How do I stop my 7 month old waking for feeding overnight?

[sbvet1]

Hi,
I'm a first time poster, so apologies if this is old hat, but I'm at the end of my tether with sleeplessness! My 7 month old boy is still waking regularly at night for breast-feeding and I've tried the cuddle and settle technique, but its not working. I don't know that I agree with/have got the heart for controlled crying, but wondered what other parents thought.
He goes to bed at 7.45pm and will wake consistently at 10.30-11pm for a feed, then at 1-2am and possibly 4-5am, waking up at 7.30am (although this pattern is not consistent, he willl never sleep through). He needs a feed at each wake-up, but not at 7.30am..... He is great during the day and is taking well to weaning.
Any top tips, or do I just need to be more strict?
Thanks in advance

Thanks - that's one to try! I'll contact the BFing helplines. We had a better night last night with only a very quick feed at each wake-up, so I don't think he is really hungry, just wanting comfort. We'll get there! Thanks again to everyone

He is a 7mth old breast fed baby. He is SUPPOSED to feed overnight. It's what they do. I'm sorry my dear I really am. It gets better soon though goes away by a year! You are on downhill slope at least!!!

Not to make light of your situation, but this article about baby sleep made me smile and perfectly illustrates the various conflicting advice you will get about infant sleep!

If you think tongue tie could be an issue it might also be worth trying some breast compressions.

Still agree though that night waking at 7 months is perfectly normal and has some benefits for the baby, even if it makes you tired.

It is normal, but OP, don't feel bad if you do decide to make some changes. I'm so glad I did-it wasn't stressful and I feel that we're all well on the way to getting a better night's sleep.

Plummyjam - that did make me smile! It is good to hear that other people consider it normal as I feel that LO is doing very well, but it does seem that most of my friends with babies seem to sleep through regularly (although there may be some porkies being told), and in the fug of lack of sleep I start to worry whether I'm doing something wrong.....

Sounds like you're doing a great job - but if you want reassurance that your baby isn't the only one...ds still had 2-3 night feeds at that age and didn't stop night feeds completely until 14mo or so, of his own accord. In fact, getting him back to sleep was SO much harder when I couldn't just stick him on the boob!
Also, for ds as an individual, I disagreed with the 'doing it for comfort' as he was barely eating solids and still bf as normal during the day - but turned out he was dropping weight so definitely needed the night feeds given that bm is the most calorific food he could have been consuming.

Do what works for you and your family, and take what others say with a pinch of salt!

Have to be quick, DH getting ratty about me MN-ing!!

I have 3, 3rd is 9 months. Your LO is not needing fed at 7.30am as you have trained him to feed through the night.

If he is on 3 meals a day with protein he doesn't need BF. You have just made this the thing that comforts him IYSWIM.

My last DC, 9 months has been the first one who didn't start sleeping 12 hours, 7-7am at 6/7 months. We were !!

We learned he actually slept when we made the last meal at 5pm a homemade protein one. The other 2 we fed protein, say chicken with sweet potatoe and some fruity pudding at lunch time then some quick vegetable based dinner at 5pm. He just needed that heavier meal at night. Sometimes im in a hurry and I give him a quick Ella pouch or similar at tea time and he wakes up moaning on and off from 5am!

Feed him well at 5 and then just stroke him without lifting him until he learns your not going to feed him. 3 nights tops of back and forward shooshing and you won't look back, promise

Thanks again for the responses. Little one has slept a little better now we're back at home. He is eating 3 good meals a day and has dropped some day BFs - I will offer boob regularly but he is not as keen as in the evenings. Weirdly he seems worse overnight (more gas and wanting to feed more) when he has had a big tea, so I'm making lunch the main meal of the day but I'll experiment and see if more protein at tea-time helps! He is starting to nap more regularly during the day now (he only ever used to sleep when we were out and about) and will settle in the cot without feeding, so I think we're finally starting to lose the BF-sleep association. Its amazing how different they all are!