14 monh old feeding every 2 half hours in the night, please say it will stop soon!

[Divvy]

I have rambled about him feeding alot before, but its now getting beyond a joke! This is not a new problem, as he has done it since 5 months old and slept through till then. Its just getting worse.

I am pregnant as well now, so am feeling really tired anyway.

I have tried leaving him when he first "whimpers", but its soon followed by crying and I am not about to start controlled crying with him.

How can I get him to go longer at night?

The Baby Whisperer sorted my DS's sleep problems, but he was younger then (8 months). The best book I have seen about sleep (evidence -based written by a sleep clinic, not someone's pet theory) is this one

They give a range of solutions to different problems (not just CC). You are teaching your child good sleep habits for life.

I am not sure if its a sleep problem though, more of a breastfeeding problem?

dont mean to sound dumb, but cant you bottle up your milk and leave him a bottle in the cot with him?

lol.....no

Divvy if you find the solution, then pleeeeease let me know as we have the same problem with an 8mo.

It is utterly exhausting isn't it?

You have my sympathies, you really do.

lol at bottle, if only it was that easy! DD was like this and I can't say it did change speedily I'm afraid. Although tbh I didn't try very hard to change it as I think it's part of her personality, in our case. She eased off gradually from about 16 months ish and now sleeps through almost consistently. She is 2.2 now though! Any way you could do a bit of cosleeping so you can sleep while he feeds? The other option you could try is to get dp/h to go to him for some feeds and try to settle him while you sleep. That used to make DD furious but could work for your DS? I can sympathise with the tiredness as I'm pregnant as well, getting up in the night is not fun!

TemazePam I am even going to try making hima bit warmer tonight to see if that helps! I have tried lots of things already, bottle of cows milk before bed, even with some sugar in, he still only takes 1 oz of it, so makes no difference....then gives him bad belly the next day! Also some cereal to try and fill him up - makes no difference!

CharCharGabor I tried co-sleeping a few months back, he gets ratty and wants to go back in his cot, which is right next to my bed anyway!

I am thinking of moving into a room on his own...maybe he can smell me!

Divvy, it is a sleep problem. A 14-month-old doesn't need to feed at night. It is nothing to do with hunger. Read about sleep! Babies semi-wake periodically during the night and either get themselves back to full sleep - or need a prop to do it (your boob) if they haven't learnt to do it themselves.

You don't need to be suffering like this, really! But it isn't going to improve without some input from you (and/or DH).

Agree with flimflammum - either embrace it and cosleep or stop feeding him at night - by only doing one feed at a set time or timing the feeds then gradually making them shorter or just by going cold turkey - at that age it will be a difficult few nights but he wont stop on his own until he's quite a lot older.

I would move him into his own room as well yes. Better now than when the new baby arrives - congrats btw!

If it were me, I would definitely move him into his own room. I agree with flimflammmm - it sounds like a sleep/habit problem, not a feeding one.
Its a different situation, but I had a waking issue with my DD when she got to 2.5y and went in her own bed! She had slept brilliantly until then. It was only solved by LOTS of perseverance and patience (repeatedly putting DD back in bed many times every night for weeks and weeks).
IME there is no quick solution, you have to take the short term pain for the long term gain. Not what you want to hear when you're pregnant I know! Good luck and try to persevere as much as possible with which ever course of action you think is right for your DC.

How do I stop night feeding, without stopping altogether though?

Am bumping, as someone else will have had more experience of this than me.

Divvy - you can honestly stop in the night and continue to feed in the day - I stopped feeding in the night with both my dcs between 7-9 months and continued on to bf them during the day.

In fact I think he would probably feed more during the day because of it - definately first thing in the morning and by this stage your supply shouldnt be affected (tho I havent bf while pg so someone else would be able to tell you if supply would be affected by dropping the night feed while pg).

tbh I think you really need your sleep and dropping the night feed would be a good compromise.

Is your dp on board to help out in the night with settling instead of you?

We have a tricky situation, as dh starts work at 3am in the week so night times I do the baby as dh needs his sleep and then he is gone at 2:40am anyway.

hmm that is tricky...it would only take a few nights though - easier said than done though I know.

Hi Divvy - we finally got my ds to stop night feeds by my dh doing all the settling at night, offering him water and me not showing my face at all - it took 3 nights then he started sleeping through. He started taking better feeds during the day instead. He was 10months and eating 3 good meals and snacks, as well as bf ing so we were happy he had enough nutrition on board!

Good luck - start a friday night then you at least have the weekend to do it (and you can give dh a lie in as a thank you)

I stopped feeding DD at night at 10 months. We had been doing up to 3 feeds a night and I was knackered so you have my sympathy. Wish I'd done it earlier TBH.

I would say put him in his own room - initially worked wonders for DD when we did it at 6 months. I then stopped the feeds one at a time - offering water instead and stopped feeding all together from a Friday night - by the Monday night we were more or less sorted with one or two brief crying spells where DH and I took it in turns to go and settle her. DH usually has more success than me though.

If your DP works earlies does that mean he's home early too and could give you a few hours sleep before you start the "night shift!"

Divvy - I stopped feeding 4.5 month old DS in the night - last night was the first night he went without a feed from 7 PM to 7 AM. Previously, he was feeding twice in the night, at about 1:30 and 4:30. Over the last week, we stopped 1:30 feed and rocked him back to sleep (over a few hours, sometimes). DH took care of him last night as he would have never gone back to sleep if he smelled my milk, and by all accounts, it wasn't too bad. Tonight should be easier.

We did this with DD when she was 4 months old and she slept through on 3rd night.

Re breastfeeding, what I did was fed him one last time at 7 PM before sleep, then expressed both breasts dry before going to bed at 11 PM. I intend to do this every night and have someone else give him one bottle a day so I will have a bit of freedom in the day.