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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

7 month old breastfeeding twice in the night and not settling back in cot

11 replies

BenRoo · 21/06/2011 21:50

Hi all,
(I'm new on here so bear with me!)
I have a 7 month old son, who has been exclusively bf up until last week.
He does/will not accept a bottle from me or my husband, but his nursery have just managed to introduce some formula (alongside ebm) on the days that i work.
However, he still only takes a small amount from them and therefore demands more from me in the evenings and still wakes twice in the night to feed.
I only work three days a week, so continue to bf on demand on my days off.
He has 3 x solid meals a day.
My problem is that, now i am back at work it is really tiring having to feed him twice in the night, so much so that on most occasions i bring him into bed with me as the feeding/settling back into the cot routine at 1am and 4am (ish) takes upto 45 mins each time.
This way we all seem to get more sleep, but don't really want this to continue as i suspect a habit will form.
I think i have tried most tricks in the book but am just wondering whether anyone has any tips i might not of tried.
Or is he just 'one of those babies'???
I dont know.... please help :-S

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RitaMorgan · 21/06/2011 21:55

Personally I would do whatever gets you all most sleep!

Maybe it's a bit of a reaction to starting nursery/you being away - he needs to be close to you at night? I'd wait for it to all settle down before trying to drop night feeds.

woahthere · 21/06/2011 22:40

i too would go with whatever gets you the most sleep. dont worry about so called habits just do whats best for you now. When youve had enough, then change it. in my honest opinion i think 7 months it is utterly normal for your baby to wake twice in the night and i think the more security/closeness you give now when its needed most you will reap the reward from later. good luck, try not to stress about what you should be doing, go with your gut xxx

Original poster

BenRoo · 22/06/2011 00:43

Thank you both for your answers/support :-D
I suggested getting a chair bed for his room so when he wakes i can sleep in his room with him rather than bringing him in our bed.
Maybe he'd become more accustomed to staying in his cot/room that way?!?!
And it would save DH sleeping on the sofa from time to time?? :-/

OP posts:

PenguinArmy · 22/06/2011 08:33

OK so you'll have to feed him, but can't DH do the resettling/putting to sleep part, but otherwise agree with the others, don't worry about habit. DD was put to bed at this age, a couple of months later and she wouldn't sleep if not in her cot and left alone.

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 22/06/2011 09:26

agree with woahthere and rita. Personaly cosleeping was the way we all hot enough sleep. Ignore the rod for your back lot. Your baby needs feeding and comfort, you need sleep. You can do this all at once if you share a bed! They will move out by the time they're eighteen anyway. [Wink]

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 22/06/2011 09:27

we got enough sleep, sorry!

capecath · 22/06/2011 21:03

I don't know, I'd tend to disagree about continuing night feeds based on our experience... Of course all babies are different! But when someone suggested a 7-month-old having 3 meals a day with sufficient protein shouldn't need feeding during the night I didn't believe them - our DS (now 10 months) was feeing around the same times as yours during the night. We decided to give it a try and instead of feeding him, went in to comfort him - spoke softly, gave him blankie, stroked his forehead, etc. If he cried, went in every 2 mins, then 5 min, giving him a chance to learn to settle himself. It took longer for him to settle without food over the first 4 days, but the next few weeks, even though he still woke up a few times, he would settle quickly when I went in to comfort him without feeding him. Around 8 months he was regularly sleeping through, until about 6am. It may be that he is becoming too reliant on food to settle him and needs help in learning to settle himself. This worked for us, some may object to this approach.... If you're happy going on with night feeds, then by all means continue. For our DS anyway, it was certainly habit - he did not need those night feeds, just expected food every time he woke up. From our experience I'd recommend pushing through lack of sleep now to gain sleep in the long run!

ThatllDoPig · 22/06/2011 21:08

Agree with first couple of posters. Just do whatever feels right and gets you enough sleep. If you get to the end of your tether and co sleeping/feeding not working for you, you will know, then you'll have to find the energy to change it, but on your terms. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or does.

Original poster

BenRoo · 23/06/2011 13:56

Tbh I love co-sleeping but DH is not so keen and I must admit,it does get a bit cramped!
I do worry about withdrawing the night feeds as I know that he doesn't have as much milk on my days at work, I'd hate to think i was leaving him hungry!
:-( *yawn

OP posts:

BlueberryPancake · 23/06/2011 16:39

Co sleeping never worked for us. Baby ended up wanting more feeds and waking up more often. Both DH and I are light sleepers so I was too knackered.

I ended up doing what others do, which was to wake him up at 11:00 and DH to give him formula in Playtex drop-in bottles. (we must have tried at least 10 different types of bottles.) Then I am sorry to say, he just cried for about 15 minutes the first night, when waking up, and after a three/four nights he slept through. I was working 3 days a week, and pregnant at the time so we had very little choice. He was about 9 months old when we did this.

Jojay · 23/06/2011 16:50

DS2 didn't sleep through until I stopped bfing.

I returned to work when he was 9 months, and before then, he wouldn't take a bottle at all.

After trying all the 'nice' ways to get him to take a bottle, in the end I went cold turkey and stopped bfing. I leave the house at 6 am so no time for a bf before work, and I couldn't cope with working those hours if I was up half the night bfing.

We did BLW which was great but he wasn't eating huge amounts at that stage, so something had to give.

I left him with DH and several bottles while I went out for the day. After 6 hours he cracked and took teh bottle, and never looked back. I never bfed him again though, as sadly he was never going to be one of those who switched happily between boob and bottle.

Once he was taking a decent amount of milk in the day, it was easy to wean him off night feeds and he slept through soon after.

It was much much less painful than I imagined as he was much a boob monster, but it really wasn't traumatic.

it may not be the route you want to go down, but it worked for me

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