I may be creating a monster...

LO is 7.5 months old and getting up EVERY 3 hours at night and WON'T settle back down without a bottle Which is ridiculous...thats 2-3 nightitme feedings for an almost 8 month old when he "should" be sleeping through the night by now. This has been going on for several weeks. I am continuing to entertain this because he is teething HORRIBLY (his 2 front tops are cutting) and is refusing most of his bottles during the day. I feel bad that he's not getting the nutrients in during the day, so I've been allowing the nighttime feedings. I feel like I am creating a monster with this. I don't want to deprive him but he's just entirely too old for this to continue. Help. Please. DH thinks CIO is horrible because he's teething and that's enough to put him through already. Any advice? How long do I let this go on?

Re: I may be creating a monster...

At that age they need the formula so if it was me I would give the feeding at night

Also and I know this is jmo but some kids eat at night still at that age. My son did I just don't think there is a magic age where they stop eating and sleep It varies so much

Also the bottle could be shooting for the teeth or he may be hungry

Have you tried any teething meds. If that helps he may not want the bottle

Either way hang in there. You won't create a monster. Still so young

Re: I may be creating a monster...

Mine def got much worse with night eating now that she's teething! She's a real mess!

I may be creating a monster...

Mine still had to eat overnight at that age too. I know everyone says they "should" sleep thru the night by that age - but they dont all do it. Both my kids were more like 12 months when they STTN

I may be creating a monster...

I think a lot of babies do not sleep through the night at 8 months so I don't think you're creating a monster. My son didn't start consistently sttn until 22-23 months. He had a few good stretches in between (6-7 months, 9-10 months, 12-15 months), but he pretty much was teething non stop from 15-22 months. Now, he's 28 months.

Re: I may be creating a monster...

We did CIO with DD and it was the best thing I ever could have done. She cried 15 minutes one night and that was the worst of it. She's 15mo now and the BEST sleeper.

However, I would wait for the worst of teething to end so that he starts eating during the day again. Is he eating solids, too? Also, I recommend dropping one bottle at a time, rather than going cold turkey. Work on the first wake up and get it down to 2 bottles a night. You may be surprised and after he cries through that first bottle, he may just learn to self-soothe and STTN on his own.

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Re: I may be creating a monster...

Re: I may be creating a monster...

My son was STTN at 12 weeks - but DD didn't STTN until over 9 months! She still woke up 1-2x a night to eat. I would keep feeding, it's not really an issue (IMO) until they are 12+ months.

I may be creating a monster...

My DS was the same way. He cut a lot of teeth early. I nursed him through it. It sucked a lot big time. I got hardly any sleep but he was in pain and I felt like he just needed me. It stopped around 10 months. He's 17 months now and will occasionally wake up. I still give him a bottle to get him back down. It works for us.

I may be creating a monster...

i understand how hard CIO is, I have twins & did that at 8 months with both crying at same time.
I would ask if baby is eating enough during the day? I would also give a dream feed at night before you go to sleep. No reason to be getting up during the night.

I may be creating a monster...

"Should be Sleeping through the night"
LOL

yeah, no. Mine didn't do that until after a year old.

I promise he won't be doing this through college LOL I always figured I invested 9months into building this little person, I could invest another year or so in the lack of sleep feeding them and getting them on track. I was never an advocate for CIO.

Best of luck! Hang in there and remember not every kid is a super hero who STTN at 8months continuously.

Re: I may be creating a monster...

I don't know, my 5.5 month old wakes up every night and several times. I'm not going to let him cry but my older DC was still waking at a year old, he was always always hungry. It stinks though, very exhausting

Re: I may be creating a monster...

My 14 month old still wakes up most nights. Drinks a little bit of milk and goes back to sleep right away thankfully.

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Re: I may be creating a monster...

Thank you all so much for your responses. It's nice to know I'm not alone! I've been getting SO many comments about how my LO "should be" doing this or that and it made me question myself