help - 11.5mth dd won't sleep through refuses to eat any extra!

[Emz25]

hi my daughter is almost 1! she's never been a big eater and not keen on milk. i can count on 1 hand how many times she has slept through the night! she usually wakes for feed at 1ish and again at 6ish. if i'm lucky she'll skip the 1am feed but defo wake for 6 - one. she is my 3rd child but i feel like an amateur! the first 2 slept through from only a couple of weeks old and gradually went from waking at 7 to waking at 10am. how can i get number 3 to finally sleep and eat more solids?

Hate to say this but you were lucky with the first two. I don't really have much advice, ds has only in the last month or so - now 14 months old - stopped waking twice for a feed (anytime between 12pm and 3am and then again at 4-5am).

He now sleeps from 6.30pm to about 5.30am without waking about 2-3 times a week but still always wakes between 4-6am and sometimes goes back to sleep sometimes not. This however is much better than at 2-6 months when he woke between 4-6 times a night every night for 4 months!

I have tried most things co-sleeping, controlled crying you name it I've tried it and and to be honest he is just improving slowly at his own rate regardless of what I do. The problem with most things you do is that they work for a while and then things go downhill and you have to start again and aften you are too tired to do this.

I think you can stop the feeding but this does not mean she will stop waking, ds doesn't always want a feed when he wakes. However if you refuse to feed her at night you will probably find she will eat more during the day so she may wake less often. You will have a couple of rough nights but I would start with refusing to feed her before say 5am or whatever you decide and don't go back on it - easier said than done I know . You can still cuddle/hold her etc just don't feed her.

Good luck

Anna

hi - thanks anna. i've thought about stopping her feeds at night but she is only 16+ llbs. so i think she probably needs those bottles at night.

my main problem is getting more food in her during the day. i give her ready brek between 9 -9.30. shes happy playing and isn't interested in any food, which you would think by breakfast she should be starving and screaming for food! i sit her down and feed her anyway but after a few mouthfuls she starts turning her head away and being generally cheeky! it takes about 20 mins to get a half a bowl full into her. she then has a knap about 11.00 till 12.30. i used to try and feed her around then but i now leave her to play and wait till about 2ish so she's (in theory) really hungry! we go through the same ordeal again- not particularily bothered! she insists on another sleep at 4ish and i have to wake her at 5-6pm i try and give her some more food then but she is not interested at all by this time and i'm lucky if she'll eat even just a yogurt.

she won't even have a bottle for bed she'll just have a few ozs before she goes down.

this is why i think she needs her milk in the night because its the only time she'll drink 10 ozs. she has been on 5ozs since she was about 4 mths and she very rarely drinks a full bottle so i've never needed to increase the amount!

i think what you said about not feeding her makes sense though but when she doesn't wake for the 1st feed it doesn't make her eat more in the day if anything it just makes her want her breakfast more until shes had a few mouthfuls and then shes back to square one!

oh well its not forever!

Ah feel for you. Have to agree you were lucky with the other two

I am having probs with my DS sleeping through (9mths). HV suggested giving him a hungrier baby formula at bedtime and waking him again about 11.30 pm and give him another. Is helping but he is still not sleeping through. Just wakes and chats (doesnt want milk or anything) very annoying! My DD didn't sleep thro til she was nearly 3! and we tried EVERYTHING!

The only hope is that it doesn't last forever (although it feels like it at the time I know!). She obviously just isn't a big eater. My 1st DS was like this and still is (nearly 9 years).

Wish I could wave a magic wand for you!

thanks anyway guys!