Tips for sleeping thru the night

[~Debbie~]

Any tips for sleeping thru the night...?
Aiden has his last feed about 6ish, goes to sleep about 7, and then wakes at 11 for a feed, and again about 4, and then sleeps till about 7.30 - 8am.

How can i get him to sleep better?

last night, he ended up going to sleep about 9, woke for a bottle at midnight, and then, again at 2.30.

Each time he wakes, he will generally drink about 200ml, sometimes abit more.

He never complety wakes up, like, i rarely see his eyes open, but, if i try to ignore him, or stick his dummy back in, or try giving water, he just crys in his sleep louder and louder, so, i end up giving a bottle. The upside is, he rarely wakes, so, he doesnt need resettling, and, if he does wake, i turn a lamp on, give him some toys, and he plays till he goes back to sleep. (or, i get cant get back to sleep cause i hear him chatting and laughing, so i go back in and turn the lamp off, then he goes back to sleep).

The health nurse suggested giving him weaker formula during the nights, and slowly weaken the formula until he is just having water, and then, the theory being he will feed more during the day. That worked for about 4 nights, he cut back to 1 feed a night.

Any thing else i can try.

[Kazbah]

How much formula is he drinking?

What I did with Pip is put a teddy in his cot and he will play with it overnight to re-settle, and also a large cubey thing that he plays with. Might he be hot / cold?

[~Debbie~]

Heaps of formula. I just posted this - BellyBelly Forums ~ Pregnancy, Birth & Baby

He does have toys in his bed, but, i havent really introduced him to a teddy bear yet. Perhaps i should, but, i worry about him smoothering himself with it or something similar.

I am not sure about the hot cold thing. His room generally seems to be more warm then our room, i worry about him overheating as well. Perhaps i will try a light weight rug, although, generally, as soon as he can feel something on top of him, he kicks it off. I have a sleepign bag, but, it is quite thick.

[sangie]

If he is drinking 200ml each time then I would suggest that he probably needs it, not what you want to hear though I guess! My DD used to drink that amount twice during the night and then gradually she started having less and less and then dropped the feeds entirely. This took time though! She now has a small teddy and her favourite blanky which helps her to resettle if she wakes. Sorry don't have much else to suggest, I've never heard of watering down the formula before??

By the way, your little man is gorgeous!

[Feathertop]

I've never heard of watering down the formula, aren't we all warned not to mess with that???? I dreamfeed Angus at around 10.30 or so, then he usually goes through until maybe 6am when he wakes himself up and chats to himself, then maybe around 7.30 he asks for a feed again.

Debbie, if it is at all helpful, this is exactly the pattern Angus was in just before he started sleeping through the night!!! Once we introduced the regular dreamfeed at 10.30 ish, he then spent a couple of weeks just waking at 4am exactly then waking as normal in the morning. Then one day he didn't want the 4am one any more. Fingers crossed for you this is the path your beautiful boy takes too!

[MantaRay]

Dreamfeeding has worked for me - but with Tom it still took until he was over 12 months to get through the night. And still, at least twice a week one of them will wake up for something. I hope you find something that works soon, but if not we will all probably get to sleep through the night once the kids have moved out! THey do say time fixes all things.....

[fionas]

Hi Debbie

I don't have much advice to offer re the feeding except as someone else said if he's drinking 200ml it sounds like he needs it. But also the term "sleeping through the night" is bandied around a lot and to MCHNs it just means sleeping FIVE hours uninterrupted so your little one is already doing this. Might not feel like it though!

I'm a big fan of self-settling - they have to learn to go to sleep on their own without feeding, rocking, patting etc. But in your case sounds like the feeding is absolutely necessary.

[Beach Mama]

I'd love to know too - Izzy is waking 3 hourly still and at least 1-2 of those feeds are real feeds so Im reluctant to stop them in case she is hungry. Makes it hard to have a good nights sleep doesn't it. I just got back from a day stay at sleep school and they suggest reassuring comforting - you dont pick them up but sit there and pat or say sshhhhh until they fall asleep. It took one couple 1 1/2 hours the first time and can take up to 3 weeks to work, needless to say we haven't started implementing this just yet. Sorry not much help here - hope you find something that works for you.

[MantaRay]

Tan, I think your judgement is right - if she is having a decent feed then she probably does need it. I have never tried to cut out "real" feeds for either DS, but have had a great deal of success (at around the 12 month mark) with not offering bb during the night except at times when I know they want a decent drink. Both my boys had very different sleeping patterns - Jack slept through from 6 weeks but became a shocking sleeper at around 8 months. Tom didn't sleep through regularly until shortly after his 1st birthday but now sleeps through most nights, and if he doesn't a quick feed is all he needs.

[Shelley B]

My DS was doing the same thing, waking at least 2 times a night and drinking about 240 ml each time. I wasnt sure about whether he needed it either. He was already having the normal 4 bottles a day. When he was 8 months he was down to waking once in the night for a bottle sometimes twice. My sisters children are very well behaved and slept all night from 3 months so I asked her for some advice. She said I had to be very strict becuase he doesnt need those night feeds. Her advice worked and all I basicly do is make sure he has a good day time routine that I stick to and when he wakes at night leave him to cry, if he gets worse offer him water (which she said, he probably wont want anyway in which case "too bad mate, nigh nighs!" but if he does then he was obviously thirsty). It took about 4 days to get him to sleep from 6pm until 6am and I now have so much more energy, also he sleeps better during the day. This routine has worked for 4 mums she has told and 2 that I have told so far. If anyone wants the detailed version let me know! I hope you have some luck.

[summerluven]

My DS was doing something similar from 4 months right up till 6 months when we started solids and within a few days of starting solids I noticed him waking later and later for his o/night feeds, till it got to the point where he was only waking at 4am. That was great for me, but kinda stuffed up his feeds for the rest of the day, so now I give him a small dreamfeed at about 9.30/10pm just as I am going to bed and that gets him through till 6am. He still wakes at 4am but just needs his dummy back, he isn't waking for a feed or anything.

Don't know if this helps. But take heart in the fact that it wont stay this way forever, although at 2am it is kinda hard to remember that I have a friend whose 6 month old still wakes 4 times a night for a feed....get outta town! That would drive me mad.

[~Debbie~]

well, maybe it was a coincidence but - i introduced a teddy on Wednesday - he took to it straight away.
Before he went to bed on Wednesday night, i gave him a bigger bottle - 210ml - and, he slept for 12hours..!! He woke once about 2am, did a little cry, i got up, went to get his bottle, but, when i got to his cot, he was still sound a sleep, so i trotted back to bed thinking he would wake up soon. When i got up at 5.30 i thought he would wake up soon, but, he still slept till 8am.

Last night, he woke at 3, i gave him his dummy, he went back to sleep till 5, he drank about 80ml, then i assume, woke up sometime between 7 & 8am. He had made a little noise at 7. but, i left him, as it was only 1 noise, and, when i went in at 8 to check on him, he was playing with his teddy quite happy. He had done a big poo, so, i assume he had been awake for abit.

I am hoping this is a sign of things to come! I have been abit better as well in leaving him to settle himself. Last night, i put him to bed awake, sleepy, but, still awake, and he went to sleep on his own. Just now, i have put down again, as he generally has a sleep about 90min after he wakes in the morning, and again, i put him to bed, gave him his 'Bugs" and, he is awake, but, he cuddled it - poor rabbit, i think his head will fall off, he holds it that tight - and i havent heard boo.

So, i think we are getting somewhere...

oopss. spoke to soon!

[Kazbah]

Debbie - great news!

I was about to suggest that if possible, you have a night off? Every Friday or Saturday night is my "night off" and I sleep through! It's one of the advantages of FF a bub! This gives me more energy and sometimes just having DF there will either give a different perspective on things, or wil stop the whinging from Pip who knows he can twist me round his little finger!

[fionas]

Great news Debbie. Forgot to mention in my earlier post that I use verbal cues and have done since she was a couple of weeks old. Back then I used to say "shhh, sleepy time" a lot when I wrapped her. And I've done this ever since for all her naps and sleeps. Now if she wakes up in the middle of the night, I just say that to her (she's next to me in a cradle) and she goes back to sleep. If I say it during the day when she's having trouble drifting off, she often gives me quite a serious look because she knows I mean business, then she puts her thumb in her mouth, rolls over and nods off.

But it sounds like you don't need any of that because teddy's doing the trick. Go teddies!