6 months old feeding every 1-2.5 hours. Is this normal?

[spekulatius]

DD would feed every 3-4 hours as a newborn, then slept through 10 hours when she was 6-10 weeks old but since then has been all over the place with sleep. I don't think that it can be hunger after 1 hour, can it? I feed her every time as its the quickest way to get her back to sleep. She has had some problems in the past, mild reflux and dry itchy skin, teething but everything is sorted now. Got her weighed today, not huge weight gain but still on 75 percentile. Did see the breast feeding lady as well but she didn't say much. Only said to put her in her own room.

Is this normal at this age? And does it ever end?

This is cluster feeding. I used to find they would do it before a growth spurt. Even now I know when my DD1is going to get taller as she eats incessantly and fills out a bit before she shoots up and gets skinny.

One thing you mentioned is that she always feeds to sleep, do you think she may doze off before she is full, resulting in short but frequent feeds? If this might be the case, you could try keeping her awake while feeding to make sure she is full, maybe strip her off so she is cooler?

After 4 months they sleep differently to newborns and go through phases of light sleep. If she has become used to being fed to sleep, each time she comes back into light sleep she will wake up and expect it. I would try and get her back to sleep without it tbh - may take a few nights of hell but better for you in the long term!

Sounds like she needs to feed to get back to sleep. It won't be because she is hungry. Our 6 mo is exactly same, except he has never yet slept well!

I would recommend reading andrea grace gentle sleep solutions.

Hope it gets better soon!

Yes she does feed to sleep unless she's overtired, then I rock her to sleep and she sleeps maybe for 2hours to feed again. I've moved her bedtime forward as I thought she might be too tired to feed for long enough before falling asleep. She also sleeps in bed with me so that we get more sleep. It wouldn't worry me that much if I didn't have to go back to work in August. I don't agree with CIO so i will have a look at that book, thanks.

Pick up/put down can also work quite well, see the baby whisperer.

Good luck!