8 month old is hungry at night

[frankiesmom]

Hi, my 8 month old still wakes once or twice at night and downs an 8 ounce bottle.  I know he is hungry, it is not habit.  It is at different times and he refuses to go back to sleep, even if we pick him up, rock him, etc.  He eats very greedily and then goes right back to sleep.  Alot of times he is still awake when we put him back down. 
He takes 2 1.5 hour naps every day and takes 3 bottles of 8 ounces each and 3 solid meals (although he isn't the greatest solid eater).  I have tried, feeding him more frequently, but he ends up just eating less per meal or bottle, I have tried watering down his bottle  at night, but then he gets up more at night to eat, b/c he is still  hungry.
Anyway, I can't force him to eat more during the day, but I know it is a vicious cycle.  We also tired 2 full weeks of PU/PD, which worked when he wasn't hungry, but it would go on for 2 hours sometimes.  That was when I realized he was still hungry.

Anyone experience this or have any suggestions?

Thanks, Kim

[Dree]

Hi F,

My DD is also 8mths old. Have you tried to decrease his bottle to say 5 or 6oz and increase his solids. What I do with my DD is to give her a 4-6oz bottle then wait 1hr and feed her solids. That way I know she is hungry for it. Right now my DD is teething so that is why it got decreased to 4oz. Overall she manages to drink 20-24oz a day in 4 bottles. I kept it that way so she can eat more solids. I noticed that the less she drank the more she ate.

Your LO is waking up because he is not eating enough solids. I would try to decrease oz's and increase solids. You will see it makes a difference.

Let me know how it goes
Dree 

[frankiesmom]

I know he is not eating enough during the day, but I am just not sure how exactly to fix it.  For the past few weeks, he has been getting up around 5 and taking a full bottle, and then going right back to sleep until 7:30, so when he wakes up, instead of giving him a bottle, he gets solids about an hour after waking, it then works out that he gets a bottle before his nap and he eats solids when he wakes up, etc. 
He just does not seem to like to eat. I am not used to this b/c ds#1 was always and still is a great eater.  Luca whines the whole time he is in the high chair.  He wants to feed himself, and I think he has eaten a bunch, and then I pick him up and there is a ton of stuff on his seat b/c he missed his mouth  He also freaks out if he doesn't have some water to drink while he is eating. 
So, anyway, there seems to be enough time between his bottles and his solids that it shouldn't interfere, but you are suggesting that i cut back on the total amount of formula he is getting during the day even if he will eat more?

Thanks, Kim

[Dree]

I am in no means suggesting that you starve your child. I am suggesting that you lower his full bottle from 8oz to 5oz and increase his solids. You will see, he will eat more. My DD did the same thing. She was eating solids less and I thought well that just won't do. I need to find another method.

You should spoon-feed him first, then let him play with his food if he wants especially if he misses his mouth...cute. lol  . Make sure that you are feeding him every 4hrs. otherwise, he will not be hungry. If he wakes up at 5am and takes a full bottle. His next feeding should be at 9am. My dd schedule is 6am-bottle, 7am  bfk -solids, 10am - bottle, 11am lunch-solids, 2pm bottle 6pm dinner- solids and bottle at bed time.

Why did you switch to 3 bottles so early. Aren't we supposed to do that later ?

Dree 

[frankiesmom]

Of course you weren't suggesting to starve him .  I really didn't switch to 3 bottles, it was just that he was getting up to eat between 5 and 6 but going back to sleep, so he wouldn't eat when he woke up a few hours later, so I decided to skip that one and then go every four hours from his last bottle.  So, he would end up eating around 10 which was before his first nap and around 2 which was before his second nap. And then before bed, so that ends up still being 4 bottles, it is just that they start really early morning, not when he gets up for the day.
So, I should try to keep him on the same schedule (for now), just not allow him to eat the full 8 ounces.  And then hopefully he will last longer at night b/c he will eat more solids during the day, right?

Thanks, Kim

[Colin Macs Mom]

Kim some babies do need a night feed (legitimately) for quite some time, even up to a year or a little beyond. You might just have one of those. The key is to make sure LO is genuinely hungry, which yours obviously is, and then feed if that's the case.

[Layla]

Kim, I just wanted to say that both my los are one of those babies that needed a night feed. Dd1 had a night feed till she was 9 months. Then around 9 months I noticed her taking less of the bottle at night so I stopped going to her with a bottle and she only started sleeping straight through then. She was a very easy baby thou so she has always taken to changes well. Dd2 is 8 months now and is still having 1 night feed. She wakes at different times of the night so its not habitual and she genuinly is hungry. She has only ever slept all night 2 times (last night and 2 weeks ago). In my case, when she used to wake like 3 times to feed (and hence have less during the day), it was suggested that I water her formula down. I did that and so we are down to 1 night feed and I can tell she is having more during the day now. But if your lo is having 1 night feed, imo, that is normal as well.

Good luck
Layla

[frankiesmom]

Thanks for the support.  I really can't complain.  Ds generally gets up once, sometimes twice, and eats a bottle in like 5 minutes and goes right back to sleep.  It is actually kind of sweet, b/c he is so cuddly.  I am a little tired of getting up, but I know this won't last forever.
Layla, I also watered down ds bottles and got him from 3 to 1 night feeding, so I guess he still really needs this one.  It is just that whatever I read, even Tracy's  book, it makes it sound like you are doing something wrong if your lo is still eating at this age. 

Poor Luca didn't have a great start with food, either.  He had really bad reflux that was not properly treated until I pushed and pushed to have his doses increased.  He was diagnosed with a food allergy and I had to stop bf b/c the GI doc told me he was allergic to my milk.  He also told me that he couldn't have any solids until he was a year old and he put him on this awful formula, Neocate.  I finally got a second, and then a third opinion and now we are on Similac and having no problems with his solids.  Anyway, getting him to eat up until a few months ago was a nightmare.  I should just be happy he is eating 8 ounces at a time, even if it is at 4 in the morning!!!!

Thanks again for reassuring me.  DS1 stopped eating at night at 4 months, so this is a new adventure for me!

Kim

[Layla]

Hang in there Kim, I really miss my sleep as well  . I read sooo many books with #1 and they all made me feel that I was doing something wrong, until I finally accepted that a book is just a book. All babies are different and some will sleep through the night at 4 months and some not until 9 or 12 months.

And you're right, this won't last forever - I think the maj of babies drop night feeds by 12 months anyway and if it goes beyond that, you can probably put it down to habitual feeding and start working on cutting it out with finding other methods of settling him.

Good luck
Layla

[Dree]

Hi Kim,

I am just suggesting that you increase solids and decrease the oz's of formula you give per bottle...Not by much. Just so that he understands that solids are eventually going to take over his formula fed. Now there are going to be some mommies who will disagree with me on this but I did speak to my DD ped and he told me that eventually she will be drinking less formula and eating more food. He said this is what we want. I have to agree with him. Sofia still gets 20-24oz of formula a day. Formula is still important. But not for too much longer.

Let me know if it worked
Dree 

[frankiesmom]

Okay, thanks.  Right now he gets btw 24 and 32 oz.  I will try limiting it a little bit so maybe he will eat more solids.  I'll let you know.  Hopefully he is just in that transition period btw mostly formula to mostly solids.

Thanks, Kim

[Dree]

Hi F,

Try to wait 1hr between solids and formula and see if that makes a difference. It did for my LO. 

Take care
Dree