How do I kick the 2 am feeding?

hsal

OK, so let me start by saying that LO has been sttn consistently since about 4 weeks. She slept in the RnP and she's always been a great sleeper.

We starting transitioning to her crib last week and we're getting better at it with longer stretches of sleep. Last night we went down at 8:30 but woke up at 2 am. She only nursed for 5 minutes and was back asleep. I put her back in her crib and she's been asleep since.

I don't really think she's hungry at 2 am, I think she's just gotten used to waking up since she's been in the crib. But if I don't go in there she'll start screaming. Is she hungry? Or is it just force of habit and wants to be comforted after?

I know I really cant complain because it's only one wake up, I'm just curious what others think. Thanks.

kbell00

Our pediatrician told us at this point if LO is waking to eat at night we just have to let him CIO. For us, the issue is hunger. LO cluster feeds at night and then doesn't really eat in the morning. But she still recommended cutting out feedings any way so that he'll start eating during the day.

So if you use CIO that's one way.

CIO doesn't really work for LO (we did try it awhile back). Instead, when LO wakes I let him fuss for 5 minutes or so to see if he'll go back down. If he doesn't, I go in there to comfort him, I hold him and rock him and do everything I can (aside from feeding) to get him to go back to sleep. It took an hour the first night. But now I'm three nights in and for the first night since he was born, LO slept through his 4am feeding!

I' don't know if its an option to send your DH/SO in (its not really for us). But I've heard it helps if you're not the one doing the comforting. That way LO doesn't smell your milk when you're trying to get her back to sleep.

If she is only eating for 5 minutes and waking once it does sound more like habit. Hope this helps!

M&M227

We're working on this.  DD goes down great but wakes up for that middle of the night bottle.  Ferber has good suggestions.  Basically he tells you to increase the waiting 30 minutes each night.  So if your LO wakes up at 2 to eat, you would do CIO progressive waiting (checking on her at 3 minutes, 5 minute, etc.) until you get to 2:30, then feed.  The next night you wait 30 minutes longer.  It worked really well for DD then she got really sick.  We've gotten our middle of the night feeding from 2 to 4:30 once she went til 5:30.  

OpheliaChem

We don't deal with feedings at night anymore, but when we did, we just fed her. I always wondered if I'm making it worse because I'm "giving in" but in the end, she just stopped on her own. When we transitioned from swaddling to arms out, she only woke up to eat for another week or so. We always have a bottle ready if she wakes up at night though, and I wouldn't hesitate to feed her. I guess do what your pedi says because every situation is different, but personally, if you know she can STTN, I would feed her if she is waking. Eventually she will kick it on her own.

JsMama11

I wouldn't CIO in this situation since it has only been happening for a week. Seems like she is waking for comfort since she is in a new environment. J only started STTN last week (fingers crossed that it sticks) so I was in there every night between 2-4am. I also wondered if I should let him CIO and my pedi actually recommended it. He thought I was creating a bad habit. I never did because my gut told me J would get there on his own and he did.

cvl105

We had this problem....and then it went from getting up once a night to 3 times a night (or more). It got bad. Up every three hours, etc. I was feeding her and I probably shouldn't have been.

We recently, like early last week, started letting her CIO. I *think* we kind of followed the Ferber method (from what I read online as I didn't read the book). I would go in once she started crying and put her pacifier back in/comfort her till she stopped crying (almost immediately). I would leave. If she started to cry again, I would wait 3 minutes and go back in and do the same. The next time I would wait 5, then 7, then 10, then 15, and so on. I only got as far as the 15 minutes (and only one night) and she put herself back to sleep. This is what I do now anytime she wakes up in the middle of the night. She is sleeping great now. We've had a few nights of 8-6:45, 9-6:30, etc sleeps.

The first couple times of letting her cry are soooo hard. Probably one of the longest three minutes of my life. But it's worth it and definitely gets easier!

JavaVino910

We tried to let DD CIO last weekend, but I completely caved. I just couldn't let her cry know that she was hungry (ok, maybe not hungry, but expecting to be fed). My new plan of action is to eliminate the nighttime feedings by trying to push back the feeding by an half an hour each night. I'll do whatever is necessary to not feed her. Hold her, rock her, etc. For example, Wednesday night, she nursed at 1am. So last night, my goal was to wait until 1:30am. I hope to keep pushing that back each night until about 5am.

Edited to add: Once we are able to eliminate nighttime feeding, I will then move on to CIO a la Ferber method.

chocoholicchick

If your LO goes down at 8:30, when was the start of her last nursing session?  How long do normal sessions last?  I'm asking b/c DS has been going through a massive growth spurt the last few weeks.  He used to STTN but started waking up b/c 2-4:30am to eat.  Last night was his first night STTN again, but only b/c I experimented and gave him 4 ounces around 9pm as a dream feed.  He only gets solids once a day so I am thinking I need to increase it to 2x a day now. 

Telly21182

We're trying to figure this out too.  We don't have problems getting Ty down to sleep, but he hasn't STTN in a few months.  Per a few suggestions I'm planning on trying the Ferber progressive waiting method.  I know a bit and almost tried this morning when he woke at 2:30, but since I haven't read anything I decided to just suck it up and get up with him (I also had to potty anyway!) because I don't want to try something and it not be right.