anyone tried only offering water at night and if so, did it help them sleep through?

[GnocchiNineDoors]

Dd is 6.5mo, ff and now blw fecking acronyms

She sleeps really really well generally and has growth spurts which obviously require more milk and frequent night feeds.

The last two weeks these night feeds are small and she falls asleep on the bottle (which she never needed to do before). She has also drunk less milk during the day on nights where she has taken in plenty of milk overnight.

In short, I think sheay be ready ti have less milk at night.

She has 8oz at 7pm and 8oz at 7am then roughly 12oz during the day plus water with meals

Im thinking she is using the few oz through the night (6ish over the course of the night) as a tool to get herself back to sleep and as this is new, I would like for her not to develop this new habit.

Has anyone tried offering just water through the night? If so, does it help them take more milk in the day and wake less at nught?

yes. it worked wonders for me. It was around the end of july and i was going mental with lack of sleep. Hv told me to give him only water during the hours of darkness. worked fabulously. He cried for only one night, and thereafter slept through.
I did the same sort of thing for younger dc, but they were winterish babies, so i used the july hours of darkness as a guide.

Well, am halfway through a night of inly offering water and it is tough and she has cried on and off.

I want to not cave.

But its hard.

Ooh, I'm doing this tonight with my 9 month old who has started waking about 3 times for a few sucks of his bottle. I'm a bit nervous.

Well....it was hard but the night is through.

She winged on and off throught the night,had a few waterings, but her biggest chunk of sleep.was 3-6am and she woke then, had milk.and went back.to sleep til just now.

Hmmm....dont want to get my hopes up
that shell sleep through tonight.

Im bloody shattered

Well done Gnocchi - hope you'll have a night's sleep tonight! I did exactly that with DD2 when she was 5 months (I was back in work, and she was waking 3 times to have an ounce of milk every night, argh!) I offered water one night, the following night she slept through :) I did the same with DD3 last weekend - I did CC and offered water. She now sleeps 7 til 5am... but last night went 7 til 7.
It sounds as if your DD gets plenty of milk during the day ... Carry on with the water tonight if she wakes, she'll get the picture in the end. It's hard now, I'm sure you're so shattered. But I bet she'll sleep through for you soon. Bliss!

It is hard but I felt like if I caved and gave her milk at, say 3am, the effort put in before that and the upset for her would have been wasted.

When she had her 6am bottle, she only drank 4oz (8oz bottle). I feel good as this means she obviously wasnt that hungry meaning she wouldnt have needed her through the night feed.

And she was all smiles so not hating me .

Out this evening until her bedtime ish so I might give her a top up feed before bed, which will probably be an hour after she usually goes.

I hindsight I should have started this next week but never mind.

Thanks for tge examples of how its worked for you....fingers crossed!!

Well done for not caving in. It's horrible feeling - but with DD3 last weekend, I just reassured myself over and over that it worked for DD2, so it should work for her as well. And it did :)

Haha, I don't think there's ever a good time to do it... Hopefully she'll sleep better tonight. Strangely enough, since sleeping through the night, DD3 naps for longer during the day as well. Haven't got a clue how that works!! But she's happy, so I'll go with the flow... I've got plenty to do while she's napping anyway, like potty train DD2 which is a nightmare, ARGH!

I'll cross my fingers for you tonight :)

I was really hoping you would say that about the longer naps. DD very rarely sleeps for 1.5 hours. Mostly she wakes crying after 45 mins. I was thinking today how I would love for her to go down to two naps and one of them be a big long 2/2.5 hr one. My DNeice is around the same age and she does a 12-2.30pm nap every day. Jealous.

Didnt get back from FILs til 8, so bottle and bed for DD and fingers crossed for me.

I'm hoping we'll have cracked it within four days. Any more than that and Ill be bloody shattered! Have a night out on Friday, so DH will be on night duty so this afternoon we talked strategies

It's like we are taking on Spain.

Good luck with the potty training, just think "less nappies...less nappies....less nappies"

Good luck!

I did this with DS at 6m and after 3 nights he was sleeping 7-7

Tried with DD and she screamed blue murder until I gave her milk. I guess she was just hungrier!

yes we tried this with ds when he was about 10 months old and he didn't really fuss at all and within a couple of nights he was sleeping through. Wish we had tried it earlier!

Oooh....it's reassuring that everyone who has tried it has found it worked for them. Except your DD everybody but I can allow for an anomoly to my results

Tonight will be interesting with DD3... She's had loads of naps today. Between 9am-11am, 2pm-4pm and 5.30-6pm (had to wake her up!) She was still ready for bed at 7pm ... so we'll see!! But generally, the naps are longer - but not as long as todays naps! Every baby is different ... but all mine have had loads of naps during the day. Which is good, because I can keep on top of the housework. My house is so tidy... NOT!
Good luck Gnocchi - let us know in the morning if you've had a good nights sleep :)

It worked for us with DC1 even later, at 2yo, FWIW.

Well, if it doesnt work you'll know before morning as Mumsnet is my saviour at 2am when she keeps shouting.

I keep thinking "Id get loads done if she slept two hours in a row" when in reality id either nap too or MN the time away.

Well.....it went well .

Bed at 8, didnt hear a single peep out if her til 4.30am! Put dummy in....didnt settle, so gave 2oz of water. She the went straight back to sleep til 7am when she woke and took 8oz. She then fell syraight back to sleep and woke at 8.30 .

If and when she starts waking eegularly at seven, even though she normally goes back to sleep, do you think its worth me keeping her up?

Hi Gnocchi,

I think according to the milk formula cartons your LO should be having 4 bottles a day at 6 months old. I think as long as they're eating well in addition to the 4 bottles they should be ok to go through without a night time feed.

You know if your baby is really hungry or not though!

My DS stopped night time feeds at about 4.5 months as I thought DH had feed him at 2am but he hadn't so when DS woke at 3am I just shushed and patted him back to sleep! In the morning chatting away to DH and we realised DS had missed a night feed :o

I think the thing I realised coming up to 4 months is just tank them up as much as possible during the day in the hope they shouldn't need anything in the night!

She did stop night feeds at 3mo but then had illness followed by a growth spurt followed by two teeth cutting so that all went to pot.

No joy on the long naps yet....down at 11.15, woke at 12.

Yay, well done! Glad it went well :) I'd let her sleep on in the morning if she wants to. Sometimes DD3 wakes for milk at 6am, if she cry's with her eyes closed, I feed her and put her back in the cot, and she sleeps until around 8/8.30. Usually she goes 7 til 7, but I'm not strict on those timings. When I'm back in work, I'll have to wake her up I suppose, but for now, if she sleeps late, I leave her in peace - while I'm doing the mad morning rush with the other two! I had a few nights with DD3 where she cried at 4/5am - I just sushed her, and offered water. After a few days, she stopped crying at that time. So hopefully you'll see a different in a few days - maybe tonight, you never know! Do you feel less shattered today?!

Ah so glad you said let her sleep as it means I can too. I feel great today. Usually im flagging by now but am pretty chipper .

Am hoping last night wasnt a fluke, and if she does the same if not better than last night ill be really happy.

Hope the potty trainings going well!

I'm chirpier since having more sleep as well - I like my sleep! It shouldn't be a fluke, but if she wakes again some time, just carry on with the water imo. She obviously can go through with out milk anyway.

Ha, potty training, sore subject. She's hopeless. It's as if she wants to be like DD1 (5yo), but not quite ready for it yet. I've put her back in her nappies for now, but she's pulling her it off all the time, argh. But won't go on the potty/toilet. But she knows what to do, because while in her nappy, she sits on the potty, then claps, then she takes it to the bathroom and pretends to throw her 'wee' down the toilet. We'll try again in a couple of months, she isn't even 2yo yet, bless her.

Wow! Shes doing so well allready. She obviously associates whats going on in her nappy with the potty even if shes not quite ready to merge the two yet.

Well, had a relatively good night. Bed at 7, not a peep til 1am. Not happy just to have dummy so gave a little water. She was back asleep in minutes but awake again at 1.30. DH went in and gave a little more water and she went back to sleep til 8am!

Even if this method hasnt resulted in immediate 7-7, its definetley got her sleeping in bigger chunks and obviously shes not having excessive milk.

She had four milk feeds yesterday.. 7 / 11 / 3 / 6.45 and drank good amounts at each feed so seems 'on track'.

What would I do without Mumsnet

Well done, she's doing great with you. Carry on with the good work :) My little one has dropped down to 3 milk feeds a day - but she's eating a bit of everything, so I'm sure she's getting enough. She had a curry for lunch now - and she was trying to snatch my tuna sandwich!! She's only getting 12oz a day, but she eats yoghurt, cheese etc so I'm hopefully she's getting a variety that makes up for the fourth bottle she's decided to dismiss! It's a job isn't it ...

The last couple of nights have been really great. not even needed any water, just one dummy replacement. she even did a two hour nap yesterday 11-1. Amazing!

Its like magic.

Wow, curry is a brilliant new food bet that was fun to watch.

Did anyone do this who was breastfeeding? Bit unsure as a)can't tell how much milk she is having during day/night & b)she's used to snuggly cuddles at night, not a beaker,, think there might be much screaming?

Hi Gnocchi, so glad it's going great. Well worth it, then :) Sorry - been away since Sunday on hols in Cornwall, lovely (kids with my parents, so had a chillaxing break!!) And fab about the nap as well... Hope you had a chance to rest as well! Yep - curry (with potato, not rice though). A bit messy, but she loves it.

I hope you are still having a full nights sleep.

Hi Rilla, hope somebody will come along soon to give you some advice, as my DDs were/are formula fed. How old is she? You could always try - but if she's very young, it could be a growth spurt. It's hard when you don't know how much she's taking during the day. Is she on solids yet?