Will my Breastfed 5 month baby stop waking through the night?

[Chi2011]

My baby always wakes 2-3 times during the night. I am so fed up of hearing how other babies sleep through the night and I wonder what am I doing wrong. I offer her the breast every 2-3 hrs during the day and she has a set night time routine which is suppose to help her sleep more. She wakes at 11,1 and 330-4am and then 530 and I have real problems getting her back to sleep. Any advice?

You are doing nothing wrong, this is totally normal. I think many parents who say their babies are sleeping through are being economical with the truth or perhaps they have done sleep training which sometimes 'works' but night-feeds are important to a baby's growth.

Is your baby sleeping nearby? How would you feel about co-sleeping?

This was my little one two weeks ago at about 4 months. Except when he woke he would generally fall asleep on the boob after only a few minutes, and wouldn't be hungry in the morning until about 11am. I was starting to worry there was no difference between day and night.

I too was totally exhausted and so was he - he wasn't sleeping well in the day and always looked tired in the morning. I did a little sleep training if you can call it that (essentially not assuming every time he woke he needed to be fed and teaching g him to self settle - used Jo Tantum's advice). After four nights of this he slept through 11 til 7 (I give a dream feed at 11 of ebm). The last three nights if/ when he has woken he has settled himself quickly and I haven't had to go in to him. He sleeps much better in the day and has proper feed in the morning when he wakes / I get him up at 7.

I know a lot of people might disagree with this approach (particularly pro co-sleeping mums) but having him in our bed was not going to work for us for many reasons - not least it would have meant none of us got any sleep! And because he was tired in the morning and not hungry I started to realise I had to do something.

I am now bit worried about supply though as now I am not feeding him in the night but that's a different thread!