October 2014- thread 8. Growing up fast, 6 months already!!

[MundayCakes85]

Morning all! A shiny new thread for Easter.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I'm off to eat copious amounts of chocolate whilst hiding in the floor of the nursery with Ewan the sheep

Thanks Fate, I'll try that!

He is in my room by my bed, I would definitely be insane if I was trooping down the hall every half an hour.

I'm trying really hard to tell myself it's just a phase. I will be ok won't I?

You're both going to be fine Splendide. He'll grow out of this soon. We didn't do the sheet but have been known to put a hand between feet of sleeping bag so she couldn't kick all night long. She's also started sleeping on her tummy instead of shouting for me to turn her over because she's lazy!!
FX tonight is better for you both.

Yes, you'll be fine splendide. It is a phase. These babies (and as they turn into toddlers) change so much, just when you think you've got them figured out they go and change again! My usually sunny little soul DD has been really wingey today. Crying if I go out of sight etc and has done about 8 acidic poos. So I'm blaming teeth. Toddler is also being 'challenging' a right pain in the backside!! so I'll be glad when they're both asleep. Not that they'll stay asleep, terrible night with DD last night and DS has started having a few bad nights recently. Wonder if it's anything to do with him now being potty trained? He's waking up upset rather than needing to go for a wee. Any mums with older kids identify with that?

Igotta dd2 would do this she would wake up really upset and couldn't tell me why. I really think it was because she needed a wee she was just confused. I think it was about two weeks after I potty trained her she was adamant she wasn't wearing a nappy for bed so I let her she never had an accident or woke up again.

Morning. Can I ask what disposable nappies people recommend for night time? DD going 12 hours between changes as dream feeding but wakes up all damp in the morning from rolling in her sleep with a wet nappy. TIA

Thanks Bump, I had some before but the poonamis couldn't be contained. Might try again though.

Morning! Slightly better night! I pinned him down and wedged him with a towel, he looked very confused when I put him in all that. Terrible till midnight but then slept till 3, bit of a fuss then till 5 and then in my bed till 7.30. So hopefully we're heading back in the right direction.

I feel like me today - not because I had a great night or anything, just that I feel 'normal but with baby' instead of just 'with baby'. If you get my jist. Perhaps reducing breastfeeding has reduced hormones too.

Munday we use pampers baby dry at night too. It maybe that you need to buy the next size up for night time use. That's what I've always done if there's been leakage. Use up the leftover smaller nappies in the day when they're not on for as long.

Igotta I've just got back from the shop with some pampers size 4 So will give them a go tonight. There's no poo leakage, just wet so must be where she rolls
around when she wakes up.
Glad you're feeling more like you Goats. Wish I did. It's my 30th in 2 weeks and I have no idea what to do or what I want, apart from a big drink and a lie in any ideas gratefully received.

I was only thinking the other day that I ought to get the next size up for nighttime nappies, that would be DD is size 4 too! DS who's nearly 3 yrs old has only just stopped wearing size 5!! She's rattling through the sizes so fast compared to him, he was a 31 week baby weighing just over 3lb so DD feels like a big girl!

We've had a terrible few nights because of teeth so I have very low expectations for tonight. She's had a really sore bottom today too poor love. Anyway, I'm looking forward to retreating to my bed very soon!

N has been in size 4s for ages!! So big so fast.
igotta my ds1 said he didn't want to wear any more nappies at night just after potty training him and started to wake earlier as a result I think waking to wee so sleep was disrupted for a while before it got back on track...
splendide it will all pass
and probably quite quickly in the end. A friend who has been ebf as her LO won't take a bottle has just had her baby sleep through. He's 9 months and she went cold turkey on the boob. I will try similar in a few months when I know N is getting enough in the day but for now I'm taking the easy route with baby in my room and feeding back to sleep. Good luck, I'm in it with you if it's any consolation

I'm trying to wean off the night feeding and need a bit of help.

At the moment she has boob first thing, a bottle two and a half hours later before a nap (around 180ml), then another bottle around 1ish (210ml today), another at 5pm (210ml today), boob at 7.30 for bed, then another bottle at 11ish (I try and get 210ml into her, boyfriend often doesn't manage more than 150ml with her).

So, I reckon she's getting roughly 800ml of formula, plus two or three boob feeds, plus a decent breakfast meal of porridge type stuff with toast and fruit, plus another meal of whatever we're having at around 6pm.

How much formula should she be getting? Do I need to wangle another one in there to make sure she's having enough? I wouldn't mind if she stopped wanting boob at all, but don't mind if she keeps going once or twice a day for awhile.

Oh, and is it 'simply' a case of denying her food all night, irrespective of shouting? We just need to suck it up for as long as it takes.. walking around with her, rocking her etc to avoid feeding her?

My gut feeling, without having done any reading about it all, is to make sure she's eating enough, then if that doesn't naturally make her sleep longer at night, then 'do' something.

She goes to sleep at 8pm in her own cot in her own room, and comes into my bed when she wakes up after the last 11pm feed (any time between 2am and 4am).

I have never, and could never, deny a baby a night feed. The key for us is recognising that most night time wakes up are not because of hunger and I can only recognise that because DD is so easy to settle, I know it is a different ball game with a baby who is difficult to get to sleep.

As soon as we were out of the newborn phase, so around 8 weeks old, I have not immediately fed during the night. I always try dummy first (or whatever settler you use) and most of the time that is enough - probably 90% or 95% of the time the dummy will work immediately to settle her back to sleep at any wake up.

If that doesn't work within a minute or two then bottle warmer is switched on. I will do a bit of patting while we are waiting for the bottle to warm and about 50% of the time that's enough to settle her back to sleep without the milk.

I have to say I think 6 months is too young to be actively night weaning. If they do it of their own accord then fine but there's so much development going on then how can you know that theyre not waking out of hunger? DS didn't sleep through without feeds until he was 9 months, this coincided with him crawling, being well established on 3 meals a day and I'd completely stopped any daytime breast feeds. So he just stopped waking in the night for a feed. He didn't sleep through regularly till he was over 12 months. I think we offered a middle of the night bottle once or twice after that. The rest of the time we knew it was teeth or illness waking him because we knew him!

I think we'll find it harder with DD cause she seems a bit more boob reliant! And the bottle doesn't seem to float her boat quite so much (refused it completely the last few days) but I won't be forcing the issue for a good while yet. Sorry goats! I know it's not what you want to hear but I'd just try to relax a bit and go with the flow, she'll not be waking in the night forever from someone who's baby is a crap sleeper and shows no sign of ever sleeping through so I'm not some smug person on full nights sleep either!! Just look at the time! you might just be causing yourself and baby a load of stress for no reason

I agree its too young to night wean and chances are by pushing it you might make her more clingy at night as she may feel less secure if you stop meeting her needs. Milk is about hydration as well as hunger. Some nights I can sleep through without having a sip of water but I still take a glass to bed with me because other nights I will wake up thirsty - technically I CAN sleep through without it but actually some nights I'd be really parched, miserable and thirsty without a drink. Babies might occasionally sleep through - it doesn't mean they'll never need a drink at night, especially in the summer. I think its only fair to always offer water if they wake until they're old enough to have a wee sippy cup next to their bed and help themselves.

Yes goats my friend went cold turkey as she knew her baby was having enough food. 3
Meals and snacks etc as he's 9/10 months. You might need to wait it out a bit of you could make more work for yourself. I'm not going to attempt night weaning until N is about 10 months, he just doesn't eat nearly enough in the day yet... He refuses a dummy and sometimes bottles too so settling at night without the boob will be hard, I need to know he is really not hungry first.

Just to clarify on when my DS stopped needing night feeds - I'd stopped bf but he was on 3 bottles of formula during the day.

Slightly better night here. But saying about getting bigger nappies yesterday DD woke up this morning soaking wet through. Time to get size 4s!

Mega tantrum from DS already, gonna be a long day.....

How much formula should she be getting?

It's difficult to say, because you are just at the transition from exclusive milk feeding but not yet at fully weaned.

It always used to be recommended that a fully weaned baby/toddler/preschooler should be given 1 pint of milk a day. That includes milk used in cooking and also dairy foods (like yoghurts). It's also an 'at least' amount. 1 pint is 20oz, which is around 600ml.

But while exclusively milk feeding, just before weaning, a baby could have anything from 30oz to 40oz per day (maybe more during a growth spurt) - so on the approximation of 30ml=1oz that would be 900ml-1200ml.

So your 800ml per day plus breastfeeds, plus two meals sounds fine to me as a transition amount. Much will change with regards to milk feeds over the coming months until your DD is fully weaned. There is no rush if she's not ready.

Just wanted to say thanks for the heads up over bigger nappy sizes- had a dry baby this morning

I don't think I really mean night weaning as in, never feeding her or giving her a drink in the night - I just mean trying to stop her waking up and wanting to suck a boob every 2 hours. For example, if she's had 210ml of formula or a full double boob feed at 11.30, she's not actually hungry at 1.30am when she wakes up, but she'll cry until she gets put on a boob... at which point she'll suck for maybe 5 seconds, then pull off and fall immediately asleep. Dummies don't work in the same way (although they will sometimes, probably one time in every ten - I try them more often, and sometimes she'll try herself).

So I feel that she does need to be 'denied' a feed really - not all the time, not every time, but definitely some of the time. I have water in both a bottle and her sippy cup by the bed, but trying to give her that just ramps up the crying.

Up until now I'm pretty sure she's been genuinely hungry in the night - she's small, and gets distracted during the day when eating - but we've addressed a lot of the distraction stuff, and obviously now that there is a fair amount of formula involved, I know how much she's getting.

I would just like to sleep for more than 3 hours at some point before she turns 5. Ha.

I know what you mean goats I rarely settle DD in the night without feeding. I just can't be arsed with the battle! Who knows if I'm making a rod for my own back.

One thing I remember from DS is that his sleep got much worse when we first started weaning. I was bloody broken!!!! Anyway, spoke to health visitor and she advised to whack the calorie count up at every meal time. So I put soft cheese in mash potato, pasta and everything else! Milky puddings with every meal too. I think I was filling him up on too much puréed veg which is all well and good but he must've been starving! Things improved after that. And crawling lots really helped too. That feels a while off for DD just yet.

Btw my sil did the water instead of milk and it worked with one twin but not the other! Pot luck!

goats could you try giving her a solid lunch aswell ? See if that makes a diffrence?

munday have you decided about your 30th yet?

My dd has also been in size 4 nappies for ages, im totally sick of getting comments like "OMG she is big girl for age" or "god she's massive eh?"