10 month old feeding every 3 hours at night

OwenM

My 10 month old took 26 oz's of formula last night between 9pm and 6am, every 2-3 hours.

9pm 6oz's
11pm 5oz's
2am 7oz's
4am 5oz's
6.30 am 3oz's

It has been going on like this (last night was a record) for 4-5 weeks now. He ate a decent feed of mashed potatoes & white fish at 6pm and had a dinner in the creche at 12pm along with about 20oz's during the day.

At one stage he was taking 5oz's at 11pm and another 5 around 3am but it has gone downhill from there.

Any suggestions?

Fatscally

Is it a boy? If it is I wouldn't be overly concerned they're savages but if you still are over time as and when the opportunity arises I'd get his bloods done for Celiac etc. But don't stress yourself. It's when he stops eating and drinking then you might have something to worry about :rolleyes:

OwenM

I looked up the symptoms of coeliac, and he doesn't seem to have any of these - i.e. he is thriving and no diarrhoea. Would a 10 month old not have these symptoms?

Fatscally

To be sure I AM NO EXPERT ON BABY ILLNESSES
All I know is that the boys like their grub and they like you to keep it coming. Make sure you're using the right "follow on" milk too. This might get you through the night.
There's also something called "dream feeding" where you give him a bottle when he's asleep when you are going to bed to top him up. You might look that up and give it a try.

OwenM

this is boy number 2, and he did feed at night for a long time but nowhere near these amounts or frequency.

Dream Feeds: He is basically asleep for these feeds, barely waking and by the time he is finished he is fast asleep - but we need to do another 20 mins winding then. If we let him be he will wake fully and let you know in no uncertain terms that he is hungry.

Is he a bit young for follow on milk? 10 months on 12th May.

Tempted to try 'extra hungry' formula tonight.

it's a problem for 2 reasons, were at our wits end from sleep deprivation and he needs a nappy change during the night which could fully wake him, meaning an hour of playing - i love playing with him but not at 04.50am.

Rds,
Owen.

vibe666

we had a similar problem with our 8 month old in the last month.

we had gotten him down from regular night feeds every few hours so that he was sleeping from about 7pm to 7am without a feed, but then we moved him into his own bedroom and he got sick around the same time and he started up again waking up and nothing but a feed would settle him.

the thing that finally fixed it was making sure we did everything we could to wear the little bugger out so he didn't have the energy to wake up.

take him out for a long walk in the buggy so he gets lots of fresh air, then lots of tummy & play time, followed by a bath with a little lavender oil in it and a good portion of baby rice with a banana in it for slow energy release and then bed with a bottle ad he's more or less started going from 7pm to 7am again now, albeit with a couple of soother runs to settle him if he wakes up, but it seems to be working.

i should probably point out that 95% of this is all being done by my very good wife.

OwenM

The penny dropped, we are using SMA gold which is for 0-6 months, not the followon milk which is for 6+ months.... will pick up a tin of it on the way home....

coley

Have you tried any of the baby bedtime cereals as a final meal before bedtime?

Works with our 11month old - she was waking up hungry having previously slept through the night.
Giving her some cereal keeps her going through the night till 7:30 ish.

-Coley.

Lola92

OwenM wrote: »

The penny dropped, we are using SMA gold which is for 0-6 months, not the followon milk which is for 6+ months.... will pick up a tin of it on the way home....

Just so you know there is absolutely no need to move on to any follow on milks. They are basically a gimmick to get around the advertising ban on breastmilk substitutes. It will not fill your child up and more, if this is what you are looking for then I would advise you to try hungry baby formula or maybe give a small solid feed an hour before bedtime.

OwenM

He had fish pie with white sauce, a big bowl of it just 1 hour before bed. It's about the heaviest stodgiest food I can imagine him eating. The mash was made with butter and full fat milk, the white sauce is full of butter, flour and milk and the fish means it has a high protein content. If that doesn't fill him up then nothing will. If I have a bad night again I will be trying the hungry baby formula.

Tks All.
Owen.

evamum88

I wouldn't worry...my ten month old son is exactly the same....so was my daughter when she was that age. He'll grow out of it eventually..

Lyn256

Could be just a growth spurt-every couple of weeks they'll go through a hungry few days where they can't be fed. My DD is 4 now and my DS is 2 and this comes along regularly. Only three weeks ago my DD was eating her meals and then looking for something else every hour-a banana,yogurt, sandwich-this went on for 3/4 days and then she went back to normal eating. It should pass in a couple of days

cbyrd

4-5 weeks? At this stage a gp check wouldn't go astray maybe have him checked for diabetes.. how's his weight?? maybe try to substitute some of the formula feeds during the night for water..just in case it's thirst rather than hunger..don't want to be alarmist

http://www.ehow.com/about_4618113_symptoms-diabetes-babies.html


The difference with the follow on milk and the first baby milk is not very big.. it's just a way for the companies to get around advertising bans on baby milks. The hungry milk is just harder for them to digest and thus keeps them satisfied longer.. but at 10 months he should really be off the night feed or at least only be having one.. get him checked out just to be sure, if nothing else it'll put your mind at ease ..
keep us updated anyway

hunnymonster

The hungry baby milks are useful. They have higher casein levels which form a kind of curd in baby's tummy (I'm making it sound yummy aren't I?) and this should keep baby fuller for longer.

We had exactly the same problem with our little one. Although breastfed so I don't know exactly how much was going in at night but was up every 3 hours for a good old guzzle. I was convinced it was hunger not waking for comfort, separation anxiety etc so I spoke to a dietician.

She suggested using the hungry (stage 2) milk. I had no problem with that and luckily as I work the little zombie is used to taking his expressed milk from a bottle. SHe also suggested adding more protein and fat to his diet in the evening and supplementing with fishoils (morEPA I think was the brand she suggested). So now with his tea he also has some cheese or toast with pate. We're not sleeping through the night yet but we are definitely improving.