7 months old and still waking for at least 3 feeds a night!

[tigger32]

Please help, I'm so tired.
Ds3 is 7 months, and is a terrible sleeper, he follows a pattern similar to this:

6.30pm/7.30pm bath, b/f, bed

10pm ish b/f back to bed

12.30am b/f bed

2.30am b/f bed

5am b/f bed

7am awake for day, no milk

I've tried not feeding him when he wakes but nothing else will console him and when I feed him he is having a big feed each time.

During the day he feeds as follows:

breakfast 8am small bowl of baby porridge or similar (generally not very interested in breakfast, probably due to huge amount of milk drunk in the night)

10am b/f

12pm lunch good size portion of veg mush and a fruit puree

2pm b/f

5pm dinner, as lunch but yoghurt instead of fruit.

Sorry this is so long but I'm really hoping someone will be able to tell me where I'm going wrong.
Thanks for reading

My DS is just a bit older than yours (8 months next week) and follows a similar pattern although he feeds frequently during the day too and it doesn't seem to affect his appetite for solid food

I asked the health visitor at his last weigh in how to cut down his milk intake at night and she just said 'stop feeding him' as if i hadn't thought of that (!) but as you know it is just not that easy.

One thing I have been trying is the 'Pantley pull off' from the No Cry Sleep Solution book, where basically as soon as the feed slows to a rhythmic sucking you unlatch them. At first he wants more and I end up continuing with the feed before trying again. After multiple 'pull offs' he then gets the message and goes back to sleep.

Doing this has helped shorten the feeds but not eliminate them completely yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will have an impact soon.

Hope others are along with more ideas soon

Thanks Bopeeps, maybe I'll get a copy of that book, I'm willing to try anything. I hope you get some sleep soon.

My dd did a similar thing up - the HV said the same thing at 7 mo (ie just stop!) but quite apart from the crying, it was massively uncomfortable for me. By 3 in the morning I'd be bursting with milk and raging hot!

So I started timing feeds - cutting down by about a minute a week (we started at about 10 minutes, then down to 9 etc). After a couple of months of this feeds were two-three minutes at most, and then we went cold turkey. It took a week - three nights of getting progressively worse, then three nights of getting better. The worst night she woke up at 2 and that was it - awake till dawn - I couldn't settle her, but I didn't leave her (just sat next to the cot).

Since then she's slept through, barring being ill.

Watching. DD is only 6 months but still feeding 2-3 times a night. She's being weaned now so I'm hoping she'll cut down of her own accord soon but thinking I'm probably going to end up having to persuade her

The thing is a 7 month old should still be getting most of their nutrition from breast milk. The daytime feeding includes only 3 breastfeeds between 7am and 10pm. He is making up the difference at night, so as someone has suggested trying to gradually cut back on night feeds will help but only if you replace then with at least the same number of daytime feeds.

I personally would start with the 5am feed and try to push that later so that it is nearer 6/7am and is given before breakfast. After that I'd tackle the 12,30am feed and try to reduce and eliminate that one.

At the same time I'd offer breast milk before lunch and befoe his tea at 5pm. Theat way most of the nutrition comes from breatsmilk and the food is just an addition. Then gradually over the months change to giving food beforfe breastmilk but that should be nearer 12 months old.

I would also suggest that at least one night feed may be necessary for a few months yet, especially of the baby is one that is too busy/active to feed very often during the day. One night feed (between 7pm and 5/6am) is a lot better that what is happening now though.

Thanks everyone for your replies,
Bumbling, I think you may be right, I need to give more b/m in the day, do you think I should give less solids then? I feel embarrassed that I can't sort this myself as he is my 3rd baby!
I think sometimes I forget at what age ds should be doing things.
Tonight , when he wakes for his 5am feed I'm not going to give it until 5.30am at the earliest, then I'll move it back another 30 mins in a couple of days times. We'll see how that works.

i'm loving octaviapink's post - we are right in the middle of it - have had three nights of awfulness so far. haven't left him, just stayed with him but not fed him after 10pm - i feed him at 10 but after that its nothing till at least 5. he's not happy at all, but this is because he has never done this before. he is eating more in day, he has bought back one of the feeds! and going for it at the solids. i am also then going to have to go the full monty and drop all night feeds, but i am not ready for that yet as he needs the milk. he has also been just as your LO - catching up at night because he is too interested in the day.

i would also suggest your little one needs protein in the form of meat and cheese if that is at all possible.

and can you fit in an extra bf around 4pm as a snack to keep him going till dinner?

(total amateur btw)

OP, I have a 7 month old too and agree with rubybuckleberry - I am presuming your LO has no protein or carbohydrate solids at all at the moment? If he isn't then I would concentrate on introducing those before you do anything else...yes milk is the main source of nutrition but tbh introducing protein has been key to ensuring good sleep at this stage in my experience.

FWIW it's worth DS2 has very similar daytime feed times to your LO. Milk feeds around 7am, 2pm and 6:30pm and three solid meals a day around 8am, 12pm and 5pm. The key difference is that his lunch is a protein meal (at least 7 tablespoons of something like chicken casserole or fish pie) plus a fruit puree, and his tea is veggie but includes lots of carbs(again, 7/8 tablespoons) plus a yogurt. He then goes to bed at 7pm after his milk and sleeps through till 7/7:30am.

I would say it is probably worth temporarily increasing your DS's milk feeds whilst you establish protein (at least milk feeds at 7am, 10:30am, 2pm, 6:30pm and 10pm) but hopefully once well established on protein and carbs you should find he starts to cut back on the milk quite naturally. Personally I wouldn't offer more milk at the same time as a solids meal as I wouldn't want to risk him filling up on milk and rejecting solids completely - but that's just me - it's just a case of finding a balance you feel is right for your LO. I would also not try to cut back too much on the night feeds until you've got him taking more milk and solids during the day because he probably is genuinely hungry at his nightfeeds at the moment.

Hope this helps

sorry third paragraph should read increasing daytime milk feeds. Hate the fact we can't go back to modify posts! Good luck.

7/8 tablespoons - jeez! is that how much we are supposed to aim for dietcokeandwine - we are doing blw and i am not sure it amounts to that much - hmmm is he genuinely hungry at night .

Sounds normal.Both mine woke up more than that at that age.I don't understand why there is this idea that small babies will somehow sleep through the night,as hardly any of them seem to,so surely they are designed to wake up? I am sympathetic to how knackered you probably feel,but I think this is just what babies do.And then they do it a bit less.

rubybuckleberry - we are doing purees rather than BLW (though DS2 does have finger food and has his own spoon to self feed at mealtimes) and I very much doubt he'd eat anything like that amount of solids if we were doing BLW. I don't actually know if that is what you should be aiming for, I'm just repeating what I did with DS1 to be honest. I know I should be doing BLW but was too much of a wuss .

hellymelly - I'd agree that small babies don't sleep through the night and are 'designed to wake up' so they get the nutrition they need, but seven months is hardly a newborn. Plenty of babies are capable of taking all their food requirements during the day and sleeping through the night at this age, I don't think the OP is being unreasonable or unrealistic to be honest.

Sorry I posted and left and it may be a bit late to add this but I agree that babies this age often still wake at night but I think 3 times evetry night is a awful lot to deal with.

When ds was doing this (waking 3 times a night or more) at a similar age I did what I suggested in my first email and also encoraged a reasonably regular daytime sleep routine as he was quite grumpy in the day due to lack of sleep I think.

I did not however expect ds to sleep completely throught the night without any feeds. However I happy with one quick feed a night between 7/8pm and 5/6am. Once he established this routine he kept doing this for quite few months, though his sleep did deteriorate again when I went back to work when he was 11 months old (unsurprisingly)

I suppose it just depends what you can live with.

Thanks again all,

dietcokeandwine, I think you've hit the nail on the head, he has a small amount of potato twice a week, but no meat or pasta! It didn't even occur to me that that could be part of the problem. I feel a new batch of cooking is needed!

hellymelly, I agree, babies aren't designed to sleep through and I don't expect a full nights sleeps, but would prefer just one feed between 10pm and 6am.

Right off to do bath and bed, then I'm going to start cooking.

Thanks again everyone for all the ideas and reassurance.

We started protein as soon as we started solids at 6m - is there advice that you're not supposed to? DD had cheese, chicken, fish and boiled eggs pretty much from 26 weeks.

DS has protein, but some wait till 9 months. Don't know why. Abandoned mission last night. He woke at three, got properly upset so I fed him and he wolfed it! And then again at 5am and 7am. BLW means not eating as much as some methinks. Will try again in a month or two!

I don't think you are told to avoid protein, but I like to introduce foods slowly so that I know if anything upsets their tummy, and as we were slow taking to foods in the first place it means we're behind on it all. Plus baby no. 3 weaning is just not as exciting as no.1

BLW I think the idea is that by 9 months they should be eating similar amounts as a puree weaned baby.

Was going to suggest the protein and carbs but seen somebody else has already. DS was similar and I felt like I was going to lose it with lack of sleep. I think the thing to bear in mind is that being BF, you don't know how much they are getting. (DS was ff from 5ish mo), around 8mo he was still waking twice during the night and taking 5/6 oz both times, despite taking well over 30oz formula a day.

Could you try him with some water for one of the feeds? (Maybe the 5am one, seems like he doesn't 'need' it as much as he isn't hungry for bf at 7)Or maybe a dream feed before you go to bed, it might allow you 4/5 hours sleep before you have to wake and feed?

DS did seem to sleep better once I had got the hang of weaning and had him on a pretty varied diet, i.e. banana + porridge for breakfast, snack (fruit + yoghurt), lunch, (meat + carbs + veg) snack (rice cake, some veg sticks) tea (beans + bread/egg +bread/ or meat + carbs + veg. I make the meat + veg, freeze it, and add cous cous, rice, pasta or patatoes for the carbs on the day, takes up less room in the freezer and allows me to vary his meals. He is 10mo now and pretty much sleeps 12 hours a night.

Just re-read that and realised that I've pretty much said everything everyone else has, I just remember how tough it was and wanted to help...

Feed him carbs before bedtime (potato purée, pasta, bread in vegetable soup etc) then cut out night feeds.

In a few days, his metabolism will adjust to the new meal times and he will sleep through.

Bustle Thank you

Well last night we had a brake through (or a one off) I fed him at 9.30pm, then when he woke at 12am I just rubbed his back and put on his lullaby thingy (no milk) he then woke at 3am so I changed a very wet nappy and fed him, he was back to sleep by 3.30am. He then woke at 7am
Could this be the start of me getting some sleep???

I hope so Tigger
Fingers crossed for you

I'd got with CoteDAzur's ide of the 'carbs before bedtime'. Carbohydrate + lactose is a very sleep-inducing combo because it takes a long time to digest. My solution for a full night's sleep was a roughly mashed up banana thickened up with some baby rice and served up after bathtime (around 7pm) followed by a warm bottle (obvious B/F for you). Good luck

Just reading this and my 8 month DS has been waking up a fair bit in the night for the last week or so after feeding at night at 12pm and 5am. He would get really upset if DH tried to settle without a feed so I just let him have the boob.

Anyway, a couple of days ago I realised DS was quite a bit heavier and looks taller - I think he's had a bit of a growth spurt hence the night wakings! I BF him about 4/5 times between 6am and 10pm plus BLW. However he doesn't focus enough in the day to get any more BFs in

Here's hoping the wakings will stop - although I think we're hitting the 8/9 month sleep regression. Great.