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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

7 month still bfs at night

17 replies

pipoca · 15/12/2011 10:49

DD was 7mo yesterday and is ebf. She feeds at 830pm ish and then at least twice before up for the day at 7 or 8am. Last couple of nights have been 830, 12, 5, 8 more or less although last night was 830, 12, 2, 530, 9. Does this sound normal for a bf baby of her age? Today she woke at 9 and had breakfast (toast and raisin wheats soaked in milk) .....blw but didn't seem all that interested in a bf at 1030.....5 hrs after her previous bf, is it cos she's feeding too much at night? I offer boob on waking at 8 ish and she often doesn't seem that fussed. Then offer boob at 11, 1, 3, 6 and 8 give and take a bit. This as well as three blw meals a day. I've been trying too Up milk intake during the day so she's not hungry at night. Is it normal for her to feed like this at night or a habit? Should I try settling her without boob at night? Haven't til now cos quicker to bf and doesn't wake ds but maybe it's just habit?

OP posts:

himynameisfred · 15/12/2011 10:55

the little git,
tell her no.

I doubt very much a breastfed baby will settle at night without the boob.
Don't breastfeed for a good 3-4 hours before bedtime, then give her a good feed. She should be able to go all night without it.
Maybe you'll have to feed once at about 5 or 6 and then go back to sleep.
But you shouldn't have to be woken up twice in the night, unless that's what you want x

Original poster

pipoca · 15/12/2011 10:58

Ay fred you did make me laugh with little git, tell her no
seriously tho I thought more frequent feeding during day would mean fattier milk and filling her up.

OP posts:

Original poster

pipoca · 15/12/2011 11:00

And no, it's not what I want...I'm knackered!

OP posts:

lilham · 15/12/2011 11:24

The 830 12 5 and 830 sounds pretty good to me. Have you tried a dream feed. Say if you do one at 10 would he still wake up for a 12 midnight feed? Because if that's the case 10 to 5 is a dream for a lot of parents to newborns

Look on the bright side. Because the dreaded 8/9 mo regression is looming.

lilham · 15/12/2011 11:25

Have a look at this page on kellymom on sleep. It should help you work out what is normal.

Booboostoo · 15/12/2011 11:39

#i have the same problem with DD who is 6.5 months old, only she eats a lot more often at night up to 6 times!!! They are all kind of dream feeds because she doesn't cry, just turns around and latches on, but I can seem to wean her off the night feeds a bit. She does feed diring tha day, but gets distracted really easily so I think that is part of the problem.

Sorry that was just a moan, not helpful to you at all!

ParkerRocks · 15/12/2011 12:02

My DD is 7 months and still wakes in the night. She was waking at 1 then 4. Last week at the 4am feed I decided to try and settle her and pop her back in her cot rather than feed straight away. Surprisingly this seems to be working and at the moment she is just waking the once at around one, then up for the day at 6.30. I also made sure I was feeding her at least three hourly during the day, plus she has lots of eat at lunch and evening meal. Not keen at all on breakfast yet though! I did wonder if waking was a habit, and it does seem to be that way. She settled easily with a little cuddle, had she cried when I put her down I would have fed her however. I had previously tried a dream feed but DD thought I was waking her for playtime! Two hours later, when she finally went back to sleep, I decided that wasn't a tactic that would work for us!

TruthSweet · 15/12/2011 13:34

Feeding at night is normal and to be expected with a young baby (7m is young!). Two or three night feeds is pretty standard baby behaviour - that's not to say it isn't knackering getting up multiple times a night .

Have you thought about trying ways to make dealing with her needs easier? This could be co-sleeping (baby in same room), bed sharing/side car cot, or sleeping/resting more during the day (though this only really works if you have a big age gap with older DCs at school or 1st baby).

If you are having to get up, go to another room, sit upright in a chair and stay awake for the whole feed that is way more tiring than rolling over, picking up baby out of her cot and feeding her lying down next to you while you doze in bed.

HappyAsASandboy · 15/12/2011 13:51

My twins are nearly 14 months. They don't normally bf during the day (though try do sometimes!), and then they feed at bed time (7pm ish), first thing (6am ish) and about 4 times each in the middle.

Cosleeping was the only way to cope for me! If DH or my mum goes to them in the night then they don't need milk, but if I do then I have to feed them - it's the only way to stop the tantrum!

HoHoOpotomus · 15/12/2011 14:28

my 7 month old is the same OP but I co-sleep so MOST of the time it doesn't bother me TOO much (will I ever sleep through the night again?)

Original poster

pipoca · 15/12/2011 14:46

I looked at that page before Truth but she's NOT a newborn so i wasn't sure how relevant it was. I know she's a young baby but she isn't a newborn and I wondered how normal her night time routine was or if people thought it was something I should try and "fix" or if I should just go with the flow and she'll eventually sleep through (....preferably by 16 months when I'll have to go out to work instead of working from home.)
Re sleeping arrangements: she sleeps in her own room in a cot, but there's a double bed in there so I feed her lying down and then put her back in the cot and go back to my own room. If she's really unsettled I leave her on the bed and sleep in there til the next waking, but the problem with just cosleeping with her all night is that it's not practical in our bed (too small, weird layout meaning no wall to push bed against and no room for cot to use as a "wall") and if i cosleep in her room with her then when DS wakes he comes looking for me and wakes DD up too. He wakes from time to time in the night and much earlier than her in the morning. DH doesn't hear DS get up EVER and if I'm in the other room with DD I can't stab him in the ribs wake him up to deal with DS, meaning DS bounds in to DD's room and then they're both awake at stupid o'clock.
I know it's not huge amounts of waking compared to some babies, but I also know she is capable of it as in the past she's done 10pm to 5am a handful of times and even 10pm to 8am once. Seeing as plenty of babies (even bf ones) DO sleep at least 8ish to 5ish I was wondering if I'm doing something really obvious to scupper this and whether I should try another way of settling her, or feeding her more/at different times during the day.

OP posts:

pootlebug · 15/12/2011 15:55

Does she always feed to sleep? You could try the 'Pantley pull off' (you'll find threads about it here - from The No Cry Sleep Solution) of taking her off your boob before she's quite sleeping in the hope that it helps her learn to self-settle a bit more, which will gradually lead to improvements.

I personally wouldn't refuse to feed a 7 month old on the grounds that she could/should go longer without feeding. Both of mine fed at least that often at that age FWIW.

Original poster

pipoca · 15/12/2011 16:05

She'll go to sleep on her own during the day but at night if I feed her she'll fall asleep. Once I think she's slowed to a comfort suck I unlatch her and she usually doesn't complain, so she's going down sleepy rather than comatose IYSWIM, but doesn't seem to stop the wakings.
My question is really more...does she need these feeds or am I missing a trick/making a "rod for my own back" and there are ways to get her to sleep through that I should try now. I have no experience of this as DS was FF from 8 weeks and slept 7-7 from about 5 months, was put down awake after a bottle and woke 12 hours later.

OP posts:

lilham · 15/12/2011 16:32

I think if she's genuinely hungry you won't be able to get her back to sleep without milk? Or if she cry herself exhausted to sleep, she will wake in an hour feeling hungry again? Only you can see her so we can't tell you what's right or wrong. Like my DD has only 1 night feed last night. It doesn't mean she sleep through. I'd rather her go back to sleep with a feed than wanting to play iyswim. And I dont believe in this rod for your back thing

Singleandproud · 15/12/2011 21:23

Erm my DD is 26 months and still feeds during the night. Im sure its more of a comfort thing but it definetly increases when shes teething, goingthrough a developmental leap, or when she she has spent time away from me. When she was teething she would literally be attached to me all night.

Im relatively happy with this as we cosleep and I think its their natural coping strategy and Im hoping once all her teeth are through, and contact settles down with her Dad she'll stop. BUT if you don't address it when shes younger they get to a stage when they can literally help themselves and make their views known in a very loud way late at night lol.

Original poster

pipoca · 15/12/2011 21:28

address it how?

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Annpan88 · 16/12/2011 09:33

My DS is 9 months and I've just started co-sleeping. I never thought I would but he won't settle with anything but bf and at the 3/4am feed it was taking about 4 attempts over an hour to get him back in the cot, but he falls asleep in bed if I bf him and even sleeps longer. I am worried about longer term implications (when will he sleep in his own bed?)

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