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Parenting

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Original poster

6 month old - waking up 4 times at night to eat

15 replies

gabbro86 · 18/10/2022 18:48

Hi all,
Just trying to understand if this is normal or we should be concerned...
For the past three weeks, our son (who'll be 6 months old in a week, EBF but started solids 3 days ago) has followed the same "routine":

In his cot between 7 and 8pm
Up screaming between 11pm and midnight, nothing soothes him except feeding
Up again screaming at 2, 4, 6 and then finally 7/7:30. Sometimes we manage to soothe him just by cuddling/burping, sometimes he needs to feed. My wife is exhausted at this point so he just stays in bed... and i go on the sofa

Our plan of action is to now just feed at midnight (no point trying anything else!) but also move him into his own separate room, as it seems like he wakes up because he can "feel" us in the room! His cot has been in our bedroom since he was born.

Anyone had similar experiences? It's starting to get very tiring as we haven't had a good 5/6 hours sleep in a while!

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Original poster

gabbro86 · 18/10/2022 18:49

Also we've been trying to give him more food during the day - he gets easily distracted at the breast and has to often stop for burping too... so we think he might now be eating enough during the day

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DameWashalot82 · 18/10/2022 19:07

Probably a lot going on with his system since starting solids just a few days ago? A lot of different things happening in the digestive system (you mentioned lots of burping etc?) so perhaps adjusting to that. And still very wee at just 6 months so could be any number of reasons for waking more including being aware of the new things happening with feeding.

Trust your instincts I think, wee ones can't explain to you why they need comforting so it sounds like you're doing all the best things for your baby and reacting accordingly.

Throw out all idea of routine. I love lists routine and organisation and have had to massively change my mindset to adapt to this!

To be honest it's one of these things that just going with the flow just now as hard it as sounds will help you. The lack of sleep is hard. My wee one is 6 and I'm still up and down at night time. Things ebb and flow though and everything passes. Good luck

Sandcastlesinthesky · 18/10/2022 19:09

It’s just what babies do. Mine’s hit and miss with sleep still at 2

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CucumberCool · 18/10/2022 19:14

Sounds perfectly normal. As pp said, they ahve a lot going on at the moment.

MarigoldMoonStone · 18/10/2022 19:15

own room will probably help, you definitely disturb their sleep more than you think

Blessedbethefruitz · 18/10/2022 19:18

Is baby comfort feeding or do they have a dummy?

I have an almost 9 month old, exclusively bf too. She eats loads of solids very very well, but won't take a dummy. She snacks from bedtime at 6.30pm until about 10pm, and then maybe wakes up at 2am, 5am, and then 7am for the day. I co sleep though so she doesn't fully wake me to feed, which means I'm not nearly as sleep deprived as I was with (allergy) formula fed baby number 1 who would sleep for 45 minutes and then scream and vomit for 2 hours all night long until over a year...

It's possible my expectations are very low, but I think a lot of bf babies wake more at night for milk/comfort? Physically getting up that many times a night would kill me too though! Our cot remains unused so far by either child...

Bookclub99 · 18/10/2022 19:31

Have you tried a dream feed at 9:30pm/10pm? If you feed then that can delay the next wake up. You may find that if you dream feed he'll last till 2am or 3am before the next wake up, meaning you get a 4-5 hours stretch of sleep (assuming you dream feed at 10pm). You could also try using a bottle and/or formula. Feeding on the boob can be quite hard work, whereas it's easier for them to just chug it down from a bottle, meaning he takes on more milk and lasts longer before he wakes. I used a mix of expressed breast milk and formula for the 9:30pm dream feed with mine and found that worked quite well. Otherwise, I'm afraid some babies are just terrible sleepers. Both mine were (one of them still is!), but you get used to it and it doesn't last forever. Good luck!

Original poster

gabbro86 · 18/10/2022 19:31

@DameWashalot82 he also started crawling and trying to stand up holding onto furniture! He does have a lot going on lately.

@MarigoldMoonStone that is what we're hoping. We've realised he tends to wake up soon after to walk upstairs and get into bed.

@Blessedbethefruitz he falls asleep with the dummy, sometimes wakes up because it falls off his mouth, so we just put it back and he goes back to sleep... for a bit.

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fyn · 18/10/2022 19:37

Breast milk/formula is far more nutritious than food at this point and more important. I wouldn’t try and fill them up on food at the expense of milk. At this point they are just supposed to be learning how to eat, milk is still the main source of nutrition.

COOKIEDOUGH222 · 18/10/2022 19:41

Sounds entirely normal. Mother of 15 month old here - mine still feeds though the night. For comfort or for thirst or food - but I still offer it because it's what she needs. Nothing wrong with comfort feeding - they just like to know mum is nearby! 6mo is very very tiny and they are still hugely dependent on milk for nutritional content (digestive systems still very immature) as well as comfort. Night time milk also has sleeping inducing hormones so will help baby regulate day/night. Keep going - you can do this!

CookPassBabtridge · 18/10/2022 19:44

Normal!

HoneyTrees · 18/10/2022 20:05

Very normal. Milk is still the main form of nutrition until 1 years old and especially at 6 months, babies do often wake at night for a feed.
There’s not much you can do but accept it. Unless you’re willing to sleep train, but I wouldn’t recommend that at this age as they are still just a baby and can not communicate with you.

Your best bet would be to try and think of some ways you and your partner can both get some sleep. E.g. only one of you gets up with baby in the morning, the other one gets a lie in. Or on the weekend you could take turns taking the baby out for a few hours whilst the other naps for a bit.
You mentioned your wife is breastfeeding. Will baby take a bottle? That will help take the load off her, so she can nap whilst you take baby out for a bit.

darlingsweetpea · 18/10/2022 20:55

I have no advice but my 6 month old wakes at 12, 2, 4 and 6 too if it's any comfort to know you are not alone.

I am looking at sleep pressure to see if I can drop one those wake ups, but so far my son is having none of it. I am dream feeding around 8.45 before he wakes up as that buys me time.

I've found in the night to add breast compressions whilst feeding to help get as much milk on board as possible!!

lifehappens12 · 18/10/2022 21:54

My first who was bottle fed would wake most nights every couple of hours for a few ounces of milk.

I dreaded putting him in his own room but at 7 months we did and he started giving us 4 hour stretches.

It gets better and only got much better once we night weaned at 18 months

Penguin91 · 19/10/2022 02:37

gabbro86 · 18/10/2022 19:31

@DameWashalot82 he also started crawling and trying to stand up holding onto furniture! He does have a lot going on lately.

@MarigoldMoonStone that is what we're hoping. We've realised he tends to wake up soon after to walk upstairs and get into bed.

@Blessedbethefruitz he falls asleep with the dummy, sometimes wakes up because it falls off his mouth, so we just put it back and he goes back to sleep... for a bit.

Crawling and not yet 6 months?

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