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10 month old waking 3 times in the night - what can we do?

8 replies

Spink · 18/11/2009 14:29

dd has never slept through, when she was about 5 months she was waking only once for a bf but then had some teething and had a few nights of waking every hour or so.
we managed to stretch her out a bit since then and she now wakes every 3 hours or so and cries until I bf her.
She goes to bed at 6.30pm after dinner and a milk feed, and falls asleep by herself. We've tried not feeding her during the night, but she gets more and more upset.
I guess that we just need to break the habit, not feed her and just wait it out but any tips on how exactly would be a help. ..

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
MrsBadger · 18/11/2009 14:35

maybe she's actually hungry? The bigger they get the more they need, solids and milk...

you could try Jay Gordon, although he doesn't recommend it for babies under a year.

we used it successfully (if slowly) on dd at 18m, she certainly wasn't ready to cut back on night feeds before 12m.

hattee · 18/11/2009 17:09

I'm going through the same thing with my 8 month old. We've been trying not very successfully, letting him cry a bit to see if he settles himself, DH going in instead of me, giving him water instead of a bf.

Is your DS taking a lot of milk during the night? Mine doesn't which makes me think that he just wants a cuddle and isn't really hungry at all.

Spink · 19/11/2009 15:08

MrsB, I'd been trying not to think about that possibility.. the thing is, she does have pretty decent feeds at night, and hardly wants any milk at breakfast. I can't really believe she needs to feed every 2/3hours though (she's only fed every 4 hours during the day for a few months now) I wouldn't have any problem if it was just once a night, think I'd happily leave it to her if that were the case. But getting up at least 3 times a night is really starting to wear me out, especially now I'm back at work.
Thanks for the link, might wait til she's a year old and try that..
hattee - hope it goes well with your ds. Is he eating a fair amount during the day?

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hattee · 20/11/2009 07:31

Thanks Spink. He eats a lot during the day, and has a very hearty meal about an hour before he goes to bed. He's a big baby and definitely isn't going hungry! Luckily for me I'm not back at work. I feel for you as you are though. I always get up at night (except for a at weekends), as DH has to get up early for work. Can you share the night shift?

Spink · 21/11/2009 08:54

hattee, we kind of try to, but dd tends to get more hysterical when dh goes in to her, and I'm awak anyway so I just go in to make the crying stop..
last two nights she's only had 2 feeds though, so maybe it'll all happen by itself

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wolfear · 21/11/2009 23:10

My DS was the same. It was so hard, but I just got tough and left him to cry. It was awful for about a week but he's slept through since. He wasn't hungry in the mornings either, which made me think he was just feeding out of habit through the night. He now has a big feed in the morning along with his food and no longer expects a feed in the night, so doesn't bother waking I guess.

They're all so different though. It's infuriating

lindsaygii · 22/11/2009 21:12

I've just posted a similar thing, but just wanted to say - having a bottle of water ready to go has stopped mine needing a feed every single time. Hasn't cured the problem, but I got the idea from a friend that it did work for, so worth trying?

Three times in the night is too much for feeds!!

LUCIA22 · 23/11/2009 10:34

I had exactly the same problem with DS also 8m. I was feeding him everytime he woke for an easy life but he wasnt taking much, I am sure he was just using to to help him back to sleep. The more I gave in the more he woke. I decided that I had to do something about it and took the tough appoach. I gave him a cuddle and put him back down. He would cry and cry. I would offer him water too. I would go back in every 5mins or so and give him a cuddle each time until he seemed to be drifting off. Sometimes it took up to an hour for him to go back to sleep but did work. He is still waking (see other post) but only once (twice on a bad night) and is not expecting to be fed. I think he just wants a cuddle. My problem is now how to get him not to wake at all.

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