Decreasing MOTN bottle

mtrhomegirl

Anyone try to decrease the amount of ounces in your LO MOTN feeding in hopes to eliminate that feeding??  I am thinking of trying this and wondering if anyone has had any luck with it.  

mtrhomegirl

LO is almost 4 months and gets up between 1am - 4 am for a feeding.  She has gone 8pm-7am a couple time so i know she can make it all night without a feeding.  I feel like this MOTN feeding is becoming a habit and not a necessity.  Maybe i am expecting to much out of her at this point but my 6 year old was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks so i never had to go through this with her.  I have talked with a Physicians Assistant and my girlfriend who had quads 2 years ago and suggested i do the CIO method to get her to stop the MOTN feedings but not sure i am ready for that even though the mom of the quads did it when they were 8 and 1/5 pounds and the PA said it is safe to do at 4 months

jenn43

etc35173 said:

Babies are all different and are developmentally ready to STTN at different ages.  Sometimes I think that it is worse to have an amazing sleeper the first time around because it makes the next one seem "behind" when in reality 1 wake up during the night is fantastic! DS didn't sleep through the night on a regular basis until he was nearly 10 months despite being a pretty great sleeper now.  

I personally don't like CIO for night weanings at any age and definitely prefer a gradual decrease in the amount of formula. This method also will indicate if the MOTN feed is a habit as you suspect or if she really does need that extra meal. If its a habit you will likely not notice a change in her behavior and ability to fall/stay asleep after smaller bottle.  If she wakes up an hour or two later or refuses to go back to sleep she is telling you that she really does need that food.  Baby sleep patterns change so much in the first few months that suddenly a baby sleeping 10 hours wakes every 3-4 hours.  Growth spurts and wonder weeks keep us on our toes.  APA recommends against any kind of CIO until LO is at least 6 months in age as do almost all pediatricians and even sleep trainers like Ferber.  

You are right around the window for the 4 month wakeful period as well which can really disrupt previous sleep patterns.  

Edit: I want to say that I am not really against CIO or sleep training for older babies but that I just don't think its very effective or helpful for night weaning.  I think its much better for bedtime when LO is full, clean and dry.  

Just curious, but where did you read this?  I have seen this recommendation attributed to the AAP as well (American Academy of Pediatrics as opposed to the American Psychology Association), and I've been searching for the recommendation online with no luck.  The only recommendations I do see online seem to be from various blogs (e.g. troublesometots), but no official websites like the AAP or APA.

spinsoffresonance

My 4 month old wakes up 5-10 times a night these days, wanna trade? I'm mostly against CIO, but even more so at this age and definitely not with a hungry baby. What my pedi recommended when DD1 was 6m old was diluting the bottle with water. Over time you increase the amount of water and decrease the amount of formula/BM. I never tried it, I ended up letting DD1 wean MOTN feedings on her own.