Seeking Advice on Bottle Feeding at Night

At nine months he should be sleeping through the night for 11-12 hours. Getting that broken sleep is setting his brain up for learning problems because it is not getting into complete REM sleep. Try to give him just water if he wakes up and soon it won't be worth it to wake up anymore. He can go a very long time wth no food but his belly has to get used to it. Try giving him the last feeding closer to 7:30 pm and then put him to bed for the night. He should wake up at 7-7:30am. It takes some training and patience but within a few days to a week he will be sleeping beautifully. Let him do what he is capable of doing and stop babying him. Let him soothe himself and learn how to be by himself. A very important skill for life!

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I found it very amusing that the first poster told you to stop babying a 9 MONTH old. Sheesh, a 9 month old is still very much a baby! While some 9 month olds can sleep all night, it's normal for babies to still be waking up. In fact, there's often a sleep regression around 9 months since there's a lot of developmental stuff going on-teething, readying to walk (or crawl), readying to say their first word, etc.

It's also normal to nurse past 9 months old as well. I'm not telling you not to wean as that's your decision of course and your reasons aren't my business. But make sure you're weaning because you want to and not because other people are telling you it's "a good time" to do it. With all the concerns about the swine flu, I'm definitely going to keep nursing my son for a while.

I would respectfully suggest just nursing your son when he wakes at night. Or try rocking/patting him back to sleep if he'll let you, then nurse if it doesn't work. I think nursing gets them back to sleep fastest and is the easiest. I know it's not for everyone, but I found the least disruption was getting the baby, latching them on, and going back to sleep in my bed. When they sleep longer stretches, they spend more time in their crib. I also found that while my kids(just my son now) prefer to nurse if I take care of them at night, they fall straight back to sleep for my husband. You could always give bottles during the day and nurse only at night so he still gets the benefits of breastfeeding. I know that's not what you asked advice for, but the first poster's comment compelled me to respond.

Hi J.,

I agree with Kristine M, and wanted to note that usually the last breastfeedings to end are the nighttime feedings. For us, the last of all to end was the goodnight/first in AM feedings.

I am always relieved to be able to nurse the babe back to sleep while I am lying down, rather than have to get up and wrangle with a bottle or even stand up to rock.

As the previous poster mentioned, this is the time when babies often start sleeping through the night. However, until you can wean him off that feeding, I would recommend preparing the bottle in advance and giving it to him cold. He may not like it at first, but he probably will get used to it. There is no reason you have to warm it up. Our son always took his bottle cold, even when he was still nursing and was getting bottles when I was at work.

Hi J.,

When my son was a baby, I made up several bottles every day to last for the upcoming day. Since they were refrigerated, they were convenient to just pull out and warm when he was hungry. (I wasn't able to breast-feed, but I did pump my colostrum and what milk I could for the first two weeks.) I was a dang nut about boiling bottles, nipples and lids after every use and I think as a result of that and the colostrum combined, he is rarely sick.

Sounds like you're doing a wonderful job with this. 9 months is a good time to get him weaned from the breast.

HTH,

C.

breastfeeding is easiest.
why not work on giving one bottle feeding during the day, instead? and have someone else give the bottle...