Legs of headboard of the crib helps with re-flux also.

Lynelle:
I raised 3 boys and had no problem with
their night time waking up. I also had a total
of 27 foster children with a program of emer-
gency foster home. I had no problem with them
either. All I did was cut a larger hole in the
nipple of the bottle - put in some cereal with
the warm milk. When their little tummies were
full they went to sleep and slept from 10 p.m.
until 7 or 8 a.m. They were happy and so was I.
Try this and see if it works. Good Luck, E.

I agree he is defentally ready for solids. When we started my Daughter on solids she did not like spoons, so we used a feeder bottle. It is made for baby food and cereals. I think it is made by sassy. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2793324
This might be easier for you to start out on. My daughter used it for about a month or so. I just gradually started useing spoons until she used one all the time. He just sounds like a hungry guy.

Hi Lynelle,
My son was on every 4-5-hour night feeding schedule until 7 months. Then he just weaned himself off. There was a period when he was waking every 2 hours due to teething pain so I was adding Tylenol to the last bottle before bedtime. We did that for about 5 days and ever since that time he's been sleeping from 8:30-9 pm until 7-7:30 am. Now we just make sure he gets all the calories he needs during the day, which means he is eating 6-7 ounces every 3 hours. I don't follow a schedule & let him determine how much & how often he wants to eat. I am not a believer in cry-it-out method. I would not want to lose my child's trust in me as his primary caregiver. Every child is unique & achieves various milestones at his own pace, so don't feel like your son "should be doing__________" at this age.

Lynelle,

At six months old, he is ready for solids. It usually takes at least 10 introductions of a new food before the child decides if s/he is going to like it or not. My kids are 4 1/2 years old and 15 months.

My son, the older one, loved any and all food we placed in front of him; as long as it was real food. He *would not* touch the Gerber single grain cereals with a 10 foot pole. He would eat any of the jars/plastic dishes of the Gerber baby food we offered him. The only issue we had was when he reacted to the sweet potatoes. We waited a month or two, tried again and had no problem.

My daughter on the other hand, refused the fruits until she was about a year old. Most of them she would up having a reaction to anyway, so I guess it was a good thing. She would scarf down a banana sliced into finger foods for her though. She just hated the pureed stuff.

I would pick something like peas or carrots and offer him a few bites at every meal. I would also let him play with some of it too. "Drop" a few spoonfuls onto his tray and let him make a mess with them. My daughter loved her cooked oatmeal that way, wonderful sensory experience for them.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Hi Lynelle,

As a mother to a little guy who had severe silent reflux and weight gain issues until he was about 10 months old, I just want to say that you are doing an amazing job! It is so difficult to get up every 2-3 hours around the clock for 6 months to feed your little one. Your son's schedule is very, very common with babies that have reflux. It's also very common to get advice from people that makes you feel that this is not "okay" behavior for someone at that age. This is absolutely not true!!! It is normal for them. Let him tell you what he needs! It'll definitely get better.

D. Rylander
A Blessed Birth Doula Services
###-###-####
____@____.com

Frustrating, but I agree that this is normal.

If you want to try to extend the time between feedings at night, which may or may not work, he needs to get those calories in at another time. This means more milk during daytime feedings. I don't know if table foods will help, since those foods are often less dense than milk (so he can't fit as many calories into his stomach). It may exacerbate the problem.

One thing we've been trying with our 10-month-old is to push the night time feeding back slowly (by 1/2 hour each night). We bounce, rock and sing to sooth him back to sleep instead of giving him milk. He usually wakes up again after 30 minutes because he's hungry, but it's a small adjustment rather than a huge one. It's been working so far, but we've only been doing it for three nights. Maybe it's worth a try.

Best of luck and do what you can to get your sleep - nap, get to bed early, etc.

Hi my name is S. and I have a one year old daughter. Well my daughter named Hailie was born about 4 weeks early. After she was born she stayed in the ICU for about two weeks. When she got home she slept thru the night for awhile then she started waking up at night. So at first I would change her then feed her and she would fall asleep drinking her bottle. Once she got to be about 6 or 7 months I wanted her to start sleeping thru the night so instead of giving her a bottle I would give her a binky(just in the middle of the night) not sure if he uses one of those but if he does give it a try. I would just give it to her then she would fall back asleep. It took awhile but now she is one and sleeps thru the night I mean she goes to bed at 9 and will sleep till at least 8. Just an idea to throw out there. It takes work but at the end it really helps out. I also started giving her stage one food and putting rice in her formula. Keep trying with the food. Hailie didnt like it either but you gotta keep trying......

I'm so sorry that people are telling you this is a problem! This does not sound like a problem to me. And the whole idea of having him on a fixed schedule is not a good thing for babies. It is much better to follow their lead and meet their needs right away when they express them. The fact that he drinks the bottle down at 1 am shows that he is indeed hungry. Please feed him, and ignore (or better yet, educate) your inlaws! And putting him down to sleep "with a fight" doesn't sound so good either. Maybe he's not sleepy exactly when you try to put him to sleep. Especially since it sounds like he's taking a lot of naps during the day. As he gets older he will need less sleep, so maybe encouraging him to be awake a little more during the day would also help him to be sleepier at night. Please trust yourself and your baby and don't listen to people who tell you otherwise!

I agree with your inlaws, he is ready for solid food (start with like rice cereal and vegis). He is waking because he needs food that sustain him longer. My Doctor recommended doing one new food a week so any allergies could be easily identified.

Don't we all wish kids did what we wanted when we wanted? My first started sleeping through the night at about 3 months. The second didn't start until he was about 8 1/2 months, even though he was on solid food. I tried everything my mother and every other mother suggested, but nothing worked. At the end, I was exhausted and a little resentful. I say all of this to say one thing: every baby is different. They all have their own schedules, likes and dislikes, etc. You can have 10 of them and they will not be exactly like the others.

So don't beat yourself up trying to find a cure. I know you are tired. The good news is it will pass. And it's not like as mothers we don't have a ton of other stuff on our minds. What you need is a "hang in there" more than anything.

But as far as advice goes, try letting him cry for 5 minutes before you get up. He may just go back to sleep. If not, feed him. After a few days, wait 10 minutes and so on. Chances are, like mine, he'll just decide it's not worth it to wake up. He's probably not hungry. He's just used to waking up. And when he realizes it, you'll sleep much better :))

Good Luck!

Now that your son is 6 months old, you should start him on cereal and fruits or vegies. I'm sure as you add food to his diet he'll start sleeping longer. He sounds like he's pretty hungry. I think if you can get him to drink a little bit more than 7 oz too that'd help. my daughter usually drinks 9-10oz per feeding. She does not wake till morning.
Good luck.

His final bottle before he goes to bed at night add a lil bit of ceral to his bottle to thicken it up and that should help him sleep throuh the night. It did with my son.

It sounds like he has gotten in a habit of eating at that time. For my little one, solids didn't seemt to make a huge difference in her nighttime feedings....only in the day time ones (we are struggling with frequent nighttime feedings as well right now and I have a 7 month old). But since your little guy is actually eating a lot (not just wanting to suck on something), I would think that if you really loaded him up on his bottles during the daytime...he wouldn't be as hungary at night...then it may be easier to break the "habit" of waking at that time. Or you could also try giving him a watered down bottle, or less and less formula everytime, maybe he would eventually quit waking up for just water and make up for the feeding during the daytime. Does he take a pacifier? If so you could just try to rock him back to sleep using that. Hope that made sense...good luck to you, I know kinda what you are going through!

E.

Time for food!! Start him with a cearl bottle at bedtime and breakfast.

Hi Lynelle,
I had the same problem with my little one he (he is now 12 months) also had acid reflux and would wake up every 4 hours at night and suck down a bottle. The doctor told me that physiologically babies can go on without a bottle for 9-11 hours at night when they are about 6 weeks. My baby was 7 months when I could just not take waking up at night and giving him a bottle. First of all the solid food will help a lot specially at night. I know you said that he did not like solid food but just keep exploring with different flavors and textures you will find something he likes. What I started to do is giving him water at night instead of milk so his stomach would get used to not getting food at night. The doctor said that as long as I kept giving him the bottle at night he would keep waking up for it. After he got used to just drinking water he stopped waking up for the bottle (about a week ). I did have to let him cry a little but he just tried for 10 min (more like whinnied not full on crying). He sleeps from 8pm until 6am and I give him milk and he goes back to sleep until about 8am.
Good luck I hope this helps. Keep me posted to see how it turns out.
Y.

Hello,
My son was like this too. I didn't start him right out on solids but, what I did do is this. I added a little bit of rice cereal to his formula. Just enough that it could still be sucked down. Then when he was able I started feeding him rice cereal on a spoon. Anyway, it helped to fill him up and he began to want less bottles. It worked for me. Good luck!

Ok, here's the thing. Nobody tells babies that about these "schedules". They are telling you what their needs are. We're the ones trying to tie them to a schedule. He is communicating with you his needs, which include the 1am feeding. It may be because he is hungry, or it may be because he needs to see you and needs some comforting time with you around that time. Listen to your baby and your intuition, not your in-laws. If your baby is not sleeping through the night at 6 months, don't worry about it! Not many are. In fact, kids generally don't sleep through the night (unless forced - which isn't necessarily a good thing) until they are about 2 years old. Why? Most of them are teething and going through growth spurts until at least 2. My daughter's "schedule" has always varied. I let her be the judge of when she needs to nurse, and when she sleeps, and she is totally happy and secure and healthy. She has no abandonment issues. We can lay her down for a nap on our bed (which is on the floor), and she when she wakes up, we don't hear a peep. She just gets off the bed, opens the door and comes and finds us, grinning.

"Controlled studies have shown that infants who are fed solids before bedtime do not sleep through the night any sooner than infants who do not get the before-bed stuffing." -Dr. Sears

Point is, listen to what your baby is telling you. Listen to your mothering intuition. Give him what he needs. You're doing just fine. :)