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UPDATE-Not sure what to do now, in a night feed pickle!

So last weekend Archie slept thru from 7.30-7am and confirmed what I suspected, that his night feed was more habit and he didn't really need it. He only took a few oz in middle of night and then not really hungry for morning bottle so I was sure he wasn't hungry. He is 16wks and 16lb 6 so old enough and bog enough to be sleeping thru.
So I decided to try and give him water in the night, idea being that he would realise it wasn't worth waking up for and sleep thru. 1st night was awful and he really cried. But slept till 6.30 the next night. Yay, except next night he was up twice and I repeated the water again. Cried but not as much and went back to sleep.
So Basically he has been following this pattern of sleeping well, almost right thru every 2nd night. And on the other night I'm giving water and the settling back to sleep. Last night he woke at 3am, had a sip of water, no crying and cuddled in and went back to sleep. Problem was as soon as I put him down he woke after 20-30 mins so I cuddled again, he dozed off and put him back. This went on until about 6 when I gave up and took him into bed with me (another bad habit but I'll deal with that later !)
So I'm in a real pickle and not sure whether I should keep offering the water etc. Or just feed him. He slept much better when I was doing one night feed a night !! Any ideas ladies ?
Suz xx
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Well last night I thought about what bedhead said and I wondered if he was inface just wanting a cuddle. So last night I made an effort to ignore him and wait for proper tears. They didn't come. He settled himself back to sleep until aboput 6am. I tried just settling him in cot with dummy and he dozed till 7. So just gave him a cuddle till 7.30 and we got up then. Who knows what tonight will be like. He'll prob revert to his one night good, one night bad routine. Fingers crossed though. S x



[Modified by: SuzMcH on 27 January 2009 10:27:18 ]

Replies

  • To be honest I think he is waking up for the cuddle rather than the water!! You might be better giving him the water in his cot if you can, with minimal contact so that he doens't get used to the idea that if he wakes up he gets a nice cuddle with mummy!
    xx
  • Hey Suz, Read my post (fao mums of breastfed lo's) as the problem I think is very similar...

  • Some babies can't go without a last feed at about 10/11pm until quite a bit older and established on solids, so maybe he needs this feed still? Once he's back to sleeping from this last feed until the morning gradually reduce the amount you are giving him until he's sleeping through again without it? If it means you are all getting a good nights rest, it might be worth giving him the feed. If you're giving it to him before you go to bed rather than in the middle of the night there should be a long enough gap for him to be hungry for his morning bottle, because i agree you don't want him to drop this, my lo did that when i started feeding him in the middle of the night, and it totally mucked our days and nights up x
  • Hi hun, hope your new no cuddle things is working for you.
    Just thought id mention cameron did not sleep through without a feed until he had been weaning for about 2-3 weeks. he sleeps 7-7. he used to wake for a feed about 4am until he was about 20 weeks. i wasnt sure if it was habit for those last few weeks but he also would settle straight after a bottle, whereas if i tried to pacify him with a dummy or water he would be really unsettled until morning. so i continued to give him a bottle, then all of a sudden he just stopped needing it. obviously he was having plenty in the day. so it wil pass soon enough
    xx
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