Feeding at 4am???

[mima08]

Hiya - I am looking for some advice. My 1year old has started to wake up for a feed at around 4am every night. It's been going on for about 2 weeks now - aaarrrrggghhh! Prior to this, he was happy not to eat / drink till 7/8 am.

I've tried various things, like offering him water, trying both - feeding him lots / less before going to bed, varied the foods he has for supper, and so on. Nothing seems to make a difference... He has recently switched from formula to mainly cowsmilk, but he still has 1 bottle of formula. He has about 3 bottles spread over the day (one is a dreamfeed - we never managed to get away from that...)+ sippy cups of water. He does eat quite well during the day, so I just don't know what to change? Any tips, please?

[Saffron]

When are you giving the 1 bottle of formula?

[mima08]

It varies. The last two weeks, that has been his 4am feed - because it's easy having the ready made carton sitting by the bed, rather than warming milk up.... And the dreamfeed is goognight formula that he's been getting for about 6months now....:-S

[Saffron]

Could it be a growth spurt? Some growth spurts can last 6 weeks. If that's what it is, maybe doing the dreamfeed an hour later would help spread the calories more evenly over the night? No matter how much Baby eats during the day, Baby's liver can only store a very small amount of glycogen to release during the night. That's why even well-fed babies get hungry at night during growth spurts. Just a thought. Hope it gets better soon. xx

[mima08]

Six weeks? OMG, I thought growth spurts only last a few days at a time....He is growing like topsy, so maybe that's what it is.... will do the later dreamfeed. Interesting point about the glycogen - I did not know that. He has just started to walk as well in the last two weeks, so is getting a lot of new exercise: I guess it might be similar to athletes going on a new training regime....As you can tell, I am desperate for any explanation :) mx

[minder]

Would agree with Saffron about the growth spurt, especially if your baby has been walking for 2 weeks and waking at 4am for 2 weeks.

I had everything you describe as per feeding during the day/milk with one of my children (he's now 19 and 6ft 2" and still eats me out of house and home even though he's sports mad) and it lasted for more than 6 weeks I'm afraid. I had the health visitor involved and kept daily/night diaries but if he needed a feed then at that moment in time that's what you go with.

Does he go back to sleep after a feed at 4am? If he does, you are lucky

[mima08]

Thanks for the reassurance... it's always hardest when you think you're the only one! Especially, as he has decided NOT to go back to sleep after anymore (he did the first week) plus to throw in a few earlier wakings too last night....argh! Sorry for the whinge, but I really don't do well with sleep deprivation (ha, does anyone? (I hope noone says yes to that one ;-))

Just hoping there is little trick that might improve it...

mx