Advice Please (x-posted)

As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
since she was born.

Her mom is due with the second baby very soon (Mar 22).

The nutritionist who evaluated her today gave advice that
I sort of agree with, but that I wonder if anyone here can
add to. Help with weaning her from nursing to sleep and
waking and not settling without nursing would also be appreciated.

Here are the reccommendations:

1. Give her lots of chances to be in her high chair and eat
solids. Don't offer her the breast or sippy cup first. Let her
eat at least something before offering the sippy cup. I agree
with this one. She has never actually had a schedule for
her meals and she doesn't get enough chances to eat before
she drinks.

2. Try to find a lovey for her that she can take to bed. Don't
nurse her to sleep, put her down awake even if she cries.

3. Have her stay overnight with us so mom isn't there to nurse
her when she wakes up. This we are willing to do. She has
stayed overnight with us once and did sleep, but she did
wake alot and get held and rocked back to sleep by one of us.

4. Try to comfort her without picking her up when she does
wake. (They suggested Ferber, but I don't like that much and
will have to see. I don't know that we can break her associations
without trying Ferber because she has had them for so long).

She is 18 pounds 6 ounces at 19 months. She seems pretty
healthy though in terms of her activity level. She does tend to
sleep for 2 to 3 hours during the day alone when she is at our house,
but she is mostly rocked to sleep on my husband's or my shoulder
not put down awake. She sometimes would sleep even longer
but we usually wake her after 3 hours because we don't want her
to be awake all night. Not sure if we should allow longer naps just
to get her in the habit of longer sleeps and *then* try to reverse
the day and night thing after that?

TIA for any advice you can give us.




--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"toto" wrote in message
...
As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
since she was born.

Her mom is due with the second baby very soon (Mar 22).

The nutritionist who evaluated her today gave advice that
I sort of agree with, but that I wonder if anyone here can
add to. Help with weaning her from nursing to sleep and
waking and not settling without nursing would also be appreciated.

Not really sure how the sleep problem is related to her nutrition? Seems
like if she is having a weight problem, that nursing to sleep would be a
good thing, gives her more calories? I like the idea of giving her high
chair time and feeding her before giving her liquids and breastmilk, but why
withhold breastmilk at night? It's not like they are offering her a higher
calorie alternative at that time. Do they think it will make her hungrier
for more calorie dense foods during the day?

I would continue to let the kiddo nurse to sleep. I wouldn't deprive her of
the extra calories.

But the advice of solids before nursing or sippy cup are good.
(I'm anti-cry it out, so I won't comment on that one. ^.^)

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 19:08:57 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:


"toto" wrote in message
.. .
As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
since she was born.

Her mom is due with the second baby very soon (Mar 22).

The nutritionist who evaluated her today gave advice that
I sort of agree with, but that I wonder if anyone here can
add to. Help with weaning her from nursing to sleep and
waking and not settling without nursing would also be appreciated.

Not really sure how the sleep problem is related to her nutrition? Seems
like if she is having a weight problem, that nursing to sleep would be a
good thing, gives her more calories? I like the idea of giving her high
chair time and feeding her before giving her liquids and breastmilk, but why
withhold breastmilk at night? It's not like they are offering her a higher
calorie alternative at that time. Do they think it will make her hungrier
for more calorie dense foods during the day?

Mom doesn't have much milk left - she is due March 22.

And they do believe it will make her eat more calorie dense foods
during the day because she won't be eating at night.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 19:22:14 GMT, "Lina"
wrote:

I would continue to let the kiddo nurse to sleep. I wouldn't deprive her of
the extra calories.

But the advice of solids before nursing or sippy cup are good.
(I'm anti-cry it out, so I won't comment on that one. ^.^)

I am anti that too, but I don't know what else to try in this case
given that they want to make sure she weans before the new baby
is born.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"toto" wrote in message
...
| As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
| has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
| since she was born.
|
| Her mom is due with the second baby very soon (Mar 22).
|
| The nutritionist who evaluated her today gave advice that
| I sort of agree with, but that I wonder if anyone here can
| add to. Help with weaning her from nursing to sleep and
| waking and not settling without nursing would also be appreciated.
|
| Here are the reccommendations:
|
| 1. Give her lots of chances to be in her high chair and eat
| solids. Don't offer her the breast or sippy cup first. Let her
| eat at least something before offering the sippy cup. I agree
| with this one. She has never actually had a schedule for
| her meals and she doesn't get enough chances to eat before
| she drinks.

I definitely think they should be offering solids before breastmilk. I'm
doing that with my DD already and she is only 10 months old (don't worry she
still drinks plenty of milk!).

| 2. Try to find a lovey for her that she can take to bed. Don't
| nurse her to sleep, put her down awake even if she cries.

Good idea but it may be hard to try and introduce a lovey at this age. I'm
having problems introducing one to my DD.

| 3. Have her stay overnight with us so mom isn't there to nurse
| her when she wakes up. This we are willing to do. She has
| stayed overnight with us once and did sleep, but she did
| wake alot and get held and rocked back to sleep by one of us.

What I would try to do is every 3 or 4 days decrease the time she nurses at
night. If she is nursing for 20 minutes cut down to 15 then 3 days later 10
etc. When they are finally down to 5 minutes or so they may try offering a
bit of water or something. Couldn't hurt to have her stay with you
occasionally. This is only if her mom wants to wean her at night, if not I
say feed her, she needs the extra calories.

| 4. Try to comfort her without picking her up when she does
| wake. (They suggested Ferber, but I don't like that much and
| will have to see. I don't know that we can break her associations
| without trying Ferber because she has had them for so long).

The Ferber method caused even more problems with DD so I personally can't
recommend his methods. I agree with trying to comfort her without picking
her up, I'm trying to do this with DD as well.

| She is 18 pounds 6 ounces at 19 months. She seems pretty
| healthy though in terms of her activity level. She does tend to
| sleep for 2 to 3 hours during the day alone when she is at our house,
| but she is mostly rocked to sleep on my husband's or my shoulder
| not put down awake. She sometimes would sleep even longer
| but we usually wake her after 3 hours because we don't want her
| to be awake all night. Not sure if we should allow longer naps just
| to get her in the habit of longer sleeps and *then* try to reverse
| the day and night thing after that?

Wow she is a tiny thing isn't she? What time does she nap? I personally try
to have DD's naps over and done with by 3 p.m. any later than this and she
tends to have a bad night. I personally wouldn't let her sleep longer than
3 hours, that is plenty!

Nadene

"toto" wrote in message
...
As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
since she was born.

Her mom is due with the second baby very soon (Mar 22).

The nutritionist who evaluated her today gave advice that
I sort of agree with, but that I wonder if anyone here can
add to. Help with weaning her from nursing to sleep and
waking and not settling without nursing would also be appreciated.

Here are the reccommendations:

1. Give her lots of chances to be in her high chair and eat
solids. Don't offer her the breast or sippy cup first. Let her
eat at least something before offering the sippy cup. I agree
with this one. She has never actually had a schedule for
her meals and she doesn't get enough chances to eat before
she drinks.

2. Try to find a lovey for her that she can take to bed. Don't
nurse her to sleep, put her down awake even if she cries.

3. Have her stay overnight with us so mom isn't there to nurse
her when she wakes up. This we are willing to do. She has
stayed overnight with us once and did sleep, but she did
wake alot and get held and rocked back to sleep by one of us.

4. Try to comfort her without picking her up when she does
wake. (They suggested Ferber, but I don't like that much and
will have to see. I don't know that we can break her associations
without trying Ferber because she has had them for so long).

She is 18 pounds 6 ounces at 19 months. She seems pretty
healthy though in terms of her activity level. She does tend to
sleep for 2 to 3 hours during the day alone when she is at our house,
but she is mostly rocked to sleep on my husband's or my shoulder
not put down awake. She sometimes would sleep even longer
but we usually wake her after 3 hours because we don't want her
to be awake all night. Not sure if we should allow longer naps just
to get her in the habit of longer sleeps and *then* try to reverse
the day and night thing after that?

TIA for any advice you can give us.




--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

Dorothy - at 18 months my son was just about hitting the 21 pound mark ...
small. Does your gd by any chance snore a lot??? My os is now 5.5yo ...
over the years, we have raised issues with the ped regarding his small
stature (he was tested for celiac (neg) and dr. pointed out that neither dh
nor I were giants) ... at 2yo he fell off the growth curve. Antoher issue
was his loud and disruptive snoring (dr. assumed allergies since both my dh
and I are allergic, placed ds on allergy meds which 'seemed' to have
decreased the snoring). Another issue was his 'hot sleeping' -- he wakes up
with just the sweatiest head! ... long story short ... we just underwent a
sleep study which revealed that my son has "significant sleep disordered
breathing" which consists of a high rate of apnea and hyponeas. We always
thought he was a 'light' sleeper. The ENT was surprised at the results
because, although his adenoids are huge, his tonsils, while big - are
nowhere near kissing tonsils. The ENT wanted the sleep study to justify the
decision NOT to remove the tonsils, when in fact - the study did just the
opposite. The ENT said it would be very very easy for the pediatrician to
miss the signs. We're scheduled for surgery and another sleep study 3 months
later to verify the problem is solved. BTW, obstructive sleep apnea is
shown to have an impact of the amount of 'growth hormone' secreted since
this is secreted during sleep and interupted sleep would interfere with the
hormone's release. Something to consider.........
Teri

"toto" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 19:22:14 GMT, "Lina"
wrote:

I would continue to let the kiddo nurse to sleep. I wouldn't deprive her
of
the extra calories.

But the advice of solids before nursing or sippy cup are good.
(I'm anti-cry it out, so I won't comment on that one. ^.^)

I am anti that too, but I don't know what else to try in this case
given that they want to make sure she weans before the new baby
is born.

Hmm, I think she really should have thought of this way before now just to
avoid CIO. Still, I weaned DS by having DH put him to sleep every night for
a week. Before that, DH would put him to bed a few nights a week, because I
was at work. He knew Daddy didn't have milk, so he was okay with not BF'ing
to sleep. After that one week with DH, he was used to not BF'ing and weaned
easily.

toto wrote:
As many of you know my granddaughter is very tiny and
has been having eating problems and sleeping problems
since she was born.

I have a couple of questions before I throw my 2 cents out there :-) Is she
co-sleeping? Is her intent to wean or just to cut down on the nursing? How
many times a day/night is she nursing now? Does she eat some solids
everyday? Does her mom thing she is even getting milk at this stage?


--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

snip
| 2. Try to find a lovey for her that she can take to bed. Don't
| nurse her to sleep, put her down awake even if she cries.

Good idea but it may be hard to try and introduce a lovey at this age. I'm
having problems introducing one to my DD.


My daughter never had a lovey until she was over 10 months. Then a friend
popped by with a teddy bear present. Still being at the bananas stage, it
was named Lulu and still sleeps with her almost 8 years later. It was a good
second hand toy (I think) not a mantelpiece decoration - well cleaned and
spruced up - maybe all the newness had been worn out so it was comfortable
straight off.

Maybe it is easier to accept if it is a present.
HTH
Marc