Waking in the night - 5 month old.

[Trix11]

My 5 month old ds - although very demanding in the day (likes to be held all day) was sleeping 10/11 hours through the night. The last couple of weeks he has started to wake at 4, I would give him a bottle and he will fall back to sleep, but the last 4/5 nights he has been waking at 2 then 4 then approx 5.30 each time having a couple of oz of milk. Now Im wondering is he waking up and needing the bottle to get back to sleep using it as a comforter!!

Im not sure how this has all happened but I have two other children and really need my sleep at night. Has anyone got any tips on what I should do to get this sorted.

Thank you

Poor you! You must be knackered.
I've only got one child butsounds like he might be using the bottle as a comforter.

Is it worth either gradually reducing the amount of milk given over a few nights, or maybe dilute the milk with increasing amounts of water over a few nights until he ends up getting water which hopefully wont be a reward for waking up.

NOt sure what to do but hope you find a solution quick.

Does he have a dummy? Dd wakes sometimes and settles again once she has her dummy back in.

Dd went through a stage of this and we started to dream feed her at 10/11pm just before we went to sleep and she slept through.

I think he is using the bottle as a comforter as he is going straight back to sleep as soon as he has the teet in his mouth !!

Hate to say it, and I know you are supposed to wait for another month but he might be hungry. If you are comfortable with it, you could try starting to give him a couple of spoons of baby rice at about 5-6pm. This might sort it. Or do as Lauraloola suggests and dream feed late.

I have started to give him some rice in the morning and early evening. He has gone down now, I don't know what to do when he wakes - should I give him milk to get back to sleep or try and get him back to sleep without the comfort of milk and what if he is genuinely hungry - oh the joys!!!!

Does he cry a lot when he wakes in the night?

My DD was waking up twice in the night and I found that if I didn't rush to pick her up and let her grumble for a bit she settled herself again.

This did coincide with starting her on solids and moving her into her own room though so that could be part of the reason. And she still wakes once in the night but is generally sleeping much better and sometimes to almost 7 am which is luxury!

How has he been the last couple of nights?

my dd did this as well - I read up on kellymom and came to the conclusion that it was developmental (learning how to roll over etc) - she then got over it and at nearly 6 months went back to sleeping through again - without having a bf in the night or baby rice in the day.

you do need to be careful that the waking and feeding doesnt become habitual once shes over her developmental leap - you may need to do some sort of technique to get over it(pupd? pat shh?) but at that age I dont think it would take too long. It is difficult in the middle of the night though -especially if you've got close neighbours.

good luck!