Breastfeeding

[Blueskyhopefully]

Hello,
EBF my 6 month baby & just starting to wean. I need of advice on 2 things, l'd like to know how often should a baby this age be waking up to be fed at night time? I keep being told a 6 month old should be sleeping through the night but this is from friends with babies on formula. It's stressing me out about what's normal & what isn't. And the 2nd- I'm knackered as my baby has a pattern of not going off to sleep until about 4-5 am ish most nights. My baby also refuses to be bottle fed. Has anyone experienced this too?

My dd was still waking up 2-3 times per night at that age.

Even formula fed babies might not sleep through at that age. I only know two families that managed to get their babies to sleep through so young.

One of my friends has a 3yo child who was FF who still wakes up once in the night (as does my 3yo who was BF) - I'm not sure there's that much correlation with how they're fed

There is no evidence that babies stop needing to be fed at night at 6 months old, although it is often a 'fact' trotted out by sleep trainers. It is perfectly normal for a baby to wake to feed until at least a year. At 6 months, my daughter was in a bad stage with her sleep and I was feeding her (BF) probably 4 times a night at least. She still doesn't sleep through at 1 although I recently night weaned.

When you say the baby doesn't sleep until 4 or 5 what do you mean - they are staying awake continuously through the night?

Refusing to be bottle fed is very common in BF babies too, they get so much out of BF in addition to just the milk (comfort etc), that I don't think it's very surprising that they would be resistant to being fed in another way. It depends on why you are trying to introduce a bottle as to whether or not it's something worth persevering with.

most babies still wake in the night at 6 months. A lot still wake at 12 months.
If you’ve started weaning it can be useful to give no solids after 3 pm incase their digestive system is finding it hard. My first had problems with just about everything.
Also what time are you doing bedtime? Both my bf babies didn’t go to bed until about 9 ish at night. Then sleep in roughly 3 hours blocks.

You can try a sippy type cup at 6 months. Might have to try a few to find one they like for formula

My daughter woke a lot

Usually she would sleep a chunk, maybe 4 hours or maybe 6 (baring in mind, her bedtime was 7 so 4 hours would be 11pm and 6 would be 1am) and then she would wake up countless times until getting up in the morning. We all got up at 6:30.

I promise you... it is normal. My mum used to say to me how it didn't seem right and I always got the mums at mum groups who said there's slept through.. but I promise it's normal.

Join some gentle parenting pages and breastfeeding groups and you'll see, it's old hat.

My daughter is 3 now and sometimes she will sleep all night and sometimes she will wake, get in to our bed and sleep the rest of the night.

Thanks for your reply. When I start bedtime my lo may do a few 20-30 mins catnaps & be awake up until 4/5 am before starting a 1h 30 -2h blocks of sleep then wake for a fed then back to sleep. This goes on until the afternoon. So it seems like its a day night confusion as well perhaps or now just a habit.

It's just helpful to hear others are waking multiple times at night. Just worried cos those around me have the opposite experience to me & they are all FF.

My breastfed toddler woke at 3am for 'boobies' and again at 6am! She is 3 and a half! There is no rule book and your friends are likely making it up. Stick with it, be led by your baby and know you are doing everything right! If you aren't co-sleeping already then I'd suggest that following the safe sleep rules from The Lullaby Trust xxx

Thanks Autumn1990. I start bedtime around 9 -10 pm. I will try no solids after 3pm

Thanks RedRobyn2021, it's great to hear you experienced the same. My lo rarely does 4 hour blocks but when she does her first long block of sleep there is multiple wakings until I get my lo up. I try to ensure my lo gets at least 10 -12 a night.
I feel better knowing it is normal. I just have to focus on get my lo the start the first block of sleep alot earlier.😊

Thanks debbs77, feeling alot better to know even a toddler is waking for a fed. I just got to me with exhaustion & constantly hearing from those around me that they didn't experience multiple wakings. I was worried my baby wasn't getting enough milk from me.
We are co sleeping 😊

Baby will sleep through when baby is ready. It's got nothing to do with his they are fed.

My bf babies slept through from 6 weeks whilst my formula fed nieces and nephews ranged from 3 months to 3 years.

I'm a breastfeeding peer supporter and so many women feel the same! They tend to go through a growth spurt around that age.

Plus bottle fed babies often sleep longer as formula is heavier and takes longer to digest.

You're awesome!

Thanks debbs77 and all for taking the time to comment. It just helps to hear others experiences with breastfeeding. Its made a world of difference to me, don't feel bad now 😀

My 18 month old still wakes up a couple of times in the night and I pop him on the boob because he goes right back to sleep and it barely disturbs me so we all get more sleep that way. He still feeds to sleep for naps too 🤷🏻‍♀️

My LO is nearly 9 months old and breastfeeds 1/2 times a night. Anyone I know who had a 6 month old sleeping through was formula feeding.
I would say that you would benefit from trying to move your ‘routine’ around a bit. It sounds like her day/nights are confused. Could you try moving bed time earlier? How does she go down for sleep? Feed to sleep? If you’re co sleeping you could still try to settle her on her own at the beginning of the night so you get some time to yourself. Or just go to bed early as you must be exhausted!
Do you get out and about in the day time? She needs lots of day light, and waking up from naps for a bit to move the sleep to night time. Can you take her to baby classes?
How much total sleep is she having in 24 hours? The average for her age is 12-15 hours I think, so if you want say 11 hours at night (e.g 7:30pm-6:30am), she may only need 2 hours in the day time! You could try adding up for a few days to get an idea, then work on capping the day time napping and moving bed time so that more happens at night.

Thanks Bey & Onelittleone216
Onelittleone216- I tried moving bedtime earlier weeks ago but it didn't work. But I am going to start this week to try adjusting it again. Feeds to sleep & we co-sleep cos I wasn't getting much sleep. It's definitely day & night confusion- I bring my lo to classes & get out for a walk not every day but its getting easier to. My lo gets 10-12 h a night but that is only recently as I had to work on getting the sleep right first as that wasn't the case before & my lo only ever catnaps in the day for 20-30 mins maybe 2/3 times. Before my lo was overtired so trying to move the bedtime just didn't work but now it's going well so I am going to work on adjusting slowly over the next few weeks to get bedtime to 7:30-9 pm. Fingers crossed. Not easy but more hopeful. Thanks for the advice😀

My babies slept through well before six months (one only bottle by then, one only breastfed).
I think it had more to do with the routine I had them in since first day home rather than what they ate.