Seeking Advice on Nighttime Feeding

Hi J.,

Actually, the American Academy of Pediatrics and WIC both recommend breastfeeding up to 24 months as long as both Mom and baby are comfortable with doing it.

At 1yo she definitely doesn't NEED to be drinking in the middle of the night. It's usually a comfort thing. However, by that age she should be sleeping through the night 90% of the time and waking up 10%. Keep on doing the pat, paci, leave routine and she will eventually get to sleeping through the night.

If you do give her something in the middle of the night, just make it water or else her little teeth won't stand a chance.

Good Luck!

i believe that should be a personal decision for you to make as you feel comfortable with it. the reason i say that is if you ask you pediatrician they will say that breastfeeding babies usually breastfeed until they are 3 to 4 years old. i personally couldn't. after having 3 boys they all reacted a different way, the first one refused to breast feed so we went straight to formula the second one broke out in heat rash every time but we thought it was allergic reaction until after we started him on formula and the third well we just thought it was best to go directly to bottle feeding to be on the safe side. like i said it's really a matter of what you feel comfortable with. y 1 year old they usually have you go to regular milk in the bottle. i did by the time each one was 10 months old. try putting a 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of Gerber rice cereal with milk or formula in her bottle and that will help keep her full longer. you can also try the water and if she won't take it at first the pediatrician might recommend a tough of sugar water until she gets used to water.

You could try nursing her at night. It would fill up her tummy and has less of a risk of causing cavities (as compared to cows milk).

J.,

If you want to give her milk (water would be better to give her at night) when she wakes up, I would suggest making a cold milk sippie cup when she goes to bed and place it in her crib and by the time she wakes up, it will be room temperature and you can just give it to her. She should fall back to sleep after a few minutes. We did this with our 4th baby and he now takes it by himself.
He wakes up (he is 13 months) around 3am or 4am and finds his cup (with diluted juice or water) in his crib and takes a few gulps and puts it down and goes back to sleep, all on his own. His crib is next to our bed, so we can hear him and make sure he is ok. It works well because we don't need to get out of bed and we can just turn over once he is done and go back to sleep.
Babies shouldn't go too long without something on their stomach, so this is just what he needs to take him until morning.
Some may say that you shouldn't give them anything, but I disagree. There are times when I get thirsty in the middle of the night and need a drink of water. Nothing wrong with that.
Our bodies get dehydrated, especially now with the heat. We need to replenish it, even if it is the middle of the night.
I would say, just don't let her wake up for too long, then you may have an issue of getting her back to sleep.
Also, the more exercise she gets during the day, the longer she will sleep at night.
Take Care,
T.

You did exctly the right thing last night and it worked. Keep it up and she will soon be sleeping through the night.

J.,
Sounds like you're doing the right things and the advice given is great, BUT, whatever you do, DON'T give her Gatorade at night. Gatorade has alot of sugar in it and it will sit on thier gums all night. It will ruin thier teeth ,sometimes before all of them are even thru the gums. This happened to a friend of mine with her son and he ended up having to get porcelian teeth (implants) until his grown up teeth came in. It was also very costly ! Just an FYI ! GOOD LUCK, C.

Morning, J.~ The sooner you stop feeding through the night, the sooner she will not rely on it. Believe it or not, there will come a time when you close your eyes to sleep only to open them again in the morning. It's a WONDERFUL feeling!! Good luck and don't feel guilty!

Hi J. I had a similar problem. My pediatrician told me to try water so that my daughter would eventually loose interest in waking in the middle of the night for just plain old H2O. I would rock her with the bottle of water and ease her back to a sleepy state the first few times. It took a while, but eventually she slept longer, and longer without waking for that extra drink. Way to go! You are hard working mom! :)

I think you are doing the right thing. I might try a sippy cup or bottle of water (not milk, so not to ruin her teeth). If she goes back to sleep so quickly after a hug and a paci or bottle, you are doing good. Just, don't turn on any lights - keep it dark, quiet and sleepy.

Good luck
S.

I am no expert on the lastest info that is out there, but when my kids were young I was told not to let them sleep with a residule of milk in their mouth because it would harm their teeth and gums. That's why water was recommended. Maybe you should check with you doctor to get the latest info.

J.,

I have heard that there is something in milk that helps you sleep. I've used it myself sometimes when I can't get myself to sleep and although it's not a quick fix it does seem to work - I definitely sleep more peacefully. In addition, your daughter can use all the vitamins she can get so I don't see the milk as an issue. If she's only waking once a night you are blessed.

at her age she doesn't need to be fed at night but her internal clock is set to wake up. So by not feeding her, you can reset her clock . If you can't handle ignoring her for a couple of night try offering her water vs milk . But honestly just letting her cry it out a couple of night sill be the quickest and its Not cruel to teach her how to get to sllep thru the night and go back to sleep on her own!
check out the baby whisperer books for some helpful techniques. (check library or book store) your whole family needs a good night sleep!
btw the american academy of pediatrics does not recommend 2 years of bfing they recommend 1. The world health organization recommends 2 years, but consider that babies cicumstances and diet are diff in places other than the US .
good luck- just read up on some diff techniques on getting your daughter to slepp thru the night. Find one u r comfortable with, and then follow thur and be consistent!
:)

I was giving my son milk when he woke up at night at that age. Just maybe not has much as I usually would.
I believe that Gatoraid is a good drink to give at night if they seem to want a little something. Check with the doc to make sure the age is okay for that. That's what we do with my son now if he wakes up for something to drink (2 1/2yr old).
If you want to try and shy away from giving her a drink you might want to try just rubbing her tummy or back until she's half asleep and/or playing music to help her go back to sleep. I'm sure she's still wanting the milk to fill her tummy yet though.
Good luck, sleeping through the night does happen.

Hi J.,
From everything I've learned, they definitely do not NUTRITIONALLY need to eat during the night by one year old. She probably just wants the comfort of it. She could be teething and that may be what is waking her up or she could be practicing a new skill in her head that she is learning... walking maybe. I think the hug, pacifier, and leave the room route is the way to go (as long as she is not screaming hysterically). The longer you feed her during the night the harder it is going to be to break. And I definitely wouldn't bring her in bed with you if that is something you are debating. We made that mistake with our first child and still at 3 years old she comes in our bed every single night. It's a tough one to break. My 14 month old has had some sleeping through the night issues and there are times that I have to pick her up and rock her (for sometimes over an hour) to get her to calm down and go back in her crib but I try to not do that so much so she doesn't get into a habit of it. Usually if she just wakes up and isn't crying she will put herself back to sleep. Good luck!!!

An added bonus to cutting out the nighttime drinks is that it'll be easier to ease into toilet training, when that time comes around!

Hi J.!

Breastfeeding is so important in your babies long term overall health, I suggest that you continue doing so.

Nowadays, there are a variety of breastfeeding equipments to save breastmilk in the fridge for future use.

Many times babies wake up during sleeping time because of gas caused for poor formula digestion. Always take out the gas after feeding her. As you mentioned, the formula is cow's milk based. It is most probably that your baby is showing an allergy reaction to it. To most of us cow's milk help develop health problems like sinusitis, different kinds of allergies including diarrhea. Also look for the kind of iron added because to aggravate the situation this may cause intestinal irregularity (constipation).

Finally, there is no substitution to breastfeeding and you could continue up to 3 years old. This may be a little bit uncomfortable for different reasons, but believe me I have seen the difference between the health and energy of a breastfed child and the one who barely received breastfeeding.
This without mentioning tons of hours lost in doctors office, hospital, money spent on this and in medication cost and risks in your babies health for medication use or even her presence in a hospital environment. Nature has all the answers. All we have to look is for its answer.

If your situation is that your milk production has decreased considerably, motivate your system to produce more milk practicing breastfeeding. If you are no longer producing milk write me to look for different foods and supplements that will help you on this.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of help.

God Bless You and your Family!

A.

Sounds to me like you have almost solved your own question. Do the same thing tonight. If she wakes, don't give her anything to drink. That trains her body to expect it. After a few nights of not getting anything, her body will not expect it and she should sleep through. Just be calm, soothing, quiet and tell her it's sleep time. She will learn pretty quickly (her body will) and you will be glad you didn't give in....
Congrats on a year of breast feeding! Way to go Mom!

I'm shocked to see other parents saying it's OK to give a drink in the middle of the night. Totally unnessesary and a habit you should break so you both can get a good night's sleep and be healthier overall from the rest you get. If you are getting conflicting advice, try asking your pediatrician