My 11 Month Old Wont Stay Asleep All Night and Eats to Much During the Night!

Hi A.,

The book "Babywise" has been the greatest tool for us. Our 3 month old has been sleeping through the night for about a month now. I understand each baby is different, but I'm positive she has the potential to sleep through the night :) Give the book a chance... and hang in there! Let me know if you have any questions!

L.

At about 10 months is when my children started to act like that. Then when they were 10 and 1/2 months old I started to see their teeth breaking the gums. It's possible that the rubber from the nipple just feels good for the time being. But I've also seen cases where babies had their teeth as early as 5 months and if that's the case with your child, the only thing I can say is that may she is going through a growth spurt and actually need more solid food in her diet for the time being. Try giving her just a teaspoon more of food at each meal. Not just at dinner. If that doesn't help, then try keeping her up 1/2 an hour later. I discovered that the difference is night and day with my two oldest girls. My 6 year old can go to bed at 8:30 pm and sleep until 5:30 or 6 in the morning. But if my 5 year old goes to sleep that early, she's waking up at 3 and 4 in the morning. So I put my oldest girl to bed at 8:30 and wait until 9:30 to put the younger one to bed because she just doesn't need as much sleep.

i disagree w/babywise. my son cried so bad when i tried it he pooped his diaper. i preferred the secrets of the baby whisperer. you have to be committed to a couple of hard nights to make it work and w/two other kids. good luck.

My daughter started doing that same excat thing she is now 1yr old. She soemtimes still wakes up and cries during the night, but all i do is go in tell her its ok and find the darn pacifier that gets lost in her crib while she sleeps. Many parents do oppose pacifiers for babys but like a mom here said i think she likes it because she is teething alot lately she has a total of 10 teeth now. I got her used to the paci mainly becasue i was scared of SIDS(Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) babys seem to forget to breath when they sleep and my doctor told me that cases have shown that sleeping babys with pacis have a constant suction which reminds them to breath when they sleep. it made sense to me so she goes to bed with her paci.

Maybe she is feeling the absence of her daddy, i know that can be hard for babys whenthey have a constant parent leave. My friend is going through the same thing. i thank god i havent yet but i suspect i will soon (my husband is also in the military)

Try leaving a bottle in her crib that she can drink when she wakes up, thats what i did with my daughter, she sleeps through the night and when she does wake up she simply finds her lost paci or bottle and goes back to bed.

I am dealing with the same issue with my 9-month-old right now. We don't have any other kids, so if we close our bedroom door and hers and leave the baby monitor off, we can hardly hear her if she wakes up and cries. But for your other kids maybe you can get something that makes white noise, or just turn on a fan and see if that helps. We are also doing the cry it out method, after nothing else has worked. I don't know if you've talked to your pediatrician, but ours said that since our daughter was breastfeeding for such short time periods when she wakes up at night, that it's just out of habit and for comfort, not hunger. He also told me that despite what you would think, eating more does not make babies sleep through the night. Also our daughter just likes company, because when she wakes up and cries and we go pick her up, she stops immediately and lays her head on your shoulder to go back to sleep. Our pediatrican said that if we keep going in to her, it just reinforces her behavior, so she will cry longer and louder until you come. Our daughter cried for an hour the other night, and has been waking up and crying every night since, but we are just letting her fall back to sleep on her own. She slept through the night a few months ago, but the doctor also said that her sleep pattern is probably being screwed up because she's on the verge of talking and walking. This could be what's going on with your baby. Apparently any developmental milestone can interfere with sleep patterns. Anyway don't know if any of my rambling helped, but try everything like we did! Pacifier, sippy cup or bottle of water, favorite toy, music, mobile, teether....Good luck!

I know it's hard with the husband being gone. My hubby was gone two years ago while i was pg with our son. Have you tried giving her a bottle in her crib when she goes to sleep? We do that with our 12 month old. He sleeps through the night but sometimes he wakes up and finds his bottle and falls right back to sleep. We are in the process of weaning off the bottle. I hope this helps.

Hi A.. I know the feeling of your husband being in Iraq and trying to care for three children. I will give you the advice that I used. It worked well for me. All 3 of my boys slept through the night by the time they were 4 months. Now, before I give my advice, be aware that most people will probably disagree with me on this, but when you are CRAVING sleep you do what you have to do.
I took a nail and made the nipple on my sons bottle larger. At bed time I would put as much cereal in his formula as I could and him still be able to get it through the nipple. I would ONLY do it at bedtime and after doing that two nights in a row they would sleep through the night. It worked for me, but putting cereal in a bottle is a controversial subject with many moms.

Good luck!

I would have her pediatrician check her for diabetes and a tapeworm. Seriously.

Barring those two problems - is she on several solids? Specifically meats? Protein is a good appetite suppresant b/c it takes the body awhile to break it down and it doesn't spike blood sugar. I'd also limit all sweets (including juices) after about lunch time.. unstable blood sugar causes everyone to get snacky.

Good luck.

S.

Hi A.. I feel for you, I remember when my son was a baby and waking up alot and I was like a zombie. I would try maybe to give her more snacks during the day between meals, feed her dinner a little later and another snack before bedtime. Maybe if she eats more during the day, she won't feel so hungry during the night and maybe not wake up so often. Does she take a pacifier? I know not all parents want their children to have a pacifier, but it was comforting to my son as a little guy going to sleep, and maybe that can be her comfort at night instead of a bottle. Other than that, all I can think of is to water down the formula in her bottles more and more every night until it's just straight water you are giving her and then maybe she won't want to wake up for just water. That might also make her eat more during the days, too. Good luck!

My suggestion has two parts: first of all, I would up the amount of solid food/cereal she eats during the day. Then, when she gets up in the middle of the night, I would only offer her a bottle of water that stays in the bed with her - you go right back to bed. If she doesn't get the "special time" with you or the great formula she's craving - she'll learn its not worth the trouble to wake up. Don't sweat the sippy cup thing until she's off the formula anyway, but you can offer her water or juice in the cup during the day now in addition to the bottle.

I'm going to disagree with the other moms here. Babywise is one of the WORST books I have ever read. It is completely unnatural and there have been babies who have starved to death because their mothers followed that idiots advice.

Sounds to me like she is hungry at night. She's little and so is her tummy. The small the tummy, the less food they can eat at one time, making them hungry sooner. I'd probably try a bottle of water to see if that works, but if not I'd just keep doing what you are doing.

My 11month old wakes up frequently at night, but he is breastfed (and he's huge) so I don't think it's hunger for him. I think it's a comfort thing.

Good luck.