Erin did well yesterday, such a ham.
She went down well too. I put a blanket on her to make sure she would be warm. She woke up at 12 to eat and took a full feeding (4 oz.) then DH put her back to bed. She woke up at 3:30 (I was happy that she was back on her normal middle night wake up), I changed her and assumed she was hungry as she normally is at this hour. She only took one ounce willingly. I forced fed her another ounce and put her back to bed. 5:30, she wakes up again. I think, she must be hungry, but I also use my intuition and stop for a second. I change her diaper and notice she is yawning again and not really rooting, so I calmed her down with a paci, stayed with her about 30 minutes and then left he room. She did go back to sleep but only 30 minutes. Figured she must be hungry now, she normally is up for the day at 7am. She only takes 2 ounces! Ugh! I ended up bringing her into our bed and she's peacefully slept there until now.
Here's my thing: I've noticed the past few nights, she hasn't taken a full feeding at that 3:30 time. So, I'm wondering if she is waking up and can't get her self back to sleep and needs help. Thus the comfort sucking. She also hasn't eagerly been taking the bottle at that time either. I'm thinking she is ready to drop that feed, but I don't know how to get her to go back to sleep for good at that hour! Today, I will be getting a sleep sack and possibly a sound machine. My Shhhing helped calm her at 5:30, so I'm wondering if the sound machine will work.
It would be nice to have her not wake up for that feeding if she doesn't need it and just sleep until 5. I'm pretty sure she is capable of that now as she isn't taking a full feeding at 3am anymore. The nights before last, she would take 3 ounces willingly.
So here is what I'm wondering:
Should I slowly wean her off of that bottle, like only offer her an ounce less every few days? Also, if she only took 3 ounces a few night before and then last night only one ounce, maybe she is weaning herself off, or just needs that comfort suck to get back to sleep.
Should I bear through the possiblilty of having to calm her other ways that may only work for a 30 minute sleep, thus leaving me to get up every half hour from 3am to 5am? what should I do??
