8 month old DS comfort sucking during the night.....please help!!

[MummaHG]

My 8 months old DS is still BF, he has nothing in the day apart from food & only has a breast feed early morning & before bed. However he is still waking up at least 2/3 times a night just to comfort suck, he doesnt really take milk & as soon as he is on he falls straight back to sleep.
He has never had a dummy ( his choice not mine) and refuses to be comforted by anyone or anything else.
Has anyone got any ideas or helpful advice as to what I can try/do to help him sleep through.
I dont see the point in giving him a bottle at this stage as he has never had one or formula, im really keen to BF until 12 months then go onto cows milk in a beaker.
Any advice please, im so tired im being horrible to my other 2 boys & hubby :)

Is there a reason he doesn't have milk in the day?

Does he self-settle at bedtime or do you feed to sleep?

He hasnt wanted milk in the day since being on 3 meals a day plus snacks, at night time he normally falls asleep on me then I put him down, sometimes he is awake & will lay in his cot chatting then nod off.

He is my 3rd son and none of my others have been BF for this long so its all new to me, is it normal for him to wake at this age?

If he's not having any milk in the day then he probably does need to make up for it at night. I stopped the last night feed at 8 months, but ds had about 5 breastfeeds in the day - haven't really started doing snacks yet.

If he doesn't self-settle at bed time, he probably can't self-settle in the night so needs the breast to help himself get back to sleep?

When i say snacks all he really has is a bit of toast late morning and then some bananna about 3/3.30 ish in the afternoon, his meals are of a large size so sometimes he may just have the 3 meals with no snakcs.
I asked my HV last week about his milk intake and she said that its fine for him to have morning & night time milk but now im worried he isnt getting enough. thanks so much for your advice, its been very helpful :)

If you offer another 2 or 3 feeds in the day, then he may not need them at night. How about before or after naps, or instead of snacks between meals? At 8 months my ds breastfed morning, mid-morning, after lunch, mid-afternoon and bedtime - and sometimes a couple extra if he hurts himself or needs comforting.

Hey there,

I'm in a similar situation. My 8mo is also waking a lot in the night, and whilst much of the time he is feeding, there are times when he just wants the comfort and suckles a bit before dropping off again.

He takes about 200ml a day of formula from a doidy cup but likes to bf before sleeping. I am afraid I got myself into this bad habit - we both had bad thrush when he was 4 months old, which lasted several weeks and the only way i could get him to bf without discomfort was to do it as he was sleepy... He used to settle himself really well at night, but following a month of growth spurts, then teething, he needs more help to settle himself now.

No practical help for you, I'm afraid, as I am still trying to work out what to do myself. However, I would say that breast milk is more quickly digested than formula and that may be a cause of the night time waking. Also, try a doidy cup with expressed breast milk as an alternative to a bottle during the day. It may work out as a good way to get some extra milk in to him.

I'm with you in spirit! Good luck and let us know how you get on!!