My son is 8 months old and a big boy. He was 26 pounds at 6 months. He will/has slept for 6-7 hour stretches, but never "ALL" night. I put him down about 7:30 each night and recently he has been waking at 11-11:30 and 4:00-4:30. I feed him both times and he eats 4-6 oz each feed. I know he doesn't "need" both of these feeds. He gets plenty of solids during the day as well. My pediatrician said I should drop a feeding. My question is, which feeding should I drop first and any tips on how to make it less painful for both of us? I know I'm going to have to let him CIO some, but I do hate that. That said, I also have a 2.5 year old and I need some more sleep!
@S.T He is not diabetic, he's just a chunky baby and I love it. My daughter was very "fluffy" (as my niece calls it) as a baby too and now she is quite slim at 2.5. My pediatrician says he is perfecty healthy.
He's too old to be eating in the middle of the night. You may have to let him cry a few nights, but he'll finally realize the night feedings are over. All my babies were sleeping all night w/o feedings by 4 months. It gets to be a habit after a certain period of time, and not really need.
I'm not sure why you would be not feeding an 8 month-old when he is hungry. If he didn't "need" to eat, he would be sleeping through those times. I nursed my daughter twice every night (1:00 and 5:00) until she slept through one feeding, at about 11 months, and then both, at 13 months. You don't need to CIO at all, he will likely grow out of these night feedings on his own quite soon.
He does need these feedings. Even bigger kids need to eat at least every 3 hours. This baby is growing every night and he is using up every bit of his nutrition. Try feeding him formula instead of so much food. The formula is complete nutrition, the food is not so much. It is just to teach them to chew and swallow. He will probably need night time bottles off and on until he gets past 18 months when he will have another big growth spurt.
Hey -
My son was super large as well - 22 lbs at 4 months (I don't remember what he was at 6/7 months). My son did not have a problem with the 11-11:30 time slot, but we had a problem with the 4-4:30 as well. What I did was - gave him 4 oz for about 3 days and then 3 oz for about 3 days and then 2 oz for about 3 days and then 1 oz...and weaned him down so he wasn't waking up anymore. Worked like a dream for me.
I don't what to do when you are having an issue with two feedings. I would make sure he definitely eats something solid - later (don't feed him dinner at 5pm and then only liquids at 8pm). Give him a final late feeding of fruit or something that he enjoys.
Good luck!
L.
What I did with my son, which is how the ped suggested we drop our night feeding was gradually every few days decrease the amount of the night bottle but replace it with water. Then with what we had dropped at night we replaced during a daytime feed.
If he gets fussy when you drop one time go back up for another few days. I'd say we dropped down every 3 or 4 days until the night time bottle was gone.
We did this when he was around 3 months so he wasn't on solids yet so we had to replace what we were decreasing at night during the day. I'm not sure you will have to do that since he is eating solids. But you might want to for the adjustment period.
At that time we went from 6oz in the bottle to 8oz in the bottle. We were doing 5 bottles in a 24 hour period so he went from 5 6 oz bottles to 4 8 oz bottles at the age of about 3 months. I'm pretty sure by 8 months he was only drinking like 20 - 24 oz a day with the solids.
I also (on my own) once I got down to a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture started decreasing the total volume he was getting at night. So in the end we were at only 2 oz of liquid at night and then dropped it all together after a few days.
you could go cold turky and drop them both? when he stirs let him cry for a little bit and if it persists, just go in and rub his back...leave the lights off and dont talk. just do the shhhhhhh. you will probably have to do it for a few nights, but it will be worth it in the end. we stopped nite feedings at 6 months by advice from our ped. he said when the baby is 12 lbs metabolically they dont need to eat during the night - its more habit. he may also be waking up to eat because his other meals need to be more substantial. our dd would eat at 7 or 7:30 and then she would wake at 7 for breakfast feedings. i breastfed and supplemented because she was a HUGE eater and still is at 3. it took about 2 days to drop the nite feeds and my dd was fine.
He is probably going to grow again. Before you know it that 11 feeding will stop again. He's hungry try a dream feed before you go to bed maybe it will get him to only wake once. Oh and sleeping all night is considered a 6 hour stretch.
If you need more sleep go to bed earlier. I rarely stay up past 9/930 because my kids are early risers.
With it being so hot I wouldn't cut the second bottle he may be thirsty if you really want you could try just water at 11.
Edited: I wanted to add that my oldest was quite a chunky baby his ped had a med student one day and he told her that is what a healthy baby is supposed to look like :) he is now 9 years old and is tall and skinny.
I'd probably drop the First feeding since it won't have been too long since he Ate last. Replace it with a bottle of water instead. That would be the easiest way to transition.
I would drop the 4am feeding first. If he wakes at that time, try and let him go back to sleep on his own. If he cries for more than 10 minutes, go in and just pat on the back, shhhhhhh him, sing low to him etc. Do not pick him up or give him water or a feeding. It may take a couple nights of frustration but eventually he will get it. And you do not need to worry about him not getting proper nutrition, it sounds like he gets enough during the day. My DR told me at 5 months that sleeping all night is just a habit that needs to be cultivated, it is not related to hunger.
Once you get a few nights sleep without that 4am feeding, lose the 11 pm feeding too in the same manner. Good luck!!
He's only 8 months old and it sounds like he wakes up to eat then goes back to sleep. To me that says he is hungry and I would go ahead and feed him.
I would suggest dropping the 11-11:30 one. They call it a dreamfeed. My son is 8 months old as well and we dropped this feeding at about 6 months. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. If you're not wanting him to cry it out, then you could try making the time earlier and earlier until it reaches 7:30. For instance, feed at 11, next night feed at 10:30, next night feed at 10... and so on. You may have to wake him up for those but that will get him used to not eating at that time. I just stuck it through and had him cry during that time and was surprised at how quickly he put himself back to sleep. We also gave him a pacifier at that time to help and he would go right back. Babies have sleep cycles and wake many times during the night and don't always need to eat. It sounds like if he's as big as he is and only eating 4 oz or so, then he probably just does it for comfort. You could try getting up at that time and patting his back, giving him a pacifier or shushing him back to sleep.
I know it's really hard because I'm right there with you, but I definitely think he is ready to get rid of that first one at least.
Blessings and I hope all goes well!
My son did the same thing around the time he should've been sleeping thru the night. I would drop the 4am feeding first and work back to the 11pm feeding. When we were trying to drop a feeding and I knew my son wasn't sleepy, I'd pick him up when it was time for his regular feeding and give him a pacifier instead. The pacifier seemed to satisfy any sucking he needed but it didn't encourage him to eat. We only had to do the pacifier thing for a week or so and he started sleeping thru the feeding. I think he figured it wasn't worth waking up for a pacifier. Maybe the pacifier will work for you. Hope you get it figured out soon! A full night's sleep is a beautiful thing!
Oh, and don't be afraid of CIO. We have done it with our son and it's been fairly short-lived. My pedi (he's been doing this for more than 30 years) says babies can cry at least 15 minutes without hurting themselves. So a few minutes of crying won't hurt him. And, if it allows you to get a full night's sleep, I'd say it's worth it!
wow, and i thought one of my twins was big being 18 pounds at 7 months...lol.....is there any way to soothe him back to sleep without the nightly feedings? my twins, who will be 8 months on sunday, get 4 eight ounce bottles a day, with their last bottle around 9pm, they have been sleeping through the night for about 5 months now.....which really suprised us because our oldest boy, 2 1/2 didnt sleep through the night until he was 7 months old.
is your pedi concerned about him being so big? is he diabetic? i think he is eating to much maybe.
also, i dont recomend doing or giving him something that will be a habit you have to break later, especially a pacifier!!! nothing worse than seeing a kid 2 or 3 walking around the store with a binkie in their mouth. even 1 is to old for a binkie. all 3 of mine were off the binkie by 3 months old
