6mo constantly on boob all night

[needsadviceplease]

I don't mean that as a figure of speech - he literally has been, all this night and last night too.

He's a frequent night nurser anyway, which is fine - typically I get two or three hours at the start of the night (say 8-10/11) and then he goes usually hourly, sometimes 2-hourly. We have bedshared all night since day 1, which was both a philosophical and pragmatic decision of mine.

But these last two nights he has basically sleep-suckled constantly, waking if I unlatch him at all. He's stirring at the same intervals as usual. It's typical daytime nap behaviour but a new thing at night.

He's also been unusually fussy in the daytime. I feel exhausted (can only doze while he's bfing) and a bit lost - it's like having a newborn again!

Is it 'just' developmental? Is it weird? Will it pass quickly?

Could be a growth spurt. If it carries on have a google of Askdrsears 31 ways to get your baby to sleep.

Have you introduced solids recently too?

My DS (now 9 months) was exactly the same and we also bf and coslept since day 1. He would typically feed at least 3 or 4 times a night but every now and again he would just not sleep unless he had a nipple in his mouth. Like you I can only doze while he's on.
All I can say is I noticed he would do this a couple of nights in a row and then a new tooth would appear. Could your DS be teething? Apparently feeding soothes the gums so that would explain it.
However, and I am saying this knowing I'll probably get flamed, we have recently decided we just can't carry on like this and have started sleep training him, not so much because of the feeding at night but more because he would turn and stir constantly in the last month or so and I was on the brink of a breakdown if I didn't oust him from my bed!
Good luck

Thanks JJJ. I've bookmarked the Sears page.
Have been doing blw for 3 weeks and seems to be going well - didn't appear to make any difference to sleep initially.
It could also be teething - though he's seemed to be teething pretty much all his life and so far, nada!
Growth spurt would be good - I hope that's the answer!

I think we've seen the beginnings of separation anxiety this week too - I am really trying to just go with it atm because I think the constant bf is meeting a need for him somehow but god, I feel wrecked. Am grasping at any hope it'll settle down asap!

AnnaLiza - xposted. Aha, maybe it is a tooth - it is definitely high time as he has been v v chewy and dribbly on and off since 6wo!
Hope the sleep training works out for you all - I am very keen to avoid it myself and feel that I can manage without, for now at least, but having a crap sleeper I am now far less judgey about it than I was before I had him!

Yes I was like you at 6 months! Everyone told me to sleep train him but I wasn't exhausted enough to give it a go! Also I was worried that he was genuinely hungry at night and he probably was until last month or so because, like you, we were doing BLW and it's only recently he's been eating quite a lot at meals.
As I said, what prompted me to give it a try was seeing that he wasn't interested on feeding at night anymore and he was waking up because he was squeezed between me and DH rather than to meet a need. We were all exhausted, him included! But I do understand where you're coming from. I thought I'd mention it just in case you get to the end of your tether in a few months!

If you think it may be separation anxiety, Kellymom has some great info on that.

It will get better though, both of mine were like that at 6 months and both now sleep through without any sleep training.