Night feedings...

My babies still don't STTN regularly. DD does occasionally, but DS has only slept through three times, and he tends to wake her up nowadays when he wakes up at night...

The thing is, they are hungry. We haven't managed to feed them more during the day. DS is fighting half his bottles and rarely finishes the 6oz. He's not much into solids either, we only do breakfast and the only thing he's eaten so far is sweet potatoes. We're tried two cereals and peas, and he just won't open his mouth after three bites. So, during the day he has maybe 22oz... he's over 17lb (might be close to 18 now), so he needs more, so he wakes up at night to eat. So frustrating. I think he's teething right now but even when he doesn't seem in pain from the bottle, he still won't eat more than 6oz at a time, and he's just not hungry in the morning.

Last night it's DD that actually woke up first... she probably has 24oz during the day plus the morning solids (which she gobbles up), but I guess it's not enough for her either (she's 14.5lb now I think).

How do I get them to eat more during the day???? Half the time they are up and playing for an hour before their bottle but it's still hard to get them to finish their bottles at times. They used to sleep better when I fed them every 3 hours but DS just won't eat if he was fed less than four hours before (3.5 if I'm lucky)... so it's impossible to give them more than 4 feedings a day, and they still only eat 6oz. The few times we woke them up at 8-9pm to eat because their last meal was at 4-5pm, they were not hungry (they go to bed at 7pm).

They're very healthy, I'd just like them to eat during the day and not at night... I don't want to stop the night feedings out cold or none of us will sleep that night...

Any advice would be great!

 

I would say you might need to put them on every 3 hours again and see what you can do with that. You can try moving the solids to the evening and see if that might help you out or just stop them all together and just get formula in. FWIW mine took a bottle at night until 9 months old and then magically they just stopped waking for it. They would eat and go back to sleep. They just needed the extra calories. Good luck.

 

Not sure I have any advice, but thought I would share an anecdote.

Ours STTN, but I was totally convinced they weren't getting enough. Similiar kinda story 15-17lbs and only taking about 24oz, no solids. Even the pedi made me check my math twice when I gave her that number. So I was debating going back to a 3hr schedule and feeding them less oz per feeding (cutting them off to make them eat sooner) until I could get their intake up. We were just about ready to do it, and what do you know - they both started eating like crazy. Went from 6oz bottles to 8oz and sometimes still acted hungry after 8. I have a firm line in the sand at 9oz, because seriously where could they put it!?! That hollow leg?

My pedi said it wasn't uncommon for kids to plateau and as long as they were still growing on their curve not to worry about it. They would take as much as they wanted, and that would be enough. Trying to force them to eat more wouldn't do anyone any good.

As for the STTN one of my kiddos just wanted to be up at 4am (the last feeding time to go). I kept feeding him because IMO he wasn't eating enough during the day, and thus must be hungry. Feeding him also got him back to sleep with no fuss. Then one night he slept through, and then the next, and the one after that to. So at 4mo when they went through the infamous "sleep gone to crap phase" instead of feeding him at 4am I started just giving him a paci (which he had NEVER taken before - just wasn't interested). What do you know, it worked. I was up to reinsert for a while, but I wasn't feeding him. And when he got out of the habit of eating and past his sleep strike he went right back to STTN. We haven't used the paci before or since, but it sure was a life saver for those couple of weeks.

ETA: FWIW that was also about the time we instituted the 5 min timer on night fussing. I don't get out of bed until they have been fussing for 5min. It totally surprised me how often they would just go back to sleep if left alone. Going in was a whole different ballgame. Although mine are self soothers to begin with - we have never been rockers, or patters, or anything else - they go into the crib awake and put themselves to sleep with very little if any fuss.

 

How many times are they waking?

 

Mine STILL aren't sleeping through the night!!!! They have gone from 3 night feedings, down to 2 & are now down to 1. I haven't done anything b/c like you, I think my girls need the calories b/c they're not eating as much during the day either. I just feel that mine will stretch it out on their own & start STTN when they're ready. Not to say that if you find something that works, that it's wrong! Just wanted to commiserate with you b/c we're in the same boat <_<

 

I agree with the pp that going back to a 3 hour daytime schedule might be something to try. I am convinced that our "you are eating at least every three hours, hungry or not " policy in the beginning was the key to our STTN success. Mine are still iffy on the big (8 oz, as opposed to 6 oz) bottles. Sometimes, they'll do it, and sometimes they won't. They are also in daycare during the week where they eat very differently (they eat less at school--so I'm afraid to send them with fewer big bottles); but we shoot for 4 8 ouncers a day on the weekends (plus two solids meals--we just added the second). They usually short one of those each. Similarly, when we were doing a 5 6 ouncer a day schedule, they usually shorted one as well. In general, if I can get between 25 and 28 in them via bottle and sneak in another few in their cereal, I feel good about the day.

Good luck!!! Wishing you sweet dreams!

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Sep 2 2008, 11:01 AM) [snapback]958547[/snapback]
How do I get them to eat more during the day???? Half the time they are up and playing for an hour before their bottle but it's still hard to get them to finish their bottles at times. They used to sleep better when I fed them every 3 hours but DS just won't eat if he was fed less than four hours before (3.5 if I'm lucky)... so it's impossible to give them more than 4 feedings a day, and they still only eat 6oz. The few times we woke them up at 8-9pm to eat because their last meal was at 4-5pm, they were not hungry (they go to bed at 7pm).


Sounds like your situation may be a little different if it's always been this way. But a few weeks ago we really struggled getting our babies to finish their bottles too. They just seemed so distracted and would chew on the nipple and keep turning their head as if they weren't hungry, after they'd barely drank half. Before this, they rarely had trouble finishing a bottle. We started doing all feedings in their nursery where there are less distractions and we changed to the Dr. Browns level 3 nipples (we did it a 4.5 mos even though they say 6 mos). Now they're almost done with the bottle before they get a chance to be distracted. May be a totally different situation than yours, but it may be worth a shot.

 

Mine didn't STTN until 8 months so I feel your pain. I agree trying to do bottles more frequently instead of bigger bottles. Also have you tried a dream feed before you go to bed at night? We did that and at least got 6-7 hours of straight sleep a night. GL!

 

They don't eat if they sleep, plus it would be really hard in their crib, not sure how people do that... but the times we woke them up at 10pm, if they even ate, they would still wake up 4 hours later.

Feeding every 3 hours won't help... DS won't eat even if he only had 3oz at the last feeding.

 

Have you considered phasing out that night feeding by offering less than a full meal? That is how I got my girls to STTN at 3.5 months. They were consistently waking to eat and would go straight back down... but then they wouldn't eat their full "breakfast" bottle a few hours later. So, I started offering fewer and fewer ounces during the night. It took a couple of weeks (total) of offering only 4 oz, then 2 oz, then just paci re-insertion, but it worked!

 

Glad you posted this topic--Im having the same problem

April