How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Kayla is 6 months old. She now goes to sleep between 7-8pm, wakes up at 2-3am for a feeding and won't go back to sleep unless I feed her! My Dr. said to stop feeding her in the middle of the night, but I am worried she is hungry.

I know she probably isn't, since we really fill up her tank with cereal and veggies and formula before bed, but I think she is just used to the night feedings.

How did u ladies stop this from happening? Last night she went to sleep at 7, woke up at 10, woke up at 4am, then at 6:30 am!

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

we did cio...

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

I never really had to stop the feedings in the middle of the night. She stopped herself, so I guess I am no help!

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Can you try to slowly give her less and less to eat in the middle of the night. Maybe start cutting back 1 ounce every night and see how that goes. Maybe she won't wake up if she is not getting a full bottle anymore.

We also did CIO and that worked but you may want to try the above first. CIO works but it is hard.

Good Luck.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Hey Denise!


Lucas used to get up at night (sometimes as often as you listed) and we would feed him. But by 6 months he was down to just waking once and I still fed him.

Now he sleeps through the night for the most part with the occassional wake. Now I try to rock him back to sleep but if he is fussy I will give him a small bottle. Usually between 2 - 4 oz. and it seems to be fine.

So in all honesty I let him do it on his own. I would feed him when he wanted it but I did try to soothe him first.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

I tried CIO with her twice and both times she cried so hard she hyperventilated and threw up and was choking on it....I felt AWFUL. It took a good 10 mins just to calm her down when we went in there....

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

here is what we did, my DD is breastfeeding , she used to wake up at 12 am and again at 2am , (she didn't use the pacifier,) when she was little over 3 months I gave her a pacifier only to help her fall asleep, so every time she woke up crying at nigh I just gave her a pecifier so she started waking up less and less every night , she is 5 months now and sleeps through the night,I think the key is that I only give her a pacifier to help her fall asleep, other times she doesn't use it at all.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

What if you do cereal/veggies w/ a few sips of the bottle, bath then the rest of the bottle?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

I kept giving DS the paci until he fell back asleep...maybe 10-15 times (could be more I dont remember)!!! He didn't really cry unless it fell out of his mouth and we only did this for 2 or 3 nights and that was it.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

When she woke up we just didn't go in there one night. I watched her on the video monitor, so I knew everything was ok. She cried for about an hour and has never awakened in the middle of the night since.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

At this age it could be hunger or growth spurts. I would try giving less and less in the bottle when she wakes up -- if she wakes up again an hour later -- you know she's hungry, if not, it's habit and by giving her less and less she'll start to realize it's not worth getting up for.

I personally wouldn't do CIO (seems like it doesn't work for you anyway). I think that's pretty extreme and you can start with other methods first. Good luck.

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

GREAT advice, everyone. I think I might try giving her less in the bottle every night....she *was* sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago...it only lasted 2 weeks!

I don't think CIO works for her...she gets too upset. I could deal with it if she didn't hyperventilate and then throw up....

Re: How did u stop the middle of the night feedings?

Some nights I will still do a night feeding. I can tell by his yell if he needs it or not.

Since I nurse, I have Leo go in the room and ask him to lay back down. Usually he does.