4 1/2 Mth Old Waking at Night Again, Already Gets Cereal- Any Ideas?

C T

As a mom to 3 boys and very big boys. All of my boys went through the same thing. Increase the bottle and increase the amount of cereal by about 1/2 tsp. This should fill them up and keep them full through the night. If not just keep adjusting the food until you find the right amount of food that works for the little one. When they start growing the amount of food we are giving them just doesn't give them doesn't always fill them at night.

Good luck mommies.

S.
35 y/o SAHM of 3 boys

Sometimes my 18 month old son will wake up very early (he is no longer breastfeeding) and will play with his toys, flop around like you described. Unless your baby is crying out for you, just go back to sleep. Babies at this age (at any age really) wake up for no apparent reason and they get "bored." Let your little one work out his boredom on his own. Provide some musical crib toys (the kind that mount securely on the side rail) so if by chance he kicks it, it will occupy him. Babies don't always wake up because they need you. They just wake up. And as far as breastfeeding him, again, unless he is crying, I wouldn't offer him the breast. Your goal is to get your baby to not have to breastfeed just because he is bored. You want him to eventually sleep on his own, long enough so you can get a good nights sleep too. My advice is to leave him be...don't go in his room. It sounds like you have a baby monitor on so you can "monitor" how he's doing from a distance. Good luck!

P.S. I have 3 children so I've experienced this a time or two. : )

If he is just flopping his legs and making cure sounds, why are you going to his room and feeding him. Crying is his "asking" for something at this point and he hasn't "asked"... he may well just fall back to sleep himself....

Other mommies pointed out - it could be a growth spurt... could be teething, could be the cold. (Although the fact that he doesn't cry is interesting.)
Since he isn't crying, like another mom said I'd let him resettle himself back to sleep. It is an important skill to self soothe and nursing him back to sleep isn't something you want him to depend on. Sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, and resettle ourselves back to sleep. Perhaps that is the case here.
If you suspect he's teething, we used Hyland's Teething tablets. They really help the baby be more comfortable and slip back into sleep if toothing pain awakens them. They are homeopathic and you should be able to find them at major chain grocery/drug stores.
Of course, if he's going through a growth spurt, a night nursing may be needed. (He'd "ask" for it in whatever way he normally "asks" to be fed.)
When babies go through developmental milestones... sometimes sleep is effected. (Eating, rolling over, crawling, walking, talking, etc...)
Good luck.
T.

He is doing fine- exploring this vast world one step at a time! This is perfectly normal. Just let him enjoy himself, he'll get more scheduled as he gets older! God bless you both!
Kathy N.

I am in the EXACT same boat as you!! Same scenarion exactly, mine is 4 months today, she has been sleeping through the night since she was @3 months and all of sudden, bam, shes been waking up at 3am every night for the last week now. She has had a little cold too - I wonder if thats it? I just started cereal about a week ago too, so I dont know if that could be it, but she seems to hold her milk down soooo much better with the cereal in it. I have tried everything too - I've tried waking her before I go to sleep to try and fill her up - that dosent work. I dont know what to suggest - but I would love to see if someone could help us!!

*Ive been told it could be a growth spurt, but do growth spurts last longer than a week??

He absolutely is going through a growth spurt! Good job mommy! Increase his bottle..................good luck

I have a 9 month old son who usually sleeps 11 hrs thru the night (except when teething I nurse him 1x in the middle of the night). I have to give credit to a book I read while pregnant, Babywise. It's excellent! There are sveral in the series thatgive great advice birth-teen yrs. It may seem tough to implement at first but it truly works! I was a nanny for 10 yrs & used the principles in the book w/ several other children as well. Good luck.

Sounds to me like it could be one of two things. #1 It could be a growth spurt. Any time my son had one he would wake up one or two times a night and want to eat one of those times. It lasts a week or two then goes back to normal. #2 he could be teething. This happened with my son too. It started around 4 months but the teeth didn't break until 6 months. Mind you he just had bad weeks of waking up, not the entire two months. With having to treat a fever (a side effect from teething) I would think this is most likely. He can get a fever, drool, want to bite on things instead of suck on them and, at least for me, it was mostly at night. It was ok during the day. Hope this helps.