I wrote a question about my son's sleep when he was 4 months old, and I have to say I solved that problem pretty well =) Thanks to all your help! But now I face a new problem: How to keep my six-month-old full, and thus hopefully stop his nightly wake-ups for bottles?
I am seeing our pediatrician next week for his checkup, and I'll be talking with her about what kind of foods he should be on, etc. The only reason I haven't jumped headfirst into baby foods is because Ethan has terrible acid reflux (he's on special formula and Prevacid), so the baby food I've been feeding him is limited to things low in acid like bananas and sweet potatoes. He takes Enfamil AR (added rice starch) so that's very thick formula, but he's a growing boy and I'm afraid he's not staying full.
He still wakes up 1-3 times a night. Sometimes, I know it's teething pains that wake him and I've been giving him infant Advil before bed (and maybe Orajel) to help with that. And I've read more places than I'd like to that many people advise NOT FEEDING the baby when they wake during the night. Well, I'm sorry, but if my baby's crying because he's hungry, I'm going to feed him. The whole "let him cry himself to sleep" thing doesn't work with us - Ethan's got strong lungs and stronger stamina, and he does NOT stop until he gets what he wants. Besides, the baby's hungry!
I was going to try feeding him rice cereal straight from the spoon (as opposed to thickening his formula) before bed tonight. Perhaps that will help?
In a related issue, even if he wakes because of teething or tummy or anything else, I know he has a bad sleep association with the bottle. He can't keep a pacifier in his mouth - he's cutting front teeth, so he wants to bite everything, and every paci just goes flying out of his mouth. I've actually propped empty bottles up on a blanket for him just so he can bite the nipple; I've been so desperate to calm him without over-feeding. Certainly the last thing we've always done before bed is feed him, so does anyone have any advice on this topic, too?
Thanks for the advice - the "dream bottle" is a good idea. Ethan usually goes to bed between 8 and 9. This isn't when we put him to bed necessarily; he just cries like crazy when he's exhausted, and you know when he's tired, and that's when he falls asleep. some nights he stays that way; some nights he wakes a few short hours later hungry (like last night, fell asleep in my arms at 8, woke at about midnight and drank 16oz).
I did start mixing rice cereal with his baby foods last night and he liked it, although unfortunately it did not seem to help him stay asleep for long. he didn't wake up again last night, but he did wake up for good at 530am! I think this is because his teething pains are getting worse, he's been screaming all morning about it.
He was premature and he's growing phenomenally fast, so maybe it's his growth rate. A growth spurt, like someone mentioned. And I do agree that once he's in the habit of waking for a bottle, he's got to be broken of it - but i don't think it's ALL habit. I think he does wake hungry a good bit. I have tried the comforting-not-feeding method a couple of times, but I can't let him cry all night. my husband gets up really early for work (he runs his own business) and we've agreed that's just not a logical way to handle his mid-night wake-ups, unless we had a few days where my husband didn't work and maybe we could try to break him of the pattern then? But again ... if he's hungry for sure, I'll feed him. But I really, really don't want to just encourage a sleep association with the bottle (more than he already has). He's good at putting himself to sleep, except lately, because his teeth have been hurting him so much. Poor baby can barely nap, or sleep through the night, obviously. And I've tried everything from Tylenol to teething tablets to iced washcloths, and they HELP, but it appears he's close to cutting one, or something. He's been inconsolable at times lately.
Any more advice is welcome... although I think many of you have good points and I've got a pedi appointment this Friday, so we'll see what she says!
I would say to give him a little rice cereal and bananas or formula/breast milk mix in before bedtime. He most likely is going through another growth spurt at this point in time so he could very well be hungry. Don't give him an empty bottle--he's just sucking in air and giving himself more of a tummy ache. Try giving him a wet wash cloth to chew on for his little gums instead. GL
I'm not sure what time is his last bottle before bed, but what used to work for us was a dream feed. Right before we went to bed, usually about 10ish, we'd pick up the baby while she was sleeping, feed her her bottle, and put her back to bed, all without waking her up. This would top her off and keep her from waking up.
I would try the cereal before he goes to bed, see how he takes it. He may not like it too much at first but he will eventually. My son was a big baby, shoot coming out he was over 9 lbs, so he ate a lot! The cereal with the formula helped him out alot to sleep through the night. Hope this helps!!
two things that come to mind - I have a 23 yr old and a 6 yr old... with my 23 yr old I had the same issue with staying full... so I put rice cereal in her formula and made it think and I made the nipple hole larger for her to be able to get it through and it worked... it may seem old school but I had tried everything else. I did that until she could do more baby food. The other thing is a baby hammock that is designed for babies with reflux.. sometimes at night they have reflux and it has the symptoms of hunger... as least that is my experience... I have a baby hammock that I used with my youngest... they are nice b/c they travel well and can be moved... I feel for you... blessings
ask your dr if dr thinks baby *really* is hungry. I have read *many* times in different books/magazines that babies woke as newborns yes because they were hungry. They wake later on (like your son now) because that's the rhythm they're used to. They have to be broken of this 'night-time waking' by allowing them to cry some, loving on them and comforting them, telling them 'everythings okay, night night....", but not giving in to feeding them. I did that with my son at 9 months old when I was so incredibly sleep deprived and within 3 days, he slept thru the night. (Got the book Babywise and followed it for those 3 days, then after I saw it work, I kept to it).
What time do you put him to bed? At that age DS went to bed at about 11 - which was pretty much when he last feeding was. Actually how it works was either DH or myself forced ourselves to stay awake until DS woke for his last feeding. This later feeding helped a lot. And if he woke because he was hungry, we fed him (how would I like it if I woke up starving and DH said, go back to sleep, you may not get yourself a snack). We tried adding cereal, and more solids at about 5 months. However, either formula or breast milk are much more caloric (for weight/volume) than anything else you are going to feed. Good luck - he won't always need to eat at night, it just seems like it now.
