7m old needs 2 night feeds

[emandme]

Hi, my baby is 7 months and for a couple of weeks had been going through the night with no feed. She has just recently begun waking again twice through the night (the first time between 11pm-12am)

She will only settle after a bottle and she absolutely guzzles it so I assume that she is hungry. After the second feed she can still take an hour or so to go back to sleep and I have been taking her into my bed as this seems to help.

Do you think this could be a growth spurt? Everything that I have read advises that a 7mo should not need a feed through the night but I cannot settle her withot it. I wondered what people thought or if people have had a similar senario with baby the same age?

Thanks

Is she teething? My 10-month old wakes to cry about teething but has to have a bottle to go back down. I don't mind as teething only lasts a couple of nights at a time and mostly he sleeps through.

ignore things you have read, is perfectly normasl for 7mos to feed at night

agree tis a bugger when they have previously slept through though

Thanks for your replies

No Turtleann she isnt teething as far as I can tell, but I suppose that might be a possibility. Although this has been going on for over a week.

Mrsbadger thanks this does make me feel better

I hae noticed that if I bring her in with me for the first feed she doesnt wake up for another one. Not sure why but I think I will carry on doing that til this spell is over!

yep, my DD is 17 months and STILL eating at night........although now its only one bottle, but she really does knock it back so is obviously hungry.

they all mature at different rates, i recon in the next 2 or 3 months she will have totally outgrown it.

its mostly just a pain in the bum with still having broken sleep. (me i mean, DH doesnt move a muscle... )

Well now I know I should brace myself for several more months of the same!

I have a friend who keeps telling me to start making the bottle really watery so she wont want it anymore (and therefore sleep through). I may just start lying to her and tell her she sleeps through now!

She seems to go through phases that last a couple of weeks or so, I guess this is totally normal for a little growing baby

Are you weaning her yet?
If so prehaps she needs more 'food' during the day?
Just a thought

I am weaning her. It could be that. She pretty uch refuses to eat purees so have just been giving her loads of finger foods and letting her feed herself.

I have been a bit worried that I dont know if she is eating enough or not but Ifigured that is how blw is done, so it must be ok?

She lets me feed her a couple of things on a spoon; yoghurt, fruit puree and anything by ella's kitchen. I suppose I could top her up with these and see if it makes a difference.

She only woke up once last night (midnight), so was thinking of trying a dream feed before I go to bed.

My 7 month old also usually has 2 feeds at night, midnight-ish and then again at 4ish...so you're not alone.

A lot of people I know are trying to wean their babies off feeds at night, but if my DD wakes because she's hungry...I will feed her. I don't restrict her milk during the day, so can't see the difference at night.

As you're BLW (in the true sense of the word by the sounds of it ) she probably will take in less in the way of food to begin with. We're BLW too, so I know some days bog all actually goes in! Plus, milk is still their most important source of nutrition until they are 1.

I'm trying to look at it phisophically. It won't be long before she's tearing about with not second thought for milk, so I will enjoy all these quiet milky cuddles while I've got them!

Thanks very much for all your comments, it is making me feel that everything is perfectly normal with my little one

It is hard sometimes not to get bogged down in all the pressure for your baby to 'sleep through the night'. Everyone else always seems to claim theirs sleep for 12 hours a night and hae done since 4 months!

I think I am just going to trust my own instincts.

Oh, and to tell anyone that asks that she sleeps for 12 hours a night thank you very much!!

I am probably going to get shot down for this as I disagree with the other posts! Sorry!

I really believe that if they get enough calories during the day, there is no reason for them to wake from hunger during the night (of course there will be other reasons for waking, but it should not be because they are hungry!)

Don't get me wrong, there are many occasions when my LO woke at night and I couldn't get him back to sleep - a bottle worked a treat at sending him back off, especially when teething. At about 9 months it became a bit too regular and a 'habit'. He would wake every night (around 5am) - after all, why would a baby turn down the chance to have a nice, warm bottle of milk and a glimpse of Mummy in the night?! I read a book about how important sleep was to brain development and growth and was determined to have him sleep long stretches for HIS benefit (and mine ). I went cold turkey, refused him the milk and after two mornings of tantrums he never woke again!

From what you have said about weaning, it sounds like she is not eating enough (also, remember that fruit puree is not going to keep her full for long - I would wake as an adult if I had only had fruit and veg). Have you tried adding protein to her diet (if she will take Ella's kitchen, can you add a few teaspoons of blended chicken)?

Anyway, good luck and I hope things start to improve

I sort of agree with what addicted is saying but I would have said it the other way round: ' if you can't be sure there getting enough protein during the day you can't have the confidence to refuse feeds at night' . I stopped feeding mine at night when they were eating breakfast and 2 cheesy/meaty /lentilly/fishy meals a day.

This makes sense that she may not be getting enough protein. I hadnt even thought about that

I have dug out my annabel karmel book and am going to make some things to put on toast for her. May even ty spoon feeding her some too

Another in agreement with addicted. Once they are on 3 meals a day (with protein), you are basically teaching them how to settle - by eating, not good, sorry.

Find other ways to gently teach her to re settle herself in the night as we all come into a lighter phase in the night but don't want a bottle of milk to be the solution.

oh that sounded nippy, sorry! 2 yr old forcing a digger into my hands. I think it'
s a message to say get off MN and play with me - damn!.

Seven months is still really little. Two wakings a night seems totally normal and acceptable to me - my 15 month old wakes once a night still.

I did BLW but my husband spoon fed, and it made no difference at all to her night waking who she'd been home with that day. At 7 months a growth spurt is pretty normal.

You need to decide; if your family is really suffering from lack of sleep, maybe you want to consider artificially changing her sleep/eat patterns. If not, don't worry. It's normal either way and will sort itself out.

I have been spoon feeding her along with giving her a choice of finger foods for the last couple of days. I have been giving her cheese, lentils and fish (sorry to sound a bit daft, but these are all good sources of protein arent they? )

To be honest I was getting a bit worried that when she was just feeding herself she wasnt getting enough so spoon feeding her a little seems a nice compromise. She lets me know pretty clearly when she wants some food from the spoon and when she doesnt! She point blank refuses loads of stuff from the spoon

As for her sleeping, she has been teething so I think this has been part of the problem. However, on reflecting on it I dont think her waking has been habitual, I think she had been needing the milk. Now that I am happy she is getting enough during the day I am happy to feed her when she needs it at night. She seems to have dropped one of the feeds of her own accord so I am not too worried about setting a bad habit.

Thank you all for your comments, Mumsnet is awesome . (I am new)