Hi ladies,
DS has gone back to wanting b/fs at about 10pm and 3pm; sometimes another one at 5.30am, if I feel like he hasn't had enough rest and shouldn't be starting the day so early. This is totally AP related as I felt so sorry for him during his last teething jag; And I totally acknowledge that feeding him at night has become a prop for him to go back to sleep.
As a result, he's got used to having the majority of his nutrition at night: He chows down during these two feeds for at least 8 minutes from one side per time. I'm lucky to get 8 minutes from both sides during the daytime feedings; I suspect because he's distracted quite easily, and he's simply just not hungry given that he eats so much at night.
I know that at 9.5 months DS could go the whole night, and could certainly go an 8/9 hour stretch. I'd like to fix things so that at least we have only one nw after 3am (he goes to bed between 6pm and 7pm depending on tiredness; usually 6.20pm ish).
I'm late in coming to you for advice, in that I started trying to stop the nw b/fs last night. Given that he's used to eating at night, and presumably would be "hungry," I set myself the goals of tackling the feeds one at a time (starting with the earliest) of offering him water for thirst, and soothing him till 1am, at which point I would feed him on one side and put him back down. My aim is to get him used to longer periods at night without milk so that his body doesn't wake expecting it at that time.
Well, he woke later than usual, at about 11.30pm. He didn't resettle till 1am when I fed him. I offered him water twice, which he took, and he was calm in my arms while I gave it to him. The fussing started when I put him back down without a feed. It continued off and on for the 1.5 hours till I fed him. He wasn't really upset enough to be continuing pu/pd throughout the whole 90 minutes; but there were a few spikes when I did. And of course once he was fed, he was content.
Do you ladies have any advice, or thoughts about the way I'm going about this? I would go cold turkey except I do think he's at the stage where his body expects the nourishment at that time of night. I would gradually reduce the minutes I b/f, except my letdown can take a minute or two, and we're going to reach a point where I unlatch before DS even gets anything!
The one good thing is that after the 1am feed he skipped straight through to his wake-up time of 6.20am (I can hear him starting to wake on the monitor). He missed his other wake-ups of 3am and 5.30am. I'm not claiming any credit for that however; I think he was tired from being awake for 90 minutes in the night. Let's just hope that I don't have an overtired boy on my hands today
.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Katy
How old is your child?
9.5 mos
What’s his/her daily routine?
down at 6.30pm ish; up at 6.30am ish; 2 naps, A times of 3 hrs; 3.5 hrs; 4 hrs
What’s nap routine?
quiet play time, books, lights out, twinkle twinkle, lovie, in crib.
How long are naps?
AM 45 mins. PM 1 hr 20 mins.
What's bedtime routine? Time?
Bath, b/f, massage, jammies, books with daddy, into crib. starts about 45 mins before bedtime.
Do you bottle or breastfed??
b/f
How much? or how long?
4 times pd. 8-10 minutes per feed.
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)
Both
How many wakes per night?
Currently 2-3.
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
Cries/fusses. Up till I b/f, then back to sleep.
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
Suspect it's more fussing than real "I need you" crying.
What have you tried to settle??
pu/pd when necessary. water. singing twinkle twinkle. back rubbing till sleepy. b/f.
What do you do for A time and how long is it?
1st: 3 hrs. 2nd: 3.5 hrs. 3rd; 4 hours. Play with toys; work on crawling; rotate through different rooms in the house; go for walks outside; play in paddling pool.
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
Teething and crawling.
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)
n/a
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
My boobs!
Do they have a lovie?
Yes.