Breastfed 8 month old waking 4-6 times a night?

[tiredtiredp]

Can anyone help me get more than 3 hours sleep at once? 😂 My daughter is about to turn 8 months old and since 4 months she's been waking a lot during the night. Lately that's been 4-6 times during 12 and 5 (after that I give up and she basically sleeps in the bed while comfort feeding).

She eats 3 meals a day most days but I think it's unusual that she doesn't have much feeds during the day anymore (if even any). I offer and she isn't interested, probably because she's been feeding all night.

Mid morning nap is between 10.30-12.30 and afternoon nap is between 2.30-4. Bedtime is 7. She goes to sleep at bedtime with no problems so I'm thinking if she can comfort herself then she must be able to in the middle of the night!

My older daughter slept thru the night from 7 weeks old, so maybe I just need it given to me straight and realise I had it extremely lucky last time and this is normal 🙈

If anyone can offer any suggestion I'd really appreciate it!

My dd breastfed a lot during the day and the night. I tried various things to make her breastfeed less and sleep more at night but in the end decided to just go along with it. She would not accept a dummy and I was far too exhausted to keep trying all these different methods I'd read about, and I was getting nowhere with them, and it was easier to just have her sleep next to me in bed and let her get on with it. She did eventually cut down on her own. My sleep was still disturbed but not so much as when I was running back and forth to her room, or "shush-patting" her or doing all that other stuff.

So sorry I don't really have advice, but hopefully it helps to know you're not alone.

I'm sorry to say that this was my norm until I nearly was psychotic with fatigue and night weaned about 13 months! And she still tends to wake at least once and she just turned 2. I am preg with number 2 so hoping for one of these magical babies you mention that slept through so early. Was she breastfed as well? In general I do think ff babies seem to sleep better. I read a good la leche book called sweet sleep, it was a lot in support of cosleeping and doing whatever you need to to survive. I was into cosleeping anyway but I think if you're not it's worth considering so that you can at least stay sleepy while baby feeds. It's so hard. I don't know if it makes you feel better but it really was the hardest time of my life, surviving on such little sleep, 6-12 m was the worst. But it did start to change and as a second time mum you know that the difficult bits do pass. Eventually. Hugs x

I think it's kind of normal. I found that around that age, both of mine were far too interested in the world to be squashed against me to feed during the day and consequently did feed more at night.

With my eldest, I introduced a bit of formula during the day. She always struggled with her latch, and to be honest I was getting fed up of being chewed, so it was a win win solution.

Is expressing milk and trying a cup/bottle an option? The extra feeds are there, so at least you can be comfortable that she's not starving during the night.

I presume you've tried the 'feeding in a boring, dark room' thing?

By 8 months they really should be able to go for a reasonable stretch without a feed. It's not for everyone, but 'sleep training' is a valid option. My youngest was a bit like yours, so I decided that I wasn't feeding between midnight and 5am. I'd feed as much as she liked before midnight and after 5, but everyone needed a chunk of sleep. It was hard, but was a good decision in the long run since it reset a bit of daytime feeding and life was good with a solid 5 hours sleep! We did lots of cuddling/rocking/shushing etc, not hard core sleep training.

Best of luck!

OP we're in almost the exact same boat! My DS is just turning 7 months and his night waking has been atrocious since 4 months. He's currently suffering pretty bad with teething and eczema so I've been co-sleeping with him, and my partner has been relegated to the spare room.

Although DS does still BF throughout the day it can be a lot harder to get him to take a proper feed as he is so distracted. He has 3 meals a day and has really got into his solids over the last couple of weeks so I was surprised to find out this week he has dropped a bit on his centile. Especially considering he has followed the 25th to the mark since day 1.

I've now thought about supplementing breast milk with formula to see if this helps matters. I'm also getting to a stage now where I feel more comfortable leaving him and find expressing such a ball ache.

If anyone has any experience of supplementing at 7 months I'd love to hear about it.

Sorry to high jack your thread OP. But I feel your pain! I am so sick of shushing, patting, rocking, singing!

Following as in exactly same position. My daughter also doesn't seem to want to feed as much in the day but if I take her to my bed and lie down with her she fills her boots every time.

Normal IME. Eventually night weaned at 2.5 years using this method:
drjaygordon.com/breastfeeding/night-nursing-the-older-baby.html
Try co-sleeping to get more rest as you may only wake partially for feeding then. It is draining but I felt it was important so stuck it out.

This is the link I meant to post:
drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

My DS was exactly the same, starting going through the night at 10 months, he's 2 in march and sleeps a dream now.
Maybe you DS is seeking comfort, but I'm no expert. Does she have a dummy?