Sleeping Through the Night - Belleville,IL

The thing is, he "seems" to be starving in the middle of the night, but he really isn't. It's a comfort thing to him. AND, you have allowed him to be "programmed" to wake up because you put a bottle in his mouth. He's used to it.

If I were you, I'd start putting him to bed a bit later, more along the lines of 8:00. Add 15 minutes each night to his bedtime until you get to 8:00. Give him some cereal before his last bottle. That will hold his stomach longer.

You need to be 100% consistent every single night about not giving into a bottle. He does not need the bottle. It's bad for the teeth he has in his mouth too. The reason allowing him to cry himself to sleep is harder is because you aren't consistent about it. You go into him and give him a bottle part of the time, let him cry part of the time. Unless you are willing to do the exact same thing every single night, he will continue to wake and you will all be miserable.

Consistency is key. No more getting up with him. He will learn to self-soothe, and he will stop waking up if you stop going in to him. He's old enough to be doing this now. It's up to you to allow him to learn it. It will take a week or two. If you can't deal with the crying, don't bother to start sleep training in the first place, because you won't be successful if you are inconsistent.

Good luck,
Dawn

He's probably hungry. The best thing to do is get up & feed him his formula or breast milk (whichever you are doing) at the night time waking.

In my experience, the girls always slept through the night sooner than the
boys. I think it's because the boys are more active & burn up their
calories sooner.

He could also be going through a growth spurt.

Make sure he's not teething. He could be starting and you don't really
know it. Try rubbing Infant Orajel on his gums AND giving him a bottle.

If the teething is worse then you'll need to use Infant Tylenol.

He may have slept through the night when he was younger but he won't now. Just get up & feed him in a dimly lit room, change his diaper first.
After he eats, burp him then wait 10-15 mins max then put him back down
to sleep.

Don't let him cry himself back to sleep. When he was younger he may not have been as hungry but he is now. He will go through a few of these spurts. So pick him up and feed him. Self soothing won't work. He is letting you know he needs something and his only way is to cry.

When you're hungry do you just decide you don't get to have food and continue on? He's a baby, he's hungry. Not feeding him won't fix this, he'll just cry and be awake longer. This won't "teach" him anything but to not trust you. You are his only source of nutrition so if you don't feed him when he's hungry, well, you just have to feed him.

I suggest he not go to bed so early. He's still young enough he could be taking 2 naps per day so if he takes a noon one then a late afternoon or early evening one he should be up until 9 or so. Then taking a bottle and perhaps a light food snack afterwards, not much at all, the formula should be sufficient then he might go down and stay down until at least 5am or 6am.

Sounds like a growth spurt, even though he eats well during the day. His body doesn't care, it wants more fuel. If he can fuss himself back to sleep, that's one thing, but if he truely needs something, you just have take care of it. It's tough, but their bodies and brains are doing SO much and it takes a lot of energy.

I had one that did that and I did get a bottle of milk nightly and then he started getting terrible diaper rash as his urine was stronger the older he got. I stopped it then and let him cry a little and that was the end of it. I don't think they need to eat in the night at that age. If getting food all day and a snack maybe before bedtime there is no need for that. If he gets up early to eat breakfast then he should be fine.

From your description, he's waking up because he's hungry. Therefore, you should feed him.

I'm a very laid back, go with the flow kind of person and always fed the babies when they were hungry. For my first, that meant he was still getting a midnight feeding at 18 months old (he definitely needed the extra calories), my youngest gave up night time feedings at 6 weeks old. The middle two were in between there. All babies are different but I wouldn't want my baby to feel hunger when he doesn't have to.

My daughter is 8 months old and I put her down at 7, do a dream feed at 11 before I go to bed and then she wakes again to eat sometime between 3:30 and 7 depending on the night. I still think that's normal. If she is teething or sick she often wakes up more for comfort, but I can usually tell if she just wants comfort of if she's hungry. If he's hungry I'm not sure there is much you can do other than try to get more calories in him during the day.

You can let him cry it out, but I was never a big fan of that. We did it a little with my son (now 3) when he was that age because he would get in the habit of waking every hour or two after a bought of teething. But, he didn't want to eat all of those times, just wanted some attention.

Sorry, IMO it's just part of having an infant.

Our sleep patterns change constantly throughout our lives, depending on what's going on in our daily lives... hormonal levels... age... diet... lots of factors. If all other things are the "same" and he typically sleeps through the night without issue, then it's likely a growth spurt. If he he's typically up 2 or 3 times a night, then it's time to let him cry himself back to sleep. It stinks, but it does work.

We did Ferber Night #1 last night. It's a long night for us, but she yelled for about an hour and then proceeded to sleep until 7:30 this morning.

Our ped advised that once they hit 3 months, or 12 lbs, (whichever comes first), babies no longer "need" a nighttime feed.

As for sleeping through the night. We used the Ferber method. It worked for us. If you decide to go that route, I suggest you start sooner rather than later, because it becomes more challenging as they become more mobile.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

At 8 mos he still needs that night time feeding when he wakes up. Your description of his behavior tells the story. He needs you to fulfill his needs. Don't stop feeding him when he's hungry. He's in the process of adapting to no night time feeding, sounds like. Let him naturally change his night time needs.

How many hours is he sleeping? If you are putting him down at 7 and he is waking up anytime after 2-3 am - then he really IS sleeping through the night. You have just started night too early. When DS was a a baby, he went to be when we did. He had his last feeding at 11 pm - 11:30 and then slept 7+ hours. If your son is drinking 6 oz when he wakes up then he is HUNGRY and you should feed him.

Also - breast milk and formula are much more calorically dense than solid food. So he should be getting most of his nutrition from a breast or bottle until he is a year old.

Does he fall asleep easily when you put him down at night? Or do you snuggle, etc. for a while? Can he self soothe?

He doesn't need to be fed one or two bottles every night. He should be getting enough during the day. He needs to learn to get himself back to sleep. Try going in when he wakes and comforting him without the bottle. Then try not taking him out of his crib but just rubbing his back. You will need to get him to be able to soothe himself back to sleep when he wakes at night. My daughter used to wake up and sing and chat for an hour (see my post about her now chatting too much in school). Then she would fall asleep.

Good luck - it's tough not to be getting your much needed sleep!!