Hungry 8 month old still regularly feeds in the night

[user1474905833]

My 8 month old eats 3 full meals a day in addition to being breastfed around 3 or 4 times during the day, but he still wakes for at least 3 feeds in the night as well. I don’t think he is suckling for comfort as he uses a dummy which I always offer him first, he goes back off to sleep with the dummy unless he is hungry which is still 3 or 4 times a night. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is there something else I should be doing? He seems so hungry all the time! He is big for his age - he is in age 12-18 month clothes already - but he isn’t fat. He is all in proportion. I’m reluctant to switch to formula as we are both enjoying the breastfeeding journey and not ready to stop yet. His meals are as big as I can make them - I feed him until he has had enough. I combine ellas kitchen pouches with baby led weaning so he will have a taste of our meals and is topped up with the pouches. I thought the sleep would improve as he was weaned but if anything it’s got worse! Any ideas are welcome!

Just wait it out and adjust your expectations. My first child was ff and had milk overnight until 13 months. My second is bf and feeds regularly over night at 17 months. DD2 is a better sleeper than DD1 as the magic boobs get her back to sleep quickly. Breastfeeding is about way more than hunger but I would expect a ff baby to be waking several times a night for milk at 8 months anyway.

It’s normal for a child to need their parents over night up to the age of 7.

My understanding is that many of Ella's pouches are half water (44% just some examples for you to consider
shop.ellaskitchen.co.uk/products/mmmm-cauliflower-cheese-with-butter-beans?_pos=2&_sid=5b37d30ca&_ss=r
shop.ellaskitchen.co.uk/products/mild-chilli-con-carne?_pos=1&_sid=7519f079c&_ss=r
shop.ellaskitchen.co.uk/collections/from-7-months/products/groovy-greens-veggie-risotto-with-cheese )

I would say, it ends up being quite expensive water and if it is his main source of food in the evening, no wonder he wakes up hungry.
Can you make some meals for him, a soupy risotto, a soup with baby pasta and parmesan cheese, liquidy style stew with pulled pieces of meat, some soft fish in a butter sauce (sole is perfect and the first fish given to babies in France). I know he eats from you, but BLW is not really endorsed by science as the food intake is usually insufficient

I agree with ditching the pouches (unless you are out and about somewhere and using for convenience). I did a mixture of spoon feeding and finger foods which meant I felt he actually got a decent quantity into him rather than smeared in his hair... I did a bowl of porridge for supper for a while when he was particularly hungry, he'd still bf afterwards too.

Ditch the pouches, they're not very nutritionally dense, so you're filling his stomach basically with empty calories

Go for something like porridge or weetabix at dinner, and think about night weaning. I was sure DD was hungry, kept BF 4 times a night until i was on my knees with sleep deprivation, then did 3 nights CC and she sleeps through.

He doesn't have many pouches - I wasn't very clear in my initial message. He eats a full meal first - breakfast might be toast plus fruit and he will eat it all. On occasion, if I think he is still hungry, then I might top him up with half an ellas rice pudding to make sure he is full. The same would go for lunch and dinner. Most days he has freshly prepared meals - as an example he would have some avacado with fish, pasta and some cream cheese, or toast with an omelette followed by fruit and /or a custard pot or yoghurt, which again he will eat up. On days when time is short I might use an ellas pouch as a sort of sauce over freshly cooked pasta.
I agree that the pouches contain lots of water so I do tend to give them to him on days that I notice that he is a bit constipated but he doesn't have them everyday. I've actually wondered if he is thirsty in the night rather than hungry. Maybe I should be giving him more water?
Our eldest son was formula fed and we sleep trained him at 8 months old - when we were confident that he wasn't hungry when he was waking in the night.

The thing with BF is that it isnt really about food at this point. If he's eating well, he doesn't need to be fed overnight, and this is developmentally a pretty good time to break the habit.

Pretty common at that age. My older daughter woke in the night until we chose to wean her at 18 months. My youngest is 9 months now and a good eater, but still wakes in the night. It's not necessarily because they're hungry (although it might be sometimes), more that they're using it as a comfort and a way to get back to sleep if unsettled. If you and he are both happy then just carry on.

Eating solids doesn't necessarily make a difference. My baby had a pretty big filing meal tonight - bean stew and rice followed by greek yogurt - she still woke up after 4 hours of sleep 🤷‍♀️

My almost 8 month old is the same.
His sleep is terrible. Waking maybe 6-7 times and feeding 3-4 times overnight.

Again, like you he seems hungry as it isn’t just a 2 second comfort feed but a full gulping down 10 mins.

He doesn’t have baby pouches, but eats a mixture of purée and solids and a fair bit recently. I think

Yesterday: breakfast: porridge with apple purée. 1/4 banana. Lunch: 1/2 avocado, Greek yogurt. Dinner: lentils with potato and carrot puréed. Courgette batons. Greek yogurt.

So any ideas also greatly received.