I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I was wondering if it's normal for my 7.5 mos old to still be waking once (sometimes twice) to eat at night. I feed her lots of solids all day and right before bed. She goes to sleep btw 7-8, is up at 1 am and wants to eat right away, and then goes back to sleep until 6 usually. She has never gone all night (8-10 hours). I let her cry for 15-20 min before going in. Feeding her is the only thing that seems to get her to go back to sleep. Someone suggested I give her a bottle of water at night instead of formula (she gets formula + solids all day). I just can't bring myself to do that, b/c I fear that it won't fill her up for long and she'll wake up in an hour to be fed again, and I need my sleep. And she loves water, so I don't think that would be a deterrent. Any other ideas?
Yes, it is absolutely normal. Kid's grow at night, so it makes sense that they need nutrients then. Hang in there! Each kid is very different and they do it when they are ready. My son didn't sleep through the night until about 18 months. My daughter did it at about 2 1/2. I co-sleep with both my kids, demand feed, and did nothing different between the two. It's just part of what makes them individuals.
This is what happened with us and talk to your doctor before doing anything. I fed our little piggy once at night until month 9 then we went into his well check and I was SOOO TIRED after doing this for so long and was talking to the dr about it and she said OH NO! You could have stopped feeding him through the night as soon as he doubled his birth weight and was at least 3 months old. I was like WHAT?! My oldest son just one day stopped waking up at night to eat around 3 months so I was waiting for this little guy to do this as well. So that night we didnt give him his sippie cup of milk and I just kept giving him his paci and he got it and went back to sleep. He woke up a lot that night and the next but, by night three he woke less and then eventually less and less and I am happy to say that now he falls asleep on his own in his own crib. Where as before we held him to fall asleep and he would only sleep half way through the night in his bed and then wake we would get him and he would sleep the other half in our bed.
My son woke in the night to eat until he was about 14 mos. Now at 16 months he still wakes at night, but we are able to get him back to sleep without feeding him.
I don't really have any suggestions but wanted to let you know you're not alone! My 7 1/2 month old son wakes up during the night too. He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9 and usually wakes up around 2:30-3:00 to eat. He eats solids through out the day too AND drinks some formula from a cup. I nurse him right before bed too. The longest we've ever gone is from 9 until 4:30. I had to set a rule - no matter what time he wakes, he doesn't eat until after 2. Sometimes he has to cry it out before he goes back to sleep. It's really hard but I've slowly gotten him from waking at 12:30-1 to at least 2:30. Next week, I'm going to try to hold him off until at least 3 every night and see how that goes. It's a slow process and depending on how often he's awake and how exhausted I am - it doesn't always work the way I plan. Good luck!
Have you've tried adding a liitle bit of rice cereal to her formula before bed time? I know that seemed to work for me. It helps fill there belly up a little more. I know Gerber makes a rice cereal. I hope that helps! Keep us updated!
Hi L.,
By this age, she should definitely be learning to self-regulate at night. It sounds like you are doing a great job :)
Are you schedule-feeding? That helps. Also, if you haven't started her on solids yet, I'd say "go for it!"
"No" on giving infants water: she'll end up malnourished!
T
I'm into attachment parenting and tend to believe kids have pretty good instincts about what they need most of the time. I do not think there is one sure fire cut off date for babies not really being hungry from dusk to dawn.
If the crying is vigorous and she does not go back to sleep on her own, I would suspect she is really hungry. If it helps you sleep to get her back to sleep, I would keep the night feed.
I guess my only concern is that I am unfamiliar with the long term effects of formula. I breastfed, so I could rest assured that what my daughter was intaking was perfectly fit for her metabolism. maybe formula alters things to stimulate appetite in some kids where it should not?
Exposure to light at night can do the same ...it stimulates appetite by suppressing melatonin. (Light pollution...an interesting topic not mentioned much in our modern life) Does your daughter sleep in complete darkness? Light goes through the eyelid and through the optic nerve even when eye are shut in sleep.
dare I mention electrosmog?...we focus so much on baby development and training sometimes, I think we forget that there are many things that could be affecting us and our babies. Good luck!
My son is 9 months old and has been sleeping from 10pm until at least 6 am since he was 3 months old. I primarily followed the Babywise parent directed feeding method and that really helped teach my son to sleep. He currently eats 4 times a day and takes 2-3 naps for 4-5 hours total. I give him formula (he drinks about 24 total ounces a day) and eats solids (cereal and fruits/veggies) at breakfast and dinner. I give him his last bottle of 4-6 ounces of forumla at 9pm and he's in bed by 10. When he first started he would wake up in the night, but learned to settle himself and go back to sleep. I believe it's important to teach children how to sleep and how to put themselves back to sleep. I do give my son a pacifier, but only when he's sleeping and now he's able to find it and put it back in his mouth if he wants it when he wakes at night. I also keep my monitor sound pretty low so if he does wake and is quietly fussing, it doesn't bother his dad or me... but if he's really crying, I can hear him and respond. I am so thankful that he's a good sleeper, but I know we worked hard in the beginning to get him on a regular eating/sleeping schedule. I really enjoy getting 8 hours sleep! Good luck!
My son is 9 months old and eats every 3 hours around the clock. I talked to his GI Doc and my lactation consultant and both agreed that if I can handle feeding him in the middle of the night then I should keep doing it. The GI Doc said the only way to get a baby to stop midnight feedings is to do just that...stop feeding them in the middle of the night. This might mean only giving a pacifier or letting her cry. I personally don't do it because I figure if my son is hungry, he needs to eat. We tried the sippy cup of water and it didn't work at all. Good luck!
My doctor told me I was training a night-feeder when she was night feeding at 7 months. You might want to try to feed her when you go to bed/around 10pm if she is on a 3hr schedule and her last one before that is 7PM. maybe it takes a diaper change to wake her up to do this. Then you might have to try letting her cry it out at 1am, which took our daughter about a week, each night the crying got gradually less. 7-8hours sleep from 10pm would take her closer to 6am.
But she could also be crying because of teething pain, and feeding might be what comforts her. If you sense that by touching her gums, some pain reliever or teething gel may be all she needs.
