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We asked our pedi this at 6 months, since R was back to 2 or 3 wakings every night. She said to let her CIO. At that age she didn't need to eat overnight anymore. That not eating at night would make her a better eater during the day. Three nights later, she pretty much STTN. Aside from the crying out in her sleep due to teething but she puts herself right back to sleep.

She doesn't sleep 12 hours though. Ever since the time change, she wakes up at 5 on the dot. 530 is we are lucky.

Ugh. We are going through this right now too. Honestly I'm so confused. The sleep trainer said not to feed. Let him CIO. He was doing great and then got sick, which I realize is a game changer. I always comfort him while he's sick. However, he also started having middle of the night blow outs. So he was crying and I didn't want to go in, but he needed to be changed. The first time it happened he cried a lot and I let him because I didn't realize he had a blow out. Felt like the worst parent ever. So now every time he cries I'm worried it's a blow out and go check on him. What am I supposed to do?

I'm hoping we can start sleep trainer over again once he get so ver this cold....

I have no advice for you mama, I'm in the same boat.

@.twist.: Our pedi said that she told her husband she wished the monitor's had a smell feature.......
Can you go in and just rock back to sleep? That way once he is feeling better, not used to eating again?

I think it's really common for babies to need to eat around 4-5 a.m. I also think that if the wake time varies that that's an indication that baby is actually hungry as opposed to waking out of habit. When my DD wakes up in the MOTN (lately she's been STTN fairly often...but I still count it as STTN if she wakes up at 5 or 6 to eat and then goes back down until 7) I feed her.

I don't think there's a weight rule that applies across the board. I just find that to be really.....arbitrary, because everyone is different. I really think it varies from baby to baby. So, if DD wakes and doesn't settle after 10 mins I feed her.

If you haven't read this already, check it - and the articles it links to - out: http://sweetmadeleine.ca/2013/10/14/here-are-some-lies-people-tell-you-about-infant-sleep/

@heartonastring: I think the motn feeding is partially habit. The theory on the 12lbs weight rule is not that they don't want to eat, or aren't hungry, but their body physically doesn't need the food to sustain healthy weight gain.

The way it was explained to me, is that even as an adult, if you eat every day at 12:00pm and you suddenly switch to push it back to 1:00pm (say, for a schedule change) you will habitually be hungry at 12pm because your body is used to eating at that time. It takes a few days or so for your body to adjust to the new eating schedule. The same applies to babies and motn feedings. From my understanding.

@.twist.: I agree with this.

@.twist.: Agree to disagree then I don't think babies are developmentally meant to STTN all night, every night. If you read the link I posted, and the included Psychology Today articles, they talk about what is/isn't developmentally appropriate.

ETA: Just to be clear, I'm not anti-CIO, but it's my understanding that CIO is meant to help a. Baby go to sleep at bedtime, and b. To eliminate night-wakings that are NOT for hunger. If my baby's hungry, I feed her, and usually that 20 minute investment of time means that we all get more sleep, as after she's eaten she sleeps better and longer. Further, in order to eliminate nighttime feelings (which, IMO, is okay after the 9 month mark), there are some gentle methods you can use, like reducing the length of the nursing session by one minute/night. I like Troublesome Tots for this info: http://www.troublesometots.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-sleeping-through-the-night-part-3/

I have nooooooo idea if this would help or not, but maybe TRY doing a dreamfeed (if you haven't already given it a try)? Once Xander was sleeping ~7 hours a night, I implemented a dreamfeed at 9:00 p.m. so that his 7 hours would be from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. It was the only way his sleeping hours would correspond with mine! If you haven't been doing this or haven't tried it at all, it might be worth trying out for a few days to see if it helps!

Ok, so I know everyone is going to have different opinions on the matter- but I think only you as her mom will be able to tell if she is waking up out of habit or if she is truly hungry.

I will say that for my LO, she was waking up 1-2 times a night for awhile after we sleep trained at 6.5 months. Then for the longest time it was just once a night, between 3-5:30am. Gradually it started getting later and later and she started STTN, but then she was getting UP for the day around 5:30 because she was not falling back asleep after that 5:30am feed- this was around 11 months. So then I figured it was time to end that feed, and knew that at 11 months she should be able to go 11-12 hrs at night. So gradually it has been a process, but now she is waking up around 6-6:30 to eat and is up for the day then.

You could always try to let her cry for a bit and see what happens, say 10-20 minutes. If she is still crying after that time, she is prob hungry. I would much rather wake up and feed her so she will go back to sleep, than get up early like my LO did.

@heartonastring: I have to agree with you about CIO and the whole 12 hours things. My LO was 12 pounds at like 2 months old, and there is no way she could have slept 12 hours straight without needing to eat. I cannot even go that long- i either get thirsty or hungry. I really dislike when experts or doctors make blanket statments about what your baby "should" be able to do.

@heartonastring: agree with the overnight feeds thing. It totally depends on the baby, but my Pediatrician is really against stopping a baby's night feeds before 6 months (regardless of weight) and says many babies still need to eat once up to 9-12 months of age.

Some babies stop eating themselves, and that's okay.

@JoJoGirl: my LO is still having a night feed at almost fourteen months but she also wakes for comfort and we part-time bedshare. Some nights she wakes and I don't feed her but do get in to bed with her.

There is a lot of development that goes on between six and twelve months so it makes sense to me that they might need extra calories to fuel that growth, the night feeds are also great for supply!

@NovBaby1112: I just want to point out that the professionals I talked to would never have condoned sleep training at 2 months whether the baby was 12lbs or not. Only because I feel like that comment was directed towards my earlier comment.

@hilsy85: I think this is exactly what is happening with us too and I am so not prepared to CIO again!

@Foodnerd81: I used to bring L to bed for the last hour or hour and a half of the morning. It worked great for a while, but now, he just lays there and stares at me and coos and smiles and doesn't fall asleep from nursing any more.

Eta: so, now I just feed him at 4:30 or 5 or whenever he wakes up and put him back in his crib. He usually doesn't cry and I can sleep while he either a. Sleeps or b. talks to himself. Lol

@Foodnerd81: ha! Sometimes I lift him over my head and then get scared he'll puke in my face.

@Foodnerd81: at her age I think it's fine if she goes back to sleep in bed with you. I was doing that when lo was recently waking up really early but it didn't work--he ate and then was up! I think you just need to be prepared for her to get used to being awake t that hour. It's possible that he might just start sleeping through that time and wakeup at a normal hour or she might get used to getting up and getting a snuggle then. I know some mamas who are happy to keep that 5am nurse then snuggle til 630 thing for ages. For me, I never slept well once he was in bed with me, and he stopped falling back asleep, plus I felt like it threw off our whole schedule so I had to bite the bullet and stop.

I do still do his first nurse of the day in bed tho! Anything to be horizontal 15 more minute lol.

@Foodnerd81: that sounds amazing for 4 months, you're comparing her to much older babies in this thread! Nursing in bed/side laying didn't work for us because he wouldn't fall back asleep, still won't, but if it works for you, do it.

@.twist.: I wonder where that 12 lb comes from?? That sounds so insane to me, especially when some babies are born at 9 or 10 pounds! My LO still poops randomly in the middle of the night at 12m especially now that he's eating more solids, so I always check.

@JoJoGirl: I think I've posted this on your sleep threads before, but my LO was pretty much the exact same way. The time that he woke was all over the place, not a habit, and he went back to sleep on his own after. I continued to feed him, and around 9.25 months he started to not nurse as strongly at the wake. I rocked him down instead of nursing one night when it seemed like he was eating less and less, and the next night he STTN and has (more or less) since then. If your gut tells you she is hungry, she probably is. 7 months doesn't seem that old to me to still eat in the MOTN, especially if you WOH and nurse (which I think you do?).

ETA we also sleep trained at 5.5 months so he put himself to sleep instead of being rocked, with no cry sleep solution

@scg00387: My baby always has an overnight poo, too. Sadly. So I also have to check for that.