Night waking - how do I get more sleep?

[Sunnyday14558]

DS is 8 months. He was born a month early so we’ve been told to treat him as 7 months developmentally.

He’s 93rd percentile and very hungry. Currently on x3 60ml purées a day plus exclusive breastfeeding.

He’s waking up two hourly at night and the lack of sleep is starting to get to me. Older DS is nearly three and doesn’t nap so the days are becoming very long!

Does anyone have advice on how to get him to sleep longer? He has a gut issue so formula is an absolutely no. I’d also like something gentle as I don’t want him to cry excessively and wake his brother and dad up. Thank you

Is he waking to be fed ? Are you sure he is hungry rather than using breast to soothe?

Why is he on purée? At 8m solids would be typical, can you add to his meals or give him snack and a supper? Are you under a dietician ?

My son was a terrible sleeper and we tried everything he was about 18m before he slept through.

Things that helped my son sleep through-

Teaching him to fall asleep in his cot. We fell in to the mistake of letting him fall asleep at the breast then he would wake up 1-2 hours later disoriented. Babies need to be able to fall back to sleep independently in order to sleep through.

Stopping night feeds, we did this around 10m when solids were established, once I stopped offering breast he woke less.

Getting rid of dummy, he would sometimes wake because dummy had fell out as soon as it went back in he fell back to sleep. Stopping the dummy solved that.

Whilst we were figuring all this out we tag teamed. I went to bed at 7pm immediately after feeding ds. Dh got ds ready for bed and gave him an expressed bottle of milk at around 9/10 pm. Dh would go straight to bed after. Ds would normally go 3-4 hours after expressed bottle so would wake around 1 at which point I'd had at least 5 hours sleep , I would do the night shift and grab sleep between wakings. I usually managed around 7 hours sleep a night and dh slept 11-7.

I agree with giving him something more substantial to eat in the day. You haven't said what purées you're giving him but if it's only fruit and veg he'll be starving!

Have a read of this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust as it gives sample menus and portion sizese x

Sorry posted too soon. You'll probably need from page 39 of that guide.

Other things that might help are moving him to his own room. Both of mine woke less when they weren't next to me.

Offering a feed every two hours in the day, they can be easily distracted during the day and he may be reverse cycling.

The No Cry Sleep Solution should help too