7 months night feeds!!

jackben

Hi All, my 7 Month old is still waking at Night for feeds at least twice,,, he gets Rice before bed and a bottle at about 8 or 9 so u would imagin he not hungry but wakes again about 1am,, any suggestions on how to reduce feeds at Night to at least one feed,, its exhausting as have 3 ye ar old waking early too!!!
Thanks

Moonbeam

baby rice is not a proper food and is mostly only used for weaning.
It might be habit or comfort rather then hunger.

Sleephead

Have you tried the extra hungry formula? Some babys just need a little more. We tried this and sleep through the night since 5 months old. Last feed 9 pm till 7am sleep.

Moonbeam

I really would not use hungry baby formula to get a baby to sleep longer,if the baby was extra hungry they would have noticed before now.

Sleephead

its not to get them to sleep at all, we moved to it because there was a constant look to feed. A knock on of that was sleeping all night cause the child was satisfied.

Its worked on 3 so far anyway. All happy babies and toddlers

Moonbeam

We used it for ours too but that was due to them being constantly starving.

crazy cat lady

My 9.5 month old is still waking at night and taking a feed too. She's eating plenty during the day and takes a bottle going to bed. The local supermarket only had the hungry formula a few weeks ago so we got it out of necessity and it didn't make an ounce of difference. We don't take her out of her cot for the night feeds so she's not looking for a cuddle.

I think some babies are just like that! It won't last forever tho.... That's what I keep telling myself anyway!

ariana`

Have you tried settling without a feed? My 2nd woke routinely at 4.30 every morning, at about the 7mths i got fed up of it, so my husband got up and settled him, he stopped waking after a few nights, it was just habit, he wasn't really feeding that much anyhow, it was just a 5min snack. He didn't cry when husband tended to him, just fussed for a couple of mins. Once he realised there was no boob coming he settled back to sleep for another couple of hours. If he was genuinely hungry or under-weight i'd have fed him of course, but he was thriving and well established on solids etc...

The other option I've heard some people do if you're bottle feeding is gradually reduce the quantity of milk in the night feed and/or water it down to gradually wean him of it.

jackben

thanks all for the advice and opinions.. the rice i give him is for 6 months plus so its just something to fill him up before bed, he gets his usually meals too.

He was on the hungry formula from about 7 weeks, advice from phn because he was feeding every 2to3 hours, that spread his feeds to 4 to 5 hours.
And then on advice from the phn when i was starting to wean him onto solids that i should take him off the hungry formula and back to the normal number 1 formula as if left him on solids and hungry formula it would only bulk him up.
so i would prefer not to go back onto it.... maybe its just habit i guess but he drinks a full 6 oz each time he wakes,,
Ill try reducing the oz at night to see or even try water instead as someone suggested....
hopefully a full nights sleep will happen before i have to return to work:eek:

ariana`

jackben wrote: »

thanks all for the advice and opinions.. the rice i give him is for 6 months plus so its just something to fill him up before bed, he gets his usually meals too.

He was on the hungry formula from about 7 weeks, advice from phn because he was feeding every 2to3 hours, that spread his feeds to 4 to 5 hours.
And then on advice from the phn when i was starting to wean him onto solids that i should take him off the hungry formula and back to the normal number 1 formula as if left him on solids and hungry formula it would only bulk him up.
so i would prefer not to go back onto it.... maybe its just habit i guess but he drinks a full 6 oz each time he wakes,,
Ill try reducing the oz at night to see or even try water instead as someone suggested....
hopefully a full nights sleep will happen before i have to return to work:eek:

Reduce it slowly and/or dilute it slowly, so the poor mite isn't left hungry. You might find he increases his daily intake. Have you tried just normal porridge instead of baby rice? I'm anti- anything that's manufactured just for babies, i don't really see the point. My babes both managed porridge fine from 6mths, much tastier and both still love their porridge now.

The first while back at work is always hard, to be honest, even with a good sleeper there will be nights of broken sleep for a while! But it does improve gradually and it's manageable, and very soon it's a distant memory. Hang in there xx

jackben

hi all,, just an update on my now 8 and a half month old, nighttime has not improved,, its gotten worse if anything, he goes down between 8and 9 no problem with a bottle, then wakes at 12.30 has bottle, wakes at 2.30 i dont give bottle just a drink of water to help him nod back to sleep, then wakes at 4.30 has another bottle of milk and sleeps till bout 6 or 6.30 sometimes goes back to sleep but most times thats it his up till his 9/10am nap,,,,, its like a pattern now, im bloody exhausted!!!
the thing is he never screams and roars the place down just whinges till i give him bottle or the water to help get back to sleep,, his not in pain or upset, i never have to lift him out of the cot i just prop bottle on blanket and off he goes.
i was thinking about bringhing him to a cranial osteopath,,, i have heard great things about these, and how it can help with sleep problems,
anyone here ever gone to a cranial osteopath or heard anything good or bad about them??
thanks again.

pwurple

Sounds like your child hasn't been able to self soothe yet. All babies come into waking a bit at night, but are able to go back to sleep themselves. Have you tried the elizabeth pantley No Cry sleep solution book?

Cranial osteopathy is plain olde quakery in my opinion. use it if you have money to burn. In the same bucket as homeopathy, chiropracters and healing crystals. It works by placebo for the parents (calming them down thinking they have done something about a problem), and by regression to the mean (child grows out of something naturally and parents attribute the solution to be the last thing they tried).

Chattastrophe!

I've heard amazing things about cranial osteopathy. My own feelings would be similar to pwurple's - it's a placebo. It's really crap that you're having this trouble, but my own feeling would be that it's just something you have to battle on through, unfortunately!

jackben

thanks guys, i had a feeling people wouldnt agree with the cranial ostepathy, maybe it doesnt work for everyone, but this has been going on since he was born, and im due back to work soon and dont think i could function if i am getting up 4 times at nite,,, so i just feel that i have to do something,
yes people are saying they will grow out of it, but it just doesnt look like he is growing out of it, as its worse he is getting, and i suppose im lucky that when he wakes its only for few mins and is not a bit cross at all, so i guess im lucky in that since, but its hard for me to get back to sleep after he wakes and then feels like im only gone back asleep when he wakes again...
im in between minds about the cranial osteopathy to be honest, so will think hard about it and decide then;....
thanks for the advice though... its good to get it all out and see what other s think

How Strange

I'd also recommend Elizabeth Pantleys No Cry Sleep Solution to teach him how to soothe himself back to sleep.

ene

if he is just waking up whinging try ignoring him as you know there is nothing wrong with him, as you said it is probably just habit at this point.

my other thought was maybe he is waking as it is too quiet, if you have some music playing or white noise he might be more likely to go back to sleep

jackben

ive tried the ignoring bit, but i could try ignore him a bit longer, just when he is whinging so long an ur so tired you just want to give him bottle, i no its partly my own fault there,,,
i have lullabys on his monitor and i do put it on for him, it only plays a while and stops then,,,
he has his 9 month check with the phn soon so ill ask her advice on what to do aswell, every opinion helps...

ene

actually another idea, could you get one of those little projectors that project patterns and colours on the roof?

these tend to relax children and distract him from calling to you

pwurple

Maybe Try the book jackben... Loads of people swear by it for sleep problems.

Good luck.

Millem

OP it sounds likes a nightmare! Poor you! Would consider ringing a sleep consultant? I know someone who rang them, told them the story, they gave advice (free of charge) and told them it keep a diary in case they needed them to come out. It turned out their advice worked so they actually didn't need to get them out. I was very sceptical when I first heard about it, but seeing is believing. Their baby had NEVER slept through! Now she goes down at 8 no probs and sleeps till 8.

ameee

Probably just habit at this stage my seven month old was sleeping all night then got into a habit of waking for an ounce or two at four each night. We tried comforting her without the bottle each time and that broke the habbit after a few nights. She will only sleep on her tummy now so I would stick my arm through the bar and rub her back until she nodded back off

Hello Lady!

sorry to be a sucker for quackery but osteopathy worked brilliantly for both my girls in relation to their constipation, gas and general discomfort from reflux. it didn't cure the reflux as some people claim it will, but improving the other symptoms definitely reduced the discomfort and in turn made them better able to deal with the reflux as its their only discomfort now. when we were away for a month and didn't have any treatment they were crippled again with gas and digestive problems. And in fairness to our osteopath he doesn't rub it in by pushing appointments on you but teaches you techniques to use at home to augment his treatment with the aim being to minimise the number of appointments needed.

OP if you have health insurance it will pay something towards the treatment.

In regards to the problem at hand, what do you give your LO before bed as a snack? porridge is good and filling and takes a while to burn off.

would you consider consulting a sleep trainer? I have heard great things about Lucy Wolfe in Cork - but she does skype and online consultstions too.

Millem

Hello Lady! wrote: »

sorry to be a sucker for quackery but osteopathy worked brilliantly for both my girls in relation to their constipation, gas and general discomfort from reflux. it didn't cure the reflux as some people claim it will, but improving the other symptoms definitely reduced the discomfort and in turn made them better able to deal with the reflux as its their only discomfort now. when we were away for a month and didn't have any treatment they were crippled again with gas and digestive problems. And in fairness to our osteopath he doesn't rub it in by pushing appointments on you but teaches you techniques to use at home to augment his treatment with the aim being to minimise the number of appointments needed.

OP if you have health insurance it will pay something towards the treatment.

In regards to the problem at hand, what do you give your LO before bed as a snack? porridge is good and filling and takes a while to burn off.

would you consider consulting a sleep trainer? I have heard great things about Lucy Wolfe in Cork - but she does skype and online consultstions too.

The person I know used "the sleep academy" in sandyford. I have a feeling if you have health insurance with glo you can get money off or else they pay some of it.

emer_b

I used the "pick up, put down" technique from the baby whisperer at 6 months to teach my baby how to go to sleep by herself. Nothing short of amazing how quickly and well it worked and we've never looked back.
The website forums claim you need to buy the book to get all the information on the technique but I just used the shortened version posted on the website and it was more than enough to understand what to do.

Good luck whatever you chose!

jackben

thanks everyone some great advice in there, i dont have health insurance unfortunatly...i will definatly look into all the advice i was given, and see if anything will work for me,,
last nite i did try ignore the whinging at 2.30 a bit longer and turned on the music and he did nod back to sleep, woke at 4 though for the bottle but its a start.
hopefully in a few months time there will be some improvement..
i will also see what my phn will advice at end of the month....
great to talk about it all.
cheers again to all:)