9 month old waking up hungry at 4am

[fairgame84]

For the past week DD has started waking at 4am for a feed. She's definitely hungry as she takes 6oz. Prior to this she was sleeping 8pm until 6am.
Nothing else has changed.

This is an example of what she eats in a day.
7/7.30am 1 weetabix with milk
8am milk 3-4oz
11.30/12 beans on toast
12/12.30 milk 2-3oz
4pm salmon, veg, couscous then yogurt
7.30pm milk 3-4oz.

She has water with her food.

Some days she will have an extra milk feed approx 5oz mid morning or mid afternoon if she's hungry.

Health visitor said to increase her 7.30pm milk but she won't take anymore than 4oz because she's not hungry enough. So she suggested adding in porridge for supper but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do as DD is already a big baby, she's really chunky since weaning and I don't want to make her overweight just to make my life easier.

Any suggestions please?

She may be having a growth spurt, try a dream feed before you go to bed around 10pm ish - if i do this my daughter sleeps through till 7/8am. If i dont, she will wake around 3/4am hungry

To add, that doesnt seem like a lot of milk for 9 month old. My 10 month old still has between 24-30 oz of milk a day with two meals mixed in (she wont eat breakfast).

What do you mean 'nothing else has changed'? She's 9 months old, she's GROWING their needs change inline with growing! Just look at how big she was 9 months ago and how big (& developed mentally & physically) she'll be in another 9 months!

Read about her mind & body at 9 months, then be less surprised she needs more fuel to do all that.

its understandable that you thought you were through the night waking stage & you can force that if you want to by over feeding before bed or dream feeding etc but she's not waking up wanting a feed for the fun of it!

thats not much milk (I presume actual formula, not just milk?) for her age.

worry less about making her fat & more about her getting enough nutrition.

i know it's only a sample, but weetbix & beans on toast aren't brilliant & certainly not if they're making her 'too full' to have the amount of formula she needs.

I'id give her the proper sized bottles first & 'food' after then I'd dream feed/wake her for a feed when I went to bed

& hope that works for her & in turn me.

I would suggest milk first, food second. She needs a lot more milk and a lot less food at this age. Food at 9 months is more about learning than nutrition. If she has milk and then finger food, she will get a lot more variety and be fuller.
It's totally ok for a 9 month old to still wake for feeds also.

@FFSwhatisthis obviously I meant nothing else has changed in her naps, routine etc. I never said she waking for the fun of it, I clearly said she's waking up hungry!
I can't overfeed her because when she is full she won't take more and I don't want to overfeed her.
She's gone from 25th to 90th centile for weight so I don't think I'm wrong to be concerned when the health visitor told me they don't like them going up more than 2 centiles.

She generally has 12-17 oz of milk per day.

The idea of milk having priority over food before 1 holds true for the majority of babies, but this is a baby who has gained centiles since weaning, so is obviously eating enough solids to be thriving.

Perhaps she's just gearing up for a growth spurt op? Tbh I'd probably just follow her cues and trust that it'll all even out. You'll probably find she settles back to her more usual curve when she starts walking.

It's so confusing. My oldest is 18 so it's all changed since then.

I've been following the advice to give food and then formula straight after with extra formula feeds if she's hungry in between.
I've found all sorts of feeding schedules online where you give formula an hour before food or 2 hours after but the health visitor advised against that because it's not 'responsive'.

I'm just tired and I'm back at work at the weekend so the night wakings aren't ideal. It is what it is 🤷‍♀️
I forgot about the 9 month growth spurt.
It's at the back of the mind from when DS was little, the rule of 3, 6, 9 for growth spurts.