HELP! 11 MO Still feeding at night!

[jrmax]

Hi everyone,

I need a little help here...  my 11 mo old DS2 is still waking through the night to feed. He's on a 4 hour feeding schedule throughout the night, and I know he doesn't need it.

I've been 'waiting' for him to sleep through the night, but clearly it's just not going to come. He's far too happy to wake and feed.

I have been cutting back the dream feed a little earlier for the past few nights, but realized he just eats 4 hours after the last feed, then again 4 hours later. On occasion I've skipped the DF because he had a late BT and ultimately a later feed - but the same result occurred - 4 hours later he was up.

With my first son I was using the BabyWise system (but couldn't let him CIO, which is what brought me here!), but prior to that I just decided it was time to be done with the night feeds and I just helped him by holding him through the night wakings. Within 3 nights he was done waking up, and obviously increased his daytime calories if needed, and we went on our merry way.

I'm just not sure it's the way to go this time...

Are there any suggestions in how to break the 4 hour feeding cycle at night?

Looking forward to hearing any thoughts or insight!

Thanks so much!

[Erin M]

I'm a fan of the "avoid feeds by any means necessary" method -- I know some have success with pu/pd but my babies have not bothered waking once I've stopped feeding at night.  You can also feed for less time over a period of days as well, although at 11 months you might do better to just cut them out.  I might be inclined to leave the df for a bit, just so you know he's full to start off the night.

[Fiver]

We didn't ever do a DF but DD was still waking for an early am feed around that age.  It gradually faded away, but I did tell myself that if she woke before a certain time that I'd find a different way to get her back to sleep.

[amayzie]

The other option if it's available to you is to choose a night when DH doesn't have to work or get up early the next morning and get DH to do the hard yards- Tell him that he can do ANYTHING to get him to sleep (as long as he;s in the room while he's crying) as long as you dont feed him! It's much easier not to whip the boob out if you don't have one!!

[jrmax]

Awesome ladies - thanks so much! I'm feeling encouraged already!

I think I'll leave the DF again - I was thinking the same thing too Erin M...
Thanks too Fiver and Amayzie, I'm feeling more confident to just give this thing a go and give 'er over the weekend!

Fingers crossed - I'll keep you posted! :-D

[*Ali*]

Good luck!
I may have to do something similar with my almost 12mo although it is normally just the one early morning feed most nights.
I think it is just habit really. I resettle him with pupd (just pd at this age of course) before midnight if he does ever wake before then and he usually resettles quickly with 2 or 3 pds. It is harder in the early morning though as they aren't as tired and are hungrier

[jrmax]

Good luck too Ali - keep me posted if you go ahead with a plan... it will keep me encouraged!

Also, totally off topic, I've 'shown appreciation' to several BWers on here, but none seem to show up in my profile! Any thoughts?

Thanks again!

[*Ali*]

Your profile only shows how many times people have thanked you. I have just clicked on the thank you below your name so it should say 1 now instead of zero

I am going away in September for 2 nights and DH will be alone so ill either have to do it before then or DH will have to do it while I'm away! Lol.

[jrmax]

Hi Ali,
Thanks so much! I was wondering why my 'thanks' weren't showing up... ;-)

Anyway, thought I'd share the update so far. I started Friday night and I gave DS a DF, and he woke they typical 4 hours later, but I only gave him one side, and some water, and he seemed content enough and went back to sleep till 6:30am - a successful first start in my books!

Then last night I gave him a DF and he woke 3 hours later, but since it wasn't 4 hours, and he wasn't giving me the hungry cry, I just helped to resettle him, which happened fairly quickly, and he slept till 5am! So 6 hours between feeds! Yahoo! 

Now, of course when he woke, he was ravenous, and I tried only one side, but nothin' doin'. So I gave him a full feed of course, but he was wide awake at this point, despite my efforts to resettle him. He finally decided at 6:45am that he was tired again and went back to sleep.

I was going to wake him at  7:15 and just give him a half hour, but I was pretty tired myself, so I let it slip till 7:30am, and we continued on our day as usual.

He's really learned how to push himself up to a sit on his own now, so he's been practicing that, as well as almost crawling. I suspect that's part of his night wakings at the moment as I often find him sitting up and not quite sure what to do... lol. Sweet little guy.

So that's the skinny on the first 2 nights. I'll keep you posted as we go!

Thanks again for all your encouragement! 

[Erin M]

Sounds great!  Keep at it!

[*Ali*]

Definitely moving in the right direction

[jrmax]

Thanks ladies! Last night was even BETTER!

He woke at 10:30pm, so I fed him then (was about to do a DF, but he beat me to it by about 10 min), then put him back to sleep.

At 3:30am, we were at the 5 hour mark, and I woke up since I had to pee (lol - I guess I'm used to getting up and going since I've been awake!), so I put the white noise on, but he stirred, and eventually woke up (ugh -I was trying so hard to be quiet as a mouse!).

I was able to get him back to sleep without a feed! He wasn't giving me a hungry cry at all, just a few whimpers - I think he was annoyed from being woken up, then he slept till 6:54am!! I was astonished, and beyond thrilled!

If I can skip the bathroom at 3:30am tonight, I think he'll sleep right through!

Here's the kicker, I didn't do anything different (except hubby and I prayed with confidence on Friday night), and I just expected to face the night with a plan however it came, and he surprised me with this! Perhaps it's a miracle, or just absolute perfect timing, but whatever it is, we are THRILLED!

I'll let you know how tonight goes! YEEHAW!! 

[Erin M]

Woohoo!  Hoping for more sleep tonight!!

[Fiver]

Great news!!