Opinions please

thanks sourkittle for so many suggestions. ds already sleeps in gro bags right from 1 month. he didn't liked the blankets and swaddling once he was 1 month old :) i didn't got time to reply last night but i made him sleep elevated and he woke up 3 times at night! (touch wood not going to jinx it) as for the soluble biscuits...never heard of them :\: there are so many things out there, isn't expat forum wonderful :D i don't want to give him sugar or processed food for some time. i will check the biscuits but not keen on that. ps:he does not take bottles. have tried 3 brands so far. i spoon feed him. when i give bottle he looks at me weirdly as if thinking why would i take that if i have your ****** :0 <em>edited by angel joy on 02/11/2012</em>

hi there, my DD is 3.5 months old so obviously there's a big difference in our babies diets, but these days I am actively trying to make her sleep through the night, and last night she finally slept thru without waking up for a feed (Alhamdulilah, dont want to jinx it!) from 8:30pm till 6:30am. I previously tried giving a pacifier, or water, but she got SO angry at me because she was genuinely hungry when she would wake up at night. @angel joy My DD has a had a cold for about 3 weeks as well and every time she would feel her breathing get blocked she would freak out and wake up crying and the only thing that would console her was having milk, every 2-3 hours, it was exhausting! Here are my tips: - Keep her breathing easy: Put some Olbas oil drops on a tissue near her at night, the vapour will clear her breathing. Also keep her nose clean, I ordered NoseFrida on Amazon and it works reallyyyy well to clear out her nose, better than aspirators. When her nose is clear she sleeps alot better. Also keep her elevated - Sleeping bag: Keep her in a sleeping bag so she stays cosy throughout the night - Soluble biscuits in her last night feed: I did this last night for the first time, I added just one since she's small but you can add more, they make the last feed heavy so the baby doesnt feel hungry soon. Make sure you use a variflow/fast flow teat. I got the Milupa ones. She slept through without feeling hungry. - Increasing intake in the day: she was having 90ml/120ml feeds in the day, and 180ml at night! Now I make sure she's having full big feeds in the day. Good luck!

I usually don't like these type of questions because like breastfeeding vs bottle feeding they tend to polarize and cause more heated discussion than informative solutions probably because we all want to do what's best for our kids and might feel personally attacked if someone disagrees in these sensitive issues, but as you have heard the "toughen it up" opinions here my opinion which I came by through my own experience: Firstly, the idea that young babies sleep continiously and alone for 12 hours or more is a very modern one. Everybody has phases during sleep where they are in light sleep and can be roused if there is something iritating them, like being cold, having pain or being hungry. Adults and older kids settle themselves. Young babies learn how to do that. So they can either be reasured by a caregiver that they are taken care of and not alone,or they can be left to cry and learn that they just have to deal with it. Your little one is still small, I am very sure this night time waking will not continue for ever. And often the waking is not necessarily about food but about reasureance. At 18 months I had my oldest still sleeping with me for parts of the night and even when she was older were there nights when she just needed someone to fix her blanket. And then this all stopped and there are no issues with sleeping or going to sleep. It is your choice, you can do it by force or let your little one give the pace for becoming independant. I personally found the second approach to work better in the long term and that went for most aspects of growing up, like weaning, potty training going to nursery and so on.... To clarify: this doesn't mean that you can't try and change things like not giving milk at night. Of course you can try to stop the night time feeding and of course there will be fuss, but there is a difference between a bit of fuss for a few nights and uncontrolable screaming which for me would indicate that the little one might still actually have a genuine need to have the milk at night be that need physical or emotionally. I just believe that babies shouldn't be forced to grow up before their time but helped and encouraged to grow at their own pace. <em>edited by Lilli34 on 01/11/2012</em>

A gentler approach would be to slowly reduce the amount over a number of weeks so he is slowly weaned. Sure it will take longer but the PP suggestion sounds like it would be horrible for both you and your LO to endure. Many babies could sleep without feeds at six months but I am sure the number is not as high as many would lead us all to believe... Some babies are genuinely hungry at night. So maybe your LO is. And justt judging by the volumes he is drinking, though I'm no expert, he seems to be. The idea is that if you slowly reduce intake at night and if it is out of genuine hunger, he should increase intake during the day to make up for what he did not take during the night. Google night weaning, perhaps you can get ideas of quantities to reduce by and develop a plan of how you will approach it. Good luck

my ds is 6 and a half month and from 5 month onwards he started waking up at night for milk. He was EBF up till now. even after starting solids (which he eats happily, i know they don't hold much value infront of milk at this age) he has increased his night feeds from 3-4 times to 8-9 times. from past 3 days me and dh are trying to lessen the feeds. we hold him,rock him,walk him. he does not open his eyes just keeps on crying. water he hasn's started uptill now. 2 days back his feeds were 4 times a night but yesterday since he was not well (cold) he kept on drinking for 2-3 minutes every hour. not to say it is tiring for all of us! i hate sleep training. you train them and 1 thing or the other comes along and you have to start all over again. i don't know how much help consulting a doc would be. mine paed said to give him water instead of milk at night which he strongly refused and was wide awake :) waiting for the day when all this will be over.

Babies don't need to feed at night after around 6 months! It seems that this is habit - he is definitely not hungry. After the age of 1 milk is no longer a food and is now a drink. He is getting enough nutrients from the food he eats, but he has gotten used to drinking milk in the middle of the night, the hysterical crying is because the milk is a comfort to him. Unfortunately the only way to break the habit is through tough love. You're going to have to stop his night feeds (maybe one at a time). For the next few days when he wakes up don't give him milk for one of his feeds. He will cry hysterically but after a few days he will be fine. Eventually he won't wake up at all. Then after you have stopped one feed, then stop the other. I had to do this with my daughter at 10 months. She cried for three nights, and then she just forgot about it and slept through the night. You need to stop his night feeds for your own sanity!!

My 18 month old sleeps from approx 7pm until 6am but is waking at least twice for milk and drinking around 7oz (14 in total!). I have offered water but only results in 2 hrs of hysterical crying. Am I being weak? Has my LO got me wrapped around his little finger or is this genuine hunger? He has a good appetite during the day and eats nearly as much as my 6 year old! I would be interested in different opinions on this. perhaps your LO's metabolic rate is very high and burns food very quickly. What time is dinner? Do you give milk before bedtime? I can't remember at what age you can stop night feed. :D