Hi! I have a 11 month old son who is a fantastic napper, although he is down to one nap (2.5 to three hours) which is pretty sad for me. :) Anyway, he goes to sleep on his own and he has soothed himself back to sleep during the night. However, he does still get up anywhere from 1-3 times a night to eat. He is a small one, 4th percentile for height and 6th for weight at his 9 month checkup, and he is still eating anywhere from 8-10 ounces a night. I try not to feed him right away but I definitely know when his cry means business. I also have been keeping track of the times he wakes up to see if there are any patterns. It is very random. My questions are: can weight play a factor in sleeping through the night and when is a realistic expectation of sleeping through the night? I have heard many people commenting their two years still don't sleep fully through a night and was just wondering. Thanks in advance!!! :)
Could be night terrors. They start about that age. Does he eat well before bed? My kids all had cereal and veggies or fruit at that age before bed.
Hi, B.!
Try not to stress about how often your son is waking right now. It's perfectly normal for him to still be waking to eat (or even for comfort!). My son still got up once a night until he was 20 months old! He is 3 1/2 now, and occasionally gets up still. However, he goes to sleep so easily, from about 7 am to 7 pm, like clockwork. It WILL get better and easier...try to remember that this is such a brief period in his life that you're dealing with right now!
I loved reading 'The No-Cry Sleep Solution' by Elizabeth Pantley. It was really helpful in our progression towards a good night's sleep for everyone in our home!
Best of luck to you!
-T.
Hi B.,
Just a thought....eat dinner early (5-5:30) and make sure he gets a bottle AND a bit later (or vice versa) cereal and fruit before bedtime. Even if you could get him to the point (being very full before he goes to sleep) of waking once (3,4 or 5:00) to eat it would give you a longer stretch of rest. Good luck!
99.9% of the time, the key is eating more during the day. Really feed him as often and and as much as you possibly can all day long (not only just before bed). It will take a few days to process, but he'll sleep much better through the night once he's really full. I learned this trick from my step sister who has 12 kids, and she got them all to sleep through the night by 3 months old. My daughter was still waking up at one year when she told me this secret. She immediately started sleeping through when I increased her food all day. My son started sleeping through at 2 and 1/2 months and is now 9 months and he has never awakened during the night. I stuff him constantly. Good luck!
Hi B., I have a six year old and I also have a 11mth old too (Nov.10 bday), she still doesn't make it through the night either. Its perfectly normal, although it would be nice to have a magic age to look forward to when a full night of sleep will be the norm! What I have done with my daughter, and this has only been for the last month or so, is make sure she has a snack before bed. I give that to her About forty five min. to an hour before bed, then a nice warm bath and then one more bottle. I put her down at 8:00 -8:30 and she sleeps solidly until 4:00am and at that time she's ready for a 6oz bottle. Then its back to sleep until 7:30-8:00am. This has been WONDERFUL !! Before adjusting her to the snack/meal, we were up every couple hours for a feeding. Well I hope you are able to find some peace in knowing you are not alone. If there's ever a time you would like to share stories, I am here. Also I wish him a wonderful 1st year Birthday!! Sincerely, J. C
My 2nd baby (now 8) was in the 5th percentile for height and weight and is still small in both areas for his age. He looks like he's 5 or 6 and most people don't believe him when he tells them his age :)
I can say YES! weight does has a major factor in the sleeping. He didn't STTN untill he was well over a year and a half. His Ped and I had several discussions about this, but he was hungry and needed to eat, so eat he did. He nursed so it wasn't a bg deal for him to wake up. We would cuddle while he ate then he would go back to bed.
What time do you feed him? (I am assuming he is eating 3 meals a day by now?) I would push his supper time back closer to 8:00 than when you guys eat. Maybe then, he'd have a full tummy while he's sleeping -- and you would get to sleep more. :-)
hi there! maybe nighttime isnt the problem. i havent heard of a baby switching to one nap so early - have you tried waking him up after only sleeping 2hrs to feed him? and then you could have a second nap later in the day. that may help, but since he is so small, he may need to eat more throughout the day. have you started cereal or any other solids? that always helps with sleeping! good luck!
I guess i am one of the lucky ones. my son has slept through the night since he was four weeks old. he is also considered small for his age. i would make sure he has a snack before he goes to bed. i do not mean formula but may be a yogurt or something substantial that will stay in his tummy. he could be waking up because he is hungry. make sure you have a fan or something that makes a white noise in his room. he may be a light sleeper. try a night light also.
B.,
My son did not sleep throught the night for many months and I talked to my pediatrician about this as his older sister slept through the night earlier in her first year. My ped said I could not expect him to sleep through the night until my son was over 15 pounds.
Why don't you call your ped and ask him/her the question of sleeping through the night and weight association?
ann
My daughter was pretty low on the charts as well and was about 2 when she slept through the night. I breastfed a lot and she was not interested in solids until after 1 year. We had a bed for her and also co-slept. Nights were random as well. I think the big change came when she was more active during the day and thus ate more solids. She was worn out and had a full tummy for naps and bedtime.
This all will go more smoothly if you let it happen slowly. I know my ideas are not popular, mainly because I am fortunate enough to not work. I believe in letting milestones be the child's accomplishment and not the product of sleepless nights or frustration on my part. That said, I am not a pushover. My girls hear the word no and staying up late or coming into our bed for no reason is not tolerated. The gentle, gradual transition we provided has worked well. Our oldest moved to her own room (we lived in a tiny house then) with a new bed around age 2.5 and never looked back. She slept all night and felt like such a big girl.
Fingers crossed and good luck to you. Sounds like your little one is getting ready for some changes, which would account for the randomness.
I don't know how big he is, but they say once they're 13 lb they should be able to make it through the night without any feeding. Having said this, I waited until all my boys were 9 months old before I pushed the issue. He'll probably still wake up during the night, but cutting those night time feedings (maybe cut them one at a time?) will probably help to reduce the wakings. By the way, my 3 year old still gets up in the night sometimes so I have no idea when the average kid completely stops.
Being so little,his needs will be different from the "average" 11 month old.I would do the 3 meals a day and give him cereal just before bed to help fill him up more.His stomach is likely quite small,so he will need to eat more often.Hopefully cereal will help him sleep longer,perhaps getting down to eating once during the night.
