FF, fully weaned 7mo is a shit sleeper, waking up multiple times per night nur not for milk. Is this within the realms of normal?

[BotBotticelli]

Ds2 is almost 8mo.

We have been weaning since 5mo so he is now having 3 meals per day with puddings. Eats protein, veg, fruit and carbs. He likes his food.

He also has between 20-24oz milk per day. Including an 8oz dream feed every night at 10pm which he demolishes.

AND YET he wakes up 2-3 times every night. He is crying now (9.40pm). He will wake up and cry every night between 1-2am. At this stage we usually manage to settle him in his cot after 30-40 mins of trying with cuddles and some nights calpol/nurofen (he already has 2 teeth and I suspect more are coming).

He wakes again between 4-5.30 and at this late hour the only way we can settle is by co-sleeping.

Is this normal?? Ds1 never did this. I don't want to co sleep. In fact I CANNOT relax or get comfy in bed with him so it's most often DH who gets into the spare bed with DS2 from 4-5am onwards. Next to my husband he will happily sleep until 7am snoring his little head off, his fingers grasping a handful of DH's chest hair.

I genuinely do not think he needs milk in the night - he does not cry for milk in the morning when he wakes up. If he gets up for the day at 7am he will have his baby cereal with cows milk at 8am (perfectly content until then) and his first bottle d the day at 10am just before his nap. So if he is not demanding milk in the morning then he cannot need it at night, right??

Is it possible for a baby to just be waking at night like this for comfort/cuddles?

And if so, do I need to do something to FIX this and train him out f it?? Or will he just grow out of it in good time??

All my friends babies seem to be either STTN by now or if they're breast fed waking for 1 or two quick feeds which would be preferable to the awful waking and crying for no discernible fucking reason that we have several times per night.

Please tell me I am not alone in this??

Absolutely normal.

Sorry - posted too soon. Babies who sleep through are the exception rather than the rule.

Totally normal.

He sounds totally cute too!

Thank you for responding. I guess I just always thought that babies who woke up lots were feeding lots at night. I feel like I have the only baby in the world who wakes lots but doesn't need milk at night.

he is a really clingy little cuddlebum though. Much more than his brother ever was. So I suppose it makes sense that he would be more needy for cuddles during the night, just like he is during the day.

Yes

Dd2 was so bad I only had around four hours solid sleep a night st one point (9 months) was literatly clinging on to life by my finger tips.

People lie about how well their baby sleeps

The baby sleep whisper helped me to help dd sleep for longer periods but she is nearly three now and still has bad nights.

I've had two (bf) like that, I'm afraid it's normal and would like to know how you got the first to actually sleep

DS did this until after a year and had dropped night feeds around 5 months.

Totally normal, or at least I hope so, DS is 18 months and still wakes in the night. I have aged around ten years I'm sure. He also is an early riser, 5.30am is his average, very rarely he will treat us to a 6.30 lie in!

Also I found it really hard not to let them have a cuddle as (rod for my own back) because they probally wake up and miss you.

In the book I suggested you really have to nail the day sleeps then make sure baby goes bed way before the yawning stage and looking for first sleep cues. Dd was actually woke up dead on 2:30 every night so I had to go in a gently disturb her about ten mins before as apparently it's down to sleep cycles. Each one last 45 mins and they are waking instead of going back in to another cycle and to be fair it worked but it took a few days of me setting my alarm to get up and do it.

Then they get ill and it all goes out the window and you have to start from scratch! 😩

Plus I agree with chocolateaddict lots of people are economical with the truth when it comes to describing how their DC sleep. My friend gushed about how her son slept through the night from 6 weeks but then later said how she found it so frustrating that she had to get up every two hours to put the dummy back in his mouth because he'd cry for it. Ok, that's known as a child waking up!

Ha! Have come to the conclusion that I was very lucky with DS1! Have done nothing differently, both FF both weaned at 5mo.

They are just very different people!

How does he fall asleep at naptime and bedtime - does he fall asleep by himself?

If not, then that's the issue.

If he does, then suspect there is something bothering him - illness or teeth. If he's a naturally light sleeper then even a little bit of teething can cause wake ups IME.

He self settles at nap time and at bedtime - by which I mean he cries/grizzled himself to sleep. Normally takes 5-10 mins. If he starts hysterically screaming then I of course go in and comfort him.

But if he is just "tired crying" where he sounds like a creaky door (!) I let him get on with it.

So I don't think it's that. He CAN go to sleep on his own. But when he wakes in the night he WONT.

As said, people who are telling the truth about their baby sleeping through are few and far between. My friend also said hers slept through 7-7, and like above, she was regularly in the room putting a dummy back in or settling back to sleep.

If he's a cuddly baby, he will be searching for the comfort and cuddles in the night.

Sounds normal, my DS is nearly 1 and has a similar pattern. Seems to be gradually stretching to longer between wake ups so I'm just going with it for now.

A lot of people assume that not hungry = sleep through the night. Not so I am afraid. Sounds totally normal to me.

Yes to freezing, my friends child slept through from being weeks old and is now five months. She is of the centile chart in being below weight and she now has to dream feed her during the night as she was way under her calories but was happily sleeping through.

Ok he can self settle. Probably something slightly bothering him then - bit of a cold, teething, separation anxiety, wrong phase of the moon ... Some babies mine are light sleepers/not sleep lovers and will not sleep through unless everything is perfect.

Two possible suggestions: 1) how much is he napping, is it possible he is overtired (=less able to self resettle at night, IME)

2. even if he's not hungry per se, a night feed might make him less likely to wake multiple times eg if you feed him at 1/2am you may find he doesn't do the 4/5am wake up - just because he has a nice full tummy and that means he's more likely to roll over and go back ti sleep at that 4/5 wake up. Worth a try? I know it feels like a backwards step but needs must to get sleep...

My boy woke every night every 45mins until,about 11months. He dropped his night feed at about 7months. It was horrendous. He started sleeping through around 13months but still wakes up during the night on some nights.

What about if you change the feeds, so as soon as he wakes up, have his bottle, then breakfast. As he's feeding in the night & not having milk as soon as he wakes up, it's almost like he's got jet lag!

I used to feed my dd's first thing, then breakfast, lunch at 11.30/12, nap, 2.30 ish feed, tea at 5ish, milk at 7ish & then bed.
Both mind very good sleepers. Can't tell how much milk because both BF.

My DC1 stopped having milk at night very young (around 8 weeks, although he was still having a dream feed then) but didn't reliably sleep through until three years! (Sorry!) Waking up for reasons other than hunger is normal IMO. DC2 was a great sleeper though.

Totally normal. DD night weaned at 8mo (bf) and was eating a fair amount of solids three times a day by 9mo (blw). She first properly slept through at 16mo. She loved to wake for a quick cuddle and would also need to cosleep for the last few hours. At a year old she was waking every 2hrs. Up to that 16mo the only things that made minor improvements to her sleeping were introducing a dummy (lengthened time between waking but also introduced issue of freaking out when waking having lost it), night weaning, accepting we were going to have to cosleep and doing it when necessary, her learning how to belly sleep (she was a late roller), CC sleep training (she went off to sleep more quickly and woke once or twice less a night). The final thing that cracked it for us was taking the sides off her cot bed and giving her a duvet. Turns out she likes the space to move rather than her sleeping bag, plus likes to stick her legs out if she gets hot. Unfortunately your DS is too young for a duvet but perhaps worth considering a blanket if you use a sleeping bag or vice versa?

Ultimately you can have a guess and try a few things to hope for improvement, but there are so many variables as to why they wake with a good chance it is just because they want a cuddle and closeness. He'll get there eventually