Need some advice

[Tatumsmom]

Hi everyone,
My dd is now 8 months old and she is still waking at night at least once to eat. She goes to bed at 7 and sleeps to about 8 but is up once during the night to eat. She wakes at different times every night but it is usually in the early morning. She is on three solid meals a day plus 4 bottles of 6 oz + a 6 oz bottle in the night. I have tried everything to get her to drop that night feed with no luck. She is not a big eater and never has been. Her solids consist of cereal and fruit, veggies and yogurt.She gets about three tablespoons of solids at a feed.I tried her on some baby meat,but she got sick and through it up. I was just wondering if someone could tell me how much solids and formula she should be getting at 8 months. I'm soooooo confused and frustrated about the night feed. She has only slept through the night once from about 7 to 6:30. She is a really good sleeper and I never hear a peep from her unless she is hungry.Like I said I've tried everything. Is it normal for some babies to still eat at night? I hate to admit it but I even resorted to CIO one night!!
Any thoughts or advice would be great.
Kim

[Scate]

Hi Kim,

What a beautiful little girl you have!

I don't have this problem, but thought I could suggest maybe increasing her last bottle (6:30 pm) and then maybe decreasing the night one until you've got rid of it.

I do know lots of people with kids older than one who still give a night bottle just to keep the peace. Can dd hold her own bottle yet? If so, it may be worth trying to just give it to her in her bed and not picking her up to feed her - she may lose interest.

My dd does not eat a whole lot either, but seems to be ok. Do you give her cereal in the evenings? Try moving a carb rich meal to the evening meal and that might do the trick.

Good luck.

Cate

[Tatumsmom]

Hi Cate,
Thanks for the reply. I love the picture of your little angle, too cute.

I have tried increasing her evening bottle, but when she's full she's full and I can't get anymore into her. I also have tried decreasing the night bottle but she will wake up again if I don't give her a full feed.

She doesn't seem like she wants to hold her own bottle yet, but maybe when she does I can try feeding her in her crib.

I do give her cereal in the evening and I have also started putting a couple of tsps in her last bottle, but so far no luck.

What would you suggest for the  carb rich meal?

Thanks again for the suggestions.
Kim

[Sydney]

Kim

Have you ever done the dreamfeed (df) with dd?  I know it doesn't work well for everyone, but it worked wonders with our dd.  We offered her a 6 oz bottle at 7:00 pm she then slept until 10:00 and we would then offer her another 6 oz bottle.  We would go in her room with the lights off, take her out of her crib and just put the bottle in her mouth.  She would be semi-awake, but not completely awake. She would eat what she wanted of the bottle and we would then put her back down and she would sleep until 6:30 - 7:00 pm.

We stopped doing this at 7 months as she ended up taking less and less of the 10:00 df and eventually didn't need it. 

HTH's. 

[*Natasha*]

Kim this sounds more like a bottle feeding issue rather than a solids issue. At this age her bottles are still the most important intake and solids isn't always an answer for getting your baby to sleep through the night. I am going to move this over to the bottle feeding forum hopefully you will get some great advice their.

[Tatumsmom]

HI Aleisha,
I haven't seen you on the boards for awhile. How are you and Sydney doing? As you can tell I'm still struggling with nights.
I did use the DF, but stopped because it was causing more wakings. Do I you think I should Try again?
Thanks for the post.
Kim

[Sydney]

Hi Kim

We are doing well, thanks for asking!  I found this on the bottle boards re: the df and cluster feeding. 

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=54662.0

There is a lot of useful information there that Calum's Mum - Lauren - put together.  I totally agree with Natasha re: bottle being more important than solids.  Don't worry about her solids at the moment as that isn't going to make her sleep longer.  Bottles are more filling than solids.

HTH's and you will get things sorted out soon

[Kimberly®]

I noticed you saying you could feed her in the crib when she learns to hold her own bottle. Deffinitly DON'T start doing that. Many reasons for it not being a good idea.

1) its easy for that to become a prop and therefore she need the feed to sleep
2) it can cause teeth decay
3) it can be a saft hazzerd


When she wakes at night is she crying? or fussing/mantra cry?
Do you give her a chance to settle herself?
What have you tried for settleing besides the feedings?
Does your LO take a full feed?
Can you try giving an extra bottle during the day at some point? If its a hunger issue she'll need more calories in the day, do you feed before or after a bottle?
Sorry if you've said this before but, how much solids does she take at each meal? and how many meals a day?

[Tatumsmom]

Hi Karita,
I would never leave a bottle in bed with Tatum, I'm a dental assistant and know to well the effects of that. It was just suggested to give her a bottle in bed and not pick her up in hopes she loses interest. I would of course stay with her as long as she had the bottle. Your right though I don't think I should start doing that.
When she wakes she starts off fussing and then will start really crying if I ignore her.
I always wait until she is really crying before I even go to her room.
To settle her  I've tried the pat/shush(this makes her laugh at me!!) I've tried pick up/ put down( this makes her really really mad) I've tried a soother, a lovie, patting her bum and rubbing her cheek.
Sometimes this works but then she wakes up again like in half an hour to an hour.
She always takes a full feed in the night.
She has about 3tbls of solids at a feed. I always feed her a bottle and then wait half hour to an hour and then give her solids. I could try giving her an extra bottle in the day but I'm worried about her becoming a snacker(we had trouble with that in the beginning).
I think I answered all you questions. PLEASE,PLEASE tell me what to do I'm desperate.
If it's normal for some babies to still need to eat at night I'm o.k with that I just don't want to be spending hours at night trying to get her not to eat if she really needs it KWIM?
Thanks for the reply.
Kim

[Cohensmom]

Hi Kim,
Just saw your post.  Maybe you could try the dream feed one night, see how it goes, then if she eats a full bottle you'll know not to feed her if she wakes in the night.  Yes I know it could backfire on you but at this point you're desperate so it's definitely worth a shot.  lol  What about a sippy cup when she wakes in the night.  Do you think that could make her lose interest?  You may get hit in the head with it like my friend did once she started giving her lo sippy cups instead of bottles, but another thing you could try.

When we were talking today you mentioned that Zachary and Jen's little girl are both sleeping through the night as well as Cohen.  Do you know what type of formula they both are using?  I know we've talked about Good Start before but could it just not be filling her up enough as the formula that I've been giving Cohen?  Just a thought...

No matter what just always know that you are a GREAT mother who's raising a BEAUTIFUL daughter.  I am SOOOOOO excited to see her when you get back.  Nothing you've done is contributing to this problem.....she's just got more personality/stubborness than most little girls her age.  LOL

Hope you have a good night and sweet dreams.  TTYL

Michelle