12 mo is this hunger waking him?

[hurrydownthechimneytonight]

Hi Ladies, have posted in another section and this is related to feeding too.

Bf my son who is almost 1. I express in the morning so his bedtime bottle has always been 2-3oz. Dinner at 4:30 then unlimited boob till 6, bottle of ebm at 7 then sleep.

Up until 2 weeks ago he has slept all the way through 7:15pm till 5:30 average which suited me!

Now he is waking around 10-11ish screaming constantly. When DH is looking after him he goes back in, lays him back down, leaves the room and does this several times till DS goes back to sleep. DS is then waking again at 3-4am and I cant settle him! I worry about his screaming waking the neighbours as they have already banged a few times for us to be quiet with his crying! I have tried laying him back down and leaving him but inevitably end up snuggling him in bed with me till we both wake at 6ish......

(We are in a 1 bed flat atm, DH sleeps on the sofa due to his terrible snoring and I am in bedroom with DS)

I know he is teething at the moment but this has been happening for 2 weeks now. Does it sound like he needs more milk before bed maybe this will help him sleep through??

Any suggestions would help! He will be having cows milk when hes 1 and so i will be feeding him a big 8oz bottle before bed then but we need to reach that stage for now......

Many thanks from a very tired mummy!

I think he needs something more solid in his tummy than milk at bedtime. My own son used to enjoy a 7pm post-bath snack of whole mashed banana mixed with baby rice plus a full bottle of milk to finish and this seem to turn the lights out very effectively for hours. We experimented beforehand with various other food/drink combinations but that was one the winner

oh ok excellant, although i dont want to start feeding him food at his age before bed, I would worry that would keep him awake?

Do you think that it would not make much difference if I offered him a bigger bottle of milk? He does eat till 6pm and then have a 2-3oz bottle at 7pm...

One of the attributes of milk is that is easily digested.... in other words, nutritious but it doesn't stick around for long. 1 year is quite a big baby and they need to take in a lot of energy if it's going to see them through the night. A 2-3oz bottle is very small. Adults with sleep issues are advised to have a milky drink and some carbohydrate like toast or biscuits. As I said earlier, far from keeping my baby DS awake, a dish of banana and rice kept him sound asleep for hours on end. He had no tummy-aches either.

ah ok excellant thanks!!

now to see how early people actually gave their little ones cows milk, hes only 2 and a bit weeks of 1....... Perhaps I can give him a bigger bottle of cows milk before he is 1, as I cant express any more than 3oz at a push......

Thanks for the info Chil I appreciate it!

Does he have regular solid food throughout the day as well, or just the 4.30 dinner?

oh yes Chil, he has the following:

milk when hes awake 6ish. demand fed till 8:30ish till bfast. 2weetabix and a banana.

more milk 10:30ish and a snack sometimes fruit, veg but also breadstick (helps his teething/nap

dinner jp and a filling with lots veg on the side followed by fromage frais. 12:3 ish.

2:30 milk/snack/nap

4:30 dinner/fruit followed by unlimited booby till 6.

7:00 2/3oz emb in a bottle.

so lots of food in the day.

Then try the 7pm 'supper'..... What have you got to lose?

My youngest is going to be 1 in 2 weeks and i've just put him onto cows milk. He had gradually weaned himself off me and was only having one feed at 1030am. He has slept 7-7 all night every night since 4 weeks old but had started not settling down til nearly 9, when he would cry himself into a fitful sleep. He now has a cup of warm cows milk after his bath while he listens to a story with the other 2, then its off to bed and we don't hear a peep. He also sucks his thumb though, so thats an 'on hand' comforter!

One other thing....and I may get lynched for this....but I personally have always kept our bed firmly for early morning cuddles only, they have never ever slept in our bed and never will! I think it does help to have firm boundries. Good luck

thanks party, in that case i def will be introducing more cows milk to him.

as for bed that was my intention to keep it early mornings only but when he screams my neighbours bang on the walls but all that does is upset him and wake him back up, or ends up upsetting me so to stop him crying i snuggle with him till we both fall asleep.

ironically he slept all the way through from 8 weeks till the new neighbours moved in and started banging and sawing till gone 11 at night now its nighthell.

x

thanks for the advice yesterday ladies!

Took both of ur advice and when he went to bed I topped up his ebm with 3oz of cows milk so he had 5 1/2oz and slept till 4:45!

So tonight I intend to give him total of 8/9oz and see if that makes a huge difference........

Thought id come back with feedback!

Thats good. Lets hope tonight works well too. Good luck.

Now we just need to sort your inconsiderate neighbours......

Glad it worked... :)

sounds to me like your neighbours need a slap! Opps sorry did I actualy say that out loud????!!

hmmmmm didn't work last night though...... he guzzled down 9oz straight and woke 4 hours later crying....

as for neighbours is there somewhere on here i can get advice? or even rant about them grrrrrrr every time he cries i feel i need to pick him up, he slept all the way through from 8 weeks till they moved in (coincidence im sure.....)

Are they in the same flats as you? Or another building? If they're renting then I would talk to them calmly first and explain things from your pov, and ask them politely to stop banging on the walls everytime your baby cries. If that gets you nowhere then I'd approach their landlord. If their property is privately owned then thats a bigger problem, and you just need to appeal to their good side (if they have one!)

And keep trying with the milk. One thing I've learnt from my 3 is that children can be incredibly manipulative, even at a year old! If he's waking up and expecting cuddles he will cry either until he gets one, or until he realises he's not going to win. Harsh but true! Unfortunately because of your situation, you're having to give in much earlier. Maybe explain to your neighbours that you need to sleep train him, which may mean a few nights crying but things should be better in the long run. Good luck!

ok Party thanks im so hoping I can get somewhere as last night was an absolute nightmare!

We are in a block of 4 flats and they live in the nextdoor upstairs (iyswim)its housing association so we all have the same landlord.

History we have been here for 11 year with same elderly neighbours in the other 2 flats and a relatively high turnover of the said flat by young familes with babies. they move on once 2nd child arrives and we have had no problem hearing babies cry from that flat. Elderly nieghbours very understanding of the noise have spoken with them as for the banging neighbours I hate to come across as judgy but I have spoken with them a few times about post etc and I dont feel confident at all discussing noise issues.....

So last night I went to work and DH gave DS bottle before bed, he had 5 1/2oz and refused the rest I think he must have been full as I gave him a big dinner before i went to work. He went to sleep till 12:50 then cried and cried. I managed to rub his belly keeping him in his cot and got him of to sleep but the moment i stepped away from the cot that was it he was wide awake rolling about, arching his back then standing up! I led hm back down several times, left the room after an hour and 10 mins as I was getting stressed! (had got cocky at one point thinking yayy i've done it)

DH went to take over and the same happened he would fall asleep but once leaving the cot he was up!

After an hour and 45 mins I reluctantly led him in my bed with me and nursed him to which he fell asleep within 5 mins at 3am and slept till 6!

I am shattered...is this a reaction to moving onto cows milk? should I be considering lactose intolerence?

Help please because I need to know what to do tonight. I DONT want him in my bed its not good for either of us........

thanks xx

Sounds like you gave in too quickly, that's all. Lactose intolerance would result in him being sick - so that's unlikely. If you want him to sleep in his own bed all night then you've got to stick it out for a bit longer and be consistent. You had a good first night and it'll happen again.

Reassure yourself... if you're happy that he's not hungry, dirty, in danger, in pain, too hot, too cold or anything else genuinely unpleasant... then he's fine, just making a noise. I know you want him to be quiet for the neighbours' sake but it's not really up to them

ok, so if he wakes, do i stay with him rubbing his belly till hes asleep again? or just till he's calm then leave him crying?

DH said last night 'well what's next?' thinking i had a plan to go by clearly i didn't?

Do i keep doing this for hours till he stops as in how quick is too quick to give up?

i know in the long run its for the best so know it will be hard work.

tyvm x

It's developmental. It's really common for 12 month olds to start waking in the night. You probably find that he's easily distressed in the night, fidgets a lot, stands up, rolls, arches his back etc?

It's because his brain is working on major developmental leaps, particularly walking.

When this happens, they can't self settle and find it very distressing indeed.

You also say he's teething.

I think (as you're finding) it's not to do with food at all.

Plenty of 12 month olds also need a night feed. This is not 'wrong'.

Show your very correct there he is a fidget bum. his problem is the 2nd he wakes he rolls, stands etc and that wakes him more.

It makes total sense about his development. Would you recommend i give him a small bottle when he wakes or will this lead to even more trouble?

Also how long does this phase last roughly? months or just weeks?

As long as it takes for him to crack walking. Weeks though I found. Not months at all.

It's like when you start a new job or study for an exam and your brain whirs and whirs and whirs, you can't switch it off at all. They find it doubly frustrating because they don't understand. You lie them down and their brain screams at them to get up. It's so common to find them getting up and standing there even while they're not really awake. And any attempt to get them to lie down like they used to and self settle just fail miserably.

I just did whatever it took to get through it. Feed, cuddle, comfort. It does pass and actually they sleep better than ever because they're so tired from the new walking. They do it when they start talking too and all the other big milestones.

Frustrating and tiring but don't worry, very normal.