Do breastfed babies ever sleep through / how much food for 7 month ol?

[whizzylala]

my Ds2 is 7 months and seems to be starving at night. Both my others slept through at 6 months when they were having more formula than DS2 at the same age. He has just started a bottle a day reluctantly but is otherwise BF plus three meals a day. My friends who have fed for a longtime ( up to 2 Yrs, I don't mean 7 months is long) have all also had bad sleepers so wondering if breastfed babies do ever sleep through. Last night he woke and had full feeds at 11, 2, 4, was up again at 5 and I was convinced just wanted to comfort suck so gave him a bottle tontry and break the cycle, which he downed, he normally plays with them and takes ages. The other night feeds were good feeds not just sleepy sucking. He has three meals a day, a couple of big tablespoons worth at each and four other breast feeds in waking hours...... Is this normal?? He is big 95 th centile but always has been and has never slept for more than 3 hours at night on average.
ANY advice, I am dead on my feet and need to change something.
THANKS.
whizzylala

DS was still waking for proper eating-feeds (not just sucking) every two hours through the night until last month (he's 11m now) when he suddenly switched to clearly not really being hungry. Solids take a long time to kick in - breastmilk is probably still your DS's main source of calories and will be for another couple of months. You've done the hard part, though - now it's all tailoff until he's off the boob completely!

I had large babies, 2 of them were on the 98th centile for the first coupld of years, they were breastfed and slept through early on.

No idea why, I was anal about feeding lots during the day and miss grumpy and minimal during the night - no idea if that helped or is conincidence!

I know a few bfed kids who sleep through. I've not got one though!

Tbh, the bfing thing is a bit of a red herring, as loads of ffed kids don't sleep through either.

Average age to sleep all night is 18mths.

You could try the No Cry Sleep Solution? Gentle sleep encouragement for all babies, but especially breastfed ones.

Sympathies - it is tiring, but it is short.

Dd1 bf to 21 months, slept 11-8 from 8 weeks and 8-8 from 3 months.

Dd2 bf to 20 months, slept through for more than 1 night in a row at around 18 months.

I did the exact same thing with both. All babies are different.

If you are introducing formula could you go to bed early and have dh/dp give a bottle at 11 so you get a good chunk of sleep?

Agree with Loony! My 3 were all bf, DD slept through for 12 hours at 3 months, DS1 and DS2 were rubbish sleepers!

Also agree with Octavia that I saw an improvement when they were established on solids rather than when they first started (ie maybe 2-3 months after starting).

Hope it gets better for you soon.

Thanks, nice to know we are not alone, yes DP could do a bottle, I just like my evenings! Going to try and give a bottle at my bedtime tonight and see if that helps. I did the No Cry SS with DD, he can get to sleep by himself without a problem and seem to remember it was more about going off to sleep by themselves.
I shall plod on, going back to work in a couple of months and can't do it on this little sleep!

Started DS on solids at 6 months and he was reliably sleeping through (11/ 12 hours) by 7.5 months. Until then he still woke one or two times per night but gradually went for longer and longer stretches when on solids.

Should have said my DS flew through introducing solids - absolutely loves his food and was on 3 good meals per day after just three weeks - which was probably why he was quite quick to sleep through after introducing solids.

DS1 slept through consistently from very early. I remember complaining when he started waking twice a night during his 17 week growth spurt, he started sleeping through again soon after. I didn't realise I really had nothing to complain about...

DS2 doesn't sleep, ever.

Both ebf and both ate really well once they started on solids. I can't offer more helpful advice than they're all different.

My DC is 12 weeks and has been sleeping through from 9 weeks, with an occasional blip. I do feed her a lot during tge day though, every2 to 3 hours.

My 3 were all BF and all slept through by 3 months. I don't think sleeping is really a BF issue - more just the individual baby. Night feeding can also be very much a habit - if he has got used to taking much of his milk feeds during the night then it may well continue. Perhaps you can try and cut down the feeds, or not let him have full feeds? As he gets used to taking more of his feeds in the day the night feeds should naturally lessen. In the short term as you cut back night feeds he is likely to be difficult to settle at night, but he will soon get into a new pattern of taking more milk during the day to even things out if you actively cut back at night.

My DD is 25month and still doesn't sleep through. She is getting better but around her growth spurts and teething she would literally be attached to me all night.

If he is just hungry you could give him a warm weetabix before bed. Try replacing night feeds with water although my DD would never take it from me, maybe easier to get a partner to give it if you have one as they are meant to stop waking up for water.

I choose to co-sleep so that I get some sleep. DD goes down in her own bed at 7pm and when she wakes up she comes into my bed around 2am. I realize not everyones choice and not practical if you have a partner but really helped me.

My DD is exclusively breastfed and has been sleeping through about 50% of the time since 12 weeks old. She's now 17 weeks. She was born in the 98th percentile so she was a larger baby, and perhaps that could be the difference. I also find that she's more likely to sleep through if she gets lots of milk during the day, especially if she gets expressed bottles of milk, and when she gets lots of good long naps. The less sleep she gets during the day, the worse she sleeps at night.

I count "sleeping through" as from 8pm ish until at least 7am. Before 12 weeks old she would often sleep from midnight until 6 or 7am which isn't half bad.

NB: We didn't automatically feed her if she cried at night.. gave her a dummy first of all, and if she continued to cry, then we'd feed her.

DD went through the night at 7 months. I can't remember but I think it was around the same time that I dropped that last bedtime feed and put her on night time milk, which is thicker.

Dd1 slept through at 8 weeks. That was 8:30pm to 8:30am every night. Before then she only ever woke for one feed at about 4am and then sleep till about 9:30.
Dd2 didn't sleep!
Ds started sleeping through exactly like dd1, then he started ear infections and would sleep through 1-2 nights at the end of each course of antibiotics, when his ears weren't hurting and he didn't have tummy ache from the antibiotics. Once he had grommets he slept through always.

They were all entirely bf. It depends on the child so much!

DS was still being breastfed when he started sleeping throught the night (11-7) when he was 7 weeks old. He also went from the 25th centile to 75th in the first year. DD was bottlefed and also slept through from 12 weeks.
I didn't do anything like sleep training and they were in our room, they just stopped waking up for a feed.

I have a 9 wk old DD and need sleep!! She has never slept through the longest stint she has done at night is five hrs once. I'm struggling here so badly. I'm worried im not feeding her enough or that I'm not doing it right :( she is ebfz
Any advice would be great as beginning to go insane!!

She doesn't drop back into sleep easy either after being fed and that means I'm getting about an hrs kip every night.....

CrazyAllen you might get more replies if you started your own thread. You really can't expect a 9 week old to sleep through - it's completely different from a 7 month old (and they don't sleep through either)! Is your DD taking full feeds at night? How long does she go between feeds? If she's putting on weight well then you're doing it right, don't worry! I'd expect to be feeding about every 2 hours around the clock at this point, and feeds to be taking from 10-25 minutes, roughly.

I think solids only take effect when they start taking down reasonable amounts of protein/fat tbh. Carbs and veggies don't do much to keep them fuller.

DS slept 10-6 by 6mo and I dropped the 10pm feed at 7mo (But I'd given up bf by then).

Still waiting for my 15 month old DD to sleep through. She wakes up more than when she was a younger baby. A combination of teething, coughs and colds has been going on for weeks if not months now and she keeps waking up a few times a night...argh!!! I co-sleep too.
Not holding much hope, as my 3yr old hardly ever sleeps through either.

Not sure bfing/ffing has much to do with it - more down to the child. All 3 of mine were Bfed. DS1 and 2 were terrible sleepers, regularly waking to feed through night. Still are bad sleepers.
DS3 was sleeping through (8hrs) before we were discharged by the midwife! He is still a fab sleeper.