stopping night feedings

[rosalinda]

My 11-month old boy was sleeping from 8pm until 4-5am, take a bottle and back to sleep until 6:30-7am. Sometimes he would sleep all night.

For the past 2 weeks he has been getting up at 12am for a bottle, and again at 4am. It's driving me crazy going back instead of forward.
If I don't give him a bottle and try to shush him back to bed he gets angry and screams and cries (loudly). But since he's a little older
I have no problem letting him cry it out, which I may just do if he keeps this up.

Any ideas?

When did your babies finally stop night feedings and sleep through?

Did you just wait until it happened naturally or 'help it along'?

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

[m]

When she was about 13 months old, my daughter went through a short time where she suddenly started waking up for a feeding at about 4:30 or 5:00 am when she had been sleeping through until 7:00. It lasted about a week and then she started sleeping through again. I have read that around 1 year, babies sometimes start waking up during the night due to teething pain. Or maybe it's a growth spurt and he just needs the extra calories. Maybe you could try giving him a snack right before he goes to sleep. Hopefully he will get back to normal soon! It's no fun to go back to getting up multiple times during the night.

[jmom08]

Hi Rosalinda -- haven't been here in a long time, but saw your post & had to respond!! (just wrote long response but browser deleted, arghhh!) Are you all still having night wakings? We are in the same boat, 2x on a good night, more when he's teething. Cries like crazy if no nursing/bottle (on the 2x/nights), and throws up if he cries too hard. I am exhausted!

Looking for answers myself, will post if we make progress (eager to hear how you are doing!)

[rosalinda]

We are still dealing with the night wakings...2x a night now, 12am and 6am on the dot! then up for the day at 8am.

The pediatrician suggested we move him into his own room because if he wakes up at night and sees me he will cry until he gets a bottle. If he doesn't see me, he'll sometimes settle and go back to sleep, or at least try and roll around in his crib for 30 minutes before crying for a bottle. So we will move his crib out this weekend and see if things get better. Good luck to you too!

[alexa5]

A little late on this, but here are my thoughts: Up until our son was 8 mos old he would wake for a bottle at 4 am or so and then go back to sleep. At that age we decided that it was probably habit and not an actual need for a bottle, and started the process of letting him fuss. I was so scared about how the first night would go, and it honestly wasn't bad....he fussed for about 20 minutes (we could hear it on the monitor), and the next few days it was less and less. I think by the next week he slept through for the most part.

We ran into sleep issues right at 12 mos, but not bottle related as he was used to not having one. He would just wake up upset in the middle of the night and need some comforting. Last lasted about a week or so, and I think it was related to his developmental changes at the time--other LO's his age were having issues then too.

At 11 mos I think it is definitely worth considering that at least one of the wakeups is out of habit, and perhaps he doesn't need the bottle still. As for the second wake up, that could just be a phase, but it could become habit. I think the move could be good for him, and it would be easier for you to let him cry it out so to speak. At this age the crying it out isn't quite the same as when they are younger...it might seem bad for a day or so, but it really is more about getting them used to calming themselves down (and their needs are so much less--so they are not being harmed by it so to speak). Plus I think you can tell when they really "need" you versus just being used to asking for you to come. Good luck and hope it is going better! I just wanted to share the perspective of someone that had to break the habit of getting up, and finding out I could have probably done it much earlier since it went so well.