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May 2011 Moms
Sleeping Training Worked
This is could be another flame-worthy topic around here, but just thought I'd share for the ladies that also have LO's that are up numerous times throughout the night to eat...
Our pedi has been encouraging us to train the baby not to eat between midnight and six am since his 1 month checkup. G was getting up every 2-3 hours at night to eat. This is the only 'complaint' I have had with this child. lol. He is an eater! 
He'd eat and be back to sleep within 30-45 minutes. Finally after G's 2 month appointment (and further encouragement from the pedi) we decided to try out the method that our pedi suggested to see if it would work. (Feed a "big" meal right before midnight. Pick up and soothe when he wakes up crying for food between midnight and 6am. When he is soothed, put him back down in the crib to sleep. If he wakes back up, start over and keep doing it. Don't let him cry by himself. Hold, bounce, carry, soothe and put back down when he is calm but don't feed for those 6 hours. Dr. assured us he doesn't need to eat between those hours and he doesn't know that until/unless we train him).
Well in less then a week G started sleeping longer stretches and is now sleeping 6-7 hours, getting up for a snack, and sleeping another 3-4. I really didn't think we would see this day for a very long time. It's amazing that in an 11 hour period he is only getting up once to eat now. I'll be honest and say I wasn't totally on board when FI volunteered to put in the overnight work, but we discussed it and know we have a great pedi that wouldn't suggest something that was going to hurt/scar our child. Well, our pedis decades of experience were proven to work, and FI gets father of the year award for having the patience to get through the hard part for a couple nights to get us to this point. I hope the rest of you moms struggling with night time feedings find an end in sight in the near future too!
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Re: Sleeping Training Worked
No flames from me!!
At this age our LOs should be able to go 6-8 hour stretches and if they aren't, I also think that training their metabolism is necessary and IT WORKS! I'm so happy it worked for you! It's usually no more than 1 week before baby responds to any sleep training and I'm happy that's all it took for your little (big!) guy.
I don't think you're going to get many flames, because you're not sleep training in the way most people think - CIO. It I was wondering this with my little man when he got up 2 hours after his last feed, and I thought I had read that at a certain age/weight there was no need for babies to eat for a certain amount of time.
I'm glad you are a happier momma and LO is doing great!
If my LO hadn't magically started doing longer stretches this weekend I would definitely think about testing out your technique
No flames here. My pedi recommended a similar approach as well because ds has proven he can sleep through the night repeatedly. But unless he is in his swing doesn't. Getting him into the crib has still failed horribly. But now when he wakes up all I have to do is give him his paci and he usually falls right back to sleep. Then if he doesn't I go ahead and get up and feed him. But this is maybe only once a week.
He typically goes down for the night around 9-10 and then wakes up around 4-5 in the morning.
Me too!
Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what dreamfeeding is, but we would just wake him up at 11:30. He'd be awake, and we would feed him a good 5-6 ounces, or as much as he would take (I BF/pump and supplement but would just give him straight formula at this final feeding of the night). He's really good about going right back to sleep, so we'd feed and have him wrapped and back in bed by midnight.
Good luck to those of you that are going to try this, I SO hope that it works for you too. All I can say is stay strong, and stay to the plan for a week. If you have a partner that can help support you with this, or just do it for you, seize that asset! We've got a hungry boy on our hands and the only time he's cranky and cries is when he wants food. I'll be completely honest and tell you that I didn't do any of it. My FI got up with him, soothed and put him back down every time. For the first two nights DS got up twice in that time frame and cried about 20 minutes each time but then went back to sleep. Night three he cried for the majority of time between 1:30 and 5am. Seriously my FI is a saint. I woke up and started crying like a baby because it hurt me to hear the baby so upset (wtf have I turned into?!?! lol) and just wanted to feed him but FI basically told me to bug off, not to ruin his hard work and give him a week to try it out. Buy the night after that is starting getting better, the sleeping stretches lengthened, and now just over a week after he started DS is only waking one time between 7pm and 6am.
Very interesting.
My little guy has proven he can sleep from his last feed at 10 until 5am, like he did last night (WOO!) but every once in a while he wakes at 2 or 3. Maybe I will try this next time he wakes in those middle times.
My 2-3 hour sleeper started sleeping 6 or 7 hours this week, no training or crying required.
Some babies just need to grow up a bit before we push independence on them. That really is okay.
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I'm totally going to try this - well, we kind of do it bt not consistntly. LO typically goes down for the night between 9:30 and 10 after eating 4 ounces of EBM. I would like to feed him more but he falls asleep while eating this bedtime bottle. He wakes up around 2 or 3 in the morning. I usually soothe and put back to sleep but sometimes will feed him. Then he will wake up again between 5 and 6, eat, and go back to sleep until sometime between 8 and 9. I just need to be more diligent about not feeding him when he wakes up between 2 and 3. I'm excited to think about him sleeping all through the night without that early morning wake-up!
Any suggestions for keeping him awake for his bedtime bottle to get him to eat a little more? I think this would really help to keep him from waking up in the middle of the night.
Being consistent is definitely key...most sources ssay it takes 3 nights.
I make sure LO is good and hungry for her bedtime bottle. I usually feed her "dinner" around 6, play, bathtime and then a bedtime bottle at 9. No snacking in between.
I feed a bottle of breastmilk, and I stop every 1.5 oz or so to burp her and change positions, it helps keep her awake to finish the whole thing.
This is what I would suggest as well. Burp often to try and keep him awake.