11 month old waking through night and wanting bottle

[shannonp]

Hi there, i need help!!  My DS is 11 1/2 month old and he is still waking through the night.  He is up at 11:30pm, 1:30am and he will stay up until i give him a bottle.  He is on formula and last night for instance he took 8 oz before bed and wanted more at 11:30pm.  His routine is exactly the same everyday.  He was teething but both of his two top teeth have broken through.  Could it be seperation anxiety?  But then when i give him a bottle he's out until morning.  That's another issue, he wakes up at 5:30am every morning.  I've tried putting him to bed earlier and later but nothing works.  I thought i wasn't feeding him enough so i give him more and thats not working.  He's getting enough milk through the day and his naps run from 1-1.5 hrs each time,  one in morning and one in the afternoon.  He has been a good sleeper before all this.  Sleeping from 7pm-5:30am without waking up and i didn't mind that at all as long as he slept through the night but now its constant.  I was up 5 times last night and i wouldn't go in b/c i wanted to see if he'd fall alseep on his own like he use to, but i go in there and he's just sitting there whining, talking, and crying.  He can go for 1 hr or more just sitting there and then as soon as i give a bottle he's out to sleep.  HELP PLEASE!!

5:30am --wake up
6:00--bottle (usually only 4 oz)
7:00--cereal and fruit
8:30--nap/bottle( remainder of morning bottle - 4 oz)
10:00--w/u
10:30--snack
11:45--lunch
12:30--bottle --6oz
1:00--nap  ( his nap is this time b/c i have to p/u older son at school for 2:30pm)
2:15--w/u
3:00--snack
5:00--dinner
6:00--bathtime
6:30--bottle--8oz
7:00--bedtime

This is the same everyday and he is still waking up during night and waking up early so what am i doing wrong?

shannon

[shannonp]

Hi stacy,  He finishes then goes to sleep.  Sometimes he doesn't even want that much or any of it.  When do you think i should give him his bottles?  I think the morning and bedtime bottles are fine it's just in betwwen i'm having difficulty with.  He won't take a bottle if he has had lunch or should i give it when he has a snack or what?  That's where i'm little confused.  I nursed him until he was 9 1/2 months and my older child never had formula where i nursed him until 1 yr exactly and he does not even like milk to this day.    He takes milk in his cereal or likes chocolate milk so the formula is a new thing to me and i'm still trying to figure the times out when to give him his bottle.  I tried this morning to put him down without a bottle and he just just cried for a 1/2 hr then i gave him a bottle and he went right to sleep.  So what do you suggest?

shannon

[shannonp]

Well I just put him down for his nap at 2:45pm ( his routine is alittle off because he got up later today from all the night wakings last night) and did not use a bottle and he's fast asleep so he does go down without one sometimes.  I'll have to put him down later tonight b/c if i put him down the same time as usual, he'll be up all night, i've done this before.  I've also tried the p/u p/d method and it did not work for me.  I guess i'll have to wait until tonight to see what happens.  Thanks for the advice stacy

shannon

[teezee]

i do think that your lo is snacking in the morning and that may be part of the reason for the night wakings.  if you get lo on a even 4+hr routine i think that would be very beneficial. his morning feed 'should' be much larger seeing as he take 6 and 8 oz later in the day. are you feeding at all at night now?? lo may be getting too many calories at night/not enough during the day kwim?  if he knows he can have it at night he will wake for it and that makes his daytime intake suffer...especially he slept so well before - he can make it through the night!  the two 4 oz feeds in the morning really stand out at me - and i think if you spread them out to at least 4 hrs he would take more for at least the second feed.  the other feed i am pretty sure is small b/c he is taking in formula at night where he used to take it in the morning. let me know what you think...

oh and what if you tried keeping lo up til say 1:30 for the second nap? just to extend that A time a bit so that there isn't as long of a wait in A time before bed? or maybe opt for an earlier bedtime - say 6 or 6:30??

[shannonp]

Hi there, Thank you for the advice.  His first snack isn't until 10:30am so you think i should cut that out?  My sister-in-laws doctor said that babies need 3 meals a day along with 3 snacks a day and with the milk intake.  Now, i thought that is quite alot b/c i feel like i am feeding him all the time!  What do you think?  Also, i can't move his afternoon nap later b/c i have to pick up my older son at 2:30pm from school and so i have to leave the house at 2:15pm which means i'd have to wake him up at 2:00pm.  I do put him to bed between 6:30-7:00pm every night and i've tried to put him down earlier but its all the same.  He's up early every morning and during the night.  Now i was reading in a diff posting and could this be a growth spurt?  i know he is teething but his teeth have broken through.  Tonight, i gave him dinner at 5pm, then a bath at 6pm, his bottle at 6:20pm( he took 8oz of milk) but this time i went back into living room and did not put him in his crib like i usually do.  I put him into his crib at 6:50pm and he screamed for 20 mins and so i went in there and rocked him and he started to fall asleep so i put him in his crib and he was out.  I guess i'll have to wait and see what happens tonight.

shannon

[teezee]

no no - i didn't mean the 'snack'  i meant the way your lo is taking bottles 6 and then at 8:30 is what tracy refers to as snacking. sorry i was misunderstood!

i personally only give my lo a snack if we are out and about and she needs something to extend her a bit longer otherwise i feed her breast milk, after a half hr or so solids (puree, etc), then finger foods. she eats very well and ALWAYS has room for finger foods and never gets hungry in between. i don't know if it is the suggested or 'proper' way by any means - all i know is it works for us! it does feel like i am feeding dd all day long BUT she lo's are growing and need the nutrition...i like being able to get that feeding chunk out pretty much all in one sitting kwim? i know eventually i will have to spread it out a bit but for now it's good for us.

do you always rock lo to sleep? the night wakings could in part be due to the way lo is falling asleep for the night...
do you have anyone at all that could either pick up your son from school for you? or come over and 'watch' lo while sleeping and you go? i think you may continue having this issue if you can't fix the napping. how early have you tried putting lo to bed?

let me know how the night gets on

[shannonp]

Well, he was in bed at 7pm last night and yes i do rock him but not to sleep.  Its kind of the calming time before bed and then i put him in awake and he watches me leave and then he goes to sleep.   He was awake at 11:30pm like always and i did not give him a bottle this time b/c he took 8 oz before bed.  So i rocked alittle with him but before that he was crying and screaming b/c he's used to a bottle at that time.  So i put him back into his crib and he woke up at 5am then fell back to sleep and was up at 5:30am.  So i gave him his bottle and he only took about 5oz , then i put him back in his crib and he's still sleeping and its 7:20am right now.  So i'm not sure in this case to give him the rest of the bottle or go straight to cereal when he gets up.  I'll let you know.

shannon

[shannonp]

he did not want the bottle instead he wanted to play with my older son.  So i'll give him his cereal soon and when do you think i should give him the next bottle?  He'll most likely go down for his nap at around 9:30am.  Its alot easier on weekends for his naps because my older son goes to his fathers for sat and sun so he has his afternoon nap later.  but it does not seem to work for his night wakings.

shannon

[shannonp]

Thank you so much for your help!  Its 9:00am right now, so I'll keep him up until 9:45 or 10:00am and then give bottle at 11:00am or so.  I fed him his cereal at 8:15am so he is good to go!  I must seem like a dummy with all these questions!       I never went through this with my older son.  He slept fine but he also was in a toddler bed at 1 1/2 yrs old and he slept with me most the time and also he wasn't on formula.  He never woke during the night so this is all new to me.  So thank you for your patience.  I'll let you know how it goes for his nap.

shannon

[shannonp]

Well stacy, i put him in his crib at 9:45am b/c i knew it would take a while for him to settle down .  I did it with no bottle and no rocking in the chair, and he went to sleep in about 15mins or so.  He did a lot of crying and screaming but i did this with him when he was younger ( let him cry it out alittle bit) i just lost the way.  Anyways, thank you for the help.  We'll see how it goes today.  Well, its 2:30pm and he doesn't seem to want to go for his nap, after is morning nap he only took 3oz of milk, for lunch he had a jar of custard and thats it.  He does not want to eat anything today. Do you think its because of the routine change?  he is pretty happy today so its not affecting him in that way so i'm not sure what it is.

shannon