leela: my daughter is 14 months old. at night she takes in her meal at around 7:15 and goes to sleep at 8. she wakes up every night around 11 to have her feeds. i have tried to feed her cows milk and formula too at that time as she keeps getting hungry a lot in the night.she wont drink any of those and i will have to feed her through out the night which is very painful to me as i have to sleep by her side.is it advisable to feed something light to her at that time? and if she wont eat anything what can i do to make her sleep alone in her bed without being fed all throuht the night and sleep by my side.
Hi Leela. One thing that you could do is to give her a meal about an hour before she goes to sleep. Make the meal in such a way that it is made up of items that take a while to digest. Very commonly kids that age, in Maldives, are still given Nestum, Cerelac, or some other "mushy" baby food. I would recommend using home made food that is more like bits and pieces (chewable). Include meat, chicken, fish, egg in those meals. These meals would make the child feel less hungry in between meals! I do not recommend discontinuing night feeds altogether. Getting kids to sleep on their own is not always easy.
Prevent your child from using your breast as a soother, try not to offer him the breast everytime he wakes up or cries. See if he would go to sleep without suckling. Many a time, he'd wake up (or even cry) from another cause than hunger! Try to teach your baby to go to sleep without needing to suckle. This is easier said than done. It is likely to take many days of difficult effort.
I think it takes time for kids to learn to fall asleep without such "sleep aids". Rocking to sleep (not recommended) if at all to be practiced has to be really gentle. A special pillow, teddy bear or lullaby might help too.
Other things that might help: Using dim-light in the bed room and not switching on bright lights when kids wake up (theoretically trying to reduce the biological clock in the baby by reducing exposure to "daylight" during the night). Try not to carry him/her around when he wakes up. Trying to put the baby with least amount of stimulation, as possible, may help. Don't just offer the breast because child wakes up. They can get used to falling asleep on the breast. It is a difficult habit to stop. If you have to keep the child by your side to get him to sleep, put him back to his bed once he falls asleep rather than keeping him at your side. This might be difficult if he keeps waking up several time but it could help over the longer run. These are just some ideas. It is likely to be difficult to apply some of these in some kids, use them as a guide only. I hope they helped.
