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Sleep

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Original poster

trying to make ds into a Gina baby but he won't co-operate

16 replies

issywoo · 28/10/2004 22:01

ds is 8 months and very large. got his daytime sleep sorted and he's having solids 3 times a day though lord knows if i'm feeding him the right foods and the correct quantities. the big problem as i see it is that he won't take enough milk and never has. now he takes 6oz when he wakes and the 2oz at 2.45 and 7 oz at bedtime. not enough is it? he just won't drink the stuff and conseqently he's a bad sleeper at night. how can you follow gina if the bub won't do what he's supposed to do? she doesn't cover that eventuality in her books does she?!

OP posts:

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hermykne · 28/10/2004 22:17

issy woo, she certainly doesnt cover that eventuality and others in her books wind, cant settle,
oh i'm sorry i cant help you but am in a similar boat with my 3mth old, no daytime sleep.

i ll bewatching the replies...

Twiglett · 28/10/2004 22:18

your DS obviously hasn't read the book

I'd just up his calcium containing foodstuffs .. cheese / yogurt / green leafy veg .. and start cutting out the 2.45 feed

I suppose I don't have to put my cards on the table as an anti-GFer do I?

pixiefish · 28/10/2004 22:19

you could always hold his nose and force feed him...
teasing-
agree with twiglett

Original poster

issywoo · 28/10/2004 22:34

don't joke have tried force feeding the milk and think i've now given him a phobia! i can't do controlled crying - i just don't have the back bone plus he just get more and more angry that he vomits so i find it easier just to pacify him.

really wish he'd read the book, i think we'd all feel better for it. i fantasize about sleeping the whole night thru!
is it ok to cut out the 2.45 feed? he tends to have supper at 4.30pm is that wrong? maybe i'm feeding him at the wrong times
so is the suggestion that i just give him 2 feeds a day and just up his intake of dairy or have i misunderstood?

OP posts:

honeycombe · 28/10/2004 23:27

Maybe try feeding him a bit later than 4:30 - What time does he go to sleep and how? Is he waking at night because he is thirsty ? Maybe he doesn't like the milk - have you tried different kind? Make sure he drinks water and eats food with calcium hope this offers some new things to think about if not any answers!

Original poster

issywoo · 29/10/2004 09:52

he screams for his solids at 4.30 and have found in the past that if he eats at 5pm he doesn't have much milk at 6.30 - buts its worth another try i guess.
last night he was up at 3.45 and at 4.45 i ended up giving him 4oz water and 2 scoops and he went straight back to sleep. but he would only take 4oz this morning.
he got up late so his nap routine is out the window. i feel i have completely failed - it sounds so simple getting them into a routine but they have to want the milk in the first place. have tried so many brands and finally settled on aptimil seems to cause him the least discomfort.

OP posts:

zebra · 29/10/2004 09:54

I thought GF was a big fan of controlled crying, Issywoo. That's what you're supposed to do. Not that I would... pull my toenails out first, please.

lulupop · 29/10/2004 14:01

My DS also refused to do Gina with me! He's almost 3 now and eats well, sleeps through, but my God it's taken some work. And nothing that has worked for us has come out of that * book!

I have a friend whose 8 month old flatly refuses milk of any kind, and her GP has advised her to just give him loads of dairy based foods. So lots of white sauces and cheese sauces on veg, yoghurts, cheese to snack on, etc. They need a pint a day and you can get up to this much through food though it is hard work, But if your DS will take a little milk in a bottle then maybe you cld get half a pint into him that way?

I wouldn't worry too much about Gina. Your baby will not be sleeping when she says he should if he doesn't want to. I tried for over a yr to get DS into this routine and it never did work. Now with DD I'm much more relaxed and she's very happy! According to GF she shld be sleeping 4 hours a day, but she only wants 2 40 min naps, and that suits her fine. Just go with the flow, I'd say.

Metrobaby · 29/10/2004 14:20

I think the important thing to remember about the GF routines is to just use them as a guide, and to try and not worry too much.

Have you tried to give the 2.30 bottle say half an hour or so later? You might then find he might be a little hungrier for more milk then.

aloha · 29/10/2004 14:27

Don't assume the night waking is remotely food related. My ds woke up all the bl**dy time at night for eight months - it wasn't food, it was habit. It nearly killed me. We finally cracked it by cc at 8months which wasn't really painful - just complaining crying, not yelling -and it worked. If your ds is waking late - then maybe try waking him yourself by 7.30 and put him down for a sleep two hours later. That's how I started a routine for ds. And try to phase out the night feeds for good other wise I think cc is much harder. My ds wasn't feeding at night when we did it and I think that's what made it easy. But please don't think you are a failure. I know it's easy to feel like that when you are frustrated and sleep-deprived but it isn't your fault. stop panicking about the milk. I would bet money that's not why your son is waking, esp now when he eats food as well.

prefernot · 29/10/2004 20:23

I totally agree with aloha, I think it's too easy to put night-time waking down to hunger. And beyond 6 months IMO that's not the case. You might also find that your ds has more milk in the day if he's not having any at night. My dd has never had anything like the amount of milk GF stipulates and she slept through quite early. That hasn't stopped her having waking up problems in the night from time to time as most kids do. I'd cut the milk in the night first and then start to try other ways of getting him to settle.

hermykne · 29/10/2004 20:42

issywoo what about lunch after his nap at noon or close to andthen maybe he'll eat dinner at little closer to 5/5.30

Original poster

issywoo · 29/10/2004 22:49

hermykne, what time do you think i should give him lunch and what time should his naps be?
at the moment he wakes at 7 ish and has 5oz then sleeps from 9.30 until i wake him at 10.15 then lunch at 11.45 followed by an attempt to get him to sleep at 12.30 which has been pailing over the past few days. 2oz at 2.30pm , supper at 4.30 and 6oz at 6.30
last night when he woke he was moaning so i left him but then it built up to hysteria and he almost made himslf sick. CC seems to make matters worse.
should i cut his solids down to get him to drink more milk perhaps?

OP posts:

pooka · 30/10/2004 08:32

Aloha right. Probably not really food related. My dd just didn't sleep through until she was 10 months. Then, shazam, just like that. I can honestly say that it was nothing that we did (although we always had a bedtime routine). I seriously think babies are all different and what's sauce for one....... It was honestly like a switch in her brain letting her sleep through.
Not much advice I'm afraid. Hope it gets better soon. NB I'm convinced that sleep breeds sleep, so maybe work on the naps first.

prefernot · 30/10/2004 12:23

issywoo, it is possible to do GF without following it to the letter. I was just thinking about you waking your ds after 45 mins in the morning which is her plan I know. i would never have dreamt of doing that with dd. She used to sleep 1.5 hours mid-morning, be lovely and bright for her lunch and then 1.5 hours mid afternoon which left her still well-rested enough to sleep well at night. I honestly do think GF makes good points but that all children are different. If, at that age, I'd woken dd after 45 mins in the morning she'd have been grouchy and not ready for lunch and over-tired by her afternoon nap time.

And I still hold that it's more likely to be habit than hunger that wakes your ds at this age ...

bumpsy · 10/11/2004 21:25

Hi there Issywoo I am a bit of a GFer as they say and I remember reading in her book that around 9mths they do tend to cut out the 2.30 milk and to give them a drink of juice and a snack of fruit to see them through til tea.I remember my ds doing the same around that time and he used to throw his cup and would not touch his milk at 2.30 so I would try him at 3pm just as I got to the school gates to pick DD1 up and then have an apple ready to eat if he didn't have much.It did go on for some time and now at 1yr he guzzles the lot!
Do you give him a drink of juice or water at lunchtime or any other drinks in the day?
The other amounts at breakfast and bedtime are fine I think the min is 12floz isn't it inclusive of milk with cereal.
I hope this helps,have you tried the contented book of weaning by GF it helped me a lot and the sleep guide.I must admit I do like her I have tried one baby with Gf and one without and although hard sometimes so establish 'most' of what she says works.My next bay due in March will be on the cclb abw.

Good Luck

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