night bottles-habit or hunger

[socitycourty]

My LO is still waking all the time during the night and i just can't handle it anymore.

she takes 1-2 bottles at night. sometimes I can settle her with the pacifier and cuddling (bedsharing still) sometimes it has to be bottle.

they are usually 5 oz. so last night I only made 4. will this actually work or does she need this night bottles until she decides she doesn't want them?

she has plenty of milk during the day, and water, and food

 

[jvdb]

I would guess it is habit unless this is something new and she is going through a growth spurt. My baby is 9 weeks old on tuesday and sleeps through the night, and there are many others who would agree that by 2 months age a baby is capable of sleeping all night.

It might be a difficult habit for you to break, but I would think that as long as she is not in the middle of the growth spurt it is doable. Obviously if she is in a growth spurt she is needing them. You might want to try increase the amount she gets during the day and give the bottles at predictable times? I follow an Eat/Wake/Sleep routine so my baby always knows that when nap is over she eats. On the rare occasion that she DOES wake at night I wait 10 minutes to see if she falls back asleep, if she doesn't then I go ahead and feed her since she is likely hungry.

I am not sure how often a 10 month old naps since mine is only 2 months, but I think establishing a pretty good routine during the day might help? Might be worth a try. Some people swear by routines (myself) and others don't so its up to you.

 

[MissR]

I think it is habit.... my LO is 11mo's now and she still has one bottle in the night, 5oz. Always at the same time, but she only wakes 3-4 times a week. She sleeps through the night sometimes and sometimes wakes for that bottle! I think im going to slowly reduce the amount she has in the night until she doesnt want one.... maybe this is something you could try too?xx

 

[anneanne]

i think it may be habit. try offering water instead of milk, and that way she may realise its not worth waking for water! i dont agree with the pp that 2 month olds are capable of sleeping through the night, they are if your very lucky! good luck!

 

[Ktothema]

I was told that if its over 2oz the likelihood is they're hungry and below is habit. Don't know how true that is.

 

[Mabythistime]

When LO was 10 months he had two night bottles too. 1 x Tea and 1 x formula. If I tried the pacifier, he would scream blue murder and make it clear he wanted the bottle. Also around 5oz.

Somewhere round 12 months he dropped both out of his own - might wake for his pacifier once a night.

I dont know if it is habbit or not, but I kept going. I tried the water, and he used to finish that too. Lol. If I have to choose, I would say hunger and not habbit.

 

[Mabythistime]

Just wanted to add.... I did not mean hunger implying LO is getting too little milk or food - lol. Just hungry cos of time

 

[socitycourty]

lol i get it! i think she is teething again too so i don't know

 

[GracieGoo]

I was told that if a baby was to feed during the night after 6 months it is habit (as long as they are drinking and eating properly during the day), and not a hunger so to offer water instead... Perhaps you could offer water in one of the feeds for a couple of days and gage her reaction. Is she def craving the milk, or maybe she is just thirsty (I know I still wake in the night to have a drink sometimes). You could possibly try warming her water to a similar temp as her milk so she gets the same sensation?!

Have you tried to give her supper as well as her last bottle?! I know a friend tried this, and it gave them a couple of extra hours meaning only one night feed. I think they gave porridge or something like that on the advice on a hv to really fill them up.

I think you are doing really well if you are still doing the 2 night feeds though..

 

[lozzy21]

If it was just habit she would be having an oz or two and then going back to sleep. Two 5oz bottled sounds like hunger. Have you tried supper before bed so shes less hungry.

 

[socitycourty]

yeah i have tried giving her a cereal or fruit later before bed, doesn't seem to make a difference. and now she's on a food strike!

 

[Irish Eyes]

Sorry but I really hate when people say "by this age they should be going through the night, therefore its habit so don't feed them" does every adult you know have the same eating schedule? Do you stop people from having a snack when they're hungry because technically they should be able to wait until the next official meal time?

Some babies do need food in the night & until last week mine was one of them. He was having 5oz so it was definitely hunger. A week ago he suddenly stopped. He still wakes up often but he no longer shows any signs of being hungry. We have increased each day feed by an ounce to try and help him stay with this but always have one prepared at night just in case.

When she no longer needs the night feed then I would imagine she'll either stop or at least reduce the amounts. Hope your nights start getting a bit easier, since he's dropped the night feed ours have actually improved a bit

 

[Indigo77]

What time does she wake up for a feed?

Mine goes to bed at 8 & always wants a bottle at around 4.
He'll dream feed & then wake for the day at 7.
I really think he's hungry.
He has sttn until 7 many times, but only if he ate a ton during dinner.

I was thinking of giving him a snack & then moving his dinner to a later time.
The 4am dream feed isn't a big deal, but it won't hurt to try.

 

[KozmikKitten]

I would say habit personally. I think the baby is waking up because the body is used to waking up and getting fed at that time. I think as an adult if we woke up at the same time for a few nights in a row and ate something, we would then get into a habit and our bodies would wake us up, expecting it. I CC with my son when he regressed, and we are back to sttn. I dont CC if he is sick, teething, etc, though. Good luck!

 

[socitycourty]

well she has never "STTN" technically. Usually she falls asleep around 9 p.m. then wakes up once and i give her the binky and settle her again. then she will have a bottle around 1 a.m. or 4 a.m.

 

[mrsbeano]

I night weaned Quinn and he moved his intake to the daytime instead. He was waking up for one bottle for a long time and then started to wake for another and I wasn't really up for that. I just offered water at the first waking and after 2 nights he got the message about that one.

The second 3-4am waking I reduced down from 6oz to 2oz and he got the message after we were down to 2oz. I did an oz every three days. He wouldn't fall back to sleep on the bottle but it seemed to be more gentle than giving nothing.

Ferber goes for watering down the formula so if she has 5 oz just do the same water but put one scoop less in every three nights so she transfers the calories to the day.

She doesn't need a meal at night anymore if she is taking what she needs in the day. Some babies just get used to taking calories at nighttime and need some encouraging.

I night weaned Quinn at 7.5 months and he has mostly sttn since (aside from the usual illness/teething). Just remember, once you have weaned, the kitchen is closed!

 

[lola_90]

I would say it's more of a habit. We weaned our son of night bottles at 6 months once weaning was established and he was fine!

I think if you carry on then she is likely to drop them in her own time. But if you did want to stop, I would suggest making them with less formula so that they are more watery, and see if that helps

 

[melfy77]

I'm going through the same thing with DD, but she's 4 months old. Usually she would sleep from 7:30pm-1am, 1am-4am and 4am-7am, which I was ok with, but for the last 7-10 days she's been waking up at 10pm, 1am, 3am, 5am(but not always), and is up for good at 6:30-7am. She wants a bottle, and drinks 4-5 oz each time.

Here's her ''routine''
6:30: gets up, spend time with dad before he leaves for work
7:15: 6-8oz bottle, then bath, gets dresses, playtime
8-9:30: sleep
10: 5-6 oz bottle then playtime
11:30: nap
1:5oz bottle and activity time
2:30: nap
4-4:30ish: 5oz bottle
6-6:30: 5 oz bottle
7: is super cranky so bedtime I'm trying to get her to take a catnap around 6ish so she goes to bed around 8-8:30.

So in total she gets roughly 30 oz during the day + an extra 10-15 oz during the night so at least 40oz/day!! At first I thought she was going through a growth spurt, but it's been over a week

 

[Bonnie11]

Not sure if you are in uk but have you tried hungry baby formula? I used to use this at night as last bottle before bed and I'm pretty sure it made a difference, seemed to fill her up a bit more. Then at least you could find out if she really is waking because she's hungry x