NW at 8 months old and still doing it at 11 months?

[Eva's Mummy]

My LO has been sleeping through the night since 8 weeks from 6:30 – 6:30. Once she turned 8 months old she started waking during the night and she still is now. She has has several illness, general coughs and colds, swollen tonsils, chest infection, gastroenteritis, and now another cough and cold.

During this time she has steadily been going off her food up the the point that 3 weeks ago she wouldn’t eat any solids at all, now she is up to having 2 meals a day but still refuses the 3rd. So since she was not eating properly I was feeding at all NW’s.

She wakes every night between midnight and 1:00 then again between 5 and 5:30, I am worried now that maybe she doesn’t want her 3rd meal as she knows she gets fed during the night, and she certainly does know as when I go to her the first thing she does in open her mount for the bottle.

I am not sure what to do as she is not eating great during the day, but don’t know if I am making it worse?

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs Hun. Do you think teething is part of the problem?

It's a catch 22... She isn't that hungry during the day be ause of the NF, but is hungry at night because of not enough day eating.

If she is well. I would give 1 NF only. Pick a time and tick with it. Personally I would not feed before 2am, then not again till morning. I think she will probably be a bit angry so a few rough nights. But I also think she will adjust pretty quick. After this you can then work on ditching the NF.

What do you think?

[Eva's Mummy]

She is definitly teehting i can see 1 tooth cutting but i am pretty sure we will get a few this time but she has been doing this for 3 months now so i dont think that is the main problem. So when she wakes between midnight and 2 what is the best plan of action to get her back to sleep?

So i will keep feeding at the 5 / 5:30 NW as this usually gets me a better WU time, she doesn't get a morning bottle anyway i just give breakfast and do the bottle before her 1st nap, as you suggested.

It is a catch 22, there is always something isn't there?

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, yeah we have two top teeth causing grief here so I know how hard it is on them and us
Can you just soothe without feeding at 12-2 one? Even if you cuddle? That said if you now the tooth is right there you can just wait and once they pop through ditch the feed then
 

[Eva's Mummy]

Ive tried cuddling her on the rocking chair but she just cries and arches her back, i can venetually get her settled but once i put her back in the cot she starts again a few mins later. If i try to settle in the cot she just, well she just wont she'll keep crying until  feed her.

[Buttonbobs]

Hi Gail, I have to say I agree with Sara, you are in a catch 22 situation, but unless you want Eva to want to eat every night I can't think of another way to deal with the problem other than Sara's suggestion of picking a time say 2am and not feeding before then. Like you say, she may well cry a lot the first night, but as long as you don't leave her, and perhaps you can try to APOP some sleep, then she will learn.

I'm not trying to suggest this is an easy step, by any means, but if you do have a rough couple of nights she will be hungry enough to eat in the daytime again and she'll probably be tired enough to sleep better at night again.

Hugs again as I know things have been hard going for you. I do think the NWs won't go away while you keep feeding at night.

[Eva's Mummy]

Thanks Sara and Naomi, well so far so good. She is now only waking once between 2:30 - 3:30 where i give her 5oz. So she is actually hungry when she wakes up and wants a bottle. She has started eating more aswell but we have just had 1 tooth cut and it looks like we have another 3 on their way. So you think i should stick to this st them moment to get her used to 1 NF or just start trying to get rid og the other one. Should i just stop it or reduce the amount in the bottle every few days?

[katie80]

Hi hon, just popping on for some extra support. Well done on getting rid of that first feed.

I think at this point, it's up to you whether you drop the second one or not. It can be harder for some while they're teething, but since the first one seemed to go pretty easy the second one might as well. You could definitely start reducing the bottle and adding the oz back into her day. If the waking is habitual enough (within a 30-60min time frame), you could also try wake-to-sleep to get her past it once you get down to not much milk. Otherwise, you can hold tight til those other teeth are through and do it then. But, depending on how she teethes, that could last longer than you want.

What do you think?

[Eva's Mummy]

Thanks for popping on honey. I would love to wait till she stopps teething but she seems to teeth for months on end before anything happens. I will try reducing the amount of milk i assume i reduce it by an oz every few days? It used to always be habitual around 5/5:30 but since she has dropped the first NF it can be anywhere from 2:30 - 4:30 if the time gets more consistant as i am dropping the volume i will try wake to sleep. For that how long before the WU do i go into her room to do it?

[katie80]

I will try reducing the amount of milk i assume i reduce it by an oz every few days?

Yes, I would do an oz every 2-3 days and add that to one of her day time feeds.

For that how long before the WU do i go into her room to do it?

For NWs, you go in an hr before the habitual wake.  Here's the link... How do I address habitual wakings?  (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

HTH... keep us posted!

[Buttonbobs]

Good luck Gail xx

[ZacsMumme]

Good luck! W2s works well here

[Eva's Mummy]

Woo Hoo i dont want to temp fate but we have had 2 nights of sleeping throught the night. The first night she slept from 19:17 - 6:10 and last night it was from 19:20 then she woke at 5:10 chatted away for 40 mins then i had to wake her at 7:15 so we could go to work.

Its bliss, now if only i could sleep through the night i keep waking up when she used to wake (silly mummy) but it is lovely to wake and hear nothing and know i can roll over and go back to sleep.

Thank you all, it actually happened sooner than i thought your are all little gems xxxxx

PS (hope i've not just jinxed myself)

[katie80]

Yay, well done, Eva! Keep it up! Hope you get some sleep soon too, Gail!

[Buttonbobs]

Yay!! Fingers crossed for tonight and that you get some sleep too xx