Help! 9 mth old insisting on 2 night feeds now?

[meredith1851]

My 9 month old DS has been doing 1 night bottle (between 1:30 and 3:30) since he was 4 mths old. For the past 2 weeks (after he got his first teeth and seems to be teething again), he has been waking earlier and earlier..sometimes at 11:00PM for his bottle as well as insisting on a 2nd bottle feed around 3/4 AM. I have no idea what is going on as we have not changeg anything about his routine. We use to be able to go in when he fussed and re-pacify and he would go back to sleep, but now when he wakes he is very upset and the only way to settle him is to give him the bottle.  The first bottle feed is still about 5 oz's but the 2nd one is always much smaller so I know he does not need it.  Any thoughts on why all of a sudden he is doing this?  He takes about 26oz in a 24 hr period and is on 3 solids per day. Goes to bed around 7:30. Thoughts?

[Lolly]

It could be he is waking because of the teething and is using those feeds to get himself back to sleep - a comfort thing  Are you medicating for the teething at bedtime? A dream med can be good for getting them through the small hours too.

At this age he doesn't *need* a nightfeed but you may have to activly wean it if you don't want it to continue for much longer. If the second feed is much smaller I would start with that and just offer water when he wakes. I'm sure he will protest and you will have to settle him in a way he responds to and be consistent (no caving in ).

We weaned my DD's NF at about 8 months by reducing the milk in the bottle 1oz every third night and then only offering water if she woke (she slept through one night when the bottle was down to about 3oz). She wasn't impressed but we stuck to only offering water and she only woke another 2 or 3 nights when there was only water on offer.

His 24 hour milk intake is good, have you tried offering a bit more milk in the day to move those night calories over?  How is his solids intake? You could try increasing his solids a bit to see if that helps too.

Laura

[*Kara*]

How many bottles does he take each day?  Could be that you need to drop a bottle to let him increase his solids intake to the level he wants too... that happened here!

[meredith1851]

We have been medicating. His food intake is pretty good as well.....although it has been rough trying to get him to take the lumpier textures. He takes the puffs and rice husks just fine so I am confused why he can't take lumpier textures but all in all he is eating a good amount during the day. I give him his bottle (5 oz is all he takes usually) an hour before is solids and he drinks at aprox: 7AM, 11AM, 3PM, 7PM and then of course the 1 or 2 bottles during the wee hrs of the night.

[*Kara*]

Hmmm, it might be worth trying to move him to 3 bottles then...

Do one at wake up, then breakfast of solids a couple of hours later... I have found that pushing out morning solids to 2 hours gets my DD to take a full 8 ozs at wake.  It took a couple of days for her to adjust but she did!

Then do lunch of just solids... second bottle at ~ 3pm since you are already feeding at that time. 

Then do dinner of just solids... last bottle at BT.

Each bottle would be 8-9 ozs. 

RE: lumps.  My DD is exactly the same way... fine with purees and fine with finger foods that she has to chew... will not eat purees with chunks or lumps...

[meredith1851]

Thanks for the response. I am curious though........how would dropping a bottle help him not want to eat during the night? Wouldn't that make him hungrier? He never does more than a 5-6 oz bottle....thoughts?

[*Kara*]

Dropping a bottle will increase babies hunger, therefore they drink more at each bottle and eat more when it's time for solids.

At 9 months, he should easily drink at least 7 ozs each bottle.