My 11 month old is just like his father. I like most of those qualities, except one. My husband and child are 'Grazers'. You know what I mean. Always eating a snack, but rarely eating a regular meal. My husband(and son) get up in the middle of the night to eat. My husband will go all day with out eating breakfast(coffee only) and maybe a quick gas station snack while he's on the raod for lunch. Then when he comes home he's up late and then naps and gets up for one or more snacks throughout the night. My son is the same way. He takes very little naps during the day if any at all. He goes to bed around 9 after a bath and by 11 he's up and wants to be fed. he does this on average 3-4 times a night. I have tried just lettinghim cry or some other comfort like rocking him or lavender baths, but he still wants to be fed, but only a little bit at a time, and then he goes instantly back to sleep! How do I get him to sleep through the night and to stop grazing when he eats???
Hi, i know how hard that is. no sleep, work, no sleep, work. not good. when mine wouldn't sleep I put baby cereal in my sons milk and cut a larger hole in the nipple and it worked like a charm. he was full and slept all night long.
My suggestion, develop a whole new routine that doesn't include getting up for food. How to do it? Good question. Read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. --great info.
My son did the same thing since he was 3 months old. By the time he was a year old I thought I was going crazy. He would go to sleep at around 8-9 p.m. and by 11 he was sceaming his tiny head off like an animal in a cage. He would stay awake until 5-6 in the morning. I had a break down in his ped. office so they gave him something that they give kids with chicken pox so they don't scratch. This was to help him get a routine down. Well that didn't work either. I was ready to check myself in by this time but a nurse told me to put him in a toddler bed. She said it sounded like he didn't like being confined in a crib. I went out and bought a toddler bed, three days later he was in a twin bed(with railings) and he has slept through the night ever since. Yes he was tiny in that bed but boy was I sleeping good. Good Luck.
Hi,
First of all, you must be the world's most patient woman. Props to you for raising 5 kids. I have twin daughters and thought I had it bad because they still wanted to eat once during the night and then at around 5:30am(this is at 7 months). A ten month old child does not need to eat at all during the night. He LIKES it this way, but he is not going to starve. However, it is hard to hear our little ones scream, and I felt bad too. I would give them one bottle in bed a night and then started stretching out the time by thirty minutes. Like if he wakes at 12 go give him a small bottle, and then each week stretch it by 30 minutes or an hour. My friend and I both did this with our babies and nothing is wrong with the shape of their mouth and they don't have rotten teeth. It took about a month to get them to sleep through the whole night. Some people would gasp to give their kid a bottle in bed, but my babes sleep like champs ever since they were about 8 months. Just try lots of different things and do what makes your life easier. My girls are 20 months now and I don't give them anything special to sleep through the night.
So hard to deny them what they want, but be strong. We have 5 children which includes a set of twins. The twins were like that to begin with but with a little determination and some screaming we got on schedule. Don't feed in the middle of the night, give some water. He will be so hungry in the morning that he will eat and only feed him at breakfast, lunch and dinner for the first week, no snacks. Then incorporate the snacks in once he has learned to eat only during the waking hours. He will learn and I wish you the best of luck and willpower!!
My little girl was also snacking throught the night (3-4 times per night). After reading "The No-Cry Sleep Solution", I learned that I had to make sure that Allie was getting enough calories during the day so that she wasn't depending on them at night.
Once I was sure of that, I realized that she actually had a sleep dependency (she had gotten so used to eating before sleeping that she couldn't put herself back to sleep without me feeding her!). We eased out of that over about a week (a couple nights of going in and holding her but not feeding her, then a couple nights of soothing her without picking her up). She is now sleeping through the night!
I didn't follow the book exactly, but the concepts in there were very good. I highly recommend it.
-K.
Hey S., I understand you frusteration. I have a possible solution. My kids kinda did this on their own, but they cluster feed before they go to sleep. I don't know if you have heard of cluster feeding or not, but it is when you feed your baby a few ounces every hour to half an hour before they go to bed. This starts at 6:00pm for my kids. I may feed them 3 times before 9:00pm and then they sleep through the night. It took a little bit of time, but they now are sleeping about 8-10 hours straight during the night. It's worth a try.
I also have a girlfriend that does the same thing and her kid is a month older than mine and she sleeps 12 hours now.
As for the nap thing. I had a hard time getting my kids to nap too (I have twins) so I did start the put them down and let them cry until they fall asleep. It was hard, but what I did was turn off my monitor and take a nap in my room away from them set my alarm for when they SHOULD wake up to eat and then I would go and get them. They now nap for at least 2 hours around 2 or 3pm. Sometimes they cry the whole time, but most of the time they will fall alseep after 30mins of crying. It breaks my heart so that is why I took a nap too so I couldn't hear them.
Well, I hope this helps. If not, maybe someone else has some other good suggestions for you to try. Good luck!
K.
Hi S., Ok... Nip this one in the bud. Change his eating habbits. Your son is almost a year old. Now is the time to change that. Try this schedule and let me know if it works.
1. AM - Breakfast (something to fill him up until lunch)Don't let him nit pick or he will be a picky eater.
2. AM - Snack - Give him a small snack at least 2 hours before lunch (this will get him by until lunch)
3. PM - Lunch - (a good lunch with a fruit and a vegetable with Juice)
4. PM - Nap - get him to take a nap (his belly is full and he will sleep better) have him take a nap around 12:30 or 1:00 until 2:30 or 3:00pm. Not too long but not too short either.
5. PM - Snack - give him an afternoon snack to hold him over until dinner. Nothing to heavy or he won't want to eat.
6. PM - Dinner - give him a good hearty meal for dinner. Give him dinner between 6pm - 8pm. Make sure he gets milk with dinner. Milk is a filler, give him half a cup of milk with dinner and then the other half after he eats his dinner. He will be full.
7. PM - give him a warm bath
8. PM - give him one last (LITTLE) snack, such as crackers, a piece of bread, or animal crackers. Something to fill his belly before bed-time. (he will be less likely to wake up around 11pm to eat again, because he is full)
9. PM - Get him to bed (start all over in the morning)
If your child goes to daycare, advise his daycare the routine that he is in and express to them that his snacks in the am and pm are very important. If they don't help with this, then I would look at different daycare that will help.
Routine is key! Trust me. I am a daycare provider and work with kids like that all day. All my kids here are on a routine. Eating and sleeping and playing.
I hope this advice helps! Try it and let me know how it goes.
A.
"Precious Moments Daycare"
I have 11 month old twins......one will sleep all night and the other wakes up around 1 or 2 sometimes. I normally try to give them a bottle with cereal mixed in before bedtime and this usually works. Let me know if it works for you.
Not sure if this will work, but when my son was 1 year old we were putting him to bed at 9pm and he was waking up in the middle of the night. A co-worker recommnded a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It said that children my sons age should be going to bed betweek 7-8. Once we implemented this, he was sleeping through the night within a week. We didn't even have to let him cry. Basically, if children go to bed too late it totally messes up their sleep habits. It also tells you how to get naps straightened out. It's a great book. Maybe it would help you.
I would try let him take only 2 one hr naps during the day or one 2hr nap. I put my son down at 9 but he usually doesnt fall asleep until 11. We get him back up at 7:30, he eats breakfast by 8:30, plays and then naps from 11:45 to 12:45 or 1:45, then he gets lunch and plays from then until we pick him up at 5:30 (he gets a snack b/w 3-4pm)..I cook dinner by 7:00 and we let him play outside until 8:00 or 8:30, then he gets a bath and we put him in bed at 9...Hopefully this may work...try not to let him snack or drink juice before a meal...I use to do that and I realize he was filling up and that is why he wouldnt eat his meal.
my baby is 1 year and 5 months and still does that.I stoped wishing her to sleep through the night.She probably will when she will get older.good luck1
sorry i'm responding to this so late, i hope you have already figured out a solution. it sounds quite exhausting to get up and feed your baby in the middle of the night.
i had a good friend who went thru the same thing with her daugther recently (so you're definitely not alone!): bed at 10pm, up at 1 and 3am to snack, then back to sleep. my friend also used to nurse/rock the baby to get her to go to sleep. i went to her house one nite when she had had enough and stayed with her while she put the baby down at 10pm - tired but awake - and let her cry until she fell asleep. sounds cruel, but this baby was so overtired and waking HERSELF up every nite b/c she THOUGHT she needed food, when really she needed sleep. anyway, the baby ended up crying 45 mins and then sleeping thru the nite. the next nite, she was asleep in 10 mins. not to say that it works like that for everyone. my other friend's baby took an entire 2 weeks of doing this. also, if your son is eating 3 meals a day - solid food - he shouldn't need to wake and snack. time to probably set some precedents.
i know a lot of people aren't into letting babies cry, but there is a point at which you have to teach a child how to sleep when it is so desperately needed.
as for the eating...that may fall into place once he stops getting up for snacks at nite. good luck. i hope that helps.
Our son had tummy problems being unable to hold food down starting at 2 months until he was about a year. We had to add cereal to his formula and use a "Y" cut nipple to help hold his food down. We stopped his medication at 1 year of age (he's now 16 mo. old) and stopped the cereal but noticed as he got older he would wake up hungry through the night, the plain formula just wouldn't hold him. We increased his plain formula intake to 8 oz. and continued rock him with a bottle at bedtime (we've always been able to rock him and lay him down whether he was asleep or not).
You can try to add the cereal to his bottle, normally it's on the top shelf of the baby food isle. Add about 2-3 tblsp. per 6 oz. of formula. It seems to fill them and helps them make it through the night. Our doctor even told us to make sure he has a full tummy when you lay them down to help them make it through the night. Hopefully you have consulted your doctor about your concern to.
A friend of mine suggested instead of formula or milk when baby wakes up to offer him / her water instead. It worked for all 3 or hers and my 1 and everyone is now sleeping through the night! Hope it works for you too!
hello S.. we have a 10 month old daughter who used to sleep in our bed until 3 months ago. she used to wake up at night and would cry until we fed her. even when she wasn't hungry. i feel like maybe your son too just wants the attention and confort.
then we sentenced her to sleeping alone and wouldn't go to her when she cried (really hard to do)a week later, it stopped and a week after that, she started sleeping throught the night. we feed her before she goes to bed at 9(she falls asleep on her own) and give her a botte at 6am. i hope that our "method" helps you find your own. courage :)
Oh you poor thing. I have a friend that is going through the same thing (her son is 2)and we have tried everything! He has been that way since birth and has NEVER slept through the night. The only advise I can give is just hang in there and remember that you aren't the only one that is going through this.
Read "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber. His system really works. Just remember to stick with it - do exactly what he says!! Ask family, friends and your pediatrician's nurse for help.
Get him on a schedule...We eat when we get hungry. We get hunry when we are trained to (eg, breakfast before work at 6, lunch when the boss decides, dinner when we get home). Refuse to feed him when he awakens. Instead, try getting him on a new schedule, feeding him four times a day, four hours apart, and perhaps a bottle before bed. You will train him to become hungry at those times...and if he continues to wake up, it may be that he just wants the COMFORT of food, not the food itself. If that's true, you'll want to end that as quickly as possible.
It may also be true that he does not have that little mechanism in his body that tells him he's full. My son didn't until he was about 18 months and would eat anything you put in front of him at any given time. A schedule REALLY helps if that proves true.
I would try reading "On Becoming Baby-Wise." It's a great book that I read after having my second child. It may or may not be for you, but it's a great read with many helpful hints and it's not too late to start trying to get your son on a flexible schedule, as they encourage. If you can get him to be on a good schedule during the day and can get him to eat until he is full, he should start sleeping through the night. I understand how you must feel, being the mother of a 15-month-old and a 7-week-old. I hope this helps.
read "No Cry Sleep Solution" it has a whole chapter dedicated to "night wakings/feedings". MIRACLE for me. My 6 month old sleeps through now! He would wake to eat 1-2 ounces at times. AND FUSS unless I gave it. I also sub'd water and the combo of the suggestions in the book and the water - worked like a charm. Another suggestion - make the feed BORING. Dim lit, no eye contact, no talking, no rocking - just feed, burp, then down for night night with a few loving pats and rubs.
