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 Ask Dr. Jana
Frequent Nighttime Feeder | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Jana,
My seven-month-old baby boy wakes up two to four times a night for feedings (bottle). It doesn't matter what he eats in the daytime, he still wakes up!
— Tessye | | | ANSWER |
January 3, 2001 | | | Dear Tessye,
What you describe is a very common (and tiring) scenario. I've both seen it in practice and lived it at home.
Because adequate nutrition is so important to babies at this age, I would first want to make sure that your son is generally healthy, is gaining weight well, and is developing appropriately. Assuming he is, my next question would be, How are you putting him down to sleep at night?
Habits and expectations are the most common causes of nighttime feeding demands. Both babies and adults tend to hit light sleep or even fully wake up several times a night. If a baby is used to falling asleep with a bedtime bottle, he often will associate falling asleep with drinking and expect a bottle each time he awakens.
I recommend establishing a good bedtime routine for your son, one in which you give him his bottle before giving him a bath, changing him into his pajamas, and reading to him for a few minutes. This allows the baby to have his bottle but also learn that pajamas and quiet time signal bedtime.
The final step is to get him used to falling asleep on his own, because even without a bottle, if a baby becomes accustomed to being rocked to sleep, that often may just substitute for a bottle at night. Falling asleep independently is just like any other skill--it isn't mastered overnight. It can be hard to listen to your baby fuss and not rush in to comfort him, but even parents with little faith in this approach have been surprised that their babies get the hang of settling down on their own after just a couple of nights or so.— by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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