Eating and Sleeping ?'S

As far as the food thing goes, it sounds like he may need more calories, not just larger quanties of food. Jars of baby food are mostly water and don't have the same calories per ounce as table food. I'd recommend trying richer foods like meat, cheese, and yogurt. Even if he doesn't have teeth he should be able to eat ground beef, small tender peices of chicken, or sausage. When my son went through this I took him off baby food altogether and used a food mill to grind up things for him. He loved chicken, rice, green beans, and yogurt all ground up together with some herbs.

My best tip for making all meat easier for the toothless is to use a knife and cutting board to mince it up, and then mix it with a little yogurt if it's too dry. Feel free to email me if you want other food ideas.

My recommendation for the sleep thing would be to do the Ferber method. You let him cry for 5 minutes then check on him but don't pick him up. Next time you check is 10 min later, then 15, etc. You have to be very consistant so he learns what to expect. The first night is the worst, but by 3 nights he'll probably go to sleep pretty easily. My son is very active and has a hard time settling down, but this worked at night time. Now that he's 13 months he can put himself down at naps after some stories.

I'm not much good on the food -- I always thought a baby will eat what they need, they aren't trained to overeat -- my daughter was a light eater though, and when she'd eat a good meal I'd do cartwheels!

On the sleep -- I hated cry it out too -- the Baby Whisperer books gave me the routine I used. I would do the same bedtime pattern (for us it was get her dressed, read a book, sing songs to her -- the book changed but the songs were the same in the same order every night; then I'd hug her tight and kiss her and tell her I was the luckiest mommy in the world). Then I'd lie her in her crib. A family friend who spent hours putting her children to sleep each night was amazed. Yeah, we spent a painful week where I'd lie her down and she'd fuss and I'd pick her up the first time I'd say I love you it's time to sleep; the second time I'd say It's time to sleep; the third time through the 30th time I'd say nothing at all, I would pick her up or stroke her back to let her know I was there -- whatever it took for her not to cry -- but once calmed, I would put her back in her crib -- and under no circumstances was she allowed to fall asleep in my arms. The first night it took well over an hour; the second night perhaps 45 minutes; by the third night we were down to 15 and after that it was easy-peasy, by the end of a week, she would lie down and go to sleep with only the occasional issue (she had a lot of ear infections has had tubes twice, when she had an ear infection the rules went out the window for a few days and then we'd have a night or two where we'd have to reinstitute the pattern -- NEVER like the first time -- within two days of perhaps 4 or 5 rounds of needing to be picked up and calmed for a moment she would be back to her usual sleep pattern).

My nephews did the ferber method -- yes, they too slept on their own, but even months into it they would cry themselves to sleep -- they are both perfectly happy and well adjusted children too (i.e. I do believe it's harder on the parents then the children; but I don't care, I preferred the Baby Whisperer method). DD is 4 and I still tell her that I am the luckiest mommy ever each night before she sleeps -- she won't let me sing anymore though...

I think you got good advice about the sleep thing. Your child does only what you allow him to do. The thing children need is consistancy if your going to try something else. Don't give in, even though it's hard. Your first child is always the child you learn from, unfortunately. As far as the food issue, my 7 1/2 mo. old is almost 20 lbs. already. She is eating cereal with 1/2 container of 2nd Gerber fruit in the morning along with the rest of her bottle which ends up being about 5 oz. At lunch, I just give her a bottle. Then at dinner, she is ready to eat her cereal with the rest of the fruit, a half container of vegetables and 1/3 of the meat. About 1 hour later, she is ready for the rest of her bottle. Then at bedtime, she has her normal 6 oz. bottle and I add about 1 tablespoon of rice cereal to it. She sleeps through the night about a good 10 hours. I always start with 6 oz. of milk, but I mix it with her cereal, which is about 3-4 tablespoons of Gerber rice, mixed, or oatmeal. I switch up throughout the day except for her nighttime bottle. I am thinking that either he is not getting enough to eat at one time or maybe, since your son has no teeth yet, he may be just teething and not really hungry. Maybe you can try giving him a cold clean washcloth ( or one clean wet one that put into a ziploc in the freezer for a bit, then take it out of the ziploc and give it frozen) to teeth on or even get one of the Baby Feeder starter kit:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=240476...

You can purchase them at Target and Walmart also. They help with teething babies because you can safely give them a cold carrot to teeth on or some other cold fruit or vegetable.
Hope any of this advice helps coming from a 4 time mom.
Be Blesst!

What we've come to learn that with our daughter, if she wants more to eat, let her have it. BUT make sure it's healthy food. When she was younger we stressed out that she was eating too much, but turns out, she was going through a growth spurt and was actually hungry. As far as you rocking him, if you enjoy it, do it. He's only going to be this size once and someday he will go to sleep on his own and he'll be too big to rock. I also do not approve of the cry it out method, (for your child's age). Why upset baby and parents when you know you'll end up going to him anyway. That's just a waste of time and is time better spent having good one-on-one time, and if it's rocking him to sleep, than so be it. It may be a different story if you had other children to also attend to or if it was taking away from other responsibilities, but it doesn't sound like it does.
C.

i can't help you on the food thing but i can relate to the rocking before bed and nap time. i rocked my son before bed and nap time. cherish it!!!!!! he is now going on 5 and won't let me even think of rocking him ..even if he is sick. i think he was about 2 1/2 when he stopped letting me rock him. i miss rocking him. he'll grow out of it just let him be a baby and enjoy the baby moments.

I have a 16 months old son and can relate to your dilemma. Although I do not have any suggestions for you about your 10 month old regarding his eating habits (sorry!), I also very much enjoyed rocking my son to sleep. By the time my son was about 9 months old, I also started to feel like he was never going to go to sleep without being rocked. I read about this technique in Parents magazine and decided to give it a try. The first thing I did was inform my daycare that I was no longer going to be rocking my son to sleep and that I would prefer for them to stop rocking him as well. I informed them that if he cried loudly and continuously for more than 5 minutes, they could go in and soothe him, but not pick him up. The technique is as follows:

Night 1- Lay your son down in his crib and pull up a chair next to him. If he cries, rub him through the crib slats but DO NOT speak to him while doing this. If he sits/stands up and wants you to rock/hold him, as heart-breaking as it is going to be, DO NOT take him out of his crib. Say to him FIRMLY "No, its ni-night time" (or whatever phrase you use to tell him its time for bed), lay him back down and give him his bottle or a lovey if he has one. The ONLY time you should speak to him is to tell him that he needs to go back to sleep! Continue the rubbing and laying back down until he falls asleep. It is tough to listen to your baby cry but at least you can still comfort him.
Day & Night 2- Begin implementing your new bedtime routine for naps. Keep your chair right next to the crib like you did for Night 1 and follow the same bedtime instructions for naps. At bedtime, same rules as Night 1, but move your chair away from the crib by a foot or two. The only difference between Night 1 and Night 2 is that you'll have to get up to rub your son or lay him back down.
Day & Night 3- Keep your chair in the same spot as you did for Night 2 and follow the same bedtime routine for naps. At bedtime, same routine, but move your chair a foot or two from the spot it was on Night 2. Continue to move your chair further and further away from his crib at bedtime until you are at his bedroom door. This will be your last night staying in his room. Hopefully, after your last night, your son will have realized that your are not going to rock him to sleep and you will be able to lay him down for naps and at bedtime and he will fall asleep on his own. It took me about 3 or 4 days for my son to get adjusted but once he was, the only time he wanted to be rocked to sleep was when he was sick!! Now, I am lucky if I even get to hold him long enough to cuddle with him!! I hope this works for you because it was the only technique that I tried where I was permitted to stay in the room and soothe him when he cried! If you have any questions, please feel free to respond back.

Hi S.!

I don't know how long you let him cry it out, but I had a similar experience and recommend you try again. After an entire day of crying for no reason I decided to try and let my son (Devin) cry himself to sleep when he started crying for no reason the next day (I couldn't handle two days in a row!) and rubbing his eyes.

You know he's not hungry (or shouldn't be), you know he has a fresh diaper and clean clothes, you know it's warm enough in his room and he's just tired but can't get himself to sleep, so put him in his crib, and close the door to his room almost all the way & just let him go. I know it sounds cruel, but they have to do this themselves if they are going to learn.

My son cried for 3 1/2 hours. Periodically, about once each hour, I checked on him (fortunately he didn't see me) and aside from the crying, he was fine. That day, he took a really long nap (like 3 hours) AND slept through the night. This happened about 9 days ago and every night since, he has been sleeping though the night. Bedtime is 8:30 and he wakes up at 6:00 or 6:30.

I wasn't expecting him to suddenly sleep through the night, but it worked. My son's twin brother still wakes up through the night and Devin still sleeps through. Now if I can just get the other one to sleep through the night! I haven't tried this with his twin yet because it was so hard the first time around, but I plan on doing it again because I know it worked.

About the food, I don't know where to help you with that. I know that one of my son's weighed 16, 11 oz and the other was 14, 6 oz at their 6 month check up, and were considered 25-50% and 10-20% respectively, so it sounds like 20 pounds is normal. Maybe he's experiencing a growth spurt? Likes tasting new foods? Or is bored? Physical activity temporarily suppresses hunger, so maybe get him more physically active? Those are things that I would try. Good luck to you!

K.

I nursed both my boys to sleep until well over a year, nad it never caused any sleep issues.

As for the baby food, he doens't need it. Grind up or dice up some table foods for him. Babies dont use thier teeth to chew, they use thier tongue and mash it against the roof of thierm outh and the saliva breaks it down, no teeth needed.
www.wholesomebabyfood.com is a great site for first meals, homemade baby food, and recipes.

The book "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West saved my sanity. I was nursing my baby to sleep. It isn't the cry-it-out method, but a stay with the baby and support him while he learns to fall asleep on his own without being rocked. And bonus, you only have to read the chapter about your child's age.