Help stopping bf 71/2 mth old waking two or three times a night?

[MelissaM]

DD is now 7 1/2 mths. She is bf and was previously sleeping through from 7 to 7 (until just before solids introduced at 6 mths). When solids introduced started sleeping through again after a few days, then started waking early hours and filling her nappy. She then settled back to sleeping through for a couple more weeks and now is back to waking two or three times (sometimes more) every night.

Last night she had a full bf at 2.15am then woke again at 5am. Changed her very wet nappy and gave her a v small bf. Then woke again at 6.30!!!!! I am exhausted (really feel for those who's lo's have never slept through).

Her daytime naps have been all over the place recently and she has gone back to refusing to go to sleep unless nursed, although the last couple of days she has been sleeping better during the day.

Anyone got any suggestions on what I can do? do I need to increase her solids or milk feeds during the day. Felt so desperate yesterday dh bought formula in case I needed it as back up. Really don't want to introduce ff right now, but not sure what else to do.

[fishie]

i dimly remember stuffing porridge into ds at 11pm at abotu this age. it was part wondering whether he was actually hungry but also experiment to see whether giving more indigestible stuff than bm made any difference. it didnt. about 9m things settled down, was able to stop co-sleeping and cut right down on night feeds.

[MelissaM]

Have a feeling dd isnt getting enough milk during the day. Yesterday I never felt like i had much milk. Today I feel much fuller iykwim! I also tried giving her a milk feed in between meals. She didn't take much but some is probably better than nothing.
Thanks for your suggestions. Have introduced wheat and cows milk products. She had a cream cheese sandwich with her tea last night (veggies and fruit too) but it didn't seem to fill her up. Will try her with pasta again (wasn't too keen last time).
She has been better with her naps today, and does seem to have taken more milk today so fingers crossed.
Will let you know how we get on.

[beansprout]

Have you tried a dream feed, i.e. feeding her in her sleep just before you go to bed? I agree that it sounds like she is hungry, but feeding her more during the day and giving her more milk when you do feed her might be the way to go.

[NKffffffffb9e446daX11692c39875]

Hi melissa, I had problems with my now 14 month old who never really slept through. You could try stepping up the daytime milk feeds but you may find adjusting her diet helps.
I can't remember when you're allowed to introduce wheat, but I read somewhere that giving babies pasta at night would encourage them to sleep through and when I started a couple of months ago found it really made a difference. I also make a white sauce with cheese which I serve with the pasta, since cows milk is heavier than breastmilk which is why formula helps them sleep. If you didn't want to make a sauce, you could always give a milk product like yoghurt for dessert. Once she was a year old and I was able to give cows milk it also made a difference. You could also try offering her water at night in case she's just thirsty - it didn't work for me, but it has for others I know.
Have you ruled out the possiblitity that she is teething, or coming down with something?
I also found that when my cycles resumed my milk supply went down temporarily and she would wake much more in the night, but after a day or two things would go back to normal.
Good luck.

[luciemule]

I'd perhaps try increasing her breast feeds -she still needs her milk.

Tbh, I don't think waking 2/3 times a night for a baby of 7 1/2 months is that bad - although it's obviously not as good for you as she had been sleeping through.

It's probably her little tummy getting used to the solids and maybe, once her system has got a more used to them, she'll settle more easily.
If you're happy BF, then I wouldn't worry about formula. You're doing a brill job feeding her yourself and introducing formula wouldn't necessarily mean she'd sleep through anyway.

How many feeds does she have in 24 hours and when?