Is he too old to eat through the night?

Can the father get up and feed him?

I don't think he's too old. Don't worry about your sister's kid -- they're all different. Is it a major inconvenience or are you just worried that it isn't normal?

That was my original thought too FD.

I would tend to listen to the doctor rather than a mother-in-law with no advice, or a sister with a different baby.

Then, the thought hit me, that if there's a MIL, there must be a father.

If I remember correctly, iguanamama is on her own right now. But I might have her confused with a different poster.

That's correct I am solo so the "all through the night" feedings are all up to me.

I'm not so much concerned just tired. People tell me his teeth could rot if he has forumla while he sleeps but is that still the case if he doesnt have any teeth? I've also heard that he needs to learn to self sooth that he may be depending on his bottle. Makes some sense but I would imagine if that was the case binky would do the trick. Since he drinks the entire bottle 3-5 times through out the night Im assuming he truly is hungry.

Well I guess I'll just have to wait it out. My mom tells me I should get used to sleepless nights now that I have a child of my own. She says she still cant sleep worrying about us.

I don't think he's old enough yet to self-soothe. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the formula doesn't let him know he's had enough. I'll try to explain. With breast milk, the hindmilk is heavy and makes the baby sleepy. So the baby gets sleepy and stops drinking. With formula that doesn't happen, so baby doesn't know he's done until he finishes the bottle. I think 9 months is still young enough for him to be susceptible to this. How big are the bottles? What if you tried giving him less in the bottle, would he finish it and cry for more? Three to five times a night seems like a lot to me, but I'm not sure.

I thought it seemed like a lot too. But what you said makes a lot more sense because I had noticed he slept A LOT longer through the night when I breast fed him. I stopped nursing in June and since then it seems like he gets hungrier faster. He has 6 oz when I put him down for the night then the night time bottles are 4 oz each (about 3 or 4 more).

I've tried to make the bottles smaller and he'll cry for more. I tried adding cereal to his 6 oz bottle to make it more satisfying but he woke up on schedule anyway.

Any thoughts?

That sounds a lot like my experience with my son, who I weaned at 6 months. I don't think I'd add cereal, and 4 oz seems reasonable. I can't remember how much babies this age are supposed to take, but I seem to remember giving my son 8 oz bottles after I weaned him -- at least for regular feedings. So maybe he could drink more before he goes to bed? Does he seem satisfied with the regular feedings?

I found this link which might be helpful.

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&ref=857

Sorry, I didn't know you were solo.

Interesting what you say about his teeth rotting when he doesn't have any.

He's going to lose that set of teeth anyway.

I don't think I've ever heard of a kid who hasn't lost their baby teeth having a toothache.

Iggy--

I'm with your doctor--although it would help if the doctor showed up to cover some of those night feedings. You must be frantic with exhaustion.

FreeDuck may well be on the right track. I haven't had a wakeful baby for more than 40 years.

Hold your dominion.

Teeth can rot before emerging. It would be very painful for the child if this happened. Deciduous teeth play a role in guiding permanent teeth into place. Id deciduouse teeth are not looked after you will almost certainly be looking at orthodontics later in life.

Usually decayed baby teeth is associated with a child that is being fed sugary based drinks from a bottle or constant candies as pacifiers.

Have you tried controlled crying through the night? I'm not a big fan of this method but it has its place.

I don't know if I'm on the right track -- my son is now almost 8 and my second child never took a bottle. But I do remember often fretting about whether or not he was getting enough of the right kind of formula or whether it was too much. I also vaguely remember a growth spurt at around 9 months. So, see what you can do about maybe moving the feedings around and adjusting the amounts. Has he started solid food yet?

I think that maybe 4 oz isn't enough for him. Have you tried feeding him more when he wakes up or won't he take it?

My baby is 3 1/2 months old and she is taking 4oz during her night time feeding. I'd think that your son would need more at one time.

However, she also sometimes wakes up and just wants 1oz, a comfort feeding if you will.

Is he hot? Cold? Uncomfortable? Sometimes I think my daughter wakes up only because she's uncomfortable in some way and then realizes shes a little hungry and wants to eat.

Does he have a blanket he sleeps with? Something that might help him fall back to sleep without needing/wanting a bottle.

I know how hard it is to have to keep getting up all night with your child and not knowing how to help them sleep better.

If you aren't sleeping well, you baby isn't either.

Good luck.

This is a great point. Some friends of ours were distraught over how poorly their baby was sleeping and then eventually realized he was just too hot. (It was winter, and they were bundling him up more than necessary.) They stripped off some layers and he became a much, much better sleeper.

It just dawned on me that Ade might be too hot at night.

I want to say I tried to let him cry it out (but about 5 minutes into it I just couldn't bear it). He is the world's happiest baby & almost never cries so I just can't do the whole controlled crying thing to him. It breaks my heart.

He eats purees (baby food) 3 times a day and Oatmeal Cereal for breakfast. His daytime bottles are about 6 oz. each. His bottle before bed is 6 oz also. I only give him 4 oz at night because that's all he'll take. I've made him 6 oz bottles before but he won't finish them.

You are right about him being uncomfortable. We live in the desert so we've not had a winter yet (about 80+ during the days still). I just don't know what to do to make him more comfy. He sleeps in a onesie, hates to be covered with a blanket or sheet & I keep the ceiling fan & A/C on but his head still sweats A LOT. I know he wakes up sometimes because of it (the sheet underneath him will be soaked) but I don't know what else to do about that.

At this point I'm just letting things be and waiting it out. Thanks for the advice.

Sounds like he could be THIRSTY as opposed to hungry. You have a fan on him but there's still enough sweat that the sheet underneath him gets soaked... he's probably losing a lot of liquid.

Can you turn the A/C way up and not use the fan?

I guess I could try thurning up the A/C. I've tried giving him water instead of formula but he won't take it. He does drink water during the day.

His head is really sweaty, I mean it always is after I take him out of the carseat, even if the A/C is cranked up in the car.

Could be he's just lonely for mama.

Have you tried co-sleeping, or are you against that on principle?