Four and half month old - feeding alot in night !

[Nittyb]

My four and a half month old baby boy goes down at 7.30, wakes for a bottle at 10, then still wakes at 1 or 2, then about 3, and sometimes again when i breast feed him ! I know I'm doing it all wrong but don't know where to start to try and get him to sleep through. Have started weaning and hoped that would help, but no change so far . Help !

Nittyb, your ds is still young and if some babies are already 'sleeping throught the night' some aren't.
ds1 slept from 7.00pm till 5.00am from 3 months old but ds2 didn't do that until he was about 8~9 months old and I didn't do anything different. So don't blame yourself too much and think you are 'doing it all wrong'.
Now what you can do is to insure that your ds is eating well during the day. I have always ensure that he got a feed at least every 3 hours and that he didn't sleep more than 3~4 hours during the day. That way there is less chance that he will be hungry during the night. I am not sure that weaning will help except if he has started to wake up more often. Otherwise it can have the opposite effect as solids food is not as energetic than milk.
Also if you say he is waking up every hour or so, the problem might be more of 'I don't know how to fall asleep on my own' or 'I don't want to be left alone. Are you still here?' a ds2 favorite that one... Can you give us a bit more details?

Hi - my 19 week old still wakes for a night feed. He has gradually been pushing the time of the feed later and later from 2.00 am until 5.30 am. He goes to bed at 7.00 pm approx. He sometimes wakes earlier and i try to offer water first and see if he will settle ... then i offer milk if he is hungry. As PP says lots of babies don't sleep through at this age ... weaning won't necessarily make him sleep through - in fact it can disrupt their sleep as they try to digest new foods. Try to feed as often as possible in the day - i know it is hard - my LO has a cold at the moment so is really off his food ...
Also, is your LO hungry every time he wakes - is he fed to sleep etc????? Do you go to him as soon as you hear a murmur?? Sorry if these are silly questions - i only go to my LO if it is a full blown cry ... he often murmurs and chats to himself and dozes on and off ...

This is the first time I've posted on mumsnet, and it's so lovely that you take an interest and try to help ! thank you. Yes I have been feeding him to sleep, and go to him fairly quickly so he doesn't wake dd ! I made a real effort last night to feed him and put him back in his cot not quite asleep, which went well but he was still awake every 3 hrs. tried the water but that didn't work. I thought I'd just try and gradually feed him for less time each time he wakes to wean him off the feeds, as you say he is still quite young, i'm just fed up of people asking me if he is sleeping through, & looking surprised when i say he isn't. Doesn't help that he's in our room, but don't have a spare room to put him in.

hi - i know what you mean about people making comments about babies sleeping through - i get it a lot!!! Anyway if your LO is hungry he is hungry. How much does he eat in the day? Have you tried the hungry baby milk??? Just a thought ... we only our LO 4 oz in the night maximum (he would have more but want him to drop the feed) and as i said before his cold he was going through until 5.30 am so i am hoping he will once his cold has gone. I think weaning him gradually off the nightfeed is a great idea and should work. I am going back to work in a few weeks so may well be doing the same thing. Good luck with it all ... xxxx