1 yo still waking for night feeds....

[mumtosp]

Hi all,

DS is almost 1 and he's still not sleeping through the night. He wakes up atleast once or twice for a feed and sometimes just doesn't settle back.
He does sleep in his own cot in his own room, but he has to be fed to sleep...
How do I get him to sleep through the night? Since I've gone back to work, I really need him to sleep through the night... Having only about 4 hours of sleep on most night is killing me ! :(

Is he really hungry? I bf him morning and evening... the evening feed is after his bath and I feed him to sleep. Apart from that he has 3 5oz bottles - at 10 am, 3 pm and 10:30 pm. For the 10:30 pm feed, I just lift him up from his sleep and give him a bottle. The 10:30 feed is in the hope of him sleeping through the night...
Shall I increase his milk intake?

I've also listed the kind of food he has during that day....

1. Breakfast: Millet porridge with an entire apple or pear
   
2. Morning snack: 5oz bottle with a rice biscuit (sometimes fruit)
   
3. Lunch: Mixed veg curry + beetroot + yogurt for dessert
   
4. Afternon snack: 5oz bottle + cheese (sometimes fruit if he's still hungry)
   
5. Dinner: Chicken + Broccoli + Sweet Potato for dessert
   
6. BF after bath
   
7. 5 oz bottle at 10:30 pm
   
   Sorry for the long post.... I'm really not sure if his food intake is related to his night sleep...
   Btw, he has 2 naps in the day.
   
   TIA :)

[Catnap26]

It seems to me that he having plenty of food I wish my des 16 months would eat that much.perhaps he is waking out of habit and struggles to self soothe.have you considered controlled crying?

[Ihavethislittlesister]

He's not hungry and doesn't need to milk. Just associates waking in the night and getting back to sleep with feeding. Plus he probably misses you.

You need to break the habit of feeding to sleep at any time at all.

It doesn't have to be brutal but it will be hard. I did it very gently at 9 months and it almost instantly solved the night waking issues.

Good luck

[mumtosp]

Thanks all :)

I know I have to stop feeding him to sleep, but in the middle of the night it just seems the easiest thing to do ...

Ihavethislittlesister when does your lo have their last feed for the day ?

[brettgirl2]

I would reduce his milk intake 5 milk feeds a day at nearly 1 is loads. Mine had 2 by then. Give him more solid food.

[BarberryRicePud]

The no cry sleep solution is very good for gentle methods to fix this, or you could try slowly watering down the bottles until all he's offered overnight is water. His little tummy is used to food all night long and at a year, IMO, he really doesn't need it.

At 1 yr old DS had a split feed before and after bath, both from a cup, and then went to sleep on his own. Usually then slept til 5-6am. (Don't worry, at 5m he was still waking every 45 mins and fed to sleep so I did have my share of non-sleeping baby!). TBH it didn't really fix until I gave up BF (essential for my work) at 7m and switched him to a cup. I used formula but you could express.

Would you consider a cup for the last feed of the day? Less sucking so they don't go to sleep with it but you're reassured they've been offered milk if hungry. And then all you have to do is put them down...(!) but you do get there eventually.

[PollyIndia]

My baby slept through the night when I stopped feeding him at night (and stopped breastfeeding) with little or no crying. I had to soothe him and keep my hand on his chest until he dropped off for a few nights but since then (8 months) has slept t7-630 pretty religiously. I dropped one night feed at a time - until he was 6 months he was up every 3 hours.
He is 1 on Friday and has 1 x 7oz bottle before bed but will switch that to cows milk from a cup this week, and he has 6 oz of cows milk in a beaker in the morning.
Seems like your baby is eating plenty, so if it were me I would stop the night feeds.

[mumtosp]

Thanks again:)

I've been thinking of dropping all of DS's daytime bottles dna just giving him 1 in the morning and 1 at night - maybe it's time I did that...

PollyIndia will you be directly switching to cow's milk or introduce it slowly by mixing with formula ?

[BarberryRicePud]

I'd stop the night time ones first or you're just encouraging the night feeds.

[Fishandjam]

Watching with interest as DD is 15 months old and still needs a bottle at 11pm (sometimes another one between 11pm and 6am too) to go back to sleep. We have done controlled crying repeatedly but she always regresses, and we always cave in because we're so desperate for sleep

[Lucyadams184]

I wouldn't give milk in the night at this age I'd just give water, it's all about habit. You may have a few tears but it will be worth it in the end. When starting a new routine always start on a Friday as you have the weekend to deal with any sleepless nights.

[delilah89]

Watching with interest too. My DD is 11 months old and has so much milk throughout the day, probably 5 feeds, and then wakes up at 11pm, and 4.30am and sometimes even once in between for milk. Exhausted.

She;s in her own room but sometimes when we're away I sleep next to her and she sleeps through calmly and wakes later. I think it's just missing mum & they'll grow out of it eventually?

[waterrat]

okay here is what helped us stop night feeds (between about 8-10 months, ds was very good eater so I really knew he didn't need milk at night)

1 - send your partner in, we didn't pick ds up from cot, just soothed while sitting/ lying nearby - patting singing etc. this is the soft version - you could do tougher version by just going in and out, saying sleep time - or you could pick up and cuddle back to sleep to try to replace milk

2 - make a decision about how long he has to go between feeds at night and gradually lengthen it - that way when you wake up and look at the clock, you know you cant feed if it hasn't been 6 hours for example.

1. stop breastfeeding.....I know that is harsh, not at all saying you should if you dont want to, but that was the first step to better night sleep for us...partly I think because when you have to make up a bottle you are less likely to do it without trying to get them to sleep another way first.

basically - I think the honest and hard truth is that there is no way any child will suddenly stop waking for feeds - you have to enlist help from your partner and make the decision to stop, it will be grim for a couple of nights - but otherwise it goes on and on.....

the thing is, toddlers still wake in the night, my 18 month old still wakes sometimes crying, Im sure if I was still BF I would be shoving a boob in his mouth to get him to sleep.....but that wouldn't mean he needed the milk its just a habit between the two of oyu. Im sure you wont get a magic full nights sleep all the time - but stopping feeding at night really did have a big impact on sleep for us...its worth it!

[mumtosp]

Thanks all :)

If stopping breastfeeding is the answer then I guess we'll be having our last few feeds over the next few days... I'm going to miss feeding him :(

On a separate note, is there anyone out there who continued to breastfeed beyond 1 and their LOs didn't wake at nights for feeds? Just curious...

[waterrat]

I think the issue is less with whether he will wake and more with whether you choose to stop night feeds - toddlers wake at night when sick teething or for other reasons even when they are good sleepers. If you are bf it's your choice if you are going to use that for sleep.

You could decide no more night feeds and keep bf in the day - but it requires an iron will - once he has learnt to go back to sleep without it you might find it easier to stick to no night feeding as you know it can be done.

[Oceansurf]

My 11 month old has only 2 bottles (both 7oz) - one at 7am ish, and one at 6.30pm. She has nothing inbetween.

I would say he's waking out of habit not hunger.

If they wake in the night, drink of water, fresh nappy and a cuddle. That's it! Mind you, my DD rarely wakes!

[PollyIndia]

Mumtosp I am doing it gradually. So last weekend I switched the morning bottle over about 4 days and I am starting with the evening bottle tonight, gradually increasing the proportion of cows milk to formula. He loves the cows milk (though got a bit cross about the beaker this morning initially - had it all in the end though) but I want to introduce it gradually to make sure it's not too much of a shock to his system. I have heard some babies can get constipated with the change, but so far so good. I am also giving him vitamin drops now too - a multivitamin one and a vitamin d3 one.

[ZebraZeebra]

I too would like to stop the night feeds but I want to BF for as long as possible. We co sleep and I've toyed with the idea of just offering water. My HV suggested that - could you try that first over three or four nights?

[woundbobbin]

I have been in a similar situation dd is just one and has slept through once she is ebf I was never able to express & couldn't get her to take a bottle. I stopped giving her milk in the day a while ago but always fed her back to sleep at night because of work etc i bit the bullet at 11 months and gradually stopped feeding over night it's been much easier than I expected she is sleeping much better (although I have a bad back from rocking her to sleep) dropping the feed that gets her to sleep is my next goal