Product reviews, parenting articles, and advice for first-time moms from the experiences of real-life mommies.

My baby girl, Karis, just turned into an eating machine! She was doing great nursing and eating a few solids (mostly cereal) during the day until a couple of weeks ago. Then all of a sudden she couldn’t get enough! My normally laid back, sweet-tempered baby started wailing within only an hour or two of the last meal.

At first I blamed it on teething.

Then I blamed it on not getting enough sleep.

Then it hit me.

She’s nine months old.

Time for a growth spurt.

So, my beautiful baby has gone into an eating frenzy for about the last 2 weeks. It seemed that every time I fed her, she couldn’t get enough. I could feed her a jar of baby food, another jar mixed with cereal, and more cheerios than you can shake a stick at, and she would still eat more!!!

That wouldn’t have been such a bad thing in and of itself. But, then she started waking up in the middle of the night again. Karis has been sleeping through the night since she was about 4 months old. So, this was NOT what I wanted to see happening. She had her last nursing at night around 10 or 11, then would wake up at 2, 4, AND 6 to eat again. Every time I would try to get her to just take her pacifier and go back to sleep (this USED to work), she would SCREAM at me and bat at my hands and the pacifier. And if I actually got the paci into her mouth, she would rip it out of her mouth indignantly, look at me as though I had betrayed her, and scream even louder until I would break down and finally nurse her.

I mentioned this, my lack of sleep, and my growing grouchiness to a good friend of mine a few days ago. After laughing with me and assuring me that it was most definitely a growth spurt, she asked me if I’d started giving Karis yogurt.

Yogurt? I hadn’t really thought about it yet.

She said to give Karis yogurt at night before her last nursing. That should give her enough calories for her tummy to work on and let her stay asleep through the night. So, for two nights, I tried it. And sure enough, Karis slept! (And I was in heaven!) Then, the next night, Shawn and I both forgot…

until 4 in the morning, when Karis woke up hungry again…

So, the past few nights, we’ve been making sure to fill up her little belly with yogurt before putting her to bed.

And I’ve slept so well…. I mean, SHE’S slept so well…

Thanks for the tip, Gabby! Maybe now I won’t be quite so grouchy!!!