My son is 1 and LOVES to nurse BUT want to sort of not do it so much. I do not mind at night and naps but I guess my question is WHAT is a good thing to give him to eat at night so he does NOT wake up so much wanting to nurse. He will go down about 9- 9:30 and up again at 3-4 am and 7. My daughter was not this bad but he is SO different from her that is for sure. ALSO what is good to give him to eat through the day? He will eat ANYTHING and LOVES watermelon and carrots I put in his mesh net thing he holds and he can chew on it and not choke on it just gets like the taste of it. ANY suggestions would be GREAT. I NEED SLEEPlol. My 3 almost 4 yr is doing pretty good at sleeping so I do not need to worry about her other than getting up at 7am and NO NAPS and will fight us tooth and nail when she is SO TIRED. Oh well look for any suggestions. Thanks a bunch..
WELL thanks for all the help. Last night he was FULL on peaches and Oatmeal so I knew he was not hungry. Anyway he went to bed at 9:30 like usual and was up at 11. I almost LOST it b/c I was JUST getting to sleep deep sleep. I got up went in to his room to see if he was ok and he was. I picked him up brought him in for his water in sippy he drank some of it and threw it WHILE he was screaming lol. I am SO HAPPY he did not wake up his sister. I gave him his Colic tablets which did calm him down some and I out him in his bed and WOW he was SCREAMING I said bubby you are fine I laid him down again and he kept getting up so I walked out of room and he was in the whimpering cry from crying so hard. I felt SO BAD but he did go to sleep after 5 min SO we will see what happens tonight. I gave him some cottage cheese BUT did not like it to much this time around lol. I will try the Yogurt I was wondering about that stuff. I have not gotten any STOP nursing remarks on here yet BUT I nursed Avery till she was 2 1/2 yrs old will not do him that long I DON'T THINK lol. I do give him the food we eat and I try to puree it up some so he will not choke on big pieces I will look for more suggestions. thanks again and I will et ya all know what happens tonight. I know this will get bad reviews here BUT I did drink a beer the other night to and OH IT WAS GOOD and he did sleep a little longer than before so that was good but I am not going to drink one every night that is for sure. It has been about 2 yrs since I had 1 and OH it was good lol. I am more a wine lady. Thanks again OH and my hubby does try to help some but Quentin will have NO PART in it PLUS Mike gets home from work at 1-2 am from work so I get up since I can get him back to sleep faster. I myself know when it is a hunger cry or just SO tired he fights it. Liek today he went FOREVER with no nap and he was SO tired so it could be from being over tired who knows. Lil stinker is an anti sleeper like his sis.
my daughter is almost one year, and she LOVES:
black beans
cottage cheese (sometimes i mix in peas)
rice (with and without sauces)
those things have protien and will fill her up more than say rice cereal or fruit.
I would be the happiest momma on earth if my little one only woke once during the night. My 11 month old sometimes wakes up every 1.5-2 hrs. It's horrible. Anyway, I know lots of bfing moms who's little ones still wake to nurse. I've been trying to get my dd to eat more oatmeal and night. We just feed her whatever it is we are eating during the day. But she still prefers to nurse over anything else. Good luck. I envy you...lol!
You don't mention if he is getting good, balanced meals throughout the day. By this age, he should be eating three meals and maybe two snacks per day. Is he eating a good, balanced dinner? I introduced a healthy bedtime snack around this age in addition to breastmilk like cheerios, fruit, cheese, etc. Have you introduced him to whole milk in a sippy cup yet? That might help cut down on his nursings if you're ready to start the weaning process. At this age, he shouldn't be waking up hungry. If you're certain that he is getting enough nutrients during the day, he may just be waking up for the comfort of nursing. I might try going into his room to reassure him that you're there but it's bedtime. For sleep issues, our pediatrician recommends the Ferber book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. Good luck!
My daughter also gave up night feedings much easier than my son - boys really are different, that's for sure! :)
We gave my son oatmeal or we would heat up a frozen wheat waffle for him for a snack before bed at night. I think it was actually more for me than for him. For a while, he would still wake up a few times during the night but I was able to stay strong that way and resist the urge to nurse him because I could tell myself that he wasn't really hungry since he had a whole bowl of oatmeal right before bed. I think it was really more of a habit than anything else for him. I decided when he woke up I would wait five minutes to see if he would settle himself down and to my suprise, most of the time he actually did it without having to nurse. If he fussed for longer than that, I usually sent my husband in to put him back to sleep so he would get the picture that nursing wasn't an option. Anyway, good luck and I hope you get to start sleeping through the night soon!
I'm sure you will find lots of sympathy here:) If anyone tells you it's time to stop (this happened to me) just report them and their message will disappear!
I don't have much advice but a few things to try. Have your hubby go in and pat him or rock him to see if he'll go back to sleep. If you start on a Thursday night he'll be tired for work the next day, but then he can try Friday and Saturday and your son may be sleeping better by the time everyone has to get back in to the weekly schedule. It worked for a friend of mine...can't make any promises for you.
Dropping one feeding at a time will work best during the day. Take out the ones you don't think he cares as much about. If he doesn't go to sleep without nursing, don't drop that but if you can divert him with whole milk or juice or water when he asks while he's playing, try that.
Good Luck!
my son is the same way!!! he gets his nap during the day but it doesn't seem to matter. do you nurse him back to bed? just wondering since thats what i do. i think it may end up being like this until they wean. every breastfed baby that i've come across is the same way. i think it's probably just a phase. you go through sleep wake cycles that i read about in dr sears book. everyone has them no matter what age, so your son might be going through his short wake cycle and just wants to know you are near. i'm not an expert by any means, just telling ya from experience and reading. good luck:)
In my experience your little one doesn't need to eat extra just at night, but throughout the day. At one he is more than old enough to sleep through the night without waking up. However, if you continue to feed him during the night, he will continue to wake up during the night to eat. To ween my children from eating during the night I gave them a bottle of water, that did it. Since it wasn't what they wanted they quit waking up, but it by no means was a one time thing and they were around 4-5 months old. You could try to give him regular milk (if he has had it before) or breastmilk in a cup when he wakes up. But it will take a week or so to get him to sleep through the night. I would give my youngest a bowl of Cherios and milk right before bed to eat because that was her favorite thing to eat. I would generaly give her more than she could eat and when she was done, we went to bed with a cup. Since he has teeth and loves carrots, you could give him cooked carrots to eat. My youngest was nursed until 15 months primarily because she just wanted the comfort of nursing (I let it continue b/c I liked the no menstraul bennifit :) And at one, my children generally ate what I cooked the rest of the family for supper. Hope that helps some.
It sounds like he's not getting enough to eat during the day. There's no reason for a 1 year old to wake up hungry. By the first birthday, a child should be sitting at the table eating 3 meals a day with the rest of the family (whatever they are eating, just cut into small bits so they can pick up and eat wtih fingers). One or two snacks a day are also necessary since their tummies are so small... they get filled quickly and can't eat enough to last until the next meal. Just make them healthy snacks - like mini-meals. Most kids get very independent around their first birthday and want to feed themselves and be like the rest of the family -- especially if they are watching big sister or big brother.
My youngest turns 1 in a few days and she has been doing what I described above for a couple months now. She is nursing 4-5 times a day for about 10-20 minutes each time... usually as soon as she wakes up, before nap, after nap and at bedtime. Sometimes she'll want to nurse mid-morning, too. My other kids followed the same sort of routine and turned out fine. None of them were ever picky eaters... and studies back this up... the more variety of foods a child is exposed to before their birthday, the more likely they are to try new foods and not be a picky eater as a toddler/preschooler.
Do you give him cereal before bed? You might try some. It helped with my children to sleep through the night.
Hi M. -
Chances are your baby is not waking up because he is hungry. He does not need to eat in the middle of the night at this point. My son just turned 1 2 weeks a go and just started sleeping through the night consistently a few months ago. We did the cry it out method which was hard but at the same time it worked. YOu might try giving him some oatmeal before bed to tide him over. My son has milk about 6:30-7am then breakfast around 8:30am. Lunch around 12, snack at 2:30-3pm, dinner at 6pm and milk before bed. He eats just about anything we eat. This week for dinner he had pasta and meatballs with green beans and fruit, Cheese tortelini, brocolli, madarin oranges, Cheese quesadilla, peas, and fruit. He likes just about anything I give him. Hope this helps! He also drinks milk with every meal, snack and just before bed. If he is thirsty in between meals he drinks water.
I breastfed my son until he was about 14 months old. From about 10 months until 13 months he would go through stages where he would wake up in the middle of the night hungry (I could tell it was hunger and not comfort). He ate regular meals during the day and was breastfed before sleep but what we found that did the trick was "yobaby" yogurt as a before bed snack along with a baby "cookie" or two (all with low sugar content).
I felt as if the extra protein in the yogurt kept him feeling full longer and it seemed to do the trick. He is 21 months now, no longer breast-fed but he still has his yogurt snd "cookies" every night (part of me is afraid to give it up - I like sleeping all night-lol). I wish you well.
Can I suggest that the reason he is getting up in the middle of the night is because he is over tired and really is not hungry? By 1 he really can sleep through the night and is waking up for the comfort of it.
A book that has been mentioned on this sight many many times, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Babies, will tell you all about sleep begetting sleep, and how going to bed earlier will help y our little one sleep through the night. It might be something to think about. At his age, and your daughter's too, sleeping 10-12 hours a night is really normal and necessary.
Purchase the book.....FEED ME I'M YOURS by Lansky
