10 month old bottle in middle of night - starting a bad habit or temporary?

[sewarsh]

My DS just turned 10 months.

About 3 weeks ago he started waking up crying around 4am-5am. When I go to check on him, he gets so mad when I try to stick his paci back in and make him cozy - literally screams and throws the paci out. this is completely uncharacteristic of him because he NEVER cries and is seriously the BEST baby! I don't take him out of the crib or soothe him in any other way. I thought it was his teething so I gave him a bottle one night a couple of weeks ago and he sucked it right down and went back to sleep until 8am.

This has now become an every night routine. I asked my pediatrician about it and she said not to worry and that he's probably waking because he's hungry and has been sleeping for 8 hours already. I don't know if I buy it...

For one, I don't want to start a bad habit. Second, I get concerned about the effects of the formula on his 2 baby teeth (although its only for about 4 hours until he's up again and i wash off any sugars from his teeth).

I'll be the first admit that I go in their pretty fast, give him the bottle and leave. Its easy and this way he's not waking up the other kids with his crying.

Thoughts??

[Ms B]

I would love to hear an answer on this post -- we have a similar issue at our house.

The Biscuit is just past 10 months old and was sleeping through the night two out of three nights until Memorial Day. At that point, he had two ear infections in a row (only three days from end of one antibiotic course to the start of the next), then a bad cold for a week, and then popped out his first tooth about a week ago (the second clearly is on its way).

During that time he started waking at least once a night. He has been taking large bottles when he wakes (7-9 ounces) and then goes back to sleep. Sometimes he is waking twice and taking large bottles each time (and then only a small bottle of 3-4 ounces when he wakes).

The Biscuit is eating large meals, mostly of table food, three times a day, plus an afternoon snack, and his total formula intake (not including the middle of the night) on TOP of the meals can run near 30 ounces a day (bottles on waking, at 10:00 a.m, 3:00 p.m. and then at 8:30 p.m.). He's clearly a big boy (already at 32 inches and well over 24 pounds at 10 months), but the additional 8 to 16 ounces in the middle of the nights is just blowing my mind (not to mention wreaking havoc on our sleep). :confused:

This reversion to waking in the night is just about killing us and DH starts a three-plus week federal court trial at work on Monday. Thoughts?

[Philly Mom]

My DD is 11 months and is a good sleeper. If she does wake up, which she did last night, we let her cry and I do not go in her room unless I know she could have been physically sick (either end) and is crying because she is sitting in wet and goop. I know my DD and if I did go in there and did not do something (like give her a bottle and play with her), she would get more upset. However, if I leave her be, she will calm herself down, roll over and go back to sleep. In the morning, she is happy as can be. I know she is not hungry as she eats a lot during the day. Personally, I would be concerned about starting something by giving a bottle in the middle of the night if I know the DC is getting enough during the day. I would not be worried about the teeth, though. I don't think a bottle at this age in the middle of the night is harming them.

[sntm]

I agree that it sounds like he is hungry. Maybe hitting a growth spurt? You could try a snack right before bed of you aren't already.

[LMPC]

I agree that it sounds like he is hungry. Maybe hitting a growth spurt? You could try a snack right before bed of you aren't already.

This was my thought as well. My guess is once he's done with the growth spurt, he'll start sleeping through the night again...problem solved.

[AnnieW625]

We had to do this with DD1 when she was teething, and only when she was teething. I think a couple of months in we switched milk to water. This went on until she was 3 and got the last of her 2 yr. molars. She was just not a good teether, and a bottle and a little orajel helped her calm down immediately. Some nights she wouldn't even take the whole 4 oz. of milk.