Hellobee Boards

@Cherrybee: I tried and tried when LO was younger and he never would "tank up" or eat more often, no matter what. So I gave up. Eventually stretching his feeds out actually helped, because he ate more each time (or so I thought, I EBF so dunno about actual oz numbers).

Not to scare you but Miss A is still having 1-2 night feeds at almost thirteen months! My understanding is that some babies will need their calories on a 24 hour basis to fuel all the brain development that occurs in the first year or so.

Maybe try gradually reducing the volume during the night feeds (10-20 mL at a time) and adding it to the day feeds? You could also try pushing out the night feeds by fifteen minutes every couple of days to get her down to one feed a night.

@Cherrybee: what can I say? My boobs are just that awesome!! And it's not all bad because some nights A sleeps almost all night (till 0530!)

@MoonMoon: my baby is the same! He was sttn and now he wakes up 2-3 times a night, and takes a full feed. It started at 3.5 months. He goes 4 hours between feeds during the day but for some reason has decided he needs to eat every 3 hours at night. Ughh.

@scg00387: Thanks, that does give me hope! He is really distractable right now so I wouldn't be surprised if he has to make up the extra calories at night. For now I'm just going to let him eat (I don't want to not feed him unless I'm positive he's not hungry - it's difficult to sleep when you're hungry!) and hope he eventually outgrows it.

How many kgs is your baby?

@QBbride: yes! My baby is very distractible during the day and doesn't nurse as often, so it's clear to me that he's making up calories at night. And just like @Cherrybee: I've wondered if there's any way to get him to eat more during the day, but this seems to be our new normal.
@scg00387: that really does help, just to know there's probably an end in sight!
@Sapphiresun: not necessarily, I've seen a lot of people here whose babies started sttn and kept it up. I'm sending you good vibes!

@looch: I don't think a weight should dictate whether a baby can sleep through the night. I mean some babies are born at 10 pounds (or close to 10 pounds) and certainly nobody would expect them to sleep through the night right away. Plus it's hard to say when a baby "should" do something, every baby is soo different! Just my thoughts

@QBbride: yep, I took the exact same approach. it worked out well for us

@Cherrybee: My LO is 14 months and has only ever slept 12 hours in a row a few times. She generally sleeps 9.5-10hours. And yeah, STTN is 5-6 hours.

Fwiw, my LO weighed 18lbs 11oz at an appointment a few weeks ago.

She usually errs on the side of 10 hours, and it usually looks like 6:30-4:30 (ish). When she wakes, I go in after I know she isn't going back to bed on her own (about 15 minutes or so), and then nurse her while I rock her in the glider. If she goes back to sleep, I will stay there until at least 6, which is when I usually hand her off to hubs. Otherwise, if she wakes up again around 5:30, I will go ahead and give her a bottle (I am in the process of weaning, so she can't nurse a full meal from me at this point).

My point of view is a little skewed though, because she woke, on average, 10 times a night until she was 9 months. So this is wonderful progress for us!

@Cherrybee: Yeah, I stay in there, because (1) I don't want her to come back to bed with me (we co-bedded until she was 9 months . . . and we are equally disruptive to each other now), (2) I can still snooze in the glider (and frequently do), and (3) I just fully expect to be awake then. I go to bed as early as I can in preparation for this. Sleep has always been a difficult area for us, so I try to take it one day at a time. I am hopeful we will return to pre-DLS sleep soon (she was averaging 11 hours and had hit 12 hours two nights in a row!), but we've had a little set back after the time change.

Not to depress you or make you pessimistic, but there are just some things that can't be *fixed* . . . it just takes time. Not that this is your fate, by any means, but coming to peace with that idea has made the sleep issue less stressful for me. And there's only so much I am willing to do, only so long I am willing to let her cry . . . it won't last forever, and neither will her being small. So I try to focus on the good stuff, even when it's hard to deal with . . . less sleep, but more cuddles. That works for me.