Baby girl is now 10 months old as of today.
And no, I don’t want to talk about it. (as in “time has gone WAY to fast and I can’t believe I am already having to think about her first birthday”, talk about it…)
And actually, yes I do. She’s wonderful. She’s smart. She’s gorgeous and loving.
She’s full of sweetness and light. She’s into EVERYthing (including toilets and dirt).
BUT.
She STILL wakes up once a night and wants a bottle. Like, “If I don’t drink this I may perish from the earth right now!!” wants.
It could be 1:50 a.m. or 5:23:42 a.m.
But MOST likely it’s between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.
And my sleep-deprived body says a resounding,
“NO! This is not happening – again!!!” every time she wakes me with her cries…
And see my boys, well yeah, they slept.
By 3.5 months both of them were sleeping through the night. Never to be heard from again except on the odd night that maybe they were teething or not feeling well.
(okay, in the interest of FULL disclosure The B Man had a few weeks between 4-5 months when he was getting up but still, that is a distant memory now…)
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not used to this.
Some of my friends say perhaps it’s just a ‘habit’ for her now.
You can tell by her chunky monkey legs that she certainly does not necessarily NEED more sustenance.
And I’ve tried to let her C.I.O. but instead of just that tiny little infant cry she now has the full-on bigger baby cry/scream and REALLY pulls at the heart strings by putting a few “MAMA”s in there for good measure.
So then it becomes more of a plea of sorts, and instead of just crying out “Mama!” I seem to hear “Get in here now you evil, mean woman who will not provide me with want I want right now and I’m just a baby and you should know better – waaaaah!”
Yeah, that’s kinda what I hear.
So, I’m asking for help from those of you who have dealt with this issue before.
And of course last night….? She slept through the night. And until 7 A.M. (!), after we had a babysitter who put her down. And after NOT drinking her nightly bottle. There is NO method to her sleepless madness. I mean really? Wouldn’t she be MORE hungry instead of sleeping through?
I don’t get it.
Anyway, if you have any advice on how to break 10-month old Baby K of her way-too-early-for this-mama bottle I would much appreciate it.
I tired.
Oh, man. Have I been there. Though I didn’t have the luxury of trying CIO because (1) our room shared a wall w/her room and T couldn’t handle the crying and (2) we moved in with my parents when she was 10 months old and the house was too small, so if she cried she would wake up my parents. And there was no rhyme or reason. She would wake up some nights once, some twice, even three times. She just stopped at about 15 months. My other two? 8 weeks and 12 weeks respectively for sleeping through the night. I think it took me about 2-3 months before I felt normal again. It sucks. I have no advice, just lots and lots of sympathy.
(Though I was willing to CIO. I could lay there and be totally relaxed and listen to her cry. T actually slept outside in the hammock one night because I refused to get her – she only nursed so there was nothing he could do for her. Yes, I’m mean.)
Oh, I hear ya! My girl did the same thing…. she would wake up usually between 2:30 and 3:00 and I was always “cursing” her name under my breath as I dragged myself out of bed, walk up the stairs to get her, bring her back down, heat up a bottle and sit in the recliner to feed her. I usually would doze while all this was going on, but would always end up putting her back upstairs in her bed. I really did actually enjoy the quiet, together time just the two of us, but the lack of sleep and the just doing it, I hated. Now, 12 years later I am wishing I could relive those nights. I wish she could crawl up in my lap as I sit in the recliner. I wish she would just cry out for me as if she needed me like that again. But this too will pass with you… and Baby K.
I have no advice but you can bet I’ll be refreshing this page to steal advice from all of your readers because Caroline does the SAME THING. Seriously, that girl has no rhyme or reason to when she wakes up but she always does and she always wants to be fed before she’ll go back to sleep. And, sister is persistent. I’m convinced that she would be excellent at torturing spies for information with her screams. Not to mention now that she can stand up in her crib (!!), we are onto a whole new level of crazy!
Oh, sleep deprivation is so hard.
I don’t know, the toddler whisperer book was good for me. NOT that you have a toddler, you have a BABY 🙂
It WILL pass, even if it takes some time (phooey), it will. Even if you don’t figure out a cure right now…she’ll snooze tons very soon, I’m sure of it 🙂
This is Heather of the EO. Google does not like me to sign into blogger this evening. Whatevs.
My kids are way past that stage now, but I feel for you. (I can just hear those MAMA!!!s…awww…)
Have you tried cereal before bedtime? And a nice soothing routine, with that lavender baby bath (I loved that stuff, I should go buy some…)
Good luck!
xoxo
I have no advice for, we’ve already talked about this, but I am sending you huge hugs. Love you!
All, my kids had sleep issues where there was no rhyme or reason to it. It sucked so I totally feel your pain.
Jake was like Baby K, he just wanted to eat. He didn’t need to but he wanted to. So to break this habit, I did one of two things, I started to water his bottles, mean over time he ended up just getting water and I just gave it to him in bed. I didn’t hold him or anything.
This way, he only got water and he didn’t get the snuggle time with me. Eventually, he stopped b/c he was no longer getting those ‘good’ feelings he wanted.
Hope something works for you.
oh the Mommas would do me in for sure!
That’s rough! Maybe you could just go into her room and rub her back…don’t give her the bottle. Good luck!
Oh girl, I am just going to bookmark this in case someone has a good idea because I just posted almost the EXACT same thing on my family blog. Only mine stays up for up to 2 hours when he wakes up now.
I do give him a bottle while he is in his crib – I hold it for him and take it away when he is finished. The adding water idea is a good one, I should try that.
I also tried CIO but, like Kirsten, we share a wall with his room and I can’t NOT hear him 🙁
Good luck and PLEASE post if you come up with a solution! I want to try it too!
It is habit rather than hunger waking her. SHe doesn’t need that bottle. She is just crying for you because she knows you will come.
So if you don’t let her CIO, it will continue until she gives up on it herself.
CIO generally takes 3-4 consistent nights. if you can find a way to do that, I bet you will be getting your sleep back. But I’
m sure with the boys trying to sleep it also presents problems….
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. We did CIO with the twins at 5 months and it was hellish for those 4 nights, but after that? I and they slept all night long!
I got past this phase with J by putting him down with a paci….does she take a paci?
I am no expert but having gone through it with the three boys , they woke from habit and I just had to let them cry it out…loud and heart wrenching, it took 3 nights but the crying was less and they learned that no milk was coming when they woke up so to just go back to sleep.
Good luck!
Are you the one to put her to bed every night? If so, maybe the hubby should start putting her to bed. Just a change up in the routine might break her of that habit. ??? Maybe? It is worth a shot! Good luck! 🙂
If you don’t want to CIO then maybe you can go to her and rock her and soothe her, but without the bottle. Perhaps that will be enough to make her decide waking up is not worth it. We let ours CIO when we reached a breaking point. So torturous but eventually everyone is sleeping. Oh, and it never woke my other kids up. They are tough sleepers.
That is so tough…I hope you find something that works!!! 🙁
Have you asked your doctor?
I’m a big fan of CIO. She doesn’t nutritionally need the bottle, right? Have you talked to your ped about it?
It’s hard, I know it’s hard, but it’s the best for everyone in the long run if she can learn to soothe herself…
Oh, I feel your pain. I’m going to be honest… we had to eventually let Tommy CIO. It was hard, SO hard. We got to the point where we’d turn off the monitor, pull the pillows over our heads, and just pray that he’d settle down. I found that there was no method to Tommy waking. Whether I just nursed him or nursed him and gave him a bottle of pumped milk or put him down in just a diaper or swaddled him in footie jammies, it didn’t matter. He got in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night constantly, and once they’re in that habit, it’s hard to break. I would say that if you can’t handle CIO, then you need to find a way to soothe her OTHER than the bottle. Maybe try rocking her or patting her, but your first step should be cutting out the bottle. Then, our ped recommended letting him cry for five minutes the first time before soothing, then increasing in five minute increments each wake up. It took time, but it worked.
Well, I’m betting that people said this. But, CIO is probably your best option.
Another one would be to switch to water. Once it wasn’t worth if for her she might go back to sleep. However, if she’s a stubborn girl, that might only tick her off more.
So, I vote for CIO. Turn the monitor off, and close the doors. As my ped told me time and time again; “babies don’t die from crying!”
Ok, My miss E is now 10 months and I get her to sleep around 8, she gets up around 11pm, 1:30 am, 3:15am and I get up at 4:30 am and then she gets up for good around 5:30.
By the time I fall back asleep each time I get about 2-3 hours of sleep. I’m dying over here, but I am chicken to CIO.
but it worked for you?
oh man, just think this time last year we were rubbing our bellies just waiting for our baby girls!
time flies momma, time flies.
🙂