Gimme advice re: solids and sleeping

AugustAnn

Okay, I'm asking this here because my pedi doesn't give a firm answer about much of anything. 

At this stage, a normal day of eating/sleeping looks like this:

wake between 6:30 and 7:30, eat breakfast. maybe eat a solid. takes longish nap 1 1/2 hours later. sleeps 1 1/2 hours. eats again around 10:30, takes short nap 2 hours later. eats at 1:30 or so, has more solid food about 30 mins later and stays awake. eats another bottle at about 4:30. she miiiight take another tiny nap, but these days she doesn't. she eats another bottle around 6:30 and then has bedtime at 8:30. she gets one last "dream feed" at 10:30 PM.

(btw, she's EFF and takes about 6-7 ounces per bottle, and when i say that she eats solids that's comparable to 3/4 a jar of baby food or 1/3 of a normal sized banana.)

my question is this: even though she gets about 5 bottles a day and solids, she still wakes up hungry in the middle of the night. i'm wondering if we've just gotten her used to the bottle or if she really needs it. if she really needs it, should i be giving her more solids in the day or formula?

advice appreciated!  

tia! 

lmjt

I BF so I have no clue about formula/ounces/etc, but our pedi told us to stop feeding DS in the middle of the night. I do solids at 8, followed by BF'ing, then to sleep at 9. He sleeps until 6-7am. We had been doing that, and he was waking up at 3:30 every day, so we let him CIO and after 4 days he stopped the 3:30 wake up all together. 

 

AugustAnn

Okay, that's good to know. I really do think she's probably doing that because she's used to it. I'd like to break her of it but we live in a tiny apartment and the walls are paper thin; I don't want to irritate our neighbors. (Goodness knows their kid annoys me at 5:00 AM!)

EmmSquared

You could always try to gradually wean the night feeding and make up the ounces during the day...She may just need that feeding though.

Tara n Mike

Your day sounds very similar to ours except that her second solid feeding is more towards dinner time (usually about 1 hour after her 4:30/5 bottle).  DD's last bottle is at 7:30 or 8 pm and then she usually sleeps until 6ish the next morning.  My DD has (5) 5-6 oz bottles and (2) solids during the day.

So, I don't think your DD needs that feeding, but every baby is different!

dragon_chica

Have you tried just comforting LO during the night wakings?  Or giving a paci to suck on.

penguingrrl

AugustAnn:

Okay, that's good to know. I really do think she's probably doing that because she's used to it. I'd like to break her of it but we live in a tiny apartment and the walls are paper thin; I don't want to irritate our neighbors. (Goodness knows their kid annoys me at 5:00 AM!)

 We're in an apartment too and our next door neighbor has made comments about hearing DD cry at night after particularly difficult nights, so CIO is  truly not an option for us (although I wouldn't do it anyway). I totally feel your pain on that!  It's rough because you don't want to irritate your neighbors (or at least I don't) but you want sleep!

DD still wakes 1-3 times a night to BF no matter how much she's taking during the day.  We're going to try to gently nightwean now because I'm completely worn out, but I kind of feel like she'll eventually sleep through on her own so I don't know how much we'll really push the issue.  The truth is, some kids are ready to be done eating during the night very early (my older daughter slept 12 hours without waking by 3 months and has never looked back) and others are much later with it no matter what sleep training you try.  Good luck!

lmjt

We live in a townhouse, so DS' bedroom is through the wall from our neighbors daughter's room.  They are pretty nice people, whenever I see them after a crying episode at an insane hour, I always apologize, and they always tell me that babies cry, and they don't mind.  Either they're lying to me or they're just saints, either way we're lucky to have them as neighbors. If you know your neighbors, maybe clue them in that this might happen for a few nights while you are sleep training, and you're sorry. I offered to buy the neighbors' daughter some earplugs!

Cityplanner

DD is almost 10 months, on three solid meals a day and still wakes up hungry in the middle of the night.  If she wakes up, we always try a pacifier first, but it doesn't always work.  And when she eats, she EATS, it's not comfort nursing.   

I don't care whether the doctors say she SHOULDN'T be hungry.  The fact of the matter is that she is hungry.  I'm going to keep feeding her when she's hungry.  I don't think it is that unusual for them to still need a nighttime feeding for a long time.

MrsDB

first i'd drop the dream feed. if she wakes i'd feed her, but i wouldn't offer it up for no reason. give it a few weeks and see if she pushes it back or drops it on her own.