Still eats every 3 hours throughout the night..

Kellie - posted on 05/10/2010

Not saying I believe this or not because my son doesn't get up in the middle of the night but I read this in my baby book the other day and thought I'd share...kind of going along the lines of what Bridget's doctor said.



The question in my book was, "my nine month old still has middle of the night feedings. Is there something wrong with him?"

The doctor answered, "Your baby gets used to eating a snack or a meal in themidle of the night, so he continues to be hungry at that time. Equate this to working the nightshift and having your lunch break at 3am. Yes, your body will work up an appetite if you are used to it. Stop eating at 3am and your body will no longer be hungry. Parents frequently continue these feedings well beyond six months of life because their babies continue to demand it."



I found this in my other baby book. "Babies become trained night feeders. You've just allowed him to get part of his nutritional needs met during the night beyond when he needs them. Healthy, full term babies are all capable of fasting for up to 12 hours at night by six months of age. Stop the night feeding and he will stop being hungry. That's easy to say, right? Offer water at 3am and see what happens. It's likely to be rejected the first night. And yes, your child will protest. The second night, offter water again. The protesting will be less lengthy. By the third night, your baby won't bother to wake up."



Again, I've read this behavior being habitual. They're actually hungry but only out of habit. So I don't know...I don't think I could handle giving my child water but I guess the cycle has to be broken somehow. Unless you don't much care about waking with him. He'll eventually grow out of it, I would think. Good luck guys, hope it gets better soon!

Georgeia - posted on 05/10/2010

I'm currently going through this as well with my 7 mth old and I did with my 3 yr old as well.(breastfeeding) With mine it is a comfort thing and habit not that they are necessarily hungry. Every baby is different though and can have different reasons fir wakening.

Tamara - posted on 05/10/2010

:)

Bridget - posted on 05/09/2010

Tamara,
Not offended, but I do have to say that it worked. She still wakes up but she goes back to sleep quickly after hugs. Ill bet you are right that some babies might want to eat in the middle of the night. Im not trying to get my daughter to fit my schedule, Im lucky enough to be home with her so my schedule is her schedule!

Tamara - posted on 05/09/2010

No offence Bridget but I think your doctor is full of SH#t. My baby wakes up not out of habit but when he's hungry so I nurse him and back to sleep he goes. To suggest shortening feeds sounds wrong, to take away their milk when they are still eating? Again I ask the question, Why do we always try to make babies fit our schedules?

Bridget - posted on 05/09/2010

My doctor told me that at our babies age they dont need to eat every 3 hours, at in the middle of the night they are waking to eat out of habbit, not hunger. He suggested timing how long your nightly feeds take, say 15 minutes and slowly shortening one by a minute or two every few days. So day one 15 miutes, day 2-5 13 minutes, etc until your baby no longer needs that feed.
Of course, Im in the same situation and my daughter keeps waking for cuddles, not food. But maybe this can work for you!

Tamara - posted on 05/07/2010

Why try to stop them? I just nurse my son whenever he wants it at whatever time. He's telling me he's hungry so I feed him. Why do we always try to make babies fit our schedules?

Lee Ann - posted on 05/06/2010

good subject! my son is still doing the same! only he is breastfed...so i'm still nursing him through the night and at 8 months! i'd love some ideas as well!

Laura - posted on 05/06/2010

My daughter was born on 09/09/09. Up until about 6.5 mos old, she too was getting a bottle every 3 hours or so throughout the night. We would try to give her a bigger bottle and some rice cereal before bed to keep her full longer, but nothing seemed to make any difference.

Finally I came across a random article I found online about how some babies actually sleep better if you put them to bed without any food at all. Something about their bodies working so hard to digest the food that it actually made their sleeping worse. I thought this could make sense for our little one, as she had terrible reflux issues. So one night I gave her a bottle one hour before I put her to bed and that night she slept almost the entire night! When she would wake up crying, I started going in and comforting her/giving her her binky back, but not picking her up and then she would fall back asleep. Now she has her last bottle at 7, bed to 8 and sleeps all the way till 7:30 am when I go in to wake her up and give her her morning bottle!

We suggested this to a friend as well who's baby wasn't sleeping well through the night and who also had had reflux issues. They started giving their little one their last bottle an hour before bed and have much better sleeping now as well.

I don't know if it will help, but you might want to give it a shot.

Nicole - posted on 05/05/2010

I would spread out her feeding during the day so she is actually hungry for her meals. I noticed, when I fed my daughter too often, she wouldn't eat much b/c she wasn't hungry and then would get hungry sooner b/c she didn't eat much. Vicious cycle! So I spread out the feedings and starting eating healthier portions. Nighttime sleep improved automatically at that point! Good luck!

Antoinette - posted on 05/05/2010

I'm VERY VERY keen for ideas too, my son (born Sep 1st) still feeds 2hrly thru the night. He won't eat solids and won't take a bottle or sippy cup so is still breastfed. He will nibble on things he can hold himself - teething rusks, rice crackers, a stem of broccoli or hunk of steak but I'd hardly consider it eating. When I try baby food (cereals, fruit, vegies) he just spits it back out no matter how thin or thick I make it. The one time my dad managed to get some expressed breastmilk into him was using a medicine syringe so he could get it right into the back of his mouth. Someone suggested I try to get him to feed 2hrly during the day, because he quite happily will go 3-4hrly without during the day, but when I try this he just bites me (Luckily he's still toothless but his gums are very hard). Last night I tried to just cuddle him for a few minutes at his first wake instead of going straight to nursing him, but he was not impressed and decided that hourly wakes would teach me a lesson *sigh* He's gaining weight well, sitting up, crawling and playing so I'm not worried about him so much as I'm damn tired!!!