A question about night feeds - help pls!!!!

[curlyLJ]

DD's sleep is getting progressively worse, she used to sleep solidly from 9-5 between 2 and 4 months, but now she is 7mo and is waking every 3 hours again She was EBF to 6m and now we are BLW and she has one FF at lunchtime (as it is nigh on impossible to feed her when out and about as she is too distracted).

I just don't know what to do as I am at the end of my tether. I have been feeding her every time she wakes (path of least resistance) but now I am wondering if it has become a habit that I need to break...?

I am BF on demand still, so she hasn't dropped any daytime feeds as yet. We even tried a FF top-up last night, but it didn't make a jot of difference, which is why I am wondering if it is a habit/comfort thing.

Please help. DO I try and wean her off some of these feeds and if so, how????

Thanks in advance!

Might be hungry. Might just be comfort.

Sorry I know thats not helpful but I remember similar from DD.

I think at 7 months I tried to get her off without feeding and with a bit of will power from me and a fair bit of crying along with patting and shushing, she got the message and began to sleep through again. She was on 3 meals a day by then though so knew she was pretty full.

I think BLW is great but it may be she might not be full enough.

It's great if you can just feed on demand but I was back at work at 7 months and physically knackered so couldn't go with the flow sort of thing.

Other people may have better advice but look at NCSS book which I found helpful - but it's a long haul and not a quick fix.

Good luck!

thanks Fifitot. I might try yet another that book...

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Hello again! I saw this before ths sleep thread, so I thought I'd reply here.

It could be a habit thing - I fed every time DS woke and by 7 months he was waking every 1.5 hours at night.

Her naps sound pretty good. I know she's been transitioning from 3 naps to 2, so there could be a bit of overtiredness from that involved. I'd try putting her to bed early and see if that helps at all.

Calories weren't the issue for us as he ate loads and loads of solids despite doing BLW. If she's not having much in the day, that might be an issue though. DS didn't start to reduce any feeds until 8 months, and even then, not by much.

I followed the NCSS and resettled without a feed whenever I could, and fed him when I couldn't. To do it without feeding, I'd pat him (only worked if I got there really fast) or pick him up & rock him back to sleep. I ended doing a version of pick up put down with this - rock him till he was quiet, put him down, then pick him up if he protested, and rock him until he was calm (or until he told me he really was hungry ).

The wakings became shorter and then he got down to 2 wakings per night, one for a feed.

Lots of babies won't resettle without a feed unless someone else resettles them rather than you.

I think it's a tough age and isn't helped by the change in number of naps and developmental stuff too.