Sleeping 12 hours through the night

Jennel - posted on 06/20/2009

Hi my daughter has 6 teeth and i was reading a few of your posts, not sure if i read right but hears my advice. Try offering the solid food first befor you top him up with the milk feeds, i was told to start solids first from nine months. My dauger weened her self of me at 10 1/2 months and here is her day

7am wake up have oatmeal with fruit for breakfast when she is done i give a cup of milk

9-10 nap

12 lunch sandwitches, pasta stuff like that and yogert then milk at the end

1-3 nap

4 peice of fruit

530-6 meal same as us and same milk at end

7 bed

She has water through out the day in her sippy cup she can get when she wants it and also some cookies at times. She has no trouble chewing i was a real worrie wort about her chocking as i still am but you have to give them the chance to learn. hope that helps.

Alicia - posted on 06/19/2009

I am glad to hear your nights are more restful. I would not worry about pumping. Your body will very quickly adjust. I know it isn't comfortable while you adjust, but if you pump off a few ounces your body will continue to over-produce at night. If you just wait it out, your body will adjust and make just what he needs in just a matter of days.

Marie - posted on 06/19/2009

He's on a growth spurt!! *grin* Just Wednesday night started sleeping through from 8:30/9:00pm to 8:00am. WOOT! Of course I'm now engorged in the morning and he gets about 3oz of foremilk when he stops and no hind milk. I find I have to pump off 1-2 oz before I nurse him just so he doesnt fill up on just fluid.

Stephanie - posted on 06/19/2009

hi im sure ur son lets you know when he is hungry but i do think the more solid food ur little one has will make him sleep better at night. My son is nearly 13 months has 14 teeth and eats anything he is given except banana!!! he still has milk in the morning when he wakes at 5.00 am which seems early but he does go to bed at 6.30pm every night so i dont complain. He has breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks inbetween and he is approx 23lb in weight. once he started eating solids he got himself into a routine of when he wanted eating and its the same everyday. he has 2 naps in the day and never after 2.00pm. it will eventually come together and you will say what was i worrying about!!

Marie - posted on 06/17/2009

Thanks everyone for posting your thoughts and schedules. I'm working on trying to get more solids into baby. He likes to nurse before nap times and sometimes after, but not always. He doesn't have a difinitive way of requesting BM so we're working on not giving a feed unless he indicates what he wants.



Today I went to work and he refused to take any bottles from daddy all day (of course the bottle count in the fridge doesn't look like it's been touched). I have a finite number of bottles and they are ALL full now. I have to start throwing milk away because daddy isn't giving it to baby at all. *sigh* I'm completely po'd about that today. *sigh*

Natalia - posted on 06/17/2009

sounds like your little guy is getting bigger and having to take in a little more at night because he becomes hungry...here's a suggestion instead of giving BM at his 8 or 9 feeding maybe give him more of the solids around 7 or 8 and then give him the comfort feeding of BM an hour later around 9pm and see if that keeps his little tummy satisfied til morning...good luck!

Alicia - posted on 06/17/2009

I did not have time to read all the posts, so forgive me if I am repetitive:
I have weaned my 13 month old to one nursing per day and it happens to be at 4am! That is the only time he wakes and I think it might be more of a habit than hunger. One thing we did to help ease our mind about trying to drop nighttime feedings was to give him a good snack before bed. So at bedtime he gets a big bowl of baby oatmeal or mixed grains. That made a big difference.

Also, since I no longer nurse at bedtime, as of last week, I also give him some whole milk at bedtime too. I try for a couple of ounces but he does not always take it all.

So our day goes like this:

7am wake up with whole milk and waffle or pancake and fruit for breakfast.
9-11: nap
11am: snack of milk and crackers or fruit or yogort.
1230: lunch; a sandwich (one piece of bread) with melted cheese or cream cheese and jam; fruit or veggie.
2-3: nap
3: snack of cheese or fruit or crackers or sometimes just milk
530:diinner. usually leftovers or whatever we are having if we eat that early.
7pm: bed with milk and oatmeal
4am: nursing (although I feel like he can hardly be getting anything at this point)

I sometimes feel like the day is just eating and sleeping but that's what we do!! I am always trying to get milk into him since i dropped to only one BF per day but really it takes almost all day to get 8ounces of milk in him. I try at every meal and snack.

It sounds to be me like your son could handle more solid food. Not that you need to drop nursing by any means but I think some "snacks" or and more "table food" is worth a shot. Just take it slow as not to overwhelm him or you. And dont worry about not many teeth. Those little gums can do quite a lot! Again just take it slow.
And be comforted by that fact he is growing and does not seem to be struggling with weight gain. some babies just dont eat that much. I'd say to try more daring things with food and take it slow and if you don't see any progress or are worried, bring it up at his 15 mo check up.

Cathralynn - posted on 06/17/2009

I agree with all the info so far. My daughter refused spoon feeding at about 8mo so we started on finger foods then. By the time she was a year and time to start whole milk she was eating great. She again didn't replace her bottles with equal amounts of milk so just drinks milk throuout the day. She still takes two naps a day. Her schedule:



6:30 wakes

7:30ish breakfast 2ozYogurt, fruit, 1 waffle, 1 scrambled egg and whole milk in a cup

9:30ish snack fruit and crackers water or milk

10-11 nap

12ish lunch fruit, veggie, bagel and cream cheese, cheese cubes, milk

2ish snack feeze dried veggie, fruit, milk or water

3-4 nap

5:30ish dinner some of what we are having (she usually doesn't eat it) and pasta, fruit, veggies, cheese

7:30 milk (in a cup always) she usually doesn't drink more than a couple oz

8:00 bedtime sleeps thru til morning



Just an example, things are flexible. I started her on gerber snacks and dry cereal, moved on to soft fruits and steamed veggies. Most babies love carbs. I bottle fed her BM and later formula and she just adjusted how much she ate and drank on her own.

I think at around a year they should be eating more adult foods and whole milk. That may help him during the night. If BF is important to you, I know its recommended until two. Make sure you talk to other moms who BF. I think their experiences may be different and that those babies do wake more at night. BM digests more quickly and those babies may need to eat more as well as your son has learned to go to sleep nursing so when it comes time for him to fall asleep on his own, there will be a transition, lets just say! Good luck!

Renee - posted on 06/15/2009

My son currently has 14 teeth...He also does not like eggs or mozza cheese. Even with the 14 teeth he still does gag on food now and then, but clears it himself without issues. He really likes the Kix cereal, and they disolve quickly! Even with all the food my son eats he is tall and slim and is VERY active!

Kim - posted on 06/15/2009

My son has 7 teeth (4 up top, 3 on bottom w/another breaking through). But he's been eating puffs and cherrios since maybe 8 or 9 months old. He only had 2 teeth up until 10 1/2 months when the others started coming in. As long as he doesn't shove alot in his mouth (which he does sometimes, so I have to keep an eye on him), he doesn't gag or anything. Just start off slow with stuff that dissolves easily like Gerber puffs or crunchies, cherrios, Ritz crackers. Then you can move on to soft foods like veggies or fruit. My son didn't like fresh fruit. Would only eat the canned kind that is really soft. But he's started eating fresh now as long as it's really ripe and soft. The Gerber meals in the tubs are soft to, like the raviolis and turkey/rice, or chicken/stars. I cut the raviolis in half.

Sarah - posted on 06/15/2009

My 13 month old has 4 teeth: 3 on the bottom & 1 on the top. She's been eating snack foods (gerber puffs, crackers) since she was 7.5 months old. She's gotten really good at chewing & usually doesn't have any gagging episodes unless she stuffs too much in her mouth. It takes a little bit for them to get the hang of chewing. If he's coughing, he's not choking, so don't intervene unless he's making no sound. He may not have liked the egg or mozzerella. Keep trying =]



My daughter has a tolerance to eggs, so she usually has toast or yogurt or cereal or an english muffin. Try the Gerber puffs snacks. They dissolve in the mouth & are easy for them to learn how to chew. Once he's mastered that, move him up to more stuff.

Marie - posted on 06/15/2009

Okay I'm curious after seeing all these wonderful creative meals you guys are feeding your LO's. - How many teeth do they have?



My little guy only has 6 teeth - 4 top and 2 bottom. Chewing is an effort. I tried doing an egg yolk and mozza on toast sandwich for breakfast - cut into small pieces, but he gave up after only 2 or 3 bites and a bit of gagging.

Sarah - posted on 06/15/2009

At 13 months, most babies eat majority of grown up food & they really have no need to wake up in the middle of the night to eat except out of habit. If you just give him more solids during the day, he probably won't be tempted to wake up at night. We recently weaned our daughter off of her nighttime bottle & she doesn't wake at night anymore. Are you giving him whole milk? This will help keep him full as well.

Kim - posted on 06/15/2009

Have you mentioned it to your pediatrician? It is possible he could be bored with the baby food. Once my son started getting cherrios and more 'big people' food, he wouldn't eat the baby food when I offered it to him. He has been off of formula for about a week now. He's 13 1/2 months old. He's a good eater. He stopped waking up in the middle of the night for a feeding at around 3 or 4 months old. Right now this is his feeding schedule:

7:00 am - wakes up. Gets about 2 - 4 oz milk before we leave for school. Since changing from the bottle to sippy, he just doesn't drink as much at a sitting like he used to. Used to get 6 oz formula before.

9:00 - snack (usually cherrios, bite sized muffins,yogurt, whatever the daycare has on their menu) plus milk

11:30 - lunch is what the daycare has on their menu, things like pasta, casseroles, chicken fingers plus a veggie and fruit. On the weekends I give him either a turkey and cheese sandwich on wheat (1/2 a sandwich) in small pieces, or they have these lunchable Jr's now, which are perfect for him. I just cut up the cheese into smaller bites. He also loves the Gerber snacks like the puffs or cheese crunchies.



Naps from 12:30 - 2:30

3:00 - snack (fruit, nutrigrain bar, crackers, etc) plus juice or water

5:30 - cherrios on the way home plus water

6:30 - dinner (he loves the Gerber meals in the tubs like ravioli, turkey and rice). He also gets a small fruit cup or applesauce and about 2 tbls of a veggie. Plus milk

7:30/8 - sippy of milk. Can vary form 2 - 4 oz now since he no longer gets a bottle which used to be 6 oz.



I was worried he would start waking up during the night since the switch to sippy and him not drinking as much, but I think from the good sized meals he gets throughout the day, it hasn't been a problem. Good luck.

Marie - posted on 06/15/2009

WOW Renee! You have a hungry boy! I can barely get 1/3 jar of baby food into my guy. I think he's getting bored with the taste :) He gets cereal mixed with apple sauce for lunch.



Hmm... I'm thinking a later (and bigger) dinner for Alexander might be a good idea. He never quite seems to be very hungry right at 5 or 530. And he goes to bed between 8 and 9 (the eye rubbing starts around 815). I nurse him to bed so if he gets a huge dinner he's not really wanting to nurse at bedtime... hmm... food for thought....

Renee - posted on 06/14/2009

My son was waking in the early morning wanting a bottle then goes back to sleep. I started to feed him his dinner closer to his bed time then a bottle right before I lay him down. Since I started to do that, he will sleep the 11-12 hours straight at night. He normally eats an entire jar of baby food mixed with cereal 3 times a day. At breakfast he will also eat a 1/4 of a bagel with his jar food. Lunch I will also give him some finger foods...fish stick, chicken nugget, mac & cheese, or something like that with a jar of food. (It is normaly only 1 fish stick or 1 nugget) Then the same thing for dinner. He gets a 7oz bottle at his morning and afternoon nap and then one at bed time. Sometimes he will take 4-5 oz of milk after a nap as well. My son will also take a 1.5-2 hour nap twice a day.

Marie - posted on 06/14/2009

WOW Katie! Thank you for showing me your schedule! Is she completely weaned off formula/BF now? Looks like it!



I like your schedule. Not sure I could do all that just yet - he naps after being awake for 90 minutes-2hours. I'm thinking of giving him his cereal an hour after he wakes up and does his first BF of the day.



I'm working on seeing if I can get enough food in him that he'll drop the 3pm feed entirely. If he's full enough of solids he doesn't nurse to sleep.



Thank you!

Katie - posted on 06/14/2009

It sounds like maybe he is not getting enough solids during the day. My daughter is 13 months and here is her eating schedule:
7:30 am breakfast - usually something like one pancake, one waffle, dry cheerios and a banana... and juice
9:30 am snack - water and fruit or crackers
11:00 am lunch - something like bologna and cheese cut up or chicken nuggets with water
11:30 am - 2:00 pm - NAP
2:00 pm - cup of whole milk
3:30 pm snack - either crackers, cookies, fruit or yogurt and water
6:00 pm dinner - something like pasta, chicken nuggets, hotdog, etc... with vegetables and milk or water
7:30 pm - BED
I don't really think he should still be waking in the middle of the night to eat - try feeding him more during the day and see what happens. Also, the jarred food may just not be enough for his big appetite anymore - try giving him the real thing cut up into small pieces. My daughter has refused to eat jarred baby food since about 11 months. Ever since then she has been eating what we do (with some exceptions of course) and doing just fine. She is like a bottomless pit and eats anything and everything we give her!

Marie - posted on 06/13/2009

Quoting Ginger:

My baby Grady is also 13 months old now and he woke up for nightly feedings until he was 8 months old. My doctor told me he was doing it out of habit and not learning to put himself back to sleep. I would try giving him fifteen minutes to try and go back to sleep on his own, even if he is crying. I just had to tell myself that he is learning to comfort himself better. When you do go in, try to comfort him without picking him up like rubbing his back, etc. My son, once I picked him up for a minute and then set him back in his crib, he cried harder. After a couple of nights, he started to wake up for a few moments and then drift back to sleep. He goes down at 8:30 pm and wakes at about 7 am. He naps 1-2 hours around 12 pm. He may be waking up too because he is hungry, since he had his last solids at 5 pm. You may try giving him something that will stick longer like pasta, oatmeal , or rice. Grady eats about 5:30 pm usually about a half cup worth and about a half a sippy cup of whole organic milk. Then, he has more milk at bedtime.

Hi Ginger,

The jarred food I give him includes things like beef and pasta, and chicken vegetable paella. So he is getting some carbohydrates.

Tonight he gets to try perogies with potato and cheddar cheese sauce. I will prepare some chicken or ground beef to go with it. (he's eating later tonight as our schedule today is all messed up).  I can't seem to get a 1/2 cup of food into this guy. He's 20lbs, 30" tall.

I'll keep trying to increase how much he's eating.  His habit over the last 2 months has been to get to bed between 8 and 9.

Thank you for your reply!

Ginger - posted on 06/13/2009

My baby Grady is also 13 months old now and he woke up for nightly feedings until he was 8 months old. My doctor told me he was doing it out of habit and not learning to put himself back to sleep. I would try giving him fifteen minutes to try and go back to sleep on his own, even if he is crying. I just had to tell myself that he is learning to comfort himself better. When you do go in, try to comfort him without picking him up like rubbing his back, etc. My son, once I picked him up for a minute and then set him back in his crib, he cried harder. After a couple of nights, he started to wake up for a few moments and then drift back to sleep. He goes down at 8:30 pm and wakes at about 7 am. He naps 1-2 hours around 12 pm. He may be waking up too because he is hungry, since he had his last solids at 5 pm. You may try giving him something that will stick longer like pasta, oatmeal , or rice. Grady eats about 5:30 pm usually about a half cup worth and about a half a sippy cup of whole organic milk. Then, he has more milk at bedtime.

Bernadette - posted on 06/13/2009

She will now eat a cream cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich or Marmite. I only use one slice of bread and cut each bit quite small but she eats it fine.

I was told by my health visitor that I should be giving her three meals a day - same as we have so that's what I do!! I normally give her a bowl of cereal in the morning, lunch (as I said before) and then a small plate of dinner - normally whatever we're having.

She only has the three milk feeds now - and I try to give them at slightly different times to meal times so that they help to fill her up in between meals.

Marie - posted on 06/13/2009

That sounds like a lot of food throughout her day. I don't know how much BM Alex is getting. We don't give him solids right after he nurses - he's usually full from the breast. He will, however, eat solids up to an hour after he's nursed. Now I wonder if he's getting enough solid foods during the day and if increasing them will help him sleep better at night.



What do you put in her sandwich? I'm curious how to make a sandwich for a 13 month old. :)



Have you dropped all BM feeds except breakfast, dinner and bedtime?

Bernadette - posted on 06/13/2009

The only reason I can think of for them to wake in the night is because they're hungry or because they've got into a pattern of waking then. I don't know if they should be waking at night but my 13 month old doesn't. Her routine (if it helps) is wake at 7am - has beaker of milk (about 6oz) then breakfast. She has lunch at 11.30 (sandwich and banana) and then sleeps for two hours between 12-2pm. She then had another beaker of milk and dinner at around 5.30pm. She has final milk (bottle about 8oz) at 7.00pm and sleeps through. Don't know if this helps? You could always check with your health visitor if your worried.

Bernadette - posted on 06/13/2009

The only reason I can think of for them to wake in the night is because they're hungry or because they've got into a pattern of waking then. I don't know if they should be waking at night but my 13 month old doesn't. Her routine (if it helps) is wake at 7am - has beaker of milk (about 6oz) then breakfast. She has lunch at 11.30 (sandwich and banana) and then sleeps for two hours between 12-2pm. She then had another beaker of milk and dinner at around 5.30pm. She has final milk (bottle about 8oz) at 7.00pm and sleeps through. Don't know if this helps? You could always check with your health visitor if your worried.