Not sure when to feed in night...

[Bella28]

Umm, this is too weird because my lo woke last night too at 2:30am (gave her the paci and she went back to sleep) then again a 5am. This time though at 5am I couldn't get her to go back to sleep so at 5:30am I fed her. Same as you... annoying bc she hasn't been fed in a week. When she woke at 6:45am my DH have changed her bum and... (I feel awful about this) she had leaked through the diaper AND her sleep-sac. She was probably waking bc she was cold and wet and her groggy/foggy mom just ignored that and stuck a boob in her face instead!  Sometimes its pretty hard to know just what she wants when she wakes at strange hours bc she doesn't really cry just fusses. When did you introduce the blanket with a head thing? Would like to start to wean lo from the paci a bit (she only gets it at naps and bedtime) but am paranoid about smuthering her with a blanket...how did you introduce it? Have you done w2s? I did this at 1am (for the 2am waking) and then at 4am (for the 5am waking) and it worked! not sure if I already mentioned that or not...

[natashacs]

I tried W2S but it didn't really work, I only did it for a few days, couldn't bear getting up at 2am only to then be woken at 3am. I just introduced the blanket with a head, I think its called a comforter, its only a small bit of material with knots tied in each corner, it couldn't smother him (even though he does like putting it on his face which is slightly worrying!!!). I just started to take it everywhere with us, and kept giving it to him at every opportunity for a few days, he's really become quite attached to it - whcih is good as he is starting nursery in a few weeks as well.
I maybe should try w2s but am not sure whether my wakings are habit. He woke last night and downed 4oz at 3am. But then on other nights he's slept through or gone back to sleep with dummy. My stance now is he if wakes before 4am i feed him, as if I don't I just get more night wakings - like every hour. If he wakes after then I fend him off with paci and he suually goes to sleep. I am presuming an earlier waking is genuinely hunger butreally am not sure.
he's really reducing his amounts at dream feed as well, will often only take 2oz, think because I am weaning him. But then he wakes hungry but I can't get him to take more.
As you can tell, I don't really have a clue what is going on!!!!

[Bella28]

Natasha, I totally sympathize with you! Last night was a complete disaster! DD was first up at 2am and wouldn't go back down so I finally fed (full feed) her at 3:30am thinking that she would finally settle...nope! She was then again up at 4:30, 5am, and 6:30! I'm going to do w2S again just in case she is back to her old tricks and may feed her a little more often today (every 3.5-3.75hrs) just in case it's a growth spurt...obviously I too have no clue what's going on and am going to try it all   
On the upside, last night was a bit of an experiment in getting her to sleep. She's gotten really difficult to put down at night bc she just talks and fusses with the occassional screetch for over an hour. So last night I just left her to sort it out and poop herself out and eventually she did (after 1.5hrs)! My DH was worried that what i was doing was "inhuman" but I think that this is what she needs to do in order to learn to self-soothe. I don't really know though but nothing else seems to be working...  I really like your idea of the comforter, I think that I'll do that with the hopes of weaning the paci slowly.  Are you weaning him from bf or from df's? Wonder if that's why he's waking so much bc of hunger due to a decreased df???

[natashacs]

Oh dear you must be tired!!! Maybe 3.5 hour is better at her age, we're still on 3.5 hours Finn just can't go 4 hours....

I don't know about inhuman, I let Finn cry it out at all his nap times when he was really quite little (erm, can't remember, but maybe 6 - 8 weeks) and bedtime too, the result was very quickly that he mostly goes for naps and bedtime without a problem. It's just 3am when he's difficult, and that's only becuase of hunger, once he's fed he'll go straight back tos sleep. He's bottle fed, and I'm sure the reduced DF is to do with weaning. He's not taking more at 3am than he has done before, its just been the same for pretty much his entire life, and I was hoping to hvae seen more progress by now (ie, like my friends babies who all seem to be miraculously sleeping throughout without so much as a peep!!!)

[Bella28]

Thanks, it's nice to have someone else's sympathy ; ) Hmmm, so Finn is on 3.5 hrs, hey... I was afraid to go back to that in case it meant that Bella would wake more often in the night - ha! Joke's on me!  It really is encouraging to hear that he did do some crying for naps and now is good with them. I have been so adamant about not letting Bella "CIO" like my mom and sister both keep saying that I will eventually have to do. If nothing else I just wanted to prove them wrong    Hopefully giving the ol' w2s another shot will work for you ...it was working for us. I have a friend who's ds is 9mos and she still cluster feeds him and her makes it through til 5:30am when he wakes for the day (grass isn't always greener : ).  Have you tried that? 
How do you know if your lo is going through a growth spurt? Again, afraid that i'm starving her : )  It really does seem that everyone else has no problem with getting their babes to sleep doesn't it?! I feel like I'm floundering around while it's just so simple for other more "instinctive" moms.
- Danielle

[natashacs]

I'm not sure they're instinctive, just lucky, they have babies that are easier. My mum says people who have first babies that sleep through the night (a la certain of my friends) are always really smug and think they're doing something 'right' or are better mums, but then they usually end up with second babies that don't sleep and they realise it wasn't really what they did after all, more about the baby! Who knows if she's right but that makes me feel a bit better.
 With Finn, I didn't see it as Crying it out, more crying down. But I did leave him to cry for say 10 mins, then go in, say shush etc, then another 10 mins. In the night I've left him for longer crying. Like an hour.
Are you breast feeding? You can see a growth spurt if you're botttle feeding because they drink significantly more. ie, during growth spurts, Finn goes up to 8oz per feed.... 

[Bella28]

Ha! Your mom sounds like a very smart woman!
It's true isn't it about the crying down instead of crying it out. I think that some babies just need to let off some steam and energy and then they are ready to sleep. I had my wonderful neighbour over yesterday to watch Bella while I went to an appt. My neighbour has 4 amazing children aged 20 - 8yrs. Anyway, when I asked how Bella was at nap time, she said that she was great and just needed to talk for awhile to get herself ready for bed. I have been thinking about this and as my neighbour says "just because her mom says sleep, doesn't mean that she's ready to sleep yet" - makes sense to me!
I am breastfeeding but lately am having some concerns that Bella isn't taking enough from me because the amount that she drinks while nursing is so much less than the amount that I pump and then give to her in a bottle. I just fed her from the bottle and she took 7+oz!! This is quite new so maybe it is a growth spurt or maybe she's not getting enough during the day while bf. I'd be so sad though to give up bf and go to ebm     Maybe we can do both and i can just top her up with a bottle after breastfeeding 
Sounds like you know your babe really well. You certainly sound like you've got it together and know what you're doing!

[Bella28]

I just have to tell you quickly... I just put Bella down for a nap and we did the wind-down and she was close to sleeping and then when i put her in the crib she woke and started fussing and talking so I left her and....10mins later she's ASLEEP!!!!! It's working!!!! Thank you!

[natashacs]

Cool, that's great!!!! Finn went down at 7, and after me telling you how well he goes down for naps and bed times, got himself completely hysterical. I left him but when he was still wailing after 10 mins went back in. He stopped when he heard the door opening, so have no idea what he wanted, a bit of attention probably.
Typical eh!!!!

[Bella28]

Maybe he just forgot to say goodnight to you  Hope you have a fantastic and very long sleep!