sleep advice - is countess dracula there?

[hermykne]

countess you answered one of my threads re my dd not eating, and cutting back the afternoon bottles, shes 13mths, a poor eater, and recently is starting to wake in the night (2/3 times), i have done c/c before and it worked for awhile, but her tummy is rumbling, you said the your dd slept through from 8mths and is an ok eater , i hope i have that right, does she eat well at tea time?

Hi Hermynke, yes she usually eats well at tea time and then has about 6oz formula just before bed (though more recently she has been quite fussy and not always eating so well) She has been waking in the night recently due to illness and have just done cc on her again which seemed to work after one night.

How is your dd doing? Rumbling tummy is odd, does she drink her bedtime bottle?

hi countess
yes she takes her night bottle about 7oz but if she wakes at 1/2 its hunger and the tummy rumbles just like yours or mine would. she was a disaster today with food, refused everything for tea so i have no doubt she'll be awake tonght.

but i am on track for the next three nights of c/c to try and break the night habit.
it cat be teeth becuase they dont not hurt in the day and then hurt in the night? do they?

when u did cc how often did you go to her?

hermykne - I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but I think it would be wrong to do cc with your daughter if she is genuinely hungry in the night. CC will help children to learn to fall asleep without night time feeding if the feed is really a comfort or 'sleep association'. I don't know your story, but if your dd is used to having milk in the night she may well not need as much food in the day which may explain her poor eating. Cutting down the night feeds gradually, perhaps by diluting them may be a better strategey. Why is she such a picky eater? Perhaps tacking this first would be a better plan.
I think that if a baby is teething you would know about it during the day too.

hermynke, did you cut out her afternooon feed? I cut out my dds to try and get her to eat more at teatime and it worked. If it isn't working for you then she will be hungry I guess if she is having no pm bottle and no dinner either.

Have you tried feeding her "baby" food, eg baby rice, pureed stuff from jars. Sometimes dd won't eat anything normal but will scoff a jar in seconds.

I do agree that if she's hungry you shouldn't do cc as she won't be able to go back to sleep with a rumbly tum.

Or could there be a medical reason for this rumbling, I really don't know. Have you spoken to your doc/ hv? In answer to you teeth question, I think that dd does sometimes teethe at night and not in the day, but not exclusively. Try rubbing some Calgel into her teeth before dinner and seeing if that makes a difference, if she is teething it may hurt he to eat. DD used to refuse bottles and food and I tried that and it worked, I rubbed it in a couple of mins before she ate.

Do let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. xx

hi vivie & countess
vivie, my dd has always been poor at eating (i have two other threads going on this!) but recently she has started wakening frequently in the night and i put it down to hunger as her tummy was rumbling and gave her 3/4oz to settle and i think she now has a habit forming, and her lack of appetite in the day is not helping. the latter been the primary problem.
Hv clinic closed last week when i called for some reason or other so going on thurs.doc said let her have as much milk as she wants but i dont really agree to this as she has gone off the basics - fruit purees, f frais etc.

countess
i had a brain wave to cut out lunch and just go with brekkie/bottle, lunch time bottle no food and see if that increases her appetite tomorrow evening - probably a night mare day for me but it might make a difference.

keep forgetting the calgel!

Hmm...not sure. I think it's the amount of food they have all day that really counts. My ds used to get too tired to eat much at supper at that age so I relied on a big lunch. Do you offer good 'rubbish' if you know what I mean - ie carrot cake or plain biscuits to encourage her to eat. Chocolate milk can be great - yes, I know, not brilliant nutritionally though I do use one with added vitamins which I think makes milk more of a meal, just to encourage eating. Also, organic chocolate cereal for supper now and again. Bad mother alert!!

aloha
my mother gave her a marietta biscuit on sunday which she gladly ate! the mil also does the good rubbish foods too!

surprisingly she slept well last night, woke at 12.45 and cried on and off for an hour, no bottle and then woke at 6.30, gav her 3oz and back to sleep, i woke bang on 7.30 and she at 7.50!

i think cereal in the evening might be a good idea too, once i get over the lunch problem.

thanks

hermykne sounds like a much better night, hope it continues!

yep lets hope tonight is better.

How was it hermykne?

hi countess
it has gotten worse, shes reverted to now waking 4/5 times. she is getting no bottle perhaps a sip of water but the munchin hasbags under her eyes in the morning - not to mention her mother!

i cut out lunch (just some fruit ) and shes eating a good dinner and finishing her bottles , there are no tummy rumblings.

i dont think its teeth.
so i think i could try c/c for the next few nights and see if it works but you know as soon as u decide to it she will sleep better!!