More sleep opinions needed re: MOTN feeding

huzzahuzza · December 2013

My husband's going to get mad at me because I told him I was coming online to post this and then got a "little" side-tracked reading the UOs... whoops!

ANYWAY, what my husband and I are wondering about is J's eating habits in the MOTN. When J and I get home for the day, I feed him a 4 oz bottle (4:30-5:00) and then at 6:00 he gets solids which has been about a stage 2 container full and then when he goes to bed at 7:30 he has another 6oz bottle. He's still waking up in the MOTN to eat 4 oz. Is this normal? Can he really possibly be hungry at this time?

I've read a lot of the sleep articles (THANK YOU CIO THREAD!!!) and it seems as though at this stage if he was really just waking up for comfort he would be waking up a lot more than once a night to eat which makes me think he's really hungry.... BUT with all he eats at night before he goes to bed AND he's getting enough during the day (four 6oz bottles plus solids) so I'm not understanding how he possibly could be hungry and there's a part of me that wonders if sleep training would do any good or if it would just be cruel. He already falls asleep on his own and does really good with this. I really just want to make sure my baby is getting enough sleep! What do you think ladies? DH and I keep going back and forth on this...

Edit cuz I couldn't stand the non-paragraphs!

jesselayne8 · December 2013

I think one feeding a night is normal. DS was trying to eat 3x and we have cut him down to 1 feeding. I am going to try to cut that around 9 months if he doesn't do it on his own.

botanicalbliss · December 2013

I vote normal. Lots of babies don't STTN at this stage, and being down to just 1 wake up sounds like a dream! I'd give it a while to see if he drops it on his own.

jayro10 · December 2013

OMG I miss the time when my formerly-good sleeper only woke once a night for a quick feed. Don't mess with it!

Oohgurl · December 2013

What time of MOTN are we talking?

Shoegal36 · December 2013

I have read a few places that some babies need night feedings up until 9 months or later, so I personally wouldn't do any MOTN sleep training until then.

That being said, my LO is consistently waking up to eat 4 times so only once would be a dream. I'm trying different things to lessen the night feedings, but not get rid of them altogether yet.

I say leave it alone!

Boo0512 · December 2013

I'm sleep training and on occasion dd has been waking up once to eat (between 1am and 3am). I let her fuss for a few mins (just in case she isn't actually hungry) but then I feed her.

Shoegal36 · December 2013

jesselayne8 said:

I think one feeding a night is normal. DS was trying to eat 3x and we have cut him down to 1 feeding. I am going to try to cut that around 9 months if he doesn't do it on his own.

I don't want to hijack this thread and start another big sleep training discussion...but do you mind me asking how you did that? did you just soothe him without feeding for the other 2x?

huzzahuzza · December 2013

Shantxtell said:

If he's just waking once and eating that much, leave it alone. He is clearly hungry. I think at this age they are supposed to be getting 30oz a day? I EBF, so I'm not sure but I thought I read that recently.

He's eating that! The 24oz during the day isn't including the evening stuff so he's getting 34oz just during the day... add in the night feeding(if there i only 1. Sometimes theres two) and that means he's eating 38-42 oz in a 24 hr period not including solids!

huzzahuzza · December 2013

I know I should be counting my blessings with one MOTN feeding... I just don't want to create a monster! DH and I have often wondered if we're creating an emotional eater or something! We know it's a FTP paranoia thing but we can't help it!

Schell2013 · December 2013

I agree once is fine. I wish that's all mine was. I know I often get up for water in the MOTN I think sometimes that's LOs reason for waking.

DON'T let LO cry too much though or it will by physiologically damaging.

LULULEM0N · December 2013

My pedi said he is okay with 1 MOTN feeding at this point but would prefer none. My LO has settled into 1 MOTN on his own in the past week or so (he's almost 7 months). Last night, my husband got up with him around midnight and I didn't hear them. He put LO back to sleep and LO ended up sleeping through until this morning. He went almost 11 hours without eating (this never happened before) I know he is capable of going without eating during the night but if he continues to wake once a night, I will feed him - it is usually around 2 or 3a and he goes to bed 7 - 7:30p.

jesselayne8 · December 2013

scormier123 said:

jesselayne8 said:

I think one feeding a night is normal. DS was trying to eat 3x and we have cut him down to 1 feeding. I am going to try to cut that around 9 months if he doesn't do it on his own.

I don't want to hijack this thread and start another big sleep training discussion...but do you mind me asking how you did that? did you just soothe him without feeding for the other 2x?

I send DH in to soothe him. If i go in there he expects boobie. DH gets him to stop crying quickly and puts him back down. He usually cries 2-3min after DH leaves then goes back to sleep. If I go in there no amount of my soothing will make him stop crying.

flyliceandcoffee · December 2013

Meh, once a night is perfectly fine I think. I know our pedi said S should be able to sleep for like 12 hours without needing to eat, but that doesn't mean she will. I think if you found that he's only eating like an ounce or something when he gets up at night, then yah he's probably just doing it for comfort instead of actually being hungry. But, 4 oz seems like a regular meal, so if he's eating that much, I'd go with he actually is hungry.

raw1299 · December 2013

C was waking once in the motn, but she suddenly stopped once she reached 6 months. She goes to bed late though, and I normally feed her 1hr before she goes to sleep, which is normally around 10. Before that, she would go to sleep at 7-8, and wake up anywhere from 2-4 in the morning.

You could try keeping him up later.

do you notice him gaining weight very quickly? If that's the case, then I would try to cut that night feeding.

coffeeandbooks · December 2013

@scormier123
I think I read that you had done the sleep training... but is your LO still up all night?
sorry to hijack this thread too but last night sucked for me...I think LO was up like six times. I am really leaning to starting sleep training after the holidays but my main hope is that it will lessen the MOTN feedings. Otherwise, I am not sure it is worth it for me because my LO isn't that hard to get down (knock wood.) Did your sleep training help with the MOTN?

Shoegal36 · December 2013

@mslaurats Yes, I had done sleep training but only to go to sleep at bed time. It didn't help with MOTN wakings unfortunately, and she still gets up about 4 or 5 times on average. She does go right back to sleep after MOTN feedings, but always has.

Even though she wakes up a lot...it has still been a big relief to me for her to be able to go to sleep on her own instead of it taking a few hours...AND having to get up every 2 hours on top of that!

I'm thinking of trying to see if DH is able to soothe her back to sleep without me feeding her, but I don't plan on doing CIO in the MOTN.

Blueyed228 · December 2013

Have you tried putting some cereal in the bottle right before bed? That way he will feel more satiated and might not wake up for that feeding.

Or what if you increase the bottle before bed by an ounce or 2?

Other than that I have no advice. My guy wakes up around midnight and then again at 4 to eat, while she STTN most nights.

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