See this sweet little face? How precious his little cheeks are, so round and pinchable? Pretty cute when he's asleep, right?
Yeah, I think so too. The only thing that could make it better was if he was doing this at night!
Here's the problem: I think my 8 month, 2 week old is trying to wean himself from the bottle!
Take yesterday for example. He ate a full bottle for his "night/early morning" feeding, but the throughout the day, only ate 3 oz, 2 more times. He did, however, have 3 full "solid" food meals. The last one {which I gave him only 20 minutes after we'd had a knock down, drag out wrestling match in which I tried to make him eat his bottle, of which he decided to finally slurp down 3 oz}, consisted of a full bowl of oatmeal (we're talking a huge bowl...made with 4 oz of his leftover formula), a jar of peas, a jar of squash, a jar of carrots, 3/4 of a jar of bananas, and 1/2 a jar of chicken (see picture below for visual). So, I know he was hungry...he just wouldn't take the stinkin bottle!
So, twice in the middle of the night last night, he got up to eat a full bottle. Urgh.
We're exhausted. We can't believe our 8 1/2 month old doesn't sleep through the night (back to 2 night feedings, really?). And I'm concerned {It's okay, you can call me a worry wort. I always am. Especially when it comes to my kids. Way to overly-concerned.} that he's not getting enough of the nutrients from his "solid" food to make up for what he's lacking in his formula.
Any ideas?
8 comments:
My kids were all nursers, so our experience with weaning was a little different, but....have you started him on a cup with formula in it? I always liked the Tupperware-type ones without the plastic stopper in them. They make a mess but my kids seemed to learn better on them because the liquid came out easier.
I had a friend who had a couple of self-weaners around 8-9 months and the doctor said it was fine to switch to the cup, just to make sure they got lots of extra snuggle time with mom and dad to make up for it.
And just so you know you aren't alone and/or crazy, three of my four kids didn't start sleeping through the night till they were 9-12 months old. With Abby, she started sleeping through the night LITERALLY the very first night we were done with nursing, and I've heard of others having that same experience. So there is hope on the horizon for you, my over-worked, over-tired, sleep deprived friend!
Michael did the same thing when he got into eating solid foods. Don't worry he's not getting his nutrients as long as you give him a variety of foods, which from the pictures it looks like you are. The thing that helped with Michael was feeding him right before he went to bed with grains that would fill his belly. Hopefully things will get better soon.
I agree that maybe he'd like a sippee cup. Does he see Levi using a sippee cup? Kaitlyn had no problem going straight from bottle to sippee cup. She'll take her milk anyway she can get it! As for the sleep.... I have no advice. My child refused to sleep through the night until after she was nine months old. Stinker.
I recommend reading "On Becoming Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam. It's all about getting your baby to sleep through the night. Does it work? No idea. I used it "somewhat" with Anjali, and she slept through the night at 8 weeks and never looked back, but that could just be her. I would try the sippy cup too. Your boys are so big, it's probably normal for him to start cutting back some at this point, and he's eating well otherwise...it's the sleep thing that sounds like a new problem...but you know when they're learning new things their sleep patterns get a little messed up...maybe try giving him only part of a bottle when he wakes up, or even leave him for 5-10 minutes to see if he goes back to sleep on his own?
One thing I'd do...when you do get up with him at night, keep the house quite and the lights off so he doesn't think midnight is playtime.
WE used the book, The Baby Whisperer...and it worked like a charm! NO kidding. It's finding the will power to follow through with the ABC's schedule. It has been 4 years since all the baby feeding stuff...so I feel out of practice to give advice. I do remember anytime the girls had a tooth coming in, they wouldn't eat. WE use to call their days, eating days and sleeping days...one or the other. We usually didn't get both!? Bummer...I hope things improve for you guys...in the sleeping arena, I would say the John Morgan looks like he is getting enough, he looks happy and healthy! You're doing a great job!!!!!!!
What a beautiful baby. Thank you so very much for loving him so and for being such a good mom!
I can't say as I have any advice, but I hope you get it figured out soon. The lack of sleep is probably making it even harder for you to cope with your worry! Merry Christmas!
i wish i had ANY wisdom to impart...sadly i am just at the begining of this road... i can tell you however that you have the stinkin cutest boys ever!!!
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