10 month old feed and sleep advice

[stickytoffee95]

Hi all! Am a first time Mum and looking for some advice for my 10.5 month old for his sleep and feeding.
He has been combi fed from birth due to supply issues, with increasing formula vs breastfeeds over time.

He currently has feeds: BF on waking at 7am ish (losing interest in this) plus formula top up, bottle at 11/11:30am, BF on waking post afternoon nap, bedtime bottle, wakes in night and is breastfed + bottle.

His naps: he usually wakes at 5:30/6, sometimes 6:15 (if lucky!), goes for first nap at 9 and I cap it at 45 mins if not yet up. Second nap is usually 1/1:30pm for 1.5/2hours. Put down to bed usually at 7/7:15pm.

His sleep has gone to pot recently! He moved into his own room about 3 weeks ago and been teething but first bottom tooth now cut through but keeps waking 2-3 times in an evening needing resoothing and then wakes in the night to feed (the time of this can vary, usually between 2 and 4:30). He had been after that taking 1/1.5h to go back to sleep, although last night went back straight away.
So usually gets 9-10h sleep a night and 2h15 approx in the day.

We pat him to sleep in his cot at bedtime and sing to him but for daytime naps and overnight we hold and rock/pat/sing to him.

I tried to not breastfeed him in the night the other day as am planning to start weaning off for him starting nursery in a couple of months, however, all hell broke lose!

Any advice on our sleep pattern, how to teach to self settle without CIO, night weaning, how to later the time he wakes up in the morning?

thanks so much 😊

i currently have a 9 month old who is going through something similar. She had a few weeks (from 7-8months) where her sleep was horrendous. She’d wake every 1-2hrs overnight and her day naps were so short. Usually only 30 minutes long.

i found coming off breastfeeding and moving to her own room has been a game changer. She had a few nights solid where she slept through for roughly 8-10hrs. This happened maybe 2/3 weeks ago. She’s since started cutting her top teeth now and her sleeps gone to pot also!

I think there isn’t a whole lot you can do to change the erratic sleep at this age as there is often so much happening. Teething, developmental surges, learning new skills. Baby ibuprofen before bed has helped out little one settle quicker at bedtime. She has longer day naps too now which I assume is because of moving her to her own room and stopping breastfeeding. Increasing solids during the daytime helps too for a more restful night (Especially carbs!)

I think we just have to ride out this period! 🤪 but I would 100% recommend weaning off breast as this made a huge difference for me and my little ones sleep!

hope this helps! 💗

I have a friend who is EBF and has an 18month old who still wakes frequently overnight. I definitely think it’s related to the interrupted sleep.

I wouldn't rely that weaning off breast will help, that is only shown to be the case 18+months. You don't have to stop in advance in nursery unless you actually want to? Mine went to nursery at 11 months and kept breastfeeding til she self weaned at about 22 months. I think it's normal to feed overnight until at least 12 months. Average overnight sleep is 10-11 hours, exactly what yours is doing, you need to do later bedtime if you want a later morning wake up. Especially if he sometimes has 2.45 hours of naps, that's a lot. I'd be keeping that 2nd nap to 1.5 hours maximum. Waking often in the evening suggests he is undertired, so I'd try less nap plus later bedtime and see if that helps.

You don’t need to wean a breastfed baby for nursery if that’s something cause you stress. I EBF both of mine, both went to nursery 4 days a week from 9 months both weaned much later than they (13 months and 20 months). When mine were on a similar schedule they went to be at 8 and woke up at 7. There last nap was usually 2-3 and they couldn’t have went to bed at 7 after that.
I’ve always fed back to sleep and never taught to self settle and they both started putting themselves to sleep and sleeping all night no problem, usually once all their teeth were in around 18 months

Do you reckon the evening waking is undertired instead of overtired then? And that waking from second nap at 2:30/3 until bedtime isn’t too long a wake window for him at near 11 months? Some stuff online says to try an earlier bedtime instead! It’s so confusing, who knew sleep would be such a minefield!!

That's what we found, that they aren't tired enough to stay asleep. Got better with later bedtime.