Sleep Advice - Eating All Night

[Deleted]

DD turned one last week. She was born at 34 weeks so she is closer to 11 mo adjusted. She had a lot of reflux and food sensitivities through BM for the first 9 mo and her growth curve was on the slower side until then. All that has improved dramatically and she is at a great weight and thriving.

She continues to want to eat 2-3 x a night. Around 9 mo she was nursing to sleep and the pedi told me this might be part of the problem. We did three nights of CIO and she goes down fine awake and puts herself to sleep. This did not improve the eating all night. I weaned from BF at 11 mo. This did not improve things either.

A typical night she goes to bed between 7-7:30 and gets up for the day between 7:30-8:00. She often wakes at 11:30, 2:30, and 6:30 for a bottle. Occasionally she just fusses and goes back to sleep, but usually it turns into full blown howling to the point where she makes herself cough and get totally worked up, so I give the bottle. I don't mind the 6:30 am one, but I really feel like she needs to be broken of the others. She usually drinks all that I give her. She has never take more than six oz, I have been only giving four the last week or so. She has gotten mad a couple of times like it isn't enough. She takes a binky but will throw it at me if I go in and offer that. Soothing, rocking, etc only make her angrier.

Halp! Any thoughts, resources, ideas.

FFWC: I mainly just give her the bottle in her bed because I am literally so exhausted from a year of this kind of sleep. She only has two teeth but more are coming and I know I can't do that.

[lupineaura]

Have you tried leaving her for 15-20 minutes to see if she falls back asleep?

Also, read all the things here: preciouslittlesleep.com

[akafred]

Have you tried watering down the milk? DD had reflux and drank a lot at night. Around 9 months she was drinking a whole bottle and then a little more. I slowly started mixing her formula with water. The first bottle would be like 3/4 strength, the second half strength. Then the first bottle half strength and the second 1/4 strength. Once the second bottle was water she stopped taking it. Soon she was just getting a little water and going back to sleep. Then she stoped waking so hungry and STTN around 10 months.

I had tried this around 6 months without success, but the 9 month attempt work d.

[Deleted]

I would get her drinking and eating more during the day and then get rid of the nighttime bottles.

She really does need to be broken of the overnight bottles. Assuming she's getting enough during the day, they're habit and not necessary.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 14:30:56 GMT -5 lupineaura said:

Have you tried leaving her for 15-20 minutes to see if she falls back asleep?

Also, read all the things here: preciouslittlesleep.com

Not for this long, because she gets so worked up by like the 10 min mark. Also, our house is small with all the bedrooms at the same end. She and DS share a room. If we end up having to do a CIO MOTN I guess I am going to have to put DS in with DH for a couple nights and close the doors.

[Deleted]

Have you tried water in her bottles?

Might be more comfort sucking, not hunger.

[Deleted]

akafred. That's a good idea that I haven't tried.

@bruxannie I feel she is getting enough food during the day. Many days she is getting as much as my 2.5 yr old.

Breakfast around 8 - French toast sticks, cereal, egg, or waffle, plus 1/2 to whole banana

10:30 - milk or formula

12:00. - Lunch - some kind of meat and veggie with milk

2:00 - snack

4:00 - bottle or milk and/ or another snack

6:00- Dinner- protein, veggie, starch

Bottle or milk before bed.

She doesn't eat baby food because it aggravates reflux. She eats all the food with her two little teeth :-)

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 14:34:51 GMT -5 @wineonice said:

Have you tried water in her bottles?

Might be more comfort sucking, not hunger.

No, another good idea. If it is the comfort sucking she wants I don't know why she refuses the pacifier.

[Deleted]

@becominggold, DS2 refused the paci bc nothing came out.

But, a water bottle soothed him.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 14:42:04 GMT -5 Kristykristyleelee said:

Does she drink out of sippy cups yet? I wonder how she would react if you gave her the milk in a sippy cup in the MOTN. Or just in general.

Yes she does. She drinks has started drinking whole milk in the last couple weeks out of a sippy. I am still giving formula in the bottles all night.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 14:48:19 GMT -5 tLex said:

For the reflux, is her mattress propped at an angle? I find a standard sized pillow under the mattress on the end they sleep in to be the right amount of angle.

No. Her reflux only flares if she has something acidic or apples and this week she has actually been able to eat applesauce successfully a couple times.

[k3am]

My DD was like yours. When she was 13 months old, it occurred to me to try swapping out boob for a sippy cup of water, and AMAZING things happened. I mean, she still didn't sleep through the night, but it got eleventy times better.

[spottedprincess]

Once we switched to water the night feedings ended.

[sudokufan]

We did the watering down the formula thing suggested above; he refused JUST water, but we gradually added more and more water at night until it was basically formula flavored water and he stopped waking up. Then we switched him to sippies of water only on the rare nights when he did wake up. Took a few weeks to see progress, but was worth it IME.

[slushpuppy]

My DS didn't sleep through the night until 18 months. We would give the bottle at his MOTN wake-up, to avoid waking DD (same exact situation as you, our house is small with all the bedrooms at the same end, and he shares room with DD). Followed my pediatrician's advice to use music at bedtime. For wake-ups, wait 5 min, restart the music and go in and give reassurance (no picking up). If the crying restarted, increase the wait by 5 minutes (not to exceed 20 minutes). It only took 2 nights for him to "get it", and in those 2 nights I never had to go back in after the initial check... also, my DD sleep was not disturbed. I was completely floored this worked! All kids are different, but just throwing out the idea if you want to give it a try.

[seamonster]

I'd do water in a bottle or sippy cup and leave it in the bed. This is what got my kid to finally night wean. He wasn't hungry, just thirsty. He still wakes up sometimes to drink water and then falls asleep.

[akafred]

Yeah I should have said once DD was on 100% water and used to a sippy cup I could leave it in her crib. Game changer.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 15:10:26 GMT -5 tLex said:

I have terrible reflux and both my girls have it too, and it flares up just from laying in a prone position for a long time. I would give propping the mattress a shot.

She mostly sleeps on her side or tummy. Would you still do this?

[Deleted]

Ok, I am going to leave a bottle with water in her bed tonight. If she wakes to it and doesn't find that on her own, I am going to start the process of watering down the formula. I think this is a good plan. I don't care if it takes a couple weeks, I just need to make progress toward not having my sleep interrupted that many times a night if possible.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2017 19:53:25 GMT -5 thirdtimemomma said:

How are you treating the reflux? Maybe medicine is needed or adjusted?

We did not do meds. Up until 9mo as long as my diet was clear of certain things it stayed mostly at bay. After that point as we began increasing solids, as long as we stayed away from purees it has been fine. The only things I have seen flare it in the last month were apple sauce and apple juice. She doesn't need the juice anyway, she got a hold of her brothers one day, and I let her try some to experiment the next time. It is basically gone.

[lifesaverz]

Feb 15, 2017 14:55:26 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

I am also a mom of a preemie, so all the hugs and commiseration for you. My DD did not sleep through the night without a bottle until she was 13 months old. We gradually decreased the amount we gave her each night in order to get her stomach used to eating less. So for example, give 4oz at each feed for 3 nights, 3oz for the next 3 nights, then 2oz then 1oz. Hopefully she will be satisfied enough to fall back asleep with each feeding. After you get her used to 1oz at each MOTN feed, try giving her the paci instead. It will take time, but this is the only way we could do it without listening to her cry every night and it did work. It probably took 3 weeks total when we started this plan.

Good luck! I really hope you are able to get a decent night's sleep soon!

I was going to say something like this. I read about this slowly decreasing the milk/formula approach in my sleep book. It said that going cold turkey on MOTN eating was basically mean, & they need a chance to gradually adjust to it (I hadn't thought of it that way but it totally makes sense). If your kid is having three 4 oz bottles in the MOTN that is a lot...probably at least a third of their daily milk intake I'm guessing, so I'd definitely try a gradual approach so they can get used to it. It also gives them a chance to increase their intake during the day then if needed also. At that age most will still be consuming about 20-24 oz a day of milk/formula, so I'd keep track of how much is going on the daytime bottles & shoot for that total amount during daytime hours, while also slowly reducing the ounces of bottles at night. At the very end I'd probably offer water rather than the paci.

[akafred]

Feb 15, 2017 20:42:40 GMT -5 @becominggold said:

Feb 15, 2017 19:53:25 GMT -5 thirdtimemomma said:

How are you treating the reflux? Maybe medicine is needed or adjusted?

We did not do meds. Up until 9mo as long as my diet was clear of certain things it stayed mostly at bay. After that point as we began increasing solids, as long as we stayed away from purees it has been fine. The only things I have seen flare it in the last month were apple sauce and apple juice. She doesn't need the juice anyway, she got a hold of her brothers one day, and I let her try some to experiment the next time. It is basically gone.

You might be surprised. I thought DD outgrew it by age 2. At age 6 it flared again BAD and she was able to explain that she felt that way a lot. She said vomit comes into her mouth and she swallows it. She went back on meds and is still taking Prevacid.