Babies: 3 - 6 Months
macbook
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Eliminating nightly feeds to stretch out sleep? Any experience?
macbook
member
My pediatrician recommended we do this for my 4 month old since she is now waking up every 3 hrs. I put her to bed at 8:30 and she wakes around 12, 330, 530/600. The dr said she isn't necessarily hungry but doing this out of habit/comfort. She said i should eliminate one feed. I know I can't listen to my baby cry it out but she said your husband can comfort her (since she won't smell me). What do you all think? Any experience or suggestions on how to do this??
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Re: Eliminating nightly feeds to stretch out sleep? Any experience?
I by far am not selfish, I simply don't use a book to rear my child. I take he advice of my mom and her pediatrician and guess what? It works!
My child has laughed, smiled, turned over on her own, raises her head, said her first words, grasps on her own and is attentive to sounds and lights. Her development is right on par so I will give you that advice to think about tonight while I sleep. I didn't post anyone on here to get hate or critized.
My husband and I feel that scheduling is the best route for our child. Children need routines and structure. Don't hate on it. Ask your pediatrician and do a little research
BTW... I was a know it all first time mom too. My dd slept 12 hours a night starting at 5 weeks, no cereal necessary. You can change your know-it-all self by having another child. Then you'll learn that baby controls everything. DD #2 gets the same routine as #1 did, but is a shit sleeper. My baby whisperer book forgot to explain the luck part.
I won't badger you about rice cereal, but for the love of Pete at least use oatmeal.
Take a look at the Honest responses. Each also includes good information, which you have not provided.
You gotta be new to tb.
I am sorry that so many disagree with my choices but they work for my child and she is happy and developing just fine so I won't change a thing.
I don't agree with all the new school parenting advice.
Seems that people are quick to jump on the bandwagon but I will always stand my ground when it comes to my child.
My child is fed when she is hungry and has gained almost three pounds since birth.
I do not think there is anything wrong with mixing one teaspoon of rice cereal into a four ounce bottle to keep her from spitting up and having a bad tummy ache. Her reflux only bothers her at night so I do it at the last feeding because that's when she sleeps the longest. But even the new age books say a baby should be sleeping through the night at her age. We have kept her schedule from the hospital where she was born and this is what they did. Her pediatrician in the hospital made the same recommendations that our pediatrician made so it is definitely not bad advice.
Someone ask for suggestions and I gave her mine.
I have 2. DD slept thru starting at 6 weeks. Baby Whisperer. DS wasn't a fan of Baby Whisperer at all but did great on Happiest Baby and started sleeping thru at 8 weeks. Some of it is luck, but it's also really being devoted to the notion that helping your baby get enough sleep is as important as helping them get enough food or attention or comfort or love. So, yeah, I'm a fan of doing what's needed to help your baby sleep. LO may need food, in which case, feed. But if LO just needs help going back to sleep, give LO some new options other than food (a paci, a hush-pat, etc). It can't hurt to try it.
With that said, what I've done with both of my babies has worked well (and I think it's mostly LUCK). But, for the first 8 weeks I feed on demand. Whether that's every hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, whatever. Once baby reaches 8-10 weeks, I try to get baby towards eating every 3 hours. And then at night, I nurse twice (60-90 minutes apart) before putting baby down for the night. At 10 weeks, my DD and my DS were both sleeping about 5 hours this way. Then, I'd nurse and put right back to sleep until morning. Slowly, I was able to get that 5 hour stretch up to 6, 7, then 8. Instead of nursing immediately upon waking I would always try a pacifier first. If that soothed baby for another 30 minutes or another 90 minutes, I'd let them sleep. Sometimes, it didn't work and I'd nurse anyways. But this allowed me to gage whether or not baby was looking for comfort or food.