Waking up at Night - Dearborn,MI

YES, she should be able to go without a bottle. Many people think that their babies need to eat in the middle of the night way after they really need to. At one year, she should NOT need to eat in the night. As for her sleeping, it is rough. You'll either fight it now, or fight it later! I would say, whatever you do, STOP offering a bottle when she wakes. Then slowly decrease you involvement in her getting back to sleep.

She should be able to go without a bottle at this age. At 6 months she may have been going through a growth spurt, but now she is used to the comfort in the middle of the night.

I have heard of moms putting water in the bottle - an ounce or two at a time every night until the bottle is just water. The child usually does not want it.

You can also (ugh) cry it out, which I am not a fan of but it works for many parents.

You can also not give her the bottle, but go in and comfort her. Know that this process will take awhile but eventually she will sleep.

A potential problem to all this is teething and developmental milestones. Kids always wake up with teeth and when they learn something new.

My son is 2 years old and I can tell you that about twice a month I am woken up by him because of something. I usually can get him back down within a few minutes.

I wish you luck and hope you find the answer that works for the all 3 of you.

I will probably be the lone duck here...but oh well. In my opinion kids wake up for a reason. I know many will say even at 6 months they don't neeed to wake up. However, sometimes they just need to check in with mom and dad. Particularly as they get older and that object permanence thing sets in. They KNOW mom and dad still exist even though they can't see them... and just want to make sure they are still around.

Also, GROWTH SPURTS! In my humble opinion, when babies are going through growth spurts they NEED extra food. Often times they are SOOOO busy during the day ... learning to crawl, learning to walk, exploring their environment they don't think about eating. How many times have YOU gotten caught up in a project and lunch just slipped you by. So, they wake up at night STARVING!

This past summer my daughter went through a growth spurt. She woke up 3-5 times a night and ate every time. It was exauhsting. When we went in for our 12 month check up I learned she grew 1.5 inches in TWO MONTHS! NO WONDER she was eating 'round the clock. She also ate non-stop during the day too.

It bothers me when I hear people say 'they don't NEED to eat or wake up in the night at such and usch an age'. How do you KNOW?! Can you feel what they feel? NO! It's just that we WANT them to sleep 12 straight hours by a certain age. We expect they have no needs during the night. We expect they won't get hot, they won't get cold, they won't get hungry, they won't get scared, we just expect them to sleep and leave us alone. Obviously I'm a believer in night parenting. It's just something to think about.

The other thing to consider is maybe your daughter has gotten into a habit of waking up. Try just offering some water or something at night instead of a bottle. If she really isn't hungry then after a few nights she won't wake up. We did do that with my daughter around 6 months to see if she really was hungry. I had my husband get up with her since I nurse her. We learned when she really was hungry and when she was not.

My point is just to be sure that your daughter really doesn't need anything instead of just assuming she doesn't. Since they can't tell us what they need... we have to play a bit of a guessing game. I know how you feel... my daughter still wakes up as well. But there is always something.... full wet diaper (I hate the idea of letting her just lay in pee all night, I certainly wouldn't want to do that) or in need of food. It is tiring... but at the same time I know I am meeting her needs. There will be enough time to sleep when she is grown up and has moved out.

Good luck.

Sounds like she is getting about 7-8 hours of sleep (8pm to 3-4am), then waking up. I think that expecting her to sleep 10-12 hours (8pm to 6am) straight is a big expectation. I think that a more reasonable amount of time is probably more like 7-9 hours. You may want to try 9pm to 5am or 10pm to 6am? She is only going to sleep as long as her little body needs, then it's feeding time and play time. Adjust the schedule the best you can...that's all you can do. Good luck!

It's so hard to say...all babies are different. She could be on another grow. Does she eat something before bed? When she does wake up, if she is hungry...I would feed her, BUT I would make sure that she isn't getting up for playtime with momma. I wouldn't turn on any lights or say a word to her. My babies didn't REALLY sleep through til they were 2+. You wouldn't NOT feed her during the day, right? She is still a BABY, be patient...she'll get it. Another wierd thing about sleep and babies...it has also been my experience that if the nap schedule isn't consistent during the day, they didn't sleep well at night. Go figure...This will pass :)

Many, many children (and not all babies either!) do not sleep thru the night. If they do for awhile, I'd consider that a gift. If they're hungry or lonely or upset during the night and can't settle themselves back down quickly, shouldn't it be the parents' responsibility to help them out? Because we feel like we need a full night's sleep, this is hard for us, but for most families, this is a normal part of raising children.

I have to agree with your husband I have two daughters, 3 and 5, and peopel were always telling me to let them cry it out and do it on there own...but I felt that they were small children that looked to their parents for comfort, safety and love. I have read many things on nurturing v nature parenting styles and believe that comforting htem, finding out the reason...growth spurts can make it so for awhile she is very hungary very often and could be the reason. My thinking was that what if they are hungary and I am denying them food...I would feel alwful that I didnt let my little one eat and she had to cry her hungary self back to sleep.

She's just an 11 month old baby! What exactly is expected? She cannot understand what a good night's sleep means to the working world. Or to exhausted moms.

If she can do without a bottle,fine. Don't give her a bottle. But DO take turns AS parents to put her back in her bed. She shouldn't wander around on her own, no. So put her back in bed. Start now that she learns some of the boundaries or it will get more difficult later when she does have more understanding of things.

Regarding all those who suggest not feeding her on demand - what if she does in fact need this during a growth spurt and she is being nutritionally deprived? Mom, are you willing to take that chance?

Personally, I have always been supportive of the on demand feeding for infants. They are programmed to demand what they need, when they need it (food, comfort, etc).

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SPOILING AN INFANT - so by feeding her according to her needs, you are not setting yourself up for problems in the future, but rather being an attentive mom who is sensitive to her specific needs.
If at any time you feel like she is only waking up to feed for attention or comfort, try to rub her back and sing her a lullaby back to sleep instead.

Yes, she should definitely be able to sleep through the night at this age! She's also old enough to cry it out. It might take a few nights for her to learn, but she'll be able to. Its normal to have differing opinions about this between husband and wife. My husband wanted me to let my daughter cry it out early on, I couldn't emotionally handle it until she was 5 months old. And boy it worked like a charm and she even started to take scheduled naps and I could get stuff done. Maybe have your husband go on a guy outing for a weekend and try doing it then so it doesn't bother him too much, having to listen to crying. Its something you do in stages, but she'll pick it up quickly, especially at this age.

She probably enjoys the attention and special time with you when she wakes up, so try to get in some more during the day so you aren't taking that away from her at night.

Best wishes!

Hi S.,
You are definitely right on this one and dad is wrong. Baby doesn't need a bottle anymore (and really didn't at 6 months either). Dad may like the idea that the baby goes back to sleep easy with a bottle but you are setting yourself up for this pattern to continue and you will still have your child waking up at 2 years old. It will be hard to get through, could easily take a week or so and lots of crying if baby is used to this routine. And remeber even after you get past this hump you will still have times they will wake up since they are still growing, changing getting new teeth etc. But at least if you can get rid of the night time bottle you will have one thing to cross off the list. I say start now and good look!

S.,
My little girl is about 14 months now but she has always been a great sleeper as well. She also went thru the stage of waking up for a feeding and going right back to sleep. Our pediatrician told us that at a year she needed to be done with the bottle, so we stopped while she had a cold and didn't want it anyway. After that we did do the crying thing, I would wait no longer than 5 or 10 minutes before going back in and would spend a couple minutes wiping her tears and rubbing her back letting her know that I was still there and loved her but that it was bed time. Now, she goes to sleep at night with no problems. I have a video monitor and notice that she wakes up in the night sometimes but she usually will just get comfortable again and fall back to sleep. I also have a soothing sounds machine in her room that I play for the first 30 minutes of bedtime that I think also helps her fall asleep. I hope some of this helps!