We are definitely going to keep going with this and hopefully she will stop crying all together at bed time soon ( it is dreadfully painful to listen to even 5 minutes of crying!!!) .
Next steps/questions/advice....
Alexandra is 4 months old, she still wakes up twice to eat at night. She goes down at 7pm, is up around 12:30 to eat and then again around 4am, and up for the day around 7am.
Question 1: is this normal? too much? some books say she should only need one feeding in a 12 hour sleep stretch. Should I "wean" her from these night feeds or do babies naturally wean themselves? I would absolutely LOVE to only get up to feed her once at night!!! How can you tell when your baby is waking up due to hunger or habit?
Question 2: to anyone who has done sleep training and is still feeding at night....what do you do if your baby is "supposed" to eat at 4am but wakes up at 3 or 3:30? Do you let him/her cry and go check on her occasionally until the eating time or do you just feed her at that time and then hope she doesn't wake up again? or if she wakes up again then do the crying/checking thing then?
Question 3: Anyone do a dream feed? I'm afraid to disrupt her sleep cycles by picking her up to feed her before I go to bed at 10pm. I'm scared she'll wake up or won't wake up but won't eat at all. Is it worth it to try? Since she's 4 months...have I missed the window to try this? Any tips? Success or failure stories with the dream feed? (aside: she won't take a bottle so I would have to pick her up and breast feed her).
And Next Step: Operation Baby-Outta-Ma -Room!!!!
She sleeps in her own travel crib beside my bed but I am so over tiptoeing into bed and not watching my beloved Kardashians before I sleep! We are installing black out drapes in her nursery and when that is ready she's outta here! (I know it will be bitter sweet and I will likely cry....)
Aside: We are going to Florida in a couple weeks and we got Alexandra a cute little sunsuit and swim hat to protect her from the sun! I think she looks adorable!!!
By the time I did sleep training (at 6 months), my baby wasn't eating twice a night, just once. If she woke up early, I just fed her. You never meet any adults who wake up 2x a night to eat, so I figure I'll feed her if she's hungry and she'll grow out of needing nighttime feedings eventually.
ReplyDeleteMy baby still sometime cries before she sleeps, especially for naps. I think it's part of her "method" and it doesn't really bother me anymore. I know the difference between the "I'm not tired, I'm not tir....zzzzz" cries and the cries where I need to go into her nursery.
Oh, and to add, she gave up eating at night at 7 months and she now sleeps 11-12 hours a night without a peep :)
ReplyDeleteshe is adordable! Love the outfit.
ReplyDeleteVivian is still feeding at night. She kicked the habit around 6 months but picked it back up again, she's almost 8 months. I blame teething...mostly. Her Dr blames her growth spurts. So, we're trying to get rid of her 3-4am feedings by feeding her more during the day, keeping her active. It has worked, mostly.
Hang in there. You're doing a great job with the sleep training! I was a wuss & never tried it.
And yep, I cried when we moved her out of our room.
All I know is that T will be 4 months on the 28th and still wakes every 2 hours to eat at night (EBF) so who knows! Ugggggh!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing good. I know any crying at all isn't fun (believe me, I know) but 20 minutes-ish is MUCH better than an hour, which some books say is likely. Hopefully it gets better!! Hang in there :)
ReplyDeleteI think you will have a TON more success when she is out of your room and she can't smell you. I bet she will sleep all night after that!!
ReplyDeleteGreat success with the sleep training. I read on WTE that to tell if a baby is waking out of habit or really needs to eat is to try and soothe them back to sleep. Offer paci, pat....but don't pick up. If they go back to sleep then they were just waking out of habit and not really hungry. If they continue to whine or get a full on cry then it's out of hunger still.
ReplyDeleteMy 8 month old still wakes to nurse 2 times at night then goes right back to sleep.. all babies are different!
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