Feeding/Sleeping Question

I do not have much advice b/c I have not personally experienced this problem. Try reading 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' and/or 'Happiest Baby on the Block'.

I used the babywise method from the beginning and never had a problem with my little one sleeping through the night in her crib. However, when she was about 5 months old she started waking up in the night fussing, like she was hungry, I just let her cry it out. She would soothe herself back to sleep.

5 months old is not to young to let her cry it out. I think they say 3-4 months it is ok. Good Luck.

Stacy,

Please contact the la leche league about your baby's eating and sleeping habits. You can find a local contact through their web site http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/enough.html. This site will take you to their search engine for a local contact.

In my breastfeeding book, it says that a breast fed baby is ususally ready for food when he starts reaching for it, but not to do it before 6 months because their digestive system is not ready.

Also you can try a lactation consultant. There is a group called natural beginnings and they have a warm line ###-###-####. It is a free service available from 9am -3pm M-F.

Good luck and thank you for breastfeeding your baby.

L. H.

Yeah I would talk to your pedi about starting solids. My daughter was started on cereal at 4 months and then on to baby foods at 6 months. My daughter did not like rice cereal just palin so I had to get the one with bananas in it. Once she was good with that I switched to Oatmeal/Barley/or Mixed grains. She liked them more as well as they were a little heavier so lasted longer. Its good thought to at least have the rice cereal for a few weeks first to help her body adjust to digesting something new and more solid than breastmilk though as the others are quite heavier than the rice cereal. Just make sure to wait 3 days after giving her something before trying something new as it a lot of times takes awhile for food allergies to show. Once she started baby food the pedi said start w/ veggies, give her one and then 3 days later you can add another to the menu until I got through all the veggies. Then start on fruits and do the same thing. I found out too that my daughter liked the fruits better if they were cold and then in the morning I would mix half a jar of fruit with her cereal. My daughter slept much better after starting solids but I will admit she is 2 1/2 and is still not an all through the night sleeper. :( Guess its just how she is. Thankfully shes getting better though. :) Good luck! :)

Most peds will recomed starting solids between 4 and 6 months. Most will also recomed rice. Just a word of warning rice is constipating I would go for oatmeal personaly. I think that starting cereal before bed may get her to sleep through the night imedaitly. It will be messy and be frustrating for you while she gets the hang of it, but eating solids is not a reflex so it will take her a bit to get the hang of it. I don't know that giving her formula before bed will make that much of a differance. Stricktly on formula the longest strech would could ever get our oldest to do was 4 hours. As far as crying it out goes here is what we have done. We have a 15 minute rule. You can start out and 5 and then 10 then 15. At 5 minutes go check on her make sure she is ok, don't pick her up rub her tummy, back, or head tell her you love her and then leave. Then again if she is still crying at 10 minutes do the same. You only do that the first few days because they will learn that you will come in and expect it. You just have to establish that yes you have not gone anywhere when you put her to bed and that you are still there is she NEEDS you. There will be a few times that you will get to 14 minutes about to pull your hair out because every ounce of you wants to rescue her but then at 14 min 59 sec she will pass out. With our children it was rare that they would hit 15 min. and if they did we knew that we needed to do something else. Yes every child is difrent so trust your gutt. For our youngest she would not sleep if I was in the room that meant at 4 months the bassenet moved into her room. That took us a while to figure out and she spent many a night in the bouncy seat or swing until we figured that out. Our boys at 2 years old and 3 months old started sharing a room and to this day one crying seldom wakes the other so you may not have to worry about that so much. I hope that helps, J.

My daughter is 5 1/2 months and weighs about 16lbs. She has been on cereal since about 3months due to a bad case of reflux. Also, when she started cereal she stayed fuller much longer. The doc said that we could introduce solids at 4months which we did. She now has a cereal bottle for her first bottle in the morning. At lunch she gets a jar of fruit and a jar of veggies. An hour after she eats the jars she takes about 2-3oz of formula...Before she goes to bed at night, she takes another cereal bottle(6oz). All of her bottles have cereal in it. She has been sleeping through the night since about 6wks. Good Luck. I would give her cereal bottles to fill her up. Just make sure if you havent already introduced her to them, you should start with rice first for a couple of weeks.

We started our baby on solids at 4 months and he was sleeping through the night immediately. He's a pretty big baby, too. We feed him about 7 ounces of formula at 7 PM, plus about 2 tablespoons of rice cereal and as much veggies as he'll take, then he's out for the night by 8 PM in his crib and doesn't wake up til 7 AM the next morning. We have a bed time routine of taking a walk and reading a short book, which I think helps him prepare mentally for bedtime. Stick with it and they'll get it soon enough! Good luck! :)

People always feel strongly one way or the other. My son is a healthy chunky monkey himself. He is 7 months old and weighs 22 pounds. Because he was eating more than I could produce, he started cereal at 3 months. My doctor said she doesn't usually recommned it, but really once they hit 15 pounds cereal is ok. At fout months we started stage one foods, at 7 months we are now on stage two. Never any problems, no allergies, bad reactions anything. He eats three meals a day and two teething bisquit snacks. He has 3-4 bottles of formula a day and normally one to two small juice bottles. Healthy and happy and my doctor is very pleased. He has never been sick, etc. She says it is nice to see a big healthy baby and not one that you feel like you will break. Do what you need to do for your daughter. She may be needing something more filling.

Hang in there girl. It sounds like you are doing an awesome job. The bouncer is okay. My 9 month old boy slept in the bouncer for the 1st 3 months I think. He is a back sleeper so he liked it. It took us a while to make the transition to his crib. That happened about 6-6 1/2 months. We had to let him cry it out just 1 night. He is a fast learner. I got pregnant again when he turned 4 months so my milk supply dropped a little. I had to enter in solids to his diet at 5 1/2 months. This worsened his night sleeping at first (maybe 3 weeks). But then he settled into a pattern and only woke up once to nurse. He has never really slept through the night. He used to nurse 3 times a night and he has always been a really big eater. After the solids came in, we wakes up at 5 or 6, nurses goes back to sleep until 8-8:30. My pediatrician says all babies have there own sleep patterns. So right now, that is your baby's sleep pattern. Don't worry it will change. The older she gets the longer she will sleep at night. I also had to give him anti- gas drops at night before he went to bed, because his little tummy wasn't used to the solids. Hope some of this helps.

My 16-pound, 4 1/2 month old daughter is very similar. She's also exclusively breastfed. She is currently waking up every 1-4 hours. Sometimes she'll go back down and sometimes I have to feed her. Last night was one of our better nights and she fed at 11:45, 1:45 and 5:45 and was up another 2 times in between but went back down. Odd thing is, she didn't use to wake up that often. I don't know if it's teething or a growth spurt. She just started rolling over and I read that a Developmental growth spurt requires more food just like a physical growth spurt does. Also, my pediatrician told me she didn't need the midnight feedings anymore and to try to just sooth her and put her back down. That's when this change in sleep cycle happened. I've since reverted back to feeding her a few times a night to try to regulate her sleep cycle more. I am just holding my breath that this cycle will end.

I don't mind the middle of the night feedings but lately she has me up every 1-2 hours to either give her a pacifier or feed her. I leave for work at 6AM every day but it is getting harder and harder to keep myself moving in the morning.

So PLEASE let me know if you find ANY options that work for you!! Best of luck and here's hoping for a peaceful, sleepFUL night!!

Don't worry about the baby weight. i would not start solids earlier. Both of my kids were breastfed on demand and were wearing 12 month clothes at 5 months. I nursed until 22 months and both are now very slim, about 30%-tile in weight. Trust me, baby fat has absolutly NOTHING to do with future weight if breastfed. However, I have heard of studies that show formula fed babies that are over fed are at a higher risk of childhood obisity becasue parents tend to encourage overeating (ie, parents want them to finish the bottle even if they don't want it).
I think the bouncer is fine, but she is gettin kind of big for it. Start putting her in the crib for naps and when she initally goes to bed. The rest will eventaually come if you have a very reliable bedtime routine. I found that if i stuck to a bedtime routine that crying it out was never necessary (and neither of my kids were good sleepers).
hope this helps, liz

Hi Stacy,
Well both of mine did not sleep through the night until 12 months of age, and from then they have slept 10+ hours at a time. I breast fed and with one of them tried to feed formula for night time, but did not see much change. I think it was the whole milk that made the difference for us, as well as them being ready to sleep that long at a time. Also, I do feel she is too young to cry it out. The first two years, you are demonstrating to the child that you are there to meet their needs. I know it is exhausting...mine are 14 months apart and neither slept all night until after 12 months of age ( I am sure it is my fault for this fact), but now they are well adjusted, never fight us, and sleep consistently 10+ hours a night. Crying it out may meet your needs, but does not meet the baby's. Dr. Sears has some strong opinions on this as well that you may find helpful on his website. Hang in there. It is so hard to have two small children, so be gracious to yourself and utilize all the support you may have around you. It will get better.

Best Wishes,
K.

Everyone is different and comes from different schools of thought, but I let my daughter cry it out at 4 months and she was a great sleeper. We eventually had to let her cry it out in the middle of the night until she "broke the habit" of waking up to eat, since we knew at that age, she didn't need to be eating every 3 - 4 hours.
Just do what's best for you. My 9-week old twins are sleeping in their swings right now. I tried and tried to get them to sleep in the crib, but found that they slept better sitting upright and so I let go of all my expectations and did what worked... which is what you need to do.

Best of luck,
K.

Stacy,
This sounds very familiar. My daughter is now 11 1/2 mths. and finally started sleeping through the night at 6 mths. I have 2 1/2 year old twins, and they both started sleeping through the night at a very young age, just hang in there. Something that I did was started feeding my baby formula and cereal at night before she went to bed. I breast fed during the day, but fed her cereal for dinner and a bottle of formula at bedtime. It took her a couple of days of waking once and not feeding her for her to get the hang of it, but she soon slept through the night. Just like us their little tummies have to adjust to not eating in the middle of the night. Good luck, and remember this too shall pass!!

Hi Stacy,
I am mom to a 3 year old boy and a 5 month old girl who is also a chunky monkey. Our pediatrician recommended starting solids about a month ago partially for reflux purposes but also because she wants to eat all the time(exclusive nursing also). Maybe trying the solids would be a good idea??? My 3 year old was the one that actually woke up a couple of times a night to nurse until age one. We love Dr. Sears and his philosophies on parenting. He actually has several books that we have found invaluable. There is one called "The Baby Sleep Book". No shame in letting your daughter sleep where she is comfy. We found that letting my son co sleep worked best for us. I think it's important to make sleeping a pleasant thing for everyone. I do not think that crying it out is a good solution for your sanity or for your little ones happiness. I feel like a baby's cry is meant to be responded to. If you're interested here is a link to Dr. Sears site
http://askdrsears.com/default2.asp

I hope this helps and good luck!
E.

Your dd is still too young for solids and frankly, they won't help. I know a lot of people (usually older relatives) swear it works, but don't hold your breathe. Besides, you're doing an awesome job exclusively bfing. We had to supplment and, despite what some might suggest, formula doesn't make them sleep any better in the long run either.

Crying it out is also not always a viable option. I know other peoople will swear by this one as well; however, even Dr Ferber (who originated the technique) says that it should only be used as a last resort and the child should not be left to cry for long. If the child continues to cry, the underlying issue must be addressed. Also, I think he advises this only for older babies. I know the feeling where you just want to close the door and walk away for 8 hours, but your child is still very very young.

It may not yet be physically feasible for her to sleep as long as you (an adult) would like. Her tummy is the size of her fist and not able to hold that much yet. Breast milk also is digested much more efficiently and is far far better for her in the long run than formula.

All I can say is that babies will only adhere to their own schedule and you may spin cycles and become more frustrated trying to get her to adhere to your own schedule. She may also be, like my son, a "bad" sleeper. My son would only sleep in the same room with us and would wake every 3 hours until 18 months even after introducing foods! (consider yourself lucky btw)! I tried the cio thing (horrible failure and set us back big time). We tried everything that was supposed to work. Every baby is different and w what may have worked with one will be a total failure with another.

He's finally sleeping through the night, and yours will too. I felt really guilty at first about him sleeping with us since it was the "wrong"thing, but you know what? We ended up sleeping. I could just roll over to nurse. I told my OB and her response was, "My 3rd was like that too. You do what you have to do to get some sleep." There is no wrong way if it works for you. So if the bouncy seat works, that's better than nothing.

There is one book I'd recommend you look at. To me, it was the most helpful for understanding my son's sleep and had the best suggestions for us. It's Elizabeth Pantley's book: No Cry Sleep Solution. There's also a Yahoo group for people using the techniques. She presents a lot of scientific data and study results that pretty much poke holes in the sleeping through the night thing. (did you know that Dr's consider sleeping through the night to be only about 6 hours?)

Sorry if I didn't give you the answer you wanted. I just thought I'd share my story to give anothe perspective. I've always heard that kids are either good sleepers or good eaters but rarely, if ever, both. I know that's been the case with us and it's actually a pretty good thing. I also personally believe that the people who say their little babies are sleeping through the night are probably either lying or are so sleep deprived themselves that they're just not doing the math right.

As a friend of mine said: The days are short and the nights are so long. In the scheme of things, this time with them is so short. They'll be sleeping through the night/on their own/ in their own bed/etc before you know it.

Yes, she is old enough to start on solids. Around her age, your breastmilk is no longer producing as much iron as she needs, so starting on rice cereal or oatmeal with iron is a great idea, some babies can go anemic without the right amount of iron. I would try the cereal before the going the formula route.

In about a month is a good time to introduce baby food in jars.

Also, she may be getting used to the bouncy seat, but once she outgrows it or trys to turn over, it's going to be a super tough transition to the crib, since she's used to sleeping in a tight, upright position.

I have read that between 6-8 months is the best timing for allowing them to cry it out.

My son slept through the night, but I have heard many moms who would be thankful if their babies slept for 4 hour stretches!

Stacy,
My daughter was 17.5 @ 4 months old...she was 9.10 when she was born......so, needless to say she wanted to eat more than most babies her age! Per my Dr I started her on solids at 4.5 months old...she has just recently started sleeping through the night! I started w/the gerber 1st foods, and added a bit of cereal in them to make them thicker! after a couple of weeks she started eating less often! I was giving her a bottle and then food, but now I am alternating them. I give her a bottle in the morning, @ lunch she gets food w/cereal, a bottle at dinner time, and a little bit of food before she goes to bed!

I started the crying it out system when she was 3 months old....not to the fullest extent, but she does have to cry...they have to learn to soothe themselves at some point! The first night I rocked her to sleep, then put her in her crib...she woke up and cried, I patted her back and patted her bottom, she fell asleep and as soon as I took my hand off of her she woke up,so I turned on her mobile and aquarium and left for 5 minutes, then repeated steps for 7, 10 and 15 minutes....she was asleep by the 15 minute interval...try putting her down earlier than your son, and hopefully by the time she goes to sleep it will be time for him to go to bed! Good Luck

Hi there!

Sorry to hear that you are losing some much sleep. It is totally up to you but my daughters pediatrician told me that breast feed babies eat more frequently than formula babies do. That could be a reason why she is waking up because she is hungry. Try and give her some formula before bedtime and she should sleep 4-5 hours then you can give her breast milk again and she should sleep another 3-4 hours. So you should only be waking up once during the night to feed her. If you continue with the formula she will sleep all night at age six months. Also try rocking her to sleep and then laying her down in the crib once she is asleep. It is important that she is comfortable so that she and you can both get the best nights sleep. Best wishes!

This is such a touchy topic for moms...there are moms who practice methods from one end of the spectrum of the other, or who choose to practice no method at all, kind of a "free for all" sleeping and eating non-schedule. Like most things in life, a balanced and common-sense approach work best. Scientifically, the human body has a master clock known as the circadian rhythm. Babies are not born with this clock in full sync b/c of their feeding needs. Around the time the baby reaches 3 months of age, the circadian rhythm begins to take effect. This is the best time to introduce a schedule into the baby's life. Remember, the baby joined YOUR family. While the Marine Corp approach to scheduling is probably not the best to start with (left breast at zero seven hundred!) you should be moving away from using props for sleep, food for sleep, and basically any short-cuts as they all come back to haunt you later, usually when the child can talk.(ugh!) I'm not 100% in favor of all the methods used in Baby Wise, but I liked the Parent-Directed schedule part. When I adopted that approach, (which is somewhat flexible, BTW) my baby slept through the night for 12 hours, at 3 months, on the very first night. I agree, I don't really think solids have much to do with it at all. Your baby is old enough to introduce rice cereal thinned out to watery consistency with breast milk. It won't be enough to even make a dent in her caloric intake for several weeks. Make sure YOU are eating properly, plenty of protien, fruits, veggies, water, etc & lay off the caffiene as much as possible. Finally, take your sweetie outside some everyday into the sunshine. Our master clocks are set and reset by sunlight. No wonder so many of us have sleep disorders--we don't spend enough time outside. Think of the people in Alaska who have to use those thick black-out curtains--they do it because of the circadian rhythm and it's dependence on sunlight in order to synchronize all our major systems (sleep, digestion, etc. etc.) Sorry so long--best of luck!