6 month old waking for feeds at night

[Liv316]

Hello! So my 6 month old is still waking every night for 3-4 feeds and I am knackered with it. I was hoping it would start to get better by itself but it doesn’t seem to be. Ever since 4 months his waking at night has been worse. We sometimes get the odd 2 wakes a night but even that I feel he doesn’t need. I’ve not helped things because every time he wakes up I feed him as it’s the only way that gets him back to sleep now. If I don’t it takes an hour to settle him back and I usually end up feeding him just to get some sleep myself.

I really don’t want to go through the whole sleep training route or leaving him to cry (I just can’t do it). But has anyone got any advice or solidarity maybe? Reading that it gets worse at 8 months terrifies me as I feel like it can’t get any worse.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Breastfeeding? That’s a pretty normal-sounding number of wake ups (mine were on at least 6-8 wake ups at that age, yawn. He’ll be feeding for comfort as much as anything else. About the only solution is to grit your teeth and deal with it until 12 months then pick a good time to night wean.

Bottle feeding? If he’s started solids, I believe you can gradually reduce the amount of formula you give him at each night feed and eventually offer a bottle of water instead (but I’m only basing that on what I’ve read on here - I never bottle-fed sorry!)

[Cupcakegirl13]

Totally normal behaviour for a 6 month old ! It’s hard work and exhausting but don’t try and change surging babies a few meant to wake in the night for milk.
If he’s still doing it when he’s 18 months plus I’d look at gentle night weaning but nothing before that.

[Avacadoandtoast]

I’m EBF a 6 month old just now and up 6/7 times each night... I could have written your post above. We are thinking of moving him through to his room soon - hoping that might help a little bit as my husband would sooth him for the first half of the night so he wouldn’t get fed back to sleep all the time anymore. It will be tough to start with though..

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Normal. DD woke every two hours until she was two. That was shit. Try to get as much sleep as you can.

[Cannotgarden]

Normal. My 20 month old wakes 3-4 times a night. He'll get better, my DD did and finally slept through at 3 years. I just co sleep once he wakes after 11 so we all sleep.

[JaydenB07082020]

I took two at home pregnancy test that came out positive on Wednesday March 31st and they both came out positive. I then went to the doctors office the next day on Thursday April 1st to get a confirmation I took another urine test and it came out positive. The doctor predicted that I was around 4 weeks. I had very light bleeding that then started to come on to a little bit a a flow not to much like a period though. For the past few day I have been feeling very nauseous so I was seen today on Saturday April 3rd at the ER due to the fact I couldn’t hold down fluid or solids. I told them I was pregnant and showed them my doctor confirmation they proceeded to do a blood test and they said it came back negative. They told me to test writhin 3-5 days. I have been very confused if anyone could help me out it would me a lot. What could be the reasoning for this.?

[Fullofthejoysofspring]

@JaydenB07082020

I took two at home pregnancy test that came out positive on Wednesday March 31st and they both came out positive. I then went to the doctors office the next day on Thursday April 1st to get a confirmation I took another urine test and it came out positive. The doctor predicted that I was around 4 weeks. I had very light bleeding that then started to come on to a little bit a a flow not to much like a period though. For the past few day I have been feeling very nauseous so I was seen today on Saturday April 3rd at the ER due to the fact I couldn’t hold down fluid or solids. I told them I was pregnant and showed them my doctor confirmation they proceeded to do a blood test and they said it came back negative. They told me to test writhin 3-5 days. I have been very confused if anyone could help me out it would me a lot. What could be the reasoning for this.?

Hi there. It's possible you may have had a chemical pregnancy, hence the doctors telling you to retest in a few days. It's quite common but not easy to deal with. Sorry you're going through this. you will get more replies if you start your own thread, by the way.

[JaydenB07082020]

I tried that but no one was responding and I started two

[JaydenB07082020]

And thank you for the information I'll have to look into that

[Liverbird77]

It'll get better soon, hopefully. My second child is almost nine months and sleeps from 7-6.
I think she started sleeping through around six months.
She's breastfed.

How is weaning going? Is your baby getting plenty of calories from food? Don't be afraid to purée stuff and feed them yourself, despite what the now militants will say.
Also, I know you said you'd struggle with CIO, but it's developmentally fine after four months. Night feeds are no longer necessary. Also, unless you are going to brush teeth after every feed, it is very bad for teeth.

Hang in there, it will get better!

[Bringonspring]

Hey, have you moved them onto solids? It might help, but been there, exhausting!!

[Nameregretter]

Solids won’t help. Google the 4 month sleep regression - sounds like that’s what’s happened here. Both of mine were the same and grew out of it by 8 ish months. Good luck!

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Also, I know you said you'd struggle with CIO, but it's developmentally fine after four months.

Even Ferber says not before six months and most say not before 12 months...especially not full on leaving them to cry...

Night feeds are no longer necessary.

Nonsense. Night feeds as nutrition are arguably necessary until 12 months, depending on what they’re eating during the day (which for babies with little interest in food might not be much). Night feeds as comfort are often needed long after - these are also necessary. A baby is not just a digestive tract.

Also, unless you are going to brush teeth after every feed, it is very bad for teeth.

Christ. More guff. The mechanics of breastfeeding bypasses the teeth and breastmilk has protective enzymes for tooth enamel. The ‘bad for teeth’ is dentists generalising toddlers falling asleep on a bottle and having cows’ milk pool around the back teeth - not the same thing in any way.

[Liverbird77]

@ElphabaTheGreen "Christ more guff"??? Unbelievably rude.

You are entitled to your views, however I think you are wrong.

The American Academy of Paediatrics, the gold standard for baby care and health, states that bottle fed babies can sleep seven hours without feeds at four months, and breastfed at six months.

You sound like a lactivist. Are you talking about Dr Palmer's research into human skulls? Or is it the La Leche League (vile). There is evidence that breastmilk also causes cavities, but, again, you do what you want. I am ensuring my children have healthy mouths.

If you disagree with me, that's fine, but no need to be so rude.

[4amWitchingHour]

@Liverbird77 you're being rude yourself. "Lactivist"? Fuck off.

Yes, SOME babies CAN sleep through seven hours without milk, but not all babies.

I wouldn't trust anything to do with American healthcare to be a gold standard frankly - totally fucked up system.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

If you really want a solution OP I’d give a bottle of
Formula before bed and breastfeed the rest of the time- not for everyone I understand

[ElphabaTheGreen]

[quote 4amWitchingHour]@Liverbird77 you're being rude yourself. "Lactivist"? Fuck off.

Yes, SOME babies CAN sleep through seven hours without milk, but not all babies.

I wouldn't trust anything to do with American healthcare to be a gold standard frankly - totally fucked up system.[/quote]
Thank you. Just about to say exactly the same thing.

I’m a health care professional. We take a hyper-critical view of anything American because it’s usually influenced by lobbyists somewhere along the line.

My DCs are 8 and 6 (years). Haven’t breastfed for almost five years but yeah...I’m a lactivist 🙄

[Heepers]

Hi OP, I think you might be able to cut down from 3-4 if you decide to but all babies are different. I couldn't cope with the 4+ night wakings at 5 months so gently sleep trained my dd.

I fed her before bed at 7 then a dream feed but when she woke at 12-2 I used a dummy and soothed her in her cot (without picking her up). She'd then wake again at between 2-4 and I'd feed her. Basically I just decided I wouldn't feed her between her dreamfeed and 2am and soothed her in other ways. Within a few days she didn't wake for that feed.

For the next 5 months or so she would generally wake between 3 and 5 for a feed which gradually got later until one day she didn't need feeding until she woke at 6 or 7.

If you have a partner, it may be worth getting him to soothe your baby so they can't smell the milk. I was resistant to a dummy but it really helped settle and calm her.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions but I really don't regret doing it and it massively reduced how tired I was.

[CloudFormations]

What’s vile about LLL?!

[ElphabaTheGreen]

@CloudFormations

What’s vile about LLL?!

They encourage women to look at the anthropological as well as biological evidence for breastfeeding, Cloud, not to mention all that shitty free support they give to new mothers. It’s an OUTRAGE.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

[Liverbird77]

The LLL is vile because they support bed-sharing.
I am not going to get i to another debate about that. My position is it is dangerous and I would never, ever do it.
The LLL, with their pathetic "Safe Sleep Seven" are putting babies' lives at risk.
The anthropological angle presumably refers to Dr McKenna? Not a medical doctor. All of his statements can be refuted.

I said sounds like lactivism because it did. Breastmilk is not magical and it can damage teeth.
It is not superior to formula. It's a personal choice.

Anyway, my two children (one breastfed one formula fed) are both happy, healthy and good sleepers. I was trying to help the OP, not get into a debate with others.

[Liverbird77]

Oh, and if you look into the AAP, you'll see that the organisation is very trustworthy. You've clearly never heard of it, which is puzzling.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Oh I know the AAP well. They’ve publicly clung tooth and nail to the belief that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risk for years. They’ve remained silent on the issue since about 2017 because they know how pissed off their membership would be at the loss of guaranteed revenue if they came out saying it’s a bad thing. Forgive me for taking a very dim view of anything else they may claim to be experts on.

You never had to bedshare, Liverbird. You obviously got sleeping babies (and no, your marvellous parenting had very little to do with that, despite what you undoubtedly think). If you had landed babies who slept no longer than 5-10 minutes at a stretch in a cot despite white noise/swaddling/dummy/‘putting down sleepy but awake’/howling at the moon, you too would have been looking for any sensible and supportive advice to try and get you both as much safe sleep as possible.

Don’t know who Dr McKenna is but most doctors are not medical doctors, you do know that? It is still usually a sign of pretty advanced knowledge, research and critical thinking, providing the doctorate came from a reputable university.