9 month old still feeding several times at night

[dundeefairy]

Hi there, FTP. I have a 9 month old DD, FF, who is still up feeding several times at night (usually x2). I don't know what to do, I feel that i've tried everything! Started weaning at 6 months.
HV's input was - oh she shouldn't be doing that, you'll have to cut it out, but don't let her cry (so not very helpful, as if I actually want to be up frequently during the night).

I've done the following, to no avail:

1. allowed her the first feed, then tried to rock her to sleep the rest of the night
2. allowed her the first feed, then tried to feed her less at each feed
3. Fed her lots and lots during the day

Nothing has made any difference! Sometimes she decides to just be up the once, and there seems to be no reason for this either.

She has only just got her front bottom teeth.

Weaning has been ok, she happily eats what we give her.

She has reflux, so sometimes vomits after dinner.
She doesn't love her milk during the day - it's really hard to get her to drink any! She's currently on about 20-24 oz per day, a third of which she takes after bedtime!

Anyone else been in this position? What do I do??!!

Does she feed to sleep at bedtime and naptime?

My daughter was the same at that age @dundeefairy. She was BF but had so much milk throughout the night she didn't want any in the day. I ended up cutting down gradually over the course of a week 15min feeds... then taking her off after 10/5/2 mins etc and cuddling back to sleep. My husband did the next few nights with no milk offered just cuddles and since then she's slept through! It was an amazing transformation and so worth the few nights of pain to get there. I used Lucy Wolf's gentle sleep book to guide me. DD1 is now the best sleeper ever!

Thanks Bee Keeping! The problem is I have tried the cutting down and we've just got nowhere! But maybe we'll have to try again ... so demoralised right now!

It’s completely normal. It’s tiring but a nothing to be worried about.

FATEdestiny - no, she always goes down awake and is able to settle herself to sleep; she does have the dummy at night though.

The frustrating thing was that from 8 weeks she went down to 1 feed per night - then at 5 months another night feed crept in ...

Actually re - reading your post with reversal cycling of feeding and still having reflux I would be questioning a food allergy.

It's hard when it feels like every formula fed baby I know is sleeping through ... the joys!

What probably didn't help was that at 6 months she got a urine infection, wasn't drinking, and so we had to feed her day and night for a few days to get fluids in her ... I think that got her into a habit of feeding at night maybe ...

thatwentbadly - really? tell me more ...

If she has reflux have you tried one of the formulas for this? Then she might keep her tea down and be less hungry at night?

We had had on Gaviscon Infant for a while when she was smaller. She's not sick every night, but it does impact on how much milk we're able to give her e.g.she has her dinner at 5pm, then we really need to watch how much milk we give her at 6.30pm - she can only take a few oz, maybe 4 at the very most.

Sometimes she'll be sick at bedtime, then only wake the once for milk! It's as random as that ... I honestly can't see any good reason for her to be up drinking milk so much at night as:

• she doesn't feed to sleep and is able to get herself back to sleep
• she has 3 good meals per day

Any other thoughts?

Could it be a distraction thing? Mine is 6 not js and feeding all fecking night because there is nothing to amuse her, whereas in the day she is distracted by ANYTHING.

I've no advice but I found my HVs said similar things and I felt like there must be something wrong with my baby or i was just crap. Turns out it was neither - thousands of babies are doing the same, this idea that they stop feeding at night at 4 months or whatever is the truth for only a small number of babies.

That helped me, even if it didnt make it any better.

*months!

Must proof read.

Have you tried offering water instead? When my dd was around 6 months old, she was still waking for a bottle. I was advised to offer water as it was most likely a habit she'd got into and not a need. Well, the hv was right. It took a couple of nights but she stopped waking.
I had this problem with my now 7 month old as well but I was feeding to sleep and since I stopped, he doesn't want bottles in the night (although still wakes!).

Possible that it's habitual, she's waking up because she knows she going to get fed. My three did this. I checked they were eating enough, getting enough milk, had them weighed and they all were tracking above their percentiles so when they did wake I only offered cooled boiled water I had ready knowing they would wake. Took a few nights, lots of cuddles but they all got the memo kitchen was closed.

Worth a try.

I would significantly increase her portion sizes and calorie content of the 3 meals a day, then cold turkey night wean.

Night weaning can be a chicken and egg situation as to what to do first.

If she doesn't have enough calories through the day, she will need night feeds.

But if she has might feeds, she doesn't consume as many calories through the day.

So to shift all her calories to the daytime it may be necessary yo not feed at night, even when genuinely hungry. Then in the morning she will be hungrier throughout the day, so eat mire in the daytime. Which then perpetuates to less calories being needed the following night, and so on.

None of my dc slept through at that age but were all breastfed.. In fact one didn't sleep properly until 4 (we had an excellent routine, no bad habits , we are actually pretty strict parents , no issues falling asleep etc, etc). So I think its totally normal tbh. Also dcs go through constant phases, I'd have months where things went well and then two of my dcs suffered really bad teething pain (they have big teeth) or they'd catch a bug etc so more night waking. I think it's hard to say "by x months it's all be fine and they'll sleep all night forever "..
Hell my 6 year old woke with night terrors tue last night.. Such is parenting tbh

Although at 9 months all my dcs ate loads of real food also so if she isn't eating a lot of solids could be good to try and increase them.

I think its weird to night wean a 9 month old but breastfeeding is very different I guess and formula is a lot more filling.

Maybe she's waking to get cuddled , she's a baby, it's totally normal but I get it's also really tiring.

My 11 month old still breastfeeds x2 per night.
He eats loads in the day so I don’t think I can feed him more daytime. Ie last night at 6.30pm he ate full mini roast dinner, including cauliflower cheese. Then 1/2 banana and Greek yogurt. 8pm he still had a long milk feed before sleep. He woke starving at 1am still.

I think it’s just normal still for some.

My 8 month old still feeds in the night. She's bf and has food allergies and reflux. She needs extra cuddles /feeds when she's refluxing or reacting to a food we have eaten. When I'm trying to get her to sleep if she suckling but not feeding I take her off the breast but leave her in the same position trying to wean her off feeding for comfort. Whilst she is still needing the comfort I'm happy to keep cuddles and night feeds. Like last night something in her dinner upset her so she only slept in my arms and feed when she wanted to feed. If she isn't reacting or refluxing I hold off feeding her for comfort if I can but feed if she's wanting food.
Partly because of the reflux she has never had big feeds and for a long time didn't go more than 1-1.5h during the day without feeding but she only fed for short periods. With weaning she now can go 3-4h between feeds, I'm sure it will only be a matter of time for her to go longer at night too.

Thanks everyone - so Tuesday night we allowed her one feed, then we left her grumbling when she woke up again a second time (she wasn't crying, just tossing and turning). On Wednesday I added in a snack in the afternoon (despite the fact the NHS says don't give them snacks; there's only so much food my LO will take in one sitting)The next night she woke once for milk and not again, and did that the rest of the week. Yesterday was the first day she's drunk more milk during daytime for a while; last night she woke twice and was satisfied with the dummy - no milk, hurrah! :)