Post by spicysalmonroll on Nov 21, 2016 9:33:12 GMT -5
I haven't been around much lately so apologies if this has been talked about recently in randoms thread. Has anyone started on rice cereal yet? Or experience with your older kids? E is 4 months yesterday and he's still waking to eat 3-4 times a night. I feel like twice is reasonable for EBF but 4 times at this age is just ridiculous.
From my limited understanding, sleep training is more so letting them cry it out when you know they are full and clean, correct? So I don't want to do that right now because I don't believe he is full.
He's only had breast milk no formula but I'm hoping rice cereal will help. So do I give it just at bedtime? Dinnertime and bedtime? Middle of the night? In a bowl or mixed with milk? Mixing with milk would be strange to not nurse but I'll try it... ?
Post by redhead610 on Nov 21, 2016 11:23:02 GMT -5
This probably isn't what you want to hear, but I'll give my experience with ds1.
We haven't tried any food with ds2 since he's not 4 months yet (and doesn't meet the readiness signs). However, when we started ds1 on solids, his sleep almost seemed worse. I know part of it was the 4 month sleep regression, but he also had trouble with his tummy adjusting to something new.
I did mix oatmeal with some milk with ds1 and spoon fed it. At first, i made it super thin. At this age though, solids aren't meant to fill them up.
How often does he eat during the day? It is possible he is just snacking or nursing for comfort in the middle of the night? You could try pushing back one of the feedings at night to try to get longer stretches?
I know how hard it is to have a baby up all night - ds1 was a very terrible sleeper. However, he was just up freaking out, not eating, so sleep training at 6m did work for us since we knew he wasn't hungry.
Post by gratefulgirl on Nov 21, 2016 11:57:34 GMT -5
My experience is that the foods that keep me full (proteins and fats) keep my kids full. Carbs don't. I have no problem starting DD3 on solids whenever she shows readiness between 4 and 6 months. However I have always seen to hold off on my favorite fat and protein sources like yogurt, meat, fish, crumbled egg yolks, peanut butter, and so on until after 6 months. There was a correlation between my kids eating 3 solid meals including all food groups, their readiness to night wean, and STTN. However that was at 10 months and 7.5 months. I expect the same here. BM did stay their main food until 12 mo. I always nursed before solids.
ETA: shanny had a great idea for cutting night feeds and moving calories to daytime. When DD2 was still doing 2 night feeds at 7.5 months then not eating during the day I used the "feed one minute less a night on the first feed" to eliminate it and it worked no crying. At that point DD2 put herself to sleep easily, though.
ETA 2: Do you nurse to sleep? You may have a sleep association problem if you do and may be able to change MOTN by changing how he falls asleep.
Post by spicysalmonroll on Nov 21, 2016 14:59:41 GMT -5
Boo this is disappointing that it may not help. During the day he eats every 2 hours, so I don't think he's lacking the daily calories. But he does kind of fall asleep nursing at bedtime and middle of the night. I don't know how to go about breaking that association without leaving him starving. Like if hes already not eating before falling asleep then I don't want to cut that back a minute each night, you know? Oh well... maybe just have to wait it out a few more months til he's on solids.
Boo this is disappointing that it may not help. During the day he eats every 2 hours, so I don't think he's lacking the daily calories. But he does kind of fall asleep nursing at bedtime and middle of the night. I don't know how to go about breaking that association without leaving him starving. Like if hes already not eating before falling asleep then I don't want to cut that back a minute each night, you know? Oh well... maybe just have to wait it out a few more months til he's on solids.
shanny is trying a method of soothing via rocking until a feeding cut-off time, then feeding. She described it in Randoms if you want to look.
Have you tried waking him up to force a fuller feed at bedtime and the first MOTN feed? And then waking before placing back in the crib so he breaks the nurse-to-sleep thing? If he falls asleep nursing he may get better if he learns to fall asleep on his own after being fully fed.
Boo this is disappointing that it may not help. During the day he eats every 2 hours, so I don't think he's lacking the daily calories. But he does kind of fall asleep nursing at bedtime and middle of the night. I don't know how to go about breaking that association without leaving him starving. Like if hes already not eating before falling asleep then I don't want to cut that back a minute each night, you know? Oh well... maybe just have to wait it out a few more months til he's on solids.
shanny is trying a method of soothing via rocking until a feeding cut-off time, then feeding. She described it in Randoms if you want to look.
Have you tried waking him up to force a fuller feed at bedtime and the first MOTN feed? And then waking before placing back in the crib so he breaks the nurse-to-sleep thing? If he falls asleep nursing he may get better if he learns to fall asleep on his own after being fully fed.
I do usually try to wake him for the second boob but he won't even wake up for it. There have been several times at 3 am when he eats and then sits there staring and smiling at me. So I put him back in bed and he does actually put himself to sleep within 15 minutes without crying. So it's weird, I don't know that he "needs" that association. But probably a good idea to work on it anyways!
spicysalmonroll I know he eats every 2 hours but maybe he's "snacking". When DS try's to eat every 2 hours he nurses for less time and doesn't fill up enough. When I make him go closer to 3 hours he stays satisfied longer.
spicysalmonroll I know he eats every 2 hours but maybe he's "snacking". When DS try's to eat every 2 hours he nurses for less time and doesn't fill up enough. When I make him go closer to 3 hours he stays satisfied longer.
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