Any tips on getting BF babies to sleep through the night?!

[Bumpandus]

Hi my baby will be 8 month old on the 15th Feb (born 9 week early) and is BF here’s our schedule:

7.30 wake up BF one side (pump other side)
8.30 breakfast (porridge and fruit)
(Awake 2 hours) Nap 9.30-11.30
11.30 feed both sides
12.30 lunch (veg sometimes meat)
(Awake 3 hours) 2.30 nap - 3.30
3.30 feed both sides
Dinner @ 5 (veg sometimes with meat)
Bath @ 6
Feed both sides 6.30
(Awake 3.5hrs) Bed @ 7
Dreamfeed @ 10 (actually I’m starting this tonight I usually feed on demand through night)

For naps I just put her into the next to me crib with her favourite soft toy and she settles within 3-5 mins after babbling to herself or whining as long as I stick to the schedule above.

We don’t feed before naps anymore and she has reflux which I believe made her uncomfortable to sleep another reason why we started a routine rather than on demand.

We are following an eat, play, sleep routine before this I was feeding on demand but couldn’t get a routine with naps. Now breastfeeding on a schedule and it’s working much better for us. She still wakes a lot in the night and I have to feed her to sleep but I’m working on this! The day time is now great! Especially with having a 7 year old too.

The problem starts at night. She settles like with her naps but then can be awake every 1-2 hours and won’t settle without my nipple or a feed. Any tips?

Ignore Aquilla - s/he spouts rubbish. You don't need a needlessly-made-obese baby to sleep through the night. My DD was 13-14 pounds for a looong stretch until she had a big growth spurt at 11-12 months.
We did really gentle sleep training at 11 months and got her sleeping through the night. As some have mentioned above :

• Putting her in her own room definitely.
• Nice go to sleep routine / no feeding to sleep (I see you're pretty much there already). BF > Bath > Story and Cuddles --> Lights out
• Night weaning cold turkey. First weekend and first 4-5 days DH went in each time she woke up and cuddled her / rocked her / whatever it took to get her to sleep. This felt like a step backwards but it isn't. It gives you and her the confidence you can go through the night without feeding.
• Then slowly stopping rocking etc, just patting in crib, eventually just sitting next to crib, and within two weeks was sleeping through the night peacefully.

My boobs adjusted. Just pumped once at night for first two nights for comfort.

My periods came back (so be aware you'll be super fertile). Am now (14 mos) down to 2 feeds a day.

And DD's appetite went up - gave her loads of solid foods, and a warm oatmeal porridge with a mashed banana and nut butter after dinner to fill her up. (We do BLW so she doesn't always feel like she's getting loads of food esp at dinner time when she'd rather play).

Good luck OP! You can do this! And kudos on bf for so long!

@Aquilla I am rather offended by your reply. My daughter was only 3lb when she was born so she has done fabulous to get to that weight that she is EBF.

Formula isn’t natural BF is best. I am proud of what we have achieved together many mums with preemies cannot BF. So I’m sorry you feel this way.

@ZaphodBeeblerox thanks so much!

What an unpleasant post from Aquilla.

OP, what starchy carbs is your DD having apart from the morning porridge? Assuming that weaning is going well she should be ready for more than just vegetables at lunch and dinner. Maybe include a starchy carb at dinner time to help to fill her up.

Reading your routine I think the daytime sleep is excessive, the morning nap in particular is very long.

Could You aim for a morning nap of just 30 minutes, between 10-1030 am based on waking up at 730?

Then try and make the lunch nap 2 hrs 1-3?

I dint think bf is necessarily the cause! Does she eat protein and complex carbs For lunch and dinner?

Is she not just hungry? Mine's the exact same age but born at term. She's going through a massive developmental leap at the moment and that's disturbing her sleep but that's normal at this stage. She's also going through a growth spurt and teething. If you're sure she's not hungry, send your partner to settle her instead of yourself. But I think she might just be drinking little and often.

Sorry, to avoid ambiguity, redrafting that.

Is she not just hungry? Mine's the exact same age but born at term and is going through a massive developmental leap at the moment, which is disturbing her sleep but that's normal at this stage. Mine's also going through a growth spurt and teething, all these things can affect sleep. If you're sure your LO is not hungry, send your partner to settle her instead of yourself. But I think she might just be drinking little and often.

Please remember that it is biologically very normal for a baby of your DD’s age (corrected or otherwise) to wake in the night.

I also think she’s hungry and I wonder if she’s reverse cycling. What do you do with the milk that you express at 7.30? I’d look to increase her intake of protein and complex carbs, especially in the evening.

@ThanksItHasPockets she has potatoes what else would you recommend? I always thought to give just veg at night for a settled tummy? Thanks for your reply.

@ReaganSomerset hi I’m a single parent so have no help. Past two nights she has actually only woke up twice after her dreamfeed so she was maybe just unsettled from being with her father. We pump milk for him to be able to spend time with her. @Buxbaum I guess this answers you too. I pump for her dad.

Protein and carbs keeps them full! And reduce her day time sleep - she's probably not tired enough to sleep 7-7 at the moment

There have been studies suggesting that the composition of breast milk changes according to time of day. Night milk contains chemicals to encourage sleep and day milk is the opposite. So pumping in the morning then feeding that morning milk at night can apparently disrupt sleep. Worth thinking about anyway.

In my experience night waking is resolved by age. My baby woke less frequently and when he did wake he started to just roll over and go back to sleep. Sorry I don’t know of any magic bullet, it’s just time!

Meh, my breastfed 9 month old is over 20lb so ignore the formula comments for that.

I am very slowly fading out the time of night feeds and doing a more mild pick up put down method (which is very gentle anyway). It worked for dc1 who is a fab sleeper at 2 now (also breastfed and 98th percentile).

@Aeonium I don’t give her any milk in a bottle I don’t give her the pumped milk at all her father uses it during his contact.

@GummyGoddess wow so there is hope then! I think I’ll just leave her for a bit and slowly try to drop one feed at a time through night using pick up put down.

They start sleeping longer when they start eating more, so makes sure she eats enough during the day. Also seems to have helped when they are more mobile so can adjust themselves to get comfy rather than needing me to come in and move them.

The pick up put down I'm doing in a slightly more gentle version and pick up as soon as he makes a noise rather than try and shush in the cot and then pick up as I don't like him being upset. I also set a limit on how many times I'll do it a time so that I can keep my resolve or I know I would give in to the easy option.

Hello :-) I had 2 prem babies and bf both, first was 8 weeks early and the second 11 weeks early. I will share my experiences.

First it sounds like your little one is doing really well with weaning. Adjusted age means she is really 6 months equivalent at best; most babies have only just started weaning at this point. For her to be on three meals a day is fab.

Second comment is about your routine. If you want to increase long sleeps, you have to get more heavy food in. I found that a big bowl of porridge before bedtime was really helpful. Going from 5pm through to 8am before filling up is too long. Perhaps after her bath, do another porridge portion and then she can have some milk to snuggle down with you. In the morning, if you can get straight up to give another filling bowl of porridge, that helps get the metabolism on the right track for the day, satisfying the hunger rather than just taking the edge off with milk.

As you have said, she settles down really nicely for naps, however she is getting more food in the day. There is no need to feel you have to stop bf or do controlled crying to get more sleep. It will all take longer because she is prem, smaller and needs more time to grow. i think it comes with the territory of Prems, smaller parts are more delicate. Perhaps she is disrupted at night due to wind or teething or even just hunger.

Finally, don't set your target too high. She is doing so well, you are doing all the right things, it will get better at night in time when she she is eating more and moving about more.

Best of luck x

I can only share what happened with my little one who was bf until she was 2. She woke every night, every 2-3 hours (every hour when she was teething). Just after her second birthday she slept through the night for the first time. Over the next few months she only woke up a couple of times and I would feed her back to sleep or rub her back. The feeding gradually eased off and eventually I was able to get her back to sleep without feeding. From then on she became an amazing sleeper. She is now 5 and sleeps for 12 hours (only waking if she is poorly.) It was often really difficult in those early years with the tiredness but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I hope your baby sleeps well for you soon.

I have a bf nine month old who also wakes several times in the night for feeds. I want to try to fill her up more before bedtime as suggested up thread, but have tried porridge a few times and just can't get her to eat it. Can anyone suggest an alternative ? Thank you

Wait until she's three and then bribe her with leftover Christmas chocolate coins. #NoIDidNOTDoThat #YesIDidABit

Another point... Not plain porridge.. yummy porridge with honey or another favourite flavour so they gobble it up!

Please please don’t give honey to babies under one. www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-giving-babies-and-young-children/

DS is very partial to a rice pudding made with full fat milk and coconut milk, like this one.

Thank you...I'll try that rice pudding, looks good

I’ve always co-slept with mine so honestly, night feeds have never been an issue. Just a case of putting boob to mouth and both back to sleep. I’ve always fed them through the night until they naturally stopped wanting it, usually at around 10-12 months.