What do you do for middle of the night wake-ups?

jacka02 · September 2012

OK, so please list how many times your baby wakes up, and what you do? My H and i got into a fight at 130 AM, over what to do.

What do you do if you do not feed your LO. How do you decide whether to finally give a bottle/or nurse?

I read, we are not supposed to feed in the middle of the night at this point. I say "Yeah right" to that.

My neice was sleeping over and i didnt want to wake her, so i picked him up (gasp) and feed him (double gasp).But i didnt want to deal with two crying babies in the middle of the night. I tried not to feed him at first, but after rocking and shushing, i decided to just fold and give him a bottle. Then at the second night wake-up we feed him again.

I feel like im going a step backwards.

TrudyCampbell · September 2012

I'm not the best person to ask because my baby STTN 95% of the time. If she wakes up before 5am I give her a pacifier. Usually this works and she immediately falls back asleep. If she still fusses, I'll usually try to give her the pacifier one more time. If she's still awake after that I'll feed her.

If it's 5am I just feed her because by that time my H is already awake and will take her when she's done eating.

Tambcat · September 2012

I would try a paci first w/ back patting/soothing and if that didn't work, I would feed. I think if I had to pick her up and rock her, I would just go ahead and feed b/c it would likely get her back to sleep easier.

ADub09 · September 2012

S on a good night is up twice. I try not to pick him up and feed him at the first wake up but if he doesn't settle I do and I nurse him. The second wake up I always feed him and he usually eats quite a bit at the wake up. I was in my baby class yesterday and we talked about sleep. The nurse/instuctor said that if there are really eating in the night and not just snacking then they needed the feed, if they are just snacking then you should/could try and drop that feed. She suggested susshing and placing a hand on their chest/tummy. I find sometimes that works with S and sometimes it doesn't. Okay this really isn't much help ~ sorry.

laurack · September 2012

I hear her make noise on the monitor. I check time.

>3 hours since she last ate, I feed her

hours since she last ate, I leave her a while. I go pee etc. If it continues to escalate I will go get her. Usually once I'm in the room I'm toast and end up giving her boobies.

^^ this doesn't usually happen though. Normally it is only for food wakings that she cries a lot, I very rarely feed her more than twice during the night.

Sometimes if it has been less than 3 hours since she ate and she is crying, I will send hubby in. But if he's already asleep it is easier to just go in than to try to wake him as he sleeps very deeply.

The easiest solution is giving of boobies. It has never not worked to get her calm and back to sleep. I do worry about "Bad habits" and such but I don't worry enough to actually let her scream for more than a couple minutes in the middle of the night, when I know I can calm her easily.

Maybe I am weak and will pay for it later.... but whatever. I like to just do what works now and go with the flow.

ninjabridemom · September 2012

They don't wake up at night but we picked a time (I think it's 5am) where before that, feeding is the last resort. First is to keep them in bed, patpatpat, shushushushush. Then pick up, rock, shushushush. On and on.

You'll know if he's hungry or if he needs to suck to go back to sleep. Really, at this point, try EVERYthing else first unless he's just inconsolable. Growth spurts will eff up the middle of the night stuff and he'll need to eat, but he'll grow out of that.

miniray · September 2012

I put X to bed at 7-730pm. Usually at 7 I give him a bath or sponge bath, change him, nurse him in bed then read him a book. Then I put him in his crib and he falls asleep on his own (if he's not already asleep from nursing). Then he is usually up around 10. I go see him, if his eyes are still closed and he's whimpering I put his soother in his mouth and he will normally turn onto his side and fall back asleep. If his eyes are open and he's actually crying I take him out and nurse him in my bed. He falls asleep while nursing and I let him continue to suckle on my breast until he unlatches himself and then I put him back in his crib. He does this again at 2am and 4am and then he is up around 630 for the day. Some nights he needs all 3 feedings some nights only 2 and some nights only 1. It's never the same but it's usually all 3.

katieh1017 · September 2012

We always give her the pacifier and sometimes shush her, rub her belly. 99% of the time she doesn't wake up crying its just noises. We just transitioned her to the crib this past week. The first 2 nights she was up every hour and the paci worked everytime. The last few nights she has been getting up once or twice, same thing, paci. DH and I take turns on who gets up. Last night was my night.

L hasn't had a MOTN feeding in months. We FF.

laurack · September 2012

also mine doesn't take a pacifier which is probably why I have a harder time soothing her without boobies? I've tried to make her a pacifier baby but she just spits it out. If she is crying in the middle of the night and I try to put a paci in her mouth she will freak the fluck out.

erniebufflo · September 2012

Etta wakes up sometime between 2:30 and 4:00am. She wants a bottle. I give her a bottle, she has her eyes closed by the time she finishes it, I take it out and hold her until she is asleep, and then I put her back in bed. It takes about 30 minutes. I really don't care if she's not supposed to have a bottle, I'm not going to fight it when this is fairly easy. Dr. Hubs certainly hasn't said anything except that he's open to trying to sleep train her out of this habit whenever I am. But he's fine with not as long as I'm opposed.

ETA: she always very hungrily eats the whole bottle. Like, when I pick her up, she immediately starts getting frantic like she does when she's hungry, and she gobbles it down when I get it in her mouth. She's on the smaller side, so I feel like she needs the food.

jacka02 · September 2012

katieh1017:

We always give her the pacifier and sometimes shush her, rub her belly. 99% of the time she doesn't wake up crying its just noises. We just transitioned her to the crib this past week. The first 2 nights she was up every hour and the paci worked everytime. The last few nights she has been getting up once or twice, same thing, paci. DH and I take turns on who gets up. Last night was my night.

L hasn't had a MOTN feeding in months. We FF.

We FF too, and i am trying not to feed him unless it is a serious cry, but i cheated last night because i was so nervous to wake up my niece too. It wasnt a wail at 130 but he was up for at least 45 minutes just complaning, so i gave in.When we do give him the bottle, he houses the whole thing, but i also feel like Lou has never rejected the bottle. He is a good eater.

gisa886 · September 2012

My H goes to get Owen when he wakes around 3 or 4:30 and brings him to our bed. I will nurse him and sleep.

MarxieVonTrapp · September 2012

We feed. Last night/this morning she got up at 5am, so it wasn't really a MOTN feeding. Tuesday night, she woke up at 1:30 and DH fed her.

We are going to start some sort of sleep training once she's on rice cereal.

katieh1017 · September 2012

jacka02:
katieh1017:

We always give her the pacifier and sometimes shush her, rub her belly. 99% of the time she doesn't wake up crying its just noises. We just transitioned her to the crib this past week. The first 2 nights she was up every hour and the paci worked everytime. The last few nights she has been getting up once or twice, same thing, paci. DH and I take turns on who gets up. Last night was my night.

L hasn't had a MOTN feeding in months. We FF.

We FF too, and i am trying not to feed him unless it is a serious cry, but i cheated last night because i was so nervous to wake up my niece too. It wasnt a wail at 130 but he was up for at least 45 minutes just complaning, so i gave in.When we do give him the bottle, he houses the whole thing, but i also feel like Lou has never rejected the bottle. He is a good eater.

L is pretty good about eating but she will refuse it if she isn't hungry which has happened a lot more recently since we moved her up to 6oz per feeding.

How much does he eat during the day? What about right before he goes to bed?

L gets about 30oz per day, 6oz per feeding eating about every 3 hours (sometimes longer). Before that she was eating 5oz every 2 hours, 30 oz per day - I figured changing to an add'l ounce would up her daily amount but she is staying fuller longer now. Before bed we give her 3oz before her bath, then another 3 oz after bath, right before bed. We split the final bottle up because sometimes she would wake up with bad gas because she didn't burp. I figured she would eat more when she upped her to 6oz but she is at the same amount for the day. She is 16.6lbs.

sharrison88 · September 2012

I am BFing. Caroline usually wakes up once for a MOTN feeding. Usually it's been at least four hours since she ate last, so I will feed her. She goes back to her PNP after she eats. She's actually eating and not snacking, so we haven't tried to drop the MOTN feeding yet. Plus, like many PP said, it's an easy solution (bad I know!). We did successfully get her to fall asleep in the PNP last night without holding and rocking her to sleep. I think I'm going to try transitioning to crib soon.

jacka02 · September 2012

katieh1017:
jacka02:
katieh1017:

We always give her the pacifier and sometimes shush her, rub her belly. 99% of the time she doesn't wake up crying its just noises. We just transitioned her to the crib this past week. The first 2 nights she was up every hour and the paci worked everytime. The last few nights she has been getting up once or twice, same thing, paci. DH and I take turns on who gets up. Last night was my night.

L hasn't had a MOTN feeding in months. We FF.

We FF too, and i am trying not to feed him unless it is a serious cry, but i cheated last night because i was so nervous to wake up my niece too. It wasnt a wail at 130 but he was up for at least 45 minutes just complaning, so i gave in.When we do give him the bottle, he houses the whole thing, but i also feel like Lou has never rejected the bottle. He is a good eater.

L is pretty good about eating but she will refuse it if she isn't hungry which has happened a lot more recently since we moved her up to 6oz per feeding.

How much does he eat during the day? What about right before he goes to bed?

L gets about 30oz per day, 6oz per feeding eating about every 3 hours (sometimes longer). Before that she was eating 5oz every 2 hours, 30 oz per day - I figured changing to an add'l ounce would up her daily amount but she is staying fuller longer now. Before bed we give her 3oz before her bath, then another 3 oz after bath, right before bed. We split the final bottle up because sometimes she would wake up with bad gas because she didn't burp. I figured she would eat more when she upped her to 6oz but she is at the same amount for the day. She is 16.6lbs.

See, this is what my H and i fought about in the middle of the night. He thinks we should bump him up to 7 oz during the day. Right now, he is getting 6 oz about every 2.5 to three hours. Sometimes longer, especially if he is napping. At his 4 month check-up he was exactly 15 lbs.

JaimeG183 · September 2012

it depends what time he ate last... sometimes he falls asleep and hasnt eaten since 7 so at 1 or 3 he might really be hungry

we try the paci first, if it doesn't work I feed him

Monkeybabe · September 2012

Zoe wakes up 2-3 times a night. If she wants boob, and she usually does, I give it to her, because her tiny-ness still makes me uncomfortable and I want to fatten her up as much as I can.

Jazzyashes84 · September 2012

jacka02:
katieh1017:
jacka02:
katieh1017:

We always give her the pacifier and sometimes shush her, rub her belly. 99% of the time she doesn't wake up crying its just noises. We just transitioned her to the crib this past week. The first 2 nights she was up every hour and the paci worked everytime. The last few nights she has been getting up once or twice, same thing, paci. DH and I take turns on who gets up. Last night was my night.

L hasn't had a MOTN feeding in months. We FF.

We FF too, and i am trying not to feed him unless it is a serious cry, but i cheated last night because i was so nervous to wake up my niece too. It wasnt a wail at 130 but he was up for at least 45 minutes just complaning, so i gave in.When we do give him the bottle, he houses the whole thing, but i also feel like Lou has never rejected the bottle. He is a good eater.

L is pretty good about eating but she will refuse it if she isn't hungry which has happened a lot more recently since we moved her up to 6oz per feeding.

How much does he eat during the day? What about right before he goes to bed?

L gets about 30oz per day, 6oz per feeding eating about every 3 hours (sometimes longer). Before that she was eating 5oz every 2 hours, 30 oz per day - I figured changing to an add'l ounce would up her daily amount but she is staying fuller longer now. Before bed we give her 3oz before her bath, then another 3 oz after bath, right before bed. We split the final bottle up because sometimes she would wake up with bad gas because she didn't burp. I figured she would eat more when she upped her to 6oz but she is at the same amount for the day. She is 16.6lbs.

See, this is what my H and i fought about in the middle of the night. He thinks we should bump him up to 7 oz during the day. Right now, he is getting 6 oz about every 2.5 to three hours. Sometimes longer, especially if he is napping. At his 4 month check-up he was exactly 15 lbs.

We recently bumped C up to 7oz bottles and he goes 3.5-4hrs between feedings now. His last feeding is around 9pm, he'll sleep til 2:30-3am and eat 5-7oz and then sleeps until about 6:30am. Sometimes he wakes up more though and needs his passy.

imimahoney · September 2012

Typically he wakes once anywhere from 2:30 to 4. If it is during that time I feed him a bottle... no diaper change, no rocking... back in his crib wide awake. This in the only time that he will put himself to sleep.

If it's any time before 2:30 then we try to get him back down. He rarely wakes before though.

We are sleeping training this weekend so we will see how that effects the motn wakeups.

Want a personalized experience?

What do you do for middle of the night wake-ups?

Re: What do you do for middle of the night wake-ups?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards