STTN s/o: Feeding

funcop

At DS' 9 mo visit, our ped (who is pretty hardcore) said he should be STTN, no if's and's or but's.  That because he wakes up (usually once and will go right back to sleep w/ a bottle) he is accustomed to it and we need to stop it, by CIO of course.  We don't do CIO plain and simple, so I was wondering if you had any other ideas to phase out the 3AM feeding? 

We've tried reinserting the paci, but that hardly ever works.  I've heard about only giving a few oz (which we normally do) and then back it down a little bit each night (which our pedi essentially said was a silly idea).  Any other thoughts?  Offer diluted juice or water (both of which he does not like - I would be worried I would piss him off more)?

Sincerely,

A very tired working momma

 

ella.mabel

If i were in your shoes, i'd ignore that advice (if that's what your gut is telling you to do).  If he's only waking once, that's not too bad.  Do you think he's hungry?  Can you increase the amount of solids he's having during the day?  My DD still wakes up twice a night.  The first one, she just needs rocked back down, but for the second one, she still wants to nurse.  She isn't crazy over her solids, and my gut is telling me she's hungry, so i feed her.  I say do whatever your momma instincts tell you to do.  Good luck!!

epphd

We were/are in the same boat, except that our pedi is not pushing us.  Sam has been waking once a night since about 7 months, and around 9 months, we tried to CO the MOTN feeding.  It did not work - he was, simply, hungry.  He has been slow to pick up solid food and still needed to eat overnight.  He would wake, eat, and go back to sleep with no problems-  it was a 10 minute, all business feed.

According to Wiessbluth (healthy sleep habits, happy child) it is not uncommon at 9 months to have one overnight feeding - and it is fine!! 

Now that Sam is older and eating better, we suspect the MOTN feeding is out of habit AND interfering with this eating more during the day.  So, over the last two days I have sent DH (we both work too, so he can share in the pain )in during the MOTN waking with a bottle of water.  Sam FREAKED for about 60 seconds when dad showed up.  He didn't drink the water... but calmed down and went back to sleep without a peep.  I'm hoping that in a few nights he won't bother to wake since only water will be available.

I think when they are ready to go 12 hours w/o eating, they will.  Not all kids are able/ready at 9 months.  Go ahead and try now, but if you don't have luck, try again in a month.  I think your pedi is being a bit of a hardass - but that's just my opinion

 

KateLouise

I don't have any specific advice for you, but what I will tell you is that our LO was waking two or three times at 9mths. She didn't need a bottle or be nursed, but that didn't stop her waking, and we did need to get up to her and shush pat her. So I guess I'm saying, even if you wean Lo off the middle of the night bottle, it may not stop the night wakings. LO this week has consistently slept through the night from 7pm-6am. This is the first time she has regularly slept through the night. before that she had done it a total of three times.

funcop

epphd:

I think your pedi is being a bit of a hardass - but that's just my opinion

I KNOW my pedi is being a hardass. lol.