8mth old feeding all night-please tell me it gets better!

[lou19]

My DD used to be a great, all through the night sleeper, until she was 5 and a half months. once teething set in, that's when it all got screwed up. and now, even when she is not teething or not unwell, she wakes up to six times per night (never less than three) and sometimes feeds for over an hour. last night she got up at 3,30 and at 6,30 I had to give up trying to get her to sleep and take her through to the other room to give my DH some peace. we have been trying the "no cry sleep solution" but it's very hit and miss. how do I scale this crazy nightime feeding down!!??help please. thanks

Have you/Has she dropped any of the daytime feeds? How is the weaning going?

This isn't for everybody but I swear it worked for me, my DD (now 8 months) got up 10-15 times a night every night until she was 6 and a half months, the bedtime routine was fine, she wasn't ill we coudnt work it out. I had to go to the doctor as I had a headache for three months and he told me it was sheer exhaustion and that I had to do something about the sleep situation.

He said to make sure you put her down awake after a bottle and a snuggle at whatever time you have chosen (we have 7 here) then DO NOT get her back out of bed until morning. Barely talk to her, just the occasional ssshh. It's hard, to hear her cry like that and the first 4 days were absolutely awful. But I swear on the fifth day she slept through 7-7 and has done since (minus one or two with teething).

So it's not nice and I was told to be prepared for it to last up to 2 weeks for the horrible part but 4 days of rough nights - which lets face it your getting anyway - and she was cured!!! Hope this helps, your baby wont hate you or be traumatised for life for being left to cry. You will both be a lot happier. I wish someone had told me not to pick her up sooner lol :)

Sounds like the 8/9 month sleep regression.

There is a great book explaining it called The Wonder Weeks by two scientists who researched all the developmental spurts up to around 18 months.

They say:

"Your baby may start sleeping less well. Most babies do. She may refuse to go to bed, fall asleep less easily, and wake up sooner. Some are especially hard to get to sleep during the day. Others at night. And some stay up longer both during the day and at night."

The developmental spurt causing this happens at about 37 weeks, and there?s another one at around 46 weeks.

It's really normal for babies to only be able to bf back to sleep during sleep regressions (my DS was like this - he'd never be rocked to sleep or fall asleep in the pushchair, car or sling during regressions). Anecdotal evidence suggests previously 'good' sleepers go back to being good sleepers once the developmental leap is over.

There?s more info here, here and here.

sorry I haven't posted again, I spent yesterday trying to get my lo to sleep

Queen, the weaning is not going great, some days she eats two meals (I can't get her to eat breakfast) plus snacks, some days all she wants is breastmilk. I am trying a variety of tastes and textures, but it seems it depends on her mood and crucially, how much sleep she gets. If she's had ner naps etc, she eats well.

40winks, I did consider trying the CIO method, but I just haven't got it in me. If I was getting up 15 times per night, though, I'd probably consider hanging upside down like a bat as long as I was getting some sleep!:)

Angeldog, those links were SO USEFUL. Thank you!!Who knew!!!I will definitely look for the book, have you read it?what a great blog, she explains things very clearly, and I feel like this big weight of guilt has been lifted. very, very interesting stuff indeed. why don't health visitors tell you about these things? I took her for her eight months check recently and the nurse could not provide one bit of advice re the sleeping.

Glad they were useful. Yes, I've got the book, although only the old version (there's a new edition with a white cover which includes 2 extra developmental leaps than the old one).

My understanding is that HVs are trained as nurses and don't necessarily have much training in developmental psychology. Most of the research on developmental leaps is fairly new (last 10-15 years) and most HVs don't seem to know anything about it. To be fair, I think most of their work is child protection / safeguarding, and understanding baby sleep just isn't that important by comparison.

My sympathies, though - DS is in the 18/19 month sleep regression at the moment and although he still sleeps well at night, it takes an hour and a half to get him to nap in the day, and he won't go to bed until after 9pm.

8/9 months was the worst for us - DS ended up only being able to nap for 2 x 30 mins in the day, so he was awake half the night with overtiredness. The combination of teething, physical developmental stuff and mental develompental stuff is pretty horrible.

Oh, and you might be able to get the book through the library. Mine didn't have it, but I filled in a card to suggest they got it, so they did! (Unfortunately they got the old version though.)

Sounds like weaning is going fine, the WHO only recomends two meals a day untill 9months then add the thired. Milk not snaks at this age to, so the fact that some day's she only wants milk is fine not a problem.

Plus there is no link to feeding solids and sleeping through, it really doesn't make any differences.

I know it's not for everyone but have you considered cosleeping in order to get some more sleep yourself?

MigGril, that's interesting, I did actually find that even on those days when she has plenty solids during the day, she may still wake up, and viceversa. We do let her sleep in our bed if she's teething/unwell, otherwise I'd be getting up all the time!I think she also really benefits from having a good balance of quiet time and stimulation, it sound obvious but sometimes in my quest to keep her entertained I think I end up overstimulating her...