feeding at night...should i stop?

[DetentionGrrrl]

DS is 22wks. He wakes twice a night on a good night (maybe 2 nights a week)but can be upto 4 times. He is weaned and eating well, and has recently moved from b/feeding to bottle during the day. He's getting lots of milk through the day, and i don't know whether to start restricting feeds at night or not, in the hope of him sleeping for longer periods. I've had some suggestions to refuse him milk at night, others to give him water.

I don't want to deprive or upset him, but i also want better sleep for both of us! Does anyone have any observations / ideas?

I'm not an expert and my DD is the same age as your LO. When he wakes in the night, do you feed him ? BF or bottle ? Have you tried water ? Could he be waking because he's cold ?
Someone else with more experience will have more ideas I'm sure.... Good luck (my DD wakes 1 or 2 times every night for a full feed if its any consolation)

I know how you both feel and I join you in this journey...

My DS is 34weeks or 7months3weeks also wakes 2-3 times at night. I have tried to stop feeding him a bottle, giving him water and BFing. We are co-sleeping so BFing gets him and I back to sleep the fastest. He has improved in the length of stretch of sleep (3 to 4 hours and sometimes 5) but I have noticed that he does eat a lot more during the day now compared to when he was 20weeks. He has taken a real interest in solids these past 4 weeks. I have heard that whether a baby can sleep through the night depends on how into food other than milk they get.

I guess one day they will just grow out of it- but I have also noticed that when he is particularly drooly and bites a lot that day he will be a lot fussier when it comes to sleeping and napping and it is most likely he will wake up 2-3 times at night. On these nights I use teething gel and it takes 10 minutes for him to settle down

Another thing I have noticed is that sometimes he cries to resettle himself into sleep and doesn't need anything. Also he wakes up at about the same time when he has done it 2 nights in a row. Does yours? I have read that if this is the case, DS is just waking out of habit and not because he is hungry so should try and comfort him back to sleep without milk.

Actually this is a lot harder to do than it sounds, because it takes longer. (I tried it once and it took half an hour and once I am 'up and alert' it takes me ages to go back to sleep.) I am always so sleepy that I will offer BF as I know it will guarantees that he and I falling back to sleep fastest- hence he will keep waking up- it's a vicious cycle. But I will try to not BF and will let you know the result.

(Generally ,they say by about 6 months, babies can sleep 12 hours without a feed- WELL definitely not in my case) My DS has a 180ml bottle at 7.00pm, at midnight and then at 5am - other wise he just keeps waking up every hour hour...

I hope mumsneters with more experience will share their advice.

I usually pick him up and cuddle him, then offer him the boob (i still usually b/feed at night) Once in a blue moon i can shush and pat him to sleep without feeding. His room is quite warm and quiet.
He's perfecting crawling at the moment, and as soon as he stirs he's onto his belly and all round his cot, which is cute but irritating!
Last night he was over tired so i put him down 30 mins earlier than usual. He slept from 6.30 ish to 11pm, which was a long stretch for him. Then he woke about 3am, but wanted to play for 40mins before he'd go back down. He had formula during last night- about 9ozs in all.
Perhaps i will try water tonight and see what response i get [terrified emoticon]

DS is 27 weeks and was sleeping through ... 3 weeks of illness (bad cold and D & V) meant he has barely been eating ...he started to wake again at night as he was starving. He has also been off his solids ... it is hard isn't it... not really helping am i!!!! Just want you to know there are other mums going through it ... My DS is very hungry - he is literally gasping for his bottle in the night ... tried to increase his feeds in the day (all the stuff you are meant to do but you can't force them to drink!) ... hope things improve for us all

oooh, DG my ds was up from 3 to 5 last night blowing raspberries at me. hngrrrrrr. i havent got any useful advice at all. my 9 month old wakes 3 -4 times a night and has to be bf back to sleep. we have tried water, cuddles etc etc and nothing has worked. i am desperate for a bit of sleep. i comfort myself with the idea that he wont be still at it at 40

Co-sleeping and breastfeeding are an excellent combination - more sleep for everybody as you can bf virtually without waking and more immediately since you are close so little one doesn't wake fully.

You don't sound that distressed about it are you?? Are you thinking you should restrict nightfeeds as by 6 mths they "should" sleep through? Every baby is different both my DC didn't sleep through until 10.5 (both almost exactly the same age). But still needed a feed during the night. But it was always a proper feed if he is having a proper feed he may still need it. Sounds an active little boy if he is crawling around. So may still need the extra.

I would say distressed is too strong a word, but i am flipping tired and would like him to stop waking up all the live long night!

If I knew that my Ds will sleep through the night by 10.5months I would happily go along with it... I guess it's the not knowing and hearing a few friends telling me that theirs at 2 yo and 3 yo still wake habitually in the middle of the night- that makes me think that I should proactively do something...

anyway good luck to all and keep us posted if you have any developments

Someone told me that if you sort out sleeping by 1 yr. then you'll be okay. so DC didn't need a fed after 10.5 mths. Were sleeping through by 11 mths and failing alseep themselves by 11 mths. I did co-sleep with DD until about 10 mths. DS only the first 8 wks, as he settled back to sleep much easier than DD.

BTW DS now 2.5 and DD 5.9 -- must say were the worst babies for sleeping under 1 yr. But have been the best sleepers ever since!