My Child Still Wakes and Wants to Eat Every 3 Hours

From my experience, they wake up when they are hungry so the problem is definitely the amount she eats before going down for the night. If you still breastfeed her, try adding some formula after it. That might help. Both my kids slept through the night since they were 2 months but they were on the baby formula since I did not have enough milk. I also aded rice cereal in their milk for that evening meal and that helped a lot. Do you use Dr.Browns bottles? They are really good.
Sorry for not being more helpful
Hopefully you'll be able to get some sleep soon! All the moms know how hard it is.
M.

The good news is you are not alone. Many babies don't sleep through the night until 12 mo.....that's also the bad news. :) However, try rice cereal or oatmeal cerel in her milk before bedtime. It may help. Don't make it too solid. Also, have you tried introducing solid foods. We started at 5mo with my son for the same reason of waking every 3-4hrs. My son was born small, with reflux and SUPER HUNGRY! I wish you luck and don't forget that this will soon pass. It is a short time when you think of a lifetime together.

I have an 8 month old and what we do is make sure if she wants to nap to not let her nap anytime after 6... even just before than if we let her nap, we keep it short. Than we keep her up until we're ready for bed and than try to get her to go to sleep for the night. As far as baby cereal, if you mix it in a bowl rather than in a bottle or give her baby food, it will help keep her more full. I give that to her in the evening, than the bottle later on when I put her down to sleep. It has helped and most of the time she sleeps most of the night and may wake up once for a small bottle than goes right back to sleep.

Please listen to your child and meet her needs. Do no let her cry it out! Children have an uncanny sense of letting you know that they need you. She may be having a growth spurt. Teething is probably a good reason for night waking at this age. Try homeopathic chamomile tablets at night. Do you nurse? Take baby to bed with you. I sleep with my babies until around age 2 or 3 and find rolling over to nurse or pat down a cranky babe far easier than waking up fully (now both awake) and feeding a fussy baby. Also realize that for nursing babies the best milk is at night when mommy is all rested. I recommend you get Dr. Sears book "The Fussy Baby." Excellent peice of work and helps you establish a foundation for your parenting. Even if you don't nurse, sleeping with your baby highly reduces their chance of SIDS. You see, babies are supposed to wake throughout the night, their hard wired for that. It's when they are away from you, not hearing your heart beat and breath, that they loose that ability to awake themselves and possibly fall into the SIDS. Kids have different sleep cycles than we do. We need to honor that until they are comfortable in their bodies (literally) and can sleep off on their own.

Cereal will only compound her reflux problems as babies don't make amalysase, an enzyme that breaks down carbs, until around age 2. The whole feed baby cereal culture is a farce. Read more at http://www.westonaprice.org/children/index.html.

Hi J.!

I second the recommendation from Donna regarding "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano. My husband and I followed the guidelines in her book and our daughter was sleeping through the night within two weeks. It works wonders, plus you can always email Suzy for advice. She is wonderful. I now have a 4 month old son who is up 1-2/night. I plan on using Suzy's book on him in a couple of months. He is suffering from GERD, so I personally think I need to let nature take its course for awhile longer. Talk things over with your pediatrician. If he/she thinks your baby is healthy, then look into this book and start training him to sleep through the night. It's a little work at first, but the payoff is huge (i.e., a sleeping baby=a well-rested momma!!).

J.,first of all, congratulations on that new baby girl! my name is T., and i am a first time mom as well.if you havent already, i suggest that you might want to bring your daugter to your pediatriciann to get a referal to see a specialist.my son is 22 months old and has had gerd(gastro-esophageal reflux disease) from the day he was born, but started his painful crying fits when he was 2 weeks old. i didnt know he had this problem till he was 18 months old.he used to drink his bottles like they were going out of style, until he turned 6 month old then he started refusing his bottles. we them pretty much were forcing the milk/formula down his throat. he stayed 16 lbs. till he was10 months old then we had no choice but to get a feeding tube put in him. he still to this day,has a feeding button in his tommy,we give him 5 pediasures a day through it.we have a "food therapist" we go to for food therapy.(his g-i dr. never did bother to tell me that his problem was "gerd").(i found out by reading his medical records.) but any way,he has never yet to this day,(except for a few times) never slept through the night. he needs to sleep on an incline,so (he sleeps in his stroller, its the only thing we have that inclines that much.) he has been on previcid med since about 8-10 month old to current. we went through a year without much sleep with his painfull crying fits till he was 1.now he is fine in the day time because of his med. but, it wares off by night time, then we give him the mylicon gas med.he might have this problem all his life. most kids though do uot grow this by age one. i guess my son is an exception. but yes, i truely know what your going threw. hang in there! take it one moment at a time and if the frustration gets to much, (hey, i used to punch the wall alot!) what ever works. well, i will pray for ya!

Hi J.~

I'm a mom of 3 girls. (ages 8,5, & 11 months) My suggestion for you would be to try a womb bear. I received one as a baby shower gift with the last little princess and it has been a godsend! Jordyn loves it and she goes to sleep so well with it in her crib. My mom got it for me at Walmart and I think it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-20. The one we have runs on 2 AA batteries and it looks like a normal teddy bear from the front. When you turn it over, it has a volume knob that sticks out of the back. Once you turn the knob you can adjust the volume on the womb sounds and it even has an auto shut off after 45 minutes. I think I have probably changed the batteries maybe 3 or 4 times in the last 11 months. I couldn't be more pleased with it. I hope it helps for you. Good Luck & I hope you both can get some sleep soon~

B. :)

At 6 months we let our daughter cry. We put her in her bed, said nite nite, turned on her fishy lamp and walked out. She only cried a few nights for a maximum of 15 minutes. I sat on the back porch and had my husband come and get me when she stopped crying. I knew it would be hard- and it was- but ever since then she LOVES her crib, sleeps from 7:30- 7:00, and is a normal child. It did not scar her or make her feel insecure. She NEVER wakes up at night. She recently had the stomach flu so bad she had to get shots to stop the vomiting and she still didn't wake at night. Once you allow them the chance to learn how to become an independant sleeper, they will. It's hard at first but I would do it again.

My daughter did the same until 6 months. Then I started reading books about sleeping. I was desparate. Most books...I didn't have time to read. They went on and on and as a mom who wasn't sleeping....I didn't have time. Plus, I was so tired, I couldn't understand what I was supposed to do to implement the suggested "schedule."

Then I found a VERY HELPFUL book, "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano. (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Sleep-Solution-Proven-Program/...) The book is easy to read and four easy steps to follow. I did see an initial improvement withing days & her schedule got better and better. I swear, my daughter was eating 4 meals a day, sleeping through the night and taking 2 naps a day in 4 weeks. I did see an initial improvement withing days. I couldn't be happier with that book.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

Hi J.
Well I just want you to know I totally feel your pain. My son is 1 year old and he has been a horrible sleeper. He has now been sleeping through the night for about 6 weeks. But at about 6 months he was waking 1 to 2 times a night. What I found is I think he just wanted to see me and know I was there. I had to just be patient and go in and not talk to him or rouse him. I just gave him his pacifier and turned him on his side and patted him until he went back to sleep. I stopped giving him a bottle or nursing in the middle of the night at about 6 months because I just felt he no longer needed it. My big question to you is does she drink the entire bottle or just an ounce or 2 and then goes back to sleep?

I understand not being able to cry it out. I never could do it either. Well I completely understand your desire for sleep but just remember "this too shall pass." That helped me get through 1 more night and now helps me get through 1 more of his tantrums.

Hope you at least do not feel so alone.

B.

I would start with your feeding schedule. When my daughters were younger the Dr. said they should eat every 4 hours. With my first daughter, I tried so hard to follow that. She did not sleep through the night until almost 1. I did not believe in the cry it out. I got up fed her and rocked her back to sleep. I also never agreed with co sleeping. I believe that cuts down on intimacy in your marriage. It also limits you when they nap to being able to get things done. With my second daughter she wanted to nurse every 2 hours and I let her. By about 3 months she was sleeping8-10 hours at night. When she got to be about 6 months my ped. said she should be eating evey 4 hours and more baby food. I tried that and she started waking through the night. I continued with solid foods but also nursed every 2 hours. She slept so good. I truely believe that babys wake because they have needs to be met and we should meet them. Sorry to all those who like cry it out, but I am ok with a dependant child who thinks that if they cry mom will come running. They are now 11 & 13 and they still know if they ask for anything I will take care of it. They are only young once, enjoy it while it last.

Have you tried rocking her back to sleep? She definately should still be feeding every 3 hours, but I too, couldn never make her CIO. Find some other way to sooth her back to sleep: music, rocking, sound machine, pacifier??

Once I went through my baby check list: dry diaper, feed baby, burp baby, teething tablets, pacifier, just want to be held and rocked...I finally would put him down and let him cry. My pediatrician told me at 6 months it was time to let him cry. Since she was early, you might want to hold off for one more month. The first night my son cried for 50 minutes. Then next night it was just over half an hour. When I put him down was when I took my shower. It gave me something to do for myself and forced me to leave him alone for a while. He got into a pattern of taking 20 minutes to cry before he fell asleep. The doctor explained that once they hit 6 months, it's important to let them know they aren't going to be picked up every time or you will always be picking her up which leads to big problems later. I know it's hard in the beginning, but it's easier for her to learn now. You can't always have a child attached to you...especially as she turns 1, 2, etc.

My sister-in-law and another good friend of mine both recommended the book "On Becoming Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo. I was skeptical, being a first time mom also, and thought that the chances of my baby sleeping through the night were going to be slim to none. However, I read the book and followed their advice and my daughter began sleeping through the night very early, like around 6 weeks (7 hours straight). Now she sleeps from 9pm to 8am EVERY NIGHT and does not wake up at all. She is still breastfed and she is in the 75th percentile for her weight, so sleeping that long without eating has not affected my daughters health in any way whatsoever. So, I'm not sure if it's too late for you to read it, but it probably wouldn't hurt! Good luck!

We had that problem with my daughter. You have to just let them cry it out even though it bothers you to hear it. Then they know you won't be coming in to feed them and they learn to soothe themselves. It might take one or two night but in the end you will get some sleep.

What does her pediatrician say? What does she eat during the day? What is her nap schedule?

These are very important factors to look at.

I hope you sleep soon!
K. J.

I recommend the book "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems". It's the Ferber book. Allowing my son to cry and sooth himself back to sleep was very easy and only difficult for maybe one day. He has now slept through the night and needs no assistance getting back to sleep if he wakes up or during nap time. I just put him in his crib and he goes to sleep. Good luck.

Hi there,

Maggie B's advice sounds good to me. We never did CIO with our daughter, we co-slept and nursed side-by-side while sleeping instead. Now she's weaned and sleeping through the night, which happened on its own with no coercion between 16 months and 2 years.

It is a long haul, but so is every other aspect of parenting, right?! I think comforting your child at night is one of the most important gifts you can give.