Torn on sleep

LissaLynn0682 · June 2013

I know there have been a few CIO postings lately and I've really struggled with whether or not to do it. You ladies always offer up great thoughts and advice

DD almost always goes to sleep at night on her own. I give her a bottle, sit with her in the rocking chair for a bit, and she goes down without a peep. A typical night is sleep 5 hours, up to eat, sleep 4 or 5 more hours than up for the day. Every once in a while I can get her to eat then sleep for 1 more hour. She's never been much of a sleeper...even as a newborn. So 10 hours is pretty much the max she will sleep for me.

Pedi says to let her CIO because she doesn't need to eat in the MOTN. She does chug the bottle down, but I question whether it's habit or if she really needs it. Plus...I feel like she should be capable of longer than a 5 hour stretch at this point.

Who else has kiddos that still do this? Or did your LO do this and you have tried CIO for these feedings? Success or not?

Andreabks · June 2013

LO gets up a couple times a night when she's sick, teething or learned a new skill.

otherwise we're 8pm -4/6am. our pedi said that sttn is 6 hours until they're a year old and if they sleep longer consider it a blessing. at a year, sure, but before then if they're needing to eat then they just need to eat.

Addy self weaned motn feedings. she just started eating less and less, then stopped waking.

lady_tytah · June 2013

My daughter didn't wean till 1 even with only giving bottles for water. She still woke up and didn't sleep past 6/7 hrs at a time.

alitria · June 2013

I just posted about our first night of CIO. I'm also torn on his MOTN feeding but he usually goes from 7:30 until 2:30 without eating and he's a peanut, so for now, I'm just working on getting him to go to sleep on his own. Once we're good on that, I think I'll try to work on weaning him.

He's about to be a year old, but he was supposed to be born in August, so I try to keep that in mind. Our pedi said if he's waking up, chugging the same full bottle every night, and going back to sleep, there's a decent chance he does still need to nutrition. I'll go back to school at the end of August and I'm hoping by then I can get him to sleep from 8-7 or 8 w/o a moth feeding.

I was reading something that said to try gradually decreasing the amount or mixing it up a little weaker over time to wean them more gently. I'm thinking since I've got the summer, I might try that.

katiejo1216 · June 2013

I can completely relate to your post. DS is a little guy and finally just hit 17 pounds. I kept nursing him overnight because I was convinced he needed it. At his 9 month appt the pedi assured me that it was unnecessary. I was skeptical but DH and I decided we needed to try to let him CIO in the middle of the night wakeup (he was waking up somewhere between 1-3am). We had a hard couple days but now he goes to sleep at 7pm and wakes up anywhere between 5-7am most days. It is amazing! I will see him get up in the middle of the night on the monitor but he gets himself back to sleep on his own.

Looking back, I think DS nursed so well in the middle of the night completely out of habit. I would think he needed it because he nursed so well and seemed so hungry but he was really just working himself up and nursing out of comfort, not need.

katiejo1216 · June 2013

I wanted to add that it might take awhile to figure out the best way to let her CIO (if that's what you decide to do) for the middle of the night wake ups. We did CIO for the bedtime routine and doing the check-ins worked great. We tried that for the middle of the night wake ups and DS would wake up even more and the check ins made it worse. Now we just let him cry on his own. If he is still crying after 20 mins we go in and turn on his seahorse and 95% of the time that does the trick.

austenfan919 · June 2013

DS still eats twice a night. So we usually get 3.5 to 4.5 hour stretches.

Last night he nursed at 6:30, went to bed at 7, woke at 10 and again at 3:15 and then was up for the day at 6:30ish.

I sort of tried to cut one out a couple weeks ago when he was usually eating 3 times a night, it didn't seem to work, and then he started doing a little longer stretch most nights. I don't know if it was a delayed response to me making that feeding shorter or if he just did it on his own.

Ms. Lisi · June 2013

Well, the actual medical definition of sleeping through the night is 5 hours, and if you are getting a total of 10 out of her at night, I don't think that you are doing all that badly. But... as far as the MOTN wakings to feed, at this point it could totally be habit. Try reducing the amount you feed her by 1 oz each night until you are down to zero, then let her fuss a bit and see if she can put herself to sleep. That way you aren't quitting cold turkey and ticking her off!

JayandEmm · June 2013

Ds is just now to the point where he'll give me a 6 to 8 hour stretch. He has never slept more than that without nursing, even before the 4 month wakeful. I've tried to cut out a feeding, but I have not been successful, so I'm leaving it be. I think he probably needs it, honestly.

Sometimes they wake, not to eat, but to quench their thirst. I know I can't go even 8 hours without water, so I don't expect ds to.

I'm 27 years old, and I have rarely STTN. Lol. Ds must take after me.

LissaLynn0682 · June 2013

Thanks for your responses!

I think I'm going to try the gradual decrease of ounces. I did it by accident one night and LO got M.A.D. when the bottle was gone too quickly. That's part of the reason I think she's actually in need of food when she wakes up.

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