Frequent night feeds in 6 month old - am begining to lose the plot

[VotePedro]

DS lulled me into a false sense of security at 3 months when he started sleeping for 6 hours without waking (bliss) this all ended at about 4.5 months (my short term memory is shot so am taking a stab at lengths of time etc) and since then his night time feeds have been pretty much every three hours with some intense growth spurts when feeding every hour or so at night. He is now 28 weeks and for the last three weeks or thereabouts has been feeding every two to three hours at night. E.g last night it was 23.30, 2am, 4.30am, 6ish, 8ish. We started solids at 26wks and whilst he is eating enthusiastically (BLW so all sorts of things really) it's clearly made no difference to his nighttime hunger. He is big (around 21 lbs) and growing well. I guess I just want some light at the end of tunnel that this might end soon. I'm not even expecting him to sleep all night but more than three hours in a row would really help my sanity.

Hi, my ds is 28 weeks on sunday. Having the same problem. I've noticed since he's started eating solids he doesn't want as much milk. Always something more interesting to be doing than bf! He used to sleep for longer periods, but he to has started waking regularly for feeds during the night and early evening. Hv said it will settle down. I'm not worring, i co-sleep so not too much of a problem for me. I'm sure our ds's will settle down soon, probably just a growth spurt! Good luck!

Thanks Mrs P - it's nice to know I'm not the only one in this place - it will settle down, it will settle down (I will repeat this at frequent intervals to myself!) Good luck to you too!

hi, if its any consolation my DD who was sleeping through at 3.5 months also started waking up every hour to feed from 4 months. She did this every night for 1.5 months and is now sleeping for 6 hours at a stretch. it will get better as they usually go thru a growth spurt at this time

Gulp, 1.5 months of every hour?! Funnily enough my dd3 is 4.5 months and sleep in the past week or so is shot to pieces. My dd2 was the same, awake every hour until I finally went to a sleep clinic at around 6 or 7 months as I nearly cracked! Am praying we are just having a bad week and that dd3 is not going down the same path.
Do yours go down easily? Mine used to go down awake and just snuffle for a few minutes and then go to sleep around 7/7.30pm, last few nights have been full on screaming and me going in and taking her downstairs until she's settled/asleep although increasingly she has to be asleep before I can put her back in the cot. How do yours go down?

What did the sleep clinic say Janus? DS goes down fine and resettles immediately after being fed so I guess I know that it is just hunger rather than anything more complicated (i.e existential angst)Am afraid I am gaining consolation from others having been in the same place so thanks!

yes, 1.5 months of every hour, I am still recovering from the sleepless nights, she was definitely hungry as fed everytime she got up. I was told its reverse cycling + growth spurt.

DS was the same although some nights he literally fed all night. He is now 9 months and most nights only wakes 2 or 3 times.

am going through same, often every 1.5 hrs. Fingers crossed it will settle as am tearing my hair out after 2 weeks of it (plus miscellaneous health problems of my own!)

It is good to know we're not alone!

same here with DD nearly 5 months.

I try and pat her back to sleep if she wakes less than 2 hours after previous feed.
Starting to work after about a week.

I think they definitely go through that growth spurt but also develop a routine of finding comfort in the breast.

This too shall pass....good luck with sleepless nights to everyone.

OK, sleep clinic said absolutely NOT to feed dd to sleep. If they fall asleep whilst feeding you must wake them up when you put them back in cot. TBH I could have followed the book written by Dr Ferber as it was very similar. Basically, you wait until they are established on food (with dd2 this is 5 years ago so she was weaned at 4 months so I started at about 6 to 7 months) and you feed as normal first night, then second night you feed for one minute less, second night two minutes less, etc, until you are down to no feeds. I think you also have to stretch out the time so first night, say, every 2 hours, second night 2 and a quarter hours, third night 2 and a half, etc. It's a painful process and I actually went to my Mum's to do it so she could look after the kids in the day and I could grab some precious sleep as was practically up the whole night for first few days. BUT, she went from waking at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am until 4am, 5am, etc to just waking once a night in about 8 days. It was bliss! Still hoping to God I'm not going to have to go through this again though as it was agony!
Dr Ferber's book is great and does work but alot of people can't bear the process. I got so desperate I had to try it and it did work.

So did you end up feeding more in the day, then, Janus? 27wk DS wakes for feed once or twice in the night and feeds for a while (20 minutes) so I know he's quite hungry. I would feel like I was starving him if I cut down those feeds. Does your LO make up for it in the day?

JFLY, this is nearly 5 years ago with the really dreadful sleeper so memory a bit crap! As I remember though, she would only feed for a few minutes at each hourly feed and she fed about 8 or 9 times a night, it was obvious to me that this was not hunger, she was literally addicted to the sucking action. As each sleep pattern went into the light phase (about every 45-60 minutes) she literally didn't know how else to get back to sleep. Babies need to learn how to self settle without sucking/rocking etc. I expect she did feed more in the day but it obviously wasn't that noticeable as I can't remember!
One or two feeds a night at 27 weeks is, to me, normal. That is the stage we got to after the sleep training, she did not go through the night until about one (and if it's any consolation she loves sleep now!). I don't think a bf baby can really go through the night until food is a big factor of their day, ie 3 square meals.
Good luck to all!

Hi there, similar thread topic on here somewhere and Starshiptrooper kindly advised me to look up the subject of the "4 month sleep regression" its a very interesting read and even prompted me to buy a book about the issue. (called The Wonder Weeks)
This is what I found

My 15wk DD is going through similar problems. Initially starting to sleep for 6-7 hour stretches, sometimes even going for 9 hours!! and then suddenly she's gone completely backwards and now wakes every 3 hours!! (ZZzzzzzz)

Hope this helps

my ds2 woke every hour from 16 weeks for about 6 weeks i think (memory very hazey). i did just get better by itself. i held out despite strong family pressure to wean to solids early or give formula, and his sleep just gradually got better at around 7 months. still wakes up 1-2/night but that is fine for me, but in the last week it has got terrible again (now 9.5months) i think teething.

incidentally, i still feed him to sleep. when he wakes in the night it takes about 12 mins to feed and for him to go to sleep again. if i don't feed him he screams and is then awake for 2hours!

good luck. it will pass!

Urgh, the dreaded "normal".

I guess I'm looking for a solution b/c he was sleeping through and then started waking again. I suspect it's all about his teething messing with his day-time feeds, but, having tasted a full night's sleep, I want it back!

Will continue to watch thread with interest....

Wow Tetty - thanks for that article v interesting reading - was the book worth getting? Weasle - I was getting soooooo sick of the peer pressure re weaning. Everyone in my NCT group swore blind to me that baby rice/fruit puree had magically stopped their 5 month olds waking in the night....hmm

I love Ask Moxie. She speaks sense. I've googled the Wonder Weeks book and will try to get it. Also, check Ask Moxie for more posts on sleep - the comments are particularly interesting.

VP (OH, I just got your username! ) - just check the weaning threads for evidence to the contrary. Solids don't equal a full night's sleep, and sometimes babes start waking with weaning.

It's all a mystery to me, but the developmental milestones theory is a good one. At least there is a suitable explanation, which is comforting, even if it doesn't lead to more sleep!

Votepedro, the book was delivered this morning, just had a quick flick through, looks interesting. Its research goes up to 14mths old, suggesting cues to look out for with each developmental milestone.

DD's 15 wks tomorrow, however she was 8 days overdue. According to the book, you have to go by the age in weeks your LO would have been if delivered on their due date, so she's actually "16wks" developmentally! So, we're apparently gearing up towards the 19wk milestone.........we will see!

anyone found an improvement? we've had every 3hrs, then 2, then 3 again, the last three nights. It has been bliss! The info about developmental milestones was interesting and reassuring, thanks.

I had this problem a couple of weeks ago, am now down to one night feed at around 3/4am.

How I did it.
Increased daytime naps and put DS into a set routine based around school runs.

He is woken up at 7:30ish in the morning, but not fed straight away. Plays with dcs until 6:45 when we dp the school run, by the time we get home (9am) he's tired.
Feed at 9am then put him to bed. (Don't worry about feeding to sleep first just get the body clock sorted).

He wakes at 11am, has a small feed then we go to get ds1 at 11:30. Play with ds1&2 until 1pm, feed, 45minute nap.

Wake up at 2:00, go and get dd at 3:15, come home, feed, nap at 4pm.

Wake at 5-5:30, awake time til 7:15.
7:15, showerbath, feed at 7:30, bed between 7:45-8pm.

I started doing a dreamfeed at 11pm as he was waking at 1&5, the dreamfeed saw him through until about 4ish, when he would feed, then sleep until 7:30am.

But the last couple of nights no dreamfeed and he wakes between 3-4 feeds then sleeps until 7:30.

I was always a 'no-routine' person with dd&ds1 but ds2 needs routine, the other two were sleeping through by a couple of months (dd-6 weeks, ds1-10 weeks).

General rule of thumb, sleep after 2-3 hours awake, all naps a minimum of 45 minutes.

Ooh I have to share this (so at least you can have a laugh if not any sleep) saw HV today as decided to get DS weighed (he's doing fine still on 92nd centile) and apparantly I need to be giving him three meals a day PLUS pudding and snacks. Pudding most improtant apparantly!!! I declined to ask whether this should be the roly poly with custard variety. I mean FGS the poor child has only been eating solids for two weeks and I think he's doing fine but no where near three meals a day with all the extras. Also told me that they will always prefer bf so you have to "distract" them with more snacks. Racers - weirdly that is EXACTLY the pattern I had last night! Hopefully tings are improving - without the need of sticky toffee pudding and chantilly cream!

LOL at chantilly cream! Save that for yourself, I say!
Glad to hear you had a better night as it just gives you hope and that bit of extra sleep is a boost.

thanks VS, that's useful. I'm also a non-routine person, but might give it a try if things don't continue to improve, adapting to our timings etc. Luckily I only have to do the pre-school run (3 days a week) when DH is away (though that is quite a bit!)

That's 8:45 btw, not 6:45 for the school run lol.

Thanks VS - sorry I hadn't seen your post before I posted and ran this AM (leaving hundreds of typos in my post as I did so ). Sadly I have never managed to get DS to sleep more than 45 mins at a time during the day. I used to fret about this too but decided it was fine as long as - as you say - he's not awake for more than 3 hours at a time.