Foods or Ways to Help Him Sleep Thru the Night

I think some babies are just good sleepers and some aren't. I tried EVERYTHING to get my daughter to sleep through the night. She eventually improved after I let her cry it out for a few nights, but she still has "issues" - one week she wakes at 5am every morning, the next she wakes 2 times a night then the next week she sleeps from 7-7 without a peep - it is totally unpredictable - every week is a new phase it seems. The good news is that she is gradually getting better and better - she is almost a year old now. I try to just accept each week as a new phase and try to go with the flow, taking comfort in the fact that she eventually WILL sleep through the night - even if it is when she is 12!!! GOod luck. It will get better on its own even if you can't find a way to control it now.

Hi A.,

I also have a 2 1/2 year son and when he was 9 months he was having a hard time sleeping through the night. The thing with switching to whole milk is a lot of the times they do not like it and then it's hard to get them to drink any kind of milk. I know this is what happened with my little guy. We switched him to whole milk at 10 months and that was the end of milk of any kind. He won't drink it now.
I know this is not much help but good luck.

8 months old is still really young. I don't think that you have started any bad habits...you are doing exactly what your little one needs...to know you are there for him and to feed him. Yes, he could still be hungry at night. There maybe some nights that he is not hungry, but he is still little and breastmilk digests fast. He is just probably going through a growth sprut or about to hit a new milestone. You are doing everything he needs. Keep it up...this to shall pass mama.

From the beginning my ped. said not to give my baby girl rice cereal, because it causes constipation, whole grain was recommended, because it keeps them regulated. Well, I listened to friends and family instead of my ped. and would give her rice cereal. My ped. was right on the dot, she started getting bad gas, not sleeping through the night. I started giving mine whole milk at 11 months and she did fine. The ped. said once you start using whole milk, not to use breast milk or formula. All babies are different , dont let anybody make you feel like you are trained by your baby, he has needs and when you dont know for sure why he is crying, you comfort him and feed him and he will be fine. you know your baby, and they know theirs, they dont know yours. If its teething, tylenol and oragel works great. oh ya, if you cant figure out what the problem is, you can always say its a growth spurt, that what everyone loves too use, ha! ha!

Hey A.

I'd check with your Dr just to make sure nothing else is wrong. Don't give milk until your son is atleast a year old. He could develope a milk allergy and milk doesn't have all the good stuff he needs right now. I would try to get him on some Formula. If he is hungry all the time it could mean you are no longer filling him up. I swtiched to formula when my daughter was about 7 months old and she had no problem. We found that Good Start was the only formula she would take but other than that it was pretty easy. Good luck, Dense

Hi A.,
I just wanted to weigh in with this: it seems like a lot of people, on here and other places, are telling you that you NEED to do this or you CAN'T do that, etc...Keep in mind that you know your baby and your situation best, so read or listen to everyone's advice and then take what works for you! (Caveat: obviously some things are more about opinion than others. You may want to do some research about how cow's milk before the age of one can often cause allergies, for example. But that's just all part of how each of us makes the unique right decisions for OUR family. Everyone is different.) One of my favorite websites is askmoxie.com and she deals with these kinds of problems a lot. One of my favorite pieces of advice, that I think we need to hear a lot as moms, is that THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
Good luck!

Hate to say it, but he has you trained. If you are going to him and feeding him at night, he is going to wake up and want to eat at night. My thoughts are...make sure he eats before bed, and then tell him you will see him in the morning. Unless he is sick, don't go to him until his normal wake up time. The first two nights are the hardest, then they catch on. If he used to sleep through the night, the only thing I can think of that would be waking him now is teething. Give him some Motrin before bed, it lasts longer than tylenol and he is over 6 months, so should be ok with your ped. Good luck.

You have simply trained him to wake up every night. It takes a lot of effort (wilpower) to back pedal, but there is no reason he should be hungry. Give him breast milk or a snack a good hour or so before bed (so that he is not still completely full) and then when he wakes, tell him "night night" and put him back down. Keep doing this calmly and consistently until he understands that waking does not result in the reward of food.

If he's nearing 9 months he's due for another growth spurt. That or teething could be making him wake up. Anything major happening will disturb his sleep and you'll just need to ride it out. It WILL end.

Also, I don't know about you but I can hear my daughter eating at night, she's breastfed as well. I figure if she's actively eating she's hungry. Breastmilk isn't the same as formula. Always remember that.

Whatever works for you and your baby is right.

Do not give him whole milk until he's almost one or after he is one! If you do he could develop an allergy to the milk or worse, he'll be unable to digest it and you will have worse problems. He is most likely going through a growth spurt and the wakings will pass. Continue to introduce a variety of foods and make sure he's getting adequate nutrition and you'll be fine....

don't give him whole milk!! you need to wait til he is 1 yr for that. he may just be going through a growth spurt or sometimes when they are getting ready to hit a new milestone they will go backward on something they have been doing fine, like sleeping through the night. i'd say if he still does it after a couple of weeks ask your dr.

Hi A..

Your son is 8 months old and it is not uncommon for him to want to eat at least one midnight feeding. Do not feed him juice, or foods at night. Bad for the teeth and unecessary . This may be setting him up for bad habits later. This may also be a part of the problem. If he wakes at night , most likely around midnight breast feed him and then put him down. IF he falls asleep on the breast , fine. If he wakes again. Do not go to him. He is not hungry. He just wants to see mommy. Let him cry. This may take some patients on your part, but he does not need to eat , his are dipers are clean (etc...).
Make sure he is eating during the day ,and he gets one last feeding before going down for the night. Not all babies sleep through the night. This is very uncommon, not common. Do not give him whole milk, he is too young(allergies). Keep feeding him breast milk or pump if that is easier.
D. L.
Nurse Practioner

I think you need to concentrate on sleep strategies, not on eating. Definitely do NOT give him whole milk before he is a year old. At 8 months he should not need to eat at night, but if you give him anything, give him breastmilk or formula only. Then check out some different books on getting your child to sleep. Different things work for different people. We have used Sleeping Through the Night by Jodi Mindell. All of my kids went through a stage where they went back to waking up at night; it is very normal. Good luck!

Since he is eating and sleeping a lot, if it hasnt been going on too long it may just be a growth spurt. My daughters three and she still kind of does this when she is getting ready to "grow an inch over nite"!! I wouldnt be to concerned. Try feeding him a snack about a half hour before bedtime.

Have you tried pedisure. I did this with my son who is on rice milk due to allergies. It is expensive, but SAMs or BJs is a lot cheaper.

Sounds like a growth spurt. I agree that milk before 1 yr is not a good idea for any baby.
If this does not pass soon, you "may" want to try a modified cry it out with your husband's help. Dr. Ferber's book, Solve your child's Sleep Problems really gave us some tools to use.
If you are the one to go in and check on the baby, it may be harder for him to accept being left in his crib since he smells you and equates you more with food than his dad.
Please don't give him milk. ;) Keep nursing!

Hi A. I am a mom to 3 kiddos all who've been breastfed. My toddler will be 2 on the 4th of Aug. and still wakes up at least twice to nurse.
I wanted to give you some info about breastfeeding and night waking.
It is very uncommon for babies/toddler to sleep all night before 2-3 yrs.
here is some good information.
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html
Should my baby be sleeping through the night?

"It's so common for mothers to worry when their babies don't sleep through the night. After all, everyone knows they're "supposed to." Some doctors recommend nighttime weaning and "cry it out" methods if your baby is not sleeping through the night by 6 months or even earlier. Even when the mom herself has no problems with baby nursing at night, she still worries that this is a problem, since American society seem to consider it one. There are books all over the bookstores with advice on solving so-called "sleep problems."

First, please ignore what everyone else says about your baby's sleep habits and what is "normal." These people are not living with you or your baby. Unless your doctor sleeps in the next room and your baby is keeping him awake every night, he has no reason to question a healthy baby's sleep habits. If you and your baby enjoy nighttime feedings, then why not continue? It's a great way to have time with her, particularly if you are apart during the day.

Every baby is different, and some sleep through the night earlier than others (schedules or food usually have nothing to do with this). Your baby may be hungry (keep in mind that breastmilk digests in less than 2 hours) or she may just want time with you. Babies whose mothers work during the week often nurse more at night and on weekends, perhaps to reconnect with mom.

Doctors tend to look at night nursing only from a nutritional standpoint, but this is only part of the story. After the first few months, your baby will begin to associate the breast with far more than just a way to satisfy hunger and thirst. It becomes a place of comfort, security, warmth, closeness, and familiarity. The act of nursing is not just nourishing; it is nurturing. Keep in mind that these needs are every bit as real as baby's physical ones, and having them met is every bit as needful to baby's overall development.

If the amount that your child sleeps and nurses at night isn't a major problem for you, then there's no reason to try to change anything. You are NOT doing a bad thing by nursing on demand; you are doing a wonderful thing for your baby. When you comfort baby at night, you are not teaching her a bad habit: you are teaching her that you are there for her when she needs you -- Is security a bad habit?

What is normal when it comes to baby's sleep?

It is common for breastfed babies to not sleep through the night for a long period of time. On the other hand, some breastfed babies start sleeping through the night when a few months old.
Both of my children nursed once (occasionally more) at night through their second year. Since this doesn't bother me, I did doing nothing to change it. We co-sleep, and neither my baby nor I generally wake up completely when she nurses. Both started sleeping through the night on their own, when they were ready.

Your baby will begin to comfort herself and to sleep for longer stretches at her own developmental pace. If your baby wants to nurse at night, it is because she DOES need this, whether it's because she is hungry or because she wants to be close to mom. Sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone (like walking or toilet training) that your baby will reach when she is ready to. Trying to force or coax baby to reach this before her time may result in other problems later on.

If you can try to take a more relaxed approach and trust that it will come in time, you'll see your baby eventually become a good sleeper. You'll be able to rest peacefully in your heart and mind knowing that she reached this in her own time when she felt secure enough to do so, not because he had no other choice but to quiet herself because no one would come.

Probably one of the main reasons that night-waking babies are such a big issue is that parents don't have realistic expectations of the sleep patterns of babies. We are bombarded with magazine articles and books that perpetuate the myth that babies should not have nighttime needs. Babies were designed to wake up often at night to feed and cuddle, and keep in mind that many adults wake during the night, too. If our expectations for babies were not so different from our babies' expectations for themselves, much of this "problem" might disappear.

See Studies on normal infant sleep for more information on what is normal.

Why do babies wake at night?

Babies wake at night for many reasons, and they often start waking at night after sleeping through for a few months. Some of the reasons for night waking (in no particular order) are:

* baby wants more time with mom
* teething
* developmental advances (for example: waking more often right before or after learning to turn over, crawl or talk)
* illness, allergy, diaper rash, eczema
* hunger (including growth spurts)
* reverse cycling: Some babies whose moms are away during the day prefer to reject most/all supplements while mom is away, and nurse often during the evening and night. If mom is very busy during the day or if baby is very distracted, this can also lead to reverse cycling.

When your child nurses more often at night, go through this checklist to see if you can figure out what might be going on. Sometimes there may be more than one thing causing the night waking."

Hang in there A. they are only babies so long.

Is he teething? Going through a growth spurt? What other changes have been going on in his life?

Figure out the answers to these questions and you have your solution. The first two just take time. Be patient.

Whole milk is not a good idea before one year. Your breast milk is more nutritious and filling than cow milk. Also he may not be able to digest it properly.

It sounds like you both have gotten into some bad habits with feeding at night. Since he has gone all night without a feeding before, it is probably safe to say that he doesn't really need the feeding now. Babies sometimes begin to go through separation anxiety around this time, and it is possible that he is just crying out for you at night, not nourishment.
When he wakes at night, try giving him a pacifier instead and see if this helps. It will be hard not to pick him up, but before long he will make the connection and will be able to put himself back to sleep. I think as long as he is healthy and at a good weight (and still gaining), there is no need to worry that he is going hungry.

Not sure what will work for you - but this is what our schedule is like and my son sleeps from 745pm to 645am (we have that schedule to fit our older son's school commute schedule)... of course in your case for milk, you'd breastfeed instead of give whole milk, my son's 15 months old. We've been on this schedule give or take 1-2 cups of milk/formula/breastmilk per day since he was about 7,8 months old.

Wake 645am - drink 6-8oz of milk, eat food, and usually I put some cheerios in a bowl for him to graze on after he's done w/ breakfast

9am-11am nap

11am - 4oz milk, lunch

1pm - high calorie snack like yogurt, cottage cheese, or fruit mixed w/ baby cereal w/ 6oz juice diluted

2-4pm nap

4pm light snack, usually puffs or cheerios or a few goldfish

530pm dinner w/ us w/ 4oz milk

745pm he drinks about 2-3 more oz of milk and if seems hungry still we offer yo-baby yogurt w/ 1/4 cup of baby cereal OR a tub of fruit w/ cereal mixed in to pack on the calories... we do this right now because he's such a grazer w/ teething.

Jesse sleeps well, and he's a baby who likes to nap too. I at one point consulted my pediatrician, wondering if he was sleeping too much!! They assured me that some babies require more sleep, some require much less. If you have any doubts about how much sleep your son is/isnt getting I suggest you talk to your ped. I'm lucky to have a wonderful napper, and he's a totally happy baby! He's slept thru he night since about 4,5 months or so... we used the No Cry Sleep Solution to help us too.

I hope just looking at another person's schedule helps.
I'd suggest feeding high calorie, filling foods/snacks to make sure his appetite is satisfied. www.wholesomebabyfoods.com and www.wholesometoddlerfoods.com both show the avg. amount of foods that baby/toddlers should take in per day. Good luck!! Hang in there, this too shall pass!!

Im sorry to hear you are having a problem liket this. My daughter started waking once a night. I aked my Midwife about it and she said that they do not need to eat at night. That's why so many parents do the crying out thing. I personally can't do that myself but I stoped getting her unless it's something like Gas. I know her screems now and I know when to get her. He might be going through a growth spirt or teething. It's more of a comfort thing then actually being hungry. If I were you I would just listen to when he wakes up and just wait a bit. After 5-10 min then go in and try to comfort him without getting him up. You really need to send your husband in if you are still breast feeding, He will automatically smell you and want to nurse. I know plenty of people who also sub the last bottle for formula just because it is thicker and will last longer then breast milk. Just a thought!
ANyways hope this helps and good luck

My son did the same at the same age. It's usually just a growth spurt. My ped said to just give him water at night though. He said to make sure he was full before he went down for the night but to otherwise let him go until morning. Otherwise he will develop a habit and continue to wake after the phase is over. I did and sure enough after a couple of days he was fine. He's 6 now and still gets up in the middle of the night for water. I have also been told that whole milk isn't good for them until 1 year. Something about them not being able to process the protein in it. Both of mine had milk allergies so they have been on soy since they stopped nursing.

Have you tried a nice snack of rice cereal right before bed? Mix it with any of his favorite veggies or fruits or even in his last bottle if he takes any formula.

My daughter is the same way at 9 months old but I have really been making sure that right before she goes to bed I give her a bowl of rice cereal and then she sleeps almost all the way through the night, like until 6 or 7 in the morning. That has really worked. Do you live near Jacksonville? I am a SAHM and would love a playgroup...

Always consult with your pediatrician before you do anything. I have a degree in child development and have 2 of my own children. Do not rush into giving your son milk. Usually waiting until the baby is one year old is the best thing to do. Some children just don't sleep through the night, even if he was before. You may be starting a bad habit even though you don't mean to. Try giving him a large meal right before bedtime. I used to have to do this with my son. How do you know for sure he is waking up to eat?? Something else may be the problem. Try not rushing into him when he wakes up. He is getting older now and you don't want to start bad habits. I hope all works out for you.