still waking up at night

kimarino13

I have been very lucky.  My girls have been sleeping from 7 pm to 6 am, and only waking up once to eat, since 6 weeks old.  They have each slept straight through a handful of times but never consistently.  I am thinking they're waking up out of habit now, and I think the Pedi is going to recommend "sleep training" them at their appointment next week because there's an article about it on their website saying that at 4 months, babies need restful sleep and the waking up thing is habit only.

When they fussed at 2 am this morning, I tried patting their backs and not feeding them, but that didn't go over so well.  They still grunted and smacked their lips until I fed them.  Actually, I should say Sophia did, because Lily really only wakes up because Sophia wakes her up.  I think she'd be STTN if it weren't for Sophia being loud.

For those of you who still got up once during the night at 4 months, what did you end up doing?  Did they drop it on their own (consistently) or did you "force" the issue?

Thanks! 

ougrad1

I don't know how well it would go over with twins but, when that started happening with Emerson I would stay up to the three hour mark right before I went to bed and I would dream feed her.

I would take her out of the crib while still asleep and sit in a dark room and feed her.  I wouldn't change a diaper or anything though.

It worked like a charm with her!

dulcinea03

We're still dealing with both girls getting up 1-2 times a night to eat. They go right back down afterwards, so I'm not stressing over it at this point. If they were getting up to eat, then play for an hour, I'd probably feel differently.

BizEB

We got up once a night with DS until he was 7 months old and then we Ferberized him.  Dream feeding made it worse for us as I had to do a feeding at like 11 and then another feed at like 4.  Patting, picking up and putting down, etc. nothing worked for us.  We just had to wait until we felt he was old enough (we thought that was 6 months for our DS) and then we slowly cut back his night bottle and let him CIO.  He never cried more than 10 minutes and slept 7 to 7 after that. 

macchiatto

Mine were about 4m1w when they both suddenly started dropping their nighttime feeding. We were lucky; they did it on their own. There was one night after several nights (maybe a week?) of this that Will woke up crying at 2 a.m. We actually let him cry for 20 mins to see what would happen and he fell back to sleep.

macchiatto

Oh and one thing I was planning to start trying around 4.5-5m (which I think is good if you really think they are waking up out of habit rather than hunger) is to just gradually decrease how much you offer them in that nighttime bottle. Cut it back by 1 oz per night or so to gradually wean them off of it. I didn't actually try it myself but I remember hearing that tip from a few other MoMs on here who said it worked for them.

kimarino13

macchiatto:

Oh and one thing I was planning to start trying around 4.5-5m (which I think is good if you really think they are waking up out of habit rather than hunger) is to just gradually decrease how much you offer them in that nighttime bottle. Cut it back by 1 oz per night or so to gradually wean them off of it. I didn't actually try it myself but I remember hearing that tip from a few other MoMs on here who said it worked for them.

Thanks!

I have actually tried this already and it blew up in my face.  Once they are eating, they want to get full, so when I would stop after 4 oz, they would cry and want more.  Ugh.  We might try this again in a couple weeks.

janjag

it depends on the babies' health and weight too.  but i'm guessing your ped will say they are well fed!

it also depends on the baby!  with audrey i shortened bf time with her until it was just for a couple min. and she would fall asleep again.  however, she would wake when i put her down in the crib, and cry.  uggh.  eventually we let her CIO, but she was almost 5mos gest. 

with vivienne, we watered down that bottle, and then made it smaller.  we had to try this several different times.  eventually she got it! 

how you ST is up to you and what you thing will work with sophia.  GL!  you will get there.  don't get too disouraged if you have to try more than one thing.

DESXF

Our pedi said it was fine to try to cut the night bottle.  So far, Noah has done fine, but he was starting to STTN a few weeks ago.  Lily still wants to eat anywhere between 2 am and 5 am.

We give them their last bottle at 8 pm, Lily usually rouses a bit around 1am, but I put her paci back in and shush her.  She usually wakes again anywhere from 2am till 5am and I'll give her 4 ounces.  Noah wakes around 5 or 6am and gets 6 oz.  Then they are both up for the day around 8:30-9am and get another bottle around 10.

meldoo2002

4 months is too young to sleep train per se.  If my pedi recommended it I would go against that recommendation or find a  new pedi.  Our boys were still taking 1 feeding at night until right around 4 months and then they dropped it on their own.  Most sleep training techniques aren't recommended until at least 6 months.

SportsLover

Our pedi told us that 6 months was the cutoff point of feeding at night.  At 4 months, mine were waking once between 4-5, taking a bottle or nursing and going right back to sleep.  However, by 6 months, both of mine had just eliminated that feeding.  If I were you, and they are only getting up once, I'd still feed them.

kimarino13

meldoo2002:

4 months is too young to sleep train per se.  If my pedi recommended it I would go against that recommendation or find a  new pedi.  Our boys were still taking 1 feeding at night until right around 4 months and then they dropped it on their own.  Most sleep training techniques aren't recommended until at least 6 months.

Here's the article on my pedi's website.  It's written by another doctor in the practice, so I do plan to ask her what her thoughts are on it.

https://elcaminopediatrics.com/healthinfo_teachinginfanttosleep_0304.htm

 

FreeSpirits

Our girls gave up their  late bottle around 2 months and then gave up the 10:30/11:00 pm bottle around 2 1/2 months on their own.  They now get their last bottle between 8-9p and are both asleep by 9:30p and sleep until 6:30 am. I had them a schedule around 1 month were it was play, bath, bottle, cuddle and then bed.  They are still eating around every 3 1/2 hours.  Good luck to you.

RobynK

Mine dropped night feedings on their own and we didn't force anything....they started STTN with no wakings just at 6 months.