5.5mo not sttn, pedi concerned?

Jhontiel · January 2013

So my almost 6 mo little guy does not sleep through the night, which I am ok with; however, my pediatrician was very convicting when mentioning that he should be sttn by now. She stated that if he was still eating in the middle of the night that it was because I trained him to.

He is EBF, though some times he take a bottle of BM because I work full time. Either way, he generally wakes up 2-3 times a night. Generally I will re-position him to help get gas out or snuggle him back to sleep, but often he wants to nurse and he will not go back to sleep without eating. Again, I am ok with this, but my pediatrician insists that I am training him to want to eat at night.

Any experience with this? Is your LO sttn at 6 mo? Do they wake up to eat? Do I need to wean away from this? I am very pro baby led weaning and this just doesn't feel right to me.

minervacullen · January 2013

Your pedi is nuts. Each child is different. DS woke up to eat at night until he was nearly 18 months. He was and is perfectly healthy. Some people have high metabolisms, babies aren't any different. If your LO is hungry at night, then by gosh feed the kid. Bf babies are notorious for this. And also waking to feed decreases chances if SIDS as well.

moonrose2715 · January 2013

My dd didn't Sttn until after one. She still wanted milk in the motn for most of that. She was formula fed. She's 2.5 now and Sttn mostly. She hasn't taken milk in ages.
If it ain't broke...
For more scientific backing, go to Kelly mom

jb2rn · January 2013

I don't think pediatricians should give out sleep advice, unless your child has a medical reason for not sleeping.

My almost 14 month old doesn't STTN. He is up 2-5 times a night (a 12 hour period of time).

He still needs a boob for comfort, we are working on slowly breaking it but I never would have been comfortable night weaning him at your child's age.

blondie42107 · January 2013

AmyG:
This is a parenting problem, not a medical problem.nbsp; thank your dr for their concern and then don't discuss sleeping issues with dr unless they are medically based ear infections or bad cough interfereing with sleep for instance."

I agree!

I have a few friends that have made comments similar to this. We love our pedi. He asks if we have any concerns with LO's eating, sleeping, etc on the medical end but never tries to give us parenting advice. It would be different if you brought the subject up but still, every baby is different.

pepomntpat · January 2013

Your pedi is wrong. LOs STTN when they are ready. My daughter still ate once a night until she was almost 18 months old.

Anyway, your pediatrician is there to offer medical advice not parenting advice.

alie78_80 · January 2013

Don't listen to your dr about this! Many babies don't STTN at that age. My almost 9 month old still wakes 1-2 times (last night 3) a night.

cchill01 · January 2013

pepomntpat:
Anyway, your pediatrician is there to offer medical advice not parenting advice.

Many ppers said it - but definitely this! Your child's sleeping, when you offer food, when you choose to potty train, etc, etc are parenting decisions. If my doctor says something I disagree with I just nod my head and do what I was planning to do.

DD#1 was still waking twice a night to eat until 18months. If it works for you and DH, then don't worry about it. If it's causing issues, then maybe some sleep training would be a good idea. It's your call.

stace13 · January 2013

I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!

SteelCity44 · January 2013

My ped was concerned at the 6mo check up that LO was not STTN. She suggested putting him down awake for naps and bed and that this would help him learn to put himself back to sleep. We started by trying to get him down for naps on his own. That took 3 months. He's finally starting to go to bed on his own, but still wakes up twice to eat (which is a HUGE improvement), and the first time isn't that late at night, so it doesn't interfere with my sleeping anymore. I understand that LO's sleep is important, but if your LO is getting up, nursing, and going right back to sleep, then he's still getting plenty of rest. Do whatever you're comfortable with.

PotomacSt · January 2013

keep in mind that the medical definition of STTN is sleeping one six-hour stretch. So if you put LO to bed at 7 PM and the first wake-up is at 1 AM and all the rest are after that, then your LO is technically STTN.

Babies should be able to sleep one six-hour stretch without a feed at that age. So if that's not happening, it could be due to other reasons such as separation anxiety or other non-food related reasons, or it could just be habit. If you're OK with it, then it's OK. My DD is going through the same thing... for her, she used to STTN on her own, then we had a lot of things that disturbed her sleep (teething, bad cold, change of schedule) and had a ton of night wakeups... then it became clear that she was continuing the night wakeups out of habit, not need, I am using some night weaning tips to get her back to one 6 hour stretch. If you do this it does not have to involve CIO, I am doing it without.

Jhontiel · January 2013

PotomacSt:
keep in mind that the medical definition of STTN is sleeping one six-hour stretch. So if you put LO to bed at 7 PM and the first wake-up is at 1 AM and all the rest are after that, then your LO is technically STTN.
Babies should be able to sleep one six-hour stretch without a feed at that age. So if that's not happening, it could be due to other reasons such as separation anxiety or other non-food related reasons, or it could just be habit. If you're OK with it, then it's OK. My DD is going through the same thing... for her, she used to STTN on her own, then we had a lot of things that disturbed her sleep (teething, bad cold, change of schedule) and had a ton of night wakeups... then it became clear that she was continuing the night wakeups out of habit, not need, I am using some night weaning tips to get her back to one 6 hour stretch. If you do this it does not have to involve CIO, I am doing it without.

For the record, the pedi defined sttn as 8-10 hrs. I do feel like it is a comfort thing for him. For example, if I just lay him back down he is playful and happy but won't go back to sleep. Eventually playful turns into grumpy so we nurse and he falls right asleep. I suppose maybe I should consider weaning, I am VERY tired. But I kind of expected this going into parenthood. I just don't feel ready to make a big deal about it.

I wouldn't be concerned but the pedi made it clear that I was hindering his ability to self soothe. He is a very independent little guy, often wanting to play by himself on his play mat or exersaucer. It's just in sleep that he requires so much comforting. It is reassuring and takes a lot of pressure off knowing that so many others are still not sttn night at older ages.

PotomacSt · January 2013

As my mom says... You have to raise your kids so that you can live with them, because you're the only one who has to. You don't need to sleep train, especially at 5.5 months, unless you're so tired that you're in danger of falling asleep at the wheel on your way to work. If you're cool with it for now, just keep doing what you're doing.

I think a lot of people who've had kids who wake up at night well into toddlerhood and beyond think oh, if only I had sleep trained at 6 months I wouldn't have this problem, and that is why they feel the need to push other parents into it. But IMO what's happening with sleep at 5 months has no bearing on what happens with sleep at 9 months, let alone age 2. They and their needs change so fast at this age. Just keep doing what feels right.

pepomntpat · January 2013

theresat858:
stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!
waking, eating, and going back to sleep does not interfere with a child getting enough sleep.

Exactly. But, it can interfere with getting enough to eat. And then weight gain suffers and then OH NO your milk supply must be low...time to feed formula! Sometimes you just have to let nature alone.

stace13 · January 2013

pepomntpat:
theresat858:
stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!
waking, eating, and going back to sleep does not interfere with a child getting enough sleep. 
Exactly. But, it can interfere with getting enough to eat. And then weight gain suffers and then OH NO your milk supply must be low...time to feed formula! Sometimes you just have to let nature alone. 

In a 1 month old I agree that this is a very valid concern. But in an almost 6 month old I see this as more of a common fear than real concern. To the OP I agree that many/most babies that age don't sleep the whole night; however, 6 months is a great time to start thinking about night weaning before sleep/feeding associations develop between 69 months.

rockychryslerb2010 · January 2013

I would take your pedi's advice as just that, advice. I think around 6 months my pedi started asking about STTN, and when I told her we were still nursing 2-3x a night, she said there was medically no reason he shouldn't be STTN. E just started STTN at 13 months, but we did have to night wean. I wasn't ready at 6 months, but was ready at 12. This is a parenting decision, so if you're ready to night wean / sleep train, take your pedi's words as advice that it is ok to start. If you're not ready, don't take the advice.

We did do Ferber around 6 months because E was up for 45 min to an hr with every wakeup, so I was getting zero sleep. There is a huge difference between being up for 10 min with each nursing session and being up for an hr.

sosoph · January 2013

theresat858:
stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!
waking, eating, and going back to sleep does not interfere with a child getting enough sleep.

I disagree. Waking most certainly affects the quality of sleep. And I must have abnormal children because both STTN with no training or cio - the first at 6wks and the second at 3 mos.

Those who say it's fine for a baby to not sttn complain the most over the course of the first year about lack of sleep. It's a baby and family health issue.

pepomntpat · January 2013

sosoph:
theresat858:
stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!
waking, eating, and going back to sleep does not interfere with a child getting enough sleep.
I disagree. Waking most certainly affects the quality of sleep. And I must have abnormal children because both STTN with no training or cio - the first at 6wks and the second at 3 mos.
Those who say it's fine for a baby to not sttn complain the most over the course of the first year about lack of sleep. It's a baby and family health issue.

You have abnormal children. And I say this with utter affection, no snark.

stace13 · January 2013

sosoph:
theresat858:
stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!
waking, eating, and going back to sleep does not interfere with a child getting enough sleep. 
I disagree. Waking most certainly affects the quality of sleep. And I must have abnormal children because both STTN with no training or cio - the first at 6wks and the second at 3 mos.
Those who say it's fine for a baby to not sttn complain the most over the course of the first year about lack of sleep. It's a baby and family health issue.

Mine wasn't quite that early but she STTN around 56 months without CIO or formal sleep training. And she is still nursing and I donated over 1800oz of milk so no supply issues here. It is definitely possible!

3sthecharm · January 2013

stace13:
I have seen questions and responses similar to this a lot on The Bump recently. Sleep is a very important part of a child's health. Just like pediatricians care about your child's development and behavior, we care about how they are sleeping. This is well within the scope of a pediatricians training and practice and I am flabbergasted that so many people find the discussion to be so offensive!

I completely agree sleep is an important health issue and pediatricians are an excellent source of information regarding the subject. However, I also feel that if mom and baby are happy with what works for them at this time that it can be advice to store for later rather than put into immediate proactive. Now if mom is exhausted , baby crabbby a lot, etc then I would think there would be more urgency. My doctors always discucssed sleep with all my children and I welcomed their input.

tokenhoser · January 2013

Gee, how many hours of med school are dedicated to infant sleep?

Is it as many as breastfeeding?

stace13 · January 2013

tokenhoser:
Gee, how many hours of med school are dedicated to infant sleep?Is it as many as breastfeeding?

Med school isn't where you learn to be a pediatrician, residency is. Sleep is frequently discussed. Honestly, breastfeeding not as much. I think moms who really want to be successful should find a pediatrician who has done the same. I know how much of a priority it was for me and work really hard to do whatever I can to help moms have the same success. I just don't feel like EBF has to go hand in hand with poor sleep habits.

tokenhoser · January 2013

And I don't feel like doctors should preach sleep habits to happy families.

Mine doesn't. And she fully supports breastfeeding. Even breastfeeding a toddler while pregnant.

Cheerio B · January 2013

DS still wakes twice a night to feed at nearly 10 months. I know he doesn't eat well at daycare and so despite what my pedi says, I know he still NEEDS those nighttime nursing sessions. I've ignored her advice on this issue for months and she's finally stopped telling me to let him cry. He will drop those sessions when he's ready. I do have DH try to soothe him back to sleep when I feel it's too early to nurse but if it doesn't work I always nurse.

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