so it has been 3 weeks ..

Alison - posted on 04/13/2010

Poor thing! These are tough times my friend. Have you been giving him Motrin if you think it is his teeth?

At 9 months, your baby no longer needs to feed during the night. Some say 6 months, some say 7 months. I chose to cut out night feedings completely when my daughter was 9 months old. I tried to rock her back to sleep, but it really didn't work.

My sister gave me some advice, and here is what I did. Typically she would wake up for the first feeding around 1:00am and a second around 4:00am. I decided, I would not go see her until 3:00am. After a few days like that, I pushed the 3:00 back to 5:00. After a few more days, she was sleeping through the night.

Kristen - posted on 04/13/2010

I went through the same thing and my dr gave me the BEST advice. He said to put a little cereal in his bottle before bed. When he wakes up the first time go in and let him know you are there, do not feed him. Tell him its ok then leave the room. He will continue to cry. Go back in 5 minutes and do the same thing. Then go back in 10 then 20 etc..... You will have to do this for 3 -5 days but eventually he will get the idea and stop. They usually eat through the night out of habit so you just have to break that habit. It worked for me, its rough the first couple nights but its better than continued weeks or months of it. I hope this helps!

Kristin - posted on 04/13/2010

Absolutely check with your son's doctor for any other possible illnesses. This does sound like very normal teething problems. No, he does not need to feed that often at night at this age, but is likely not feeding well due to the tooth pain he's got. While at the doctor's ask about using aceteminophen or ibuprofen to help at night. You want to get the correct dosage from the doctor. I'm not saying you have to use pain meds, but sometimes you've just got to sleep. During the day, you can give him thin frozen slices of peaches, pears, thin apple slices, frozen bllueberries or peas or both, a wash cloth wetted and then frozen, teething toasts/biscuits, chilled teethers, a little numbing gel (didn't work so well for mine, but they drooled alot), wam baths, blow bubbles, get messy, distraction is great. With any food you give for teething, you have to supervize very closely. I've heard about teething tablets, but I never used them or really needed them so got no help for you there. I kind of let mine tough it out during the day and dosed them at night. Before a nap or feeding (breastfed mine), I would press on the tooth spots firmly for as long as they would tolerate a few times. It can take awhile for those little teeth to make it through.



You are safe to start weaning him from his night feedings if he doesn't need all of them. Just be prepared for a little bit of a battle and have something else on hand for him to soothe himself with. Get the teething pain under control, then you will have a better guage of when he is actually feeding as he will be feeding better. I would suggest dropping the feedings from every couple of hours to every 3-4 hours. For example, if he is feeding 3 times per night, drop the middle one. You will probably want to delay going in to him a bit for each of the two that he does get. In a week or two, then you can drop another and so on. When you do respond to soothe him or feed, do not interact beyond what must be done and get him to sleepy, not asleep, and then leave. It is okay to let them fuss, just no hysterics, too traumatizing for everyone. One thing you can do, especially if breastfeeding, is have daddy go in to get back to sleep for anytime that does not require you to feed him. Might be a little tougher with the bottle though.



Hope this helps and it does get better.

Ashleigh - posted on 04/13/2010

My son didn't sleep well either, my son had night terrors that would wake him up in the middle of the night, but after a little comforting he would usually go back to sleep. At this age I don't think he would need any feedings at night, it is probably just habit. Try switching him to water and see if he eventually gets off the night feedings.



As regards to teething, try to give him some tylenol or motrin(lasts so much longer) before bed or maybe try orajel. But definetly ask the dr, she would know best.

Emily - posted on 04/13/2010

Well my 9 month old still gets up 1 time to feed..but ive learned that if you feed him cereal or something that will stay in his belly longer than the milk will before he goes to bed..he might be a lil better at sleepin longer!!=]..it worked for my lil man=]..Hope this helped?!=]