At my wits end. Sleep training tips needed!

[dabbitydibbity]

I know it is a controversial subject but I'm looking for sleep training tips. My DS2 has always been a difficult baby to settle to sleep for both naps and night time. Although we've taken steps forward, there are still night feeds happening and he already takes way more than the suggested amount of milk through the day. He's also now on two big meals a day. His last feed at night is 9 and a half ozs so he's definitely not hungry.
Recently he has started pooping at night too (I imagine it is the adjustment of food into his system) and sometimes babbles and sings for an hour at a time in the middle of the night. This is a new thing and very frustrating as we've never encouraged awake time at night, lights are always off, no noise etc.
He uses a dummy and has a comfort blanket which he likes to rub against his face when he's drifting off to sleep. These two things have really helped him with his sleep.
I'm back at work very soon and also have a toddler so I want to investigate sleep training techniques. How do you go about sleep training? What techniques did you use? How long did you have to persist before you saw any sort of success?
Thanks in advance.

How old is he? I can't help with sleep training tips but this is all very normal and to be honest sleep training won't stop him waking and making noise as it's a developmental leap he is going through - if he's perfectly happy babbling can you maybe use white noise or something for yourself to sleep through it?

Also I can't imagine sleep training will stop him pooing

I noticed you said adjustment to food in his system so I'm guessing he's around 6 months or so. My now 8 month old went through this a month or so ago, being wide awake for 2 hours in the night. It passed and she's back to normal now if that helps. And his digestive system will adjust

Could there be something in his diet that is disrupting him? Sleep training won't stop him pooing. Does he wake babble then poo or is the poo at a completely different time at the night to waking? It sounds like from your OP he could be waking up with tummy ache...

He's 6 months, forgot to mention that. I think this is very encouraging that others found the same around this age. I will maybe just stay consistent with our current approach. I tend to hear him singing once he's done a poop but he doesn't seem to have pain associated so not sure about tummy ache. He's probably just adjusting alongside a growth spurt maybe. I don't want to sleep train so will avoid if I can!

Definitely sounds like he's just adjusting. This happened to my little one and to be honest I started giving her a bit less (felt I was perhaps overdoing it) and her tum was fine after. She's 8 months now and doesn't eat loads still, I'm going at her pace. Big for you in the meantime!

I remember DD doing the same when we started weaning, it took a whole for me to realise she'd done a poo at first as I wasn't expecting it and couldn't smell it through her sleeping bag! I used to find the babbling very amusing until she woke herself properly.

She also started grinding her teeth at one point around 8 months, that wasn't so amusing.

The dirty night time nappies stopped within 3 weeks iirc, I think it's just adjusting to the new foods. Try limiting protein before bed but otherwise I'd carry on the same, he will probably stop when he gets more used to weaning.

there are still night feeds happening and he already takes way more than the suggested amount of milk through the day. He's also now on two big meals a day. His last feed at night is 9 and a half ozs so he's definitely not hungry

There was a time (between 5-7 months) when my 91st centile baby was drinking nearly double the recommended amount of formula in the daytime. At her maximum she was having 7 or 8 7oz bottles in 12 hours - so up to 56oz. From memory I think the maximum amount on the side of the SMA tin was 5 6oz bottles in 24h.

But if you are confident baby is definately definitely not hungry at night, which is reasonable to assume given what you say, why don't you just... not feed?

I don't mean to be flippant, but if you know a night feed isn't needed and you know baby has alternate comfort avaliable (dummy and comforter), you dont need a sleep trainer's permission to stop offering milk at night and settling without milk. Yours appears to be a different situation to a baby who needs to feed for comfort or a baby who needs the calories.

I would park myself next to the cot (pref cot next to my bed) and just keep continually offering in-cot touch reassurance and dummy reinserts, but resolutely not feeding. It's not going to be amagic wand to stop night wakes, but it's a start. You cant expect night wakes to stop until night weaning is established, so it is a necessary first step.

As for night time pooing, it's probably just changes in digestion and will go away on its Ian. It is a good idea to make protein (meat) meals at lunchtime though. Make evening meal carbs heavy.

And I'm all for full-steam-ahead cracking on with weaning solids at a rapid pace.

Great advice Fate Destiny. I think what I will do is hold off until the pooping in the night regulates itself. Then I can narrow the issues down and be totally sure he's not hungry. Do you have any suggestions about carb heavy dinners apart from the obvious pasta? I've given him some bread and tomato pasta tonight but most of my repertoire involves meat and veg!

My evening meals always contain meat, but also always contain a carbohydrate portion too - potatoes, pasta, rice etc rather than meat and veg only.

I would imagine the easiest way to make the evening meal carbs heavy would be to give the main meal at lunchtime and then make 'tea' in the afternoon with sandwiches and such.

If, for example, baby eats separately to mum, dad (and sibling) then that is doable because baby's meal can be saved for lunchtime. Or if the rest of you can eat your main meals at lunchtime (school or nursery dinners for example) then it's easier to swap around the meat and two veg meal to lunchtime. But this wouldn't work with many families, I know its not feasible in ours because we all eat our main meal together and it can only be in the evening for that.

Increasing the gap between evening meal and bedtime may help? By either making the meal earlier or bedtime later.