If im honest i would abandon all night feeds, at this age they dont understand time and as far as she is concerned you are feeding her. Its a bot easier with a smaller child in terms of time, as technically you are just stretching out feeds, but your LO doesnt actually need to eat at night. I think you will make progress if uou dont feed.
I think you are probably right. DH is really struggling with the idea of her not eating at all all night. He thinks she needs some calories. Funny since he is the one sleeping on her floor, you'd think he'd be all over it! But he's a softie at heart and doesn't want her to be hungry. I do think she would be hungry for a couple of nights but I would hope she would shift those calories to the daytime.
When i was weaning night feeds, I would nurse and then read a book or brush teeth so my kids would not associate it with sleep anymore.
That's a good idea
when she cries during the night, how quickly do you run up to settle her? if you aren't feeding her how are you settling her? (sorry if you've already asked this)
Well we had tried waiting but she just escalates. The last couple of nights DH is on her floor so not long at all. Since we've stopped the MOTN feeds he has been laying on her floor and talking to her, which usually works ok but she goes back to sleep for only 30 or 45 min before she wakes again, if that.
in all honestly, i tried all sorts of nice ways to get my kids thru sleeping issues (GW, WI/WO, etc) but being firm, consistent and dropping feeds cold turkey was what worked. my kids are like those books "if you give a mouse a cookie" and then i'm doing all sorts of crazy things to get them to sleep.
Haha. That made me laugh, at least! My others didn't do this. DD1 would nicely take one feed at night at this age and DS was sleeping through the night. C is just holding on!
I was able to work on my DD STTN when my DS was OOT - staying with the grandparents. could grandparents watch your other 2 for a few days? it made it so much easier.
I wish but no one lives close by. I've honestly thought about hiring a sitter to come over for the nighttime for a few days! But I can't imagine who nor how much it would cost.
I get the frustration... I've felt the same with Charlie and after I've finally gotten him to sleep have gone back to bed and cried for forgiveness because I've felt so angry. Sleep deprivation is awful!
It really is. We just aren't close to our best selves when this is all going on.
I also think it's almost impossible to get rid of all NWs when teeth are erupting. I struggled to do it with G, and he is very easy-going/textbook. Once the teeth were through, it was quite simple (the 2-3 day struggle and done).
I do think you're right. The teeth cause so much trouble! C is just an epically slow teether so it's so hard to know when that is the main issue. Although we did have a new one erupt the other day and I think the one on the other side is right behind. Last night we remembered to redose meds at midnight and she did seem to be less unsettled (nice double negative! lol). I hate medicating her twice every night but it does seem to help some.
Thanks for all the hugs and vibes. I am ready to be through this stage! If I was going to be sad about not having another this is really helping so maybe the universe is setting me up for a reason!
