Sleeping / Feeding Disruption

That's a lot of change for a five month old. I would just do things gradually. As far as wakings, both of my children woke for feedings one to two times a night until they were a year old. I am not against babies crying it out a bit, but I don't let them get hysterical. And if they were hungry and not fed it started the hysterics. Our pediatrician told me it was fine to continue feeding on demand.

Neither one of my children would take a bottle...ever. I could leave and they would go without, usually screaming themselves to sleep, rather than take a bottle. When my daughter was born I was determined she would take a bottle, unlike her brother. I started earlier and more often. She still refused. It was very frustrating and stressful. But a sippy cup saved us. I bought the gerber soft spout and took the stopper out of it. We just fed them like you would with a cup. The sippy cup makes it a little less messy, but it's still a mess and you have to be careful not to accidentally give them too much. For whatever reason, maybe the novelty of it, my kids both drank from the sippy cup. As an added bonus, they both were able to use a sippy cup unassisted by the end of six months.

WOW!!! he's got you wrapped!! :)

1. a child even a baby will eat when he's hungry.... i would not, even at 5 months - drive my child to my spouses work to nurse...

2. get the routine down and don't keep trying something new. I believe that 7PM is way to early for a 5 month old. that's MY opinion..my kids didn't go down for the night until 9PM...

3. He got used to having a person next to him for a month - he wants it...it's gonna be a tough row to hoe, but it's possible to "wean" him of this.

4. If he is not feeding well with you from a bottle - then buy different bottles to see which one works best for him - it took us 4 bottles to find the one that worked for my husband to feed our boys.

5. Sleeping...go in and check on him but do not pick him up. Let him know you are there - check his diaper, make sure he has his paci (my first son didn't use one but my second did) and ensure he's not too hot or too cold - but let him STAY IN THE CRIB...he will gain confidence in knowing you are there when he calls...

Stay consistent in your routine. Don't switch things up again..if he won't eat - keep offering him the bottle but DO NOT take him to your wife to nurse. he will learn. I know I sound cold hearted but really - you can't keep going to your wife to nurse just because he won't take the bottle....going 4 hours between feedings is fine...really..

Call the pediatrician and find out if you can start him on oatmeal or rice cereals with the breast milk for one of his meals. Ask if your son is ready for finger foods - SIMPLE things...every child is different...my 1st was exclusively breast fed for the first 6 months...my 2nd son was eating oatmeal cereal at 4 months with the doctors okay...

GOOD LUCK!!

Our middle son would never take an artificial nipple of any sort. No pacifier or any sort of bottle nipple. We tried everything we could get our hands on. We ended up using a sippy cup. Obviously we could not just give it to him. We sat him on our lap, in a sitting position and held the cup so he could drink. We used a no spill cup and at first took out the part in the lid so he would have instant breast milk. As he got used to it we put that part back in and he did fine. As he got older we also used tupperware style cups with lids. As far as the sleeping we have done the family bed with all of our kids. Especially the middle on. He was a large baby 10.6 pounds at birth, and the doctor told me that he would nurse frequently. My husband jokes that for the first six months of his life he did not know what the baby looked like because he was always nursing! LOL! Something that we did do was put a mattress on the floor next to the bed. We got the rails that you slide under the mattress, like for a toddler/ young child and let him sleep there. It got him out of our bed but he could still see us if he woke up. It made it easier for feedings, I could just climb onto the floor mattress, nurse and if I fell asleep it was not a big deal. Hope this helps and thanks for being a caring dad!

Poor little guy...so many disruptions to his schedule. While I don't have any advice, my 8 month old refuses to sleep in his room too. We share a similar story, after our week long vacation to San Diego, where my son had to sleep in hotel bed with us, he refuses his bed now. That was when he was 5 months old. So, I can't wait to hear what others will offer as advice because I'm looking for a solution too.

I'm a co-sleeping advocate and I'd advise keeping that going since it's obviously working very well for your little man. If you worry about losing intimacy or sex by having baby in bed with you - shake it up and look for other fun places to go and enjoy yourselves. EX: dining table, sofa, rug on the floor, kitchen counter, shower, etc...

As for the nursing/bottle issue... when bottles are necessary - keep trying. Baby will NOT allow himself to starve and will definitely take the bottle when he realizes Mommy isn't coming to feed him.

Babies wake up because they need something.

They will wake up until they are about 20 months old for night time feedings/food, etc...they have huge growth spurts and need the extra food. They they sleep through the night for a while then do the waking up stuff again for a few weeks then go back to the sleeping all the time again.

Make sure they get a late snack before bed, we do ours at bedtime at about 8:30pm, then brush teeth and off to bed for stories and sleep. They sleep through the night mostly, I do often wake up with 4 in the queen size bed though. Kids need that snuggle sometimes. They do outgrow it then you miss it.