10 month old - waking at 3 or 4 am

[Liskey]

Hi

Feeling desperate. DD has decided at 10 months that she will drop her 23.00 feed (She's only just 15lb) as she's been refusing it when we've tried to give it to her.

However first few days she slept till 4.30/5 am which was fine - however she's now waking at 3 or 4am and only settling back down for another milk feed which means that she won't want breakfast later.

Any ideas about how we can break this sleep pattern please??

Feeling really sleep deprived today as she also screamed at 01.00 and 02.00 and went back to sleep but I didn't of course.

Please tell me this gets better - DH and I could cry as we're both feeling so tired now.

gradually reduce the amount of milk you give, if Breast, reduce by time, if bottle, reduce by quantity and/or water it down a bit gradually.
also try to just cuddle and put back down, leave to cry for a bit and see if settles herself.
sorry if you've already tried this!

Thanks for replying - She's bottle fed on a special prescription formula for slow weight gain. Dietician has said she needs to reduce/cut out a feed to encourage her food intake - we were really pleased at first as we thought she was doing it by herself!

I tried last night to cuddle her and put her down but she screamed the house down! I'll try and maybe give her half a feed tonight? that'll be about 60/80 mls for her!

good luck!
i would probably redeuce it a bit more gradually than that.
we had to do the same with my son, it worked but took a while.

Is your LO taking solids? If so, what does her diet consist of? For example if you are feeding fruit/veg/baby rice then she will be hungry in the night as these foods do not sustain hunger. She will need protein based meals to encourage her to sleep better. Also, are you solid meals and milk feeds structured? Perhaps if you gave us an idea of your feeding day then it may be possible to see where you could tweak things?

Cheers for that

We're trying to wean her but its not easy with her - she wants to feed herself a lot of the time and therefore doesn't actually get a lot in her mouth!

We do give her protein based food but I don't think she eats a lot yesterday she had:

Milk at 04.00 100 mls

Wake up at 5.45 and milk 120 ml

Breakfast 07.20 Aptamil cereal - she had some - about 8 weaning spoons maybe and toast afterwards - sucks it and then thrown on the floor

About 10 she'll have a snack - piece of banana and a crisp followed by more milk

Lunch about 12 - yesterday she ate some mashed sweet potato and carrot with chicken pieces

2ish she'll have more milk and a nap

Tea 4.30 - baked beans on toast - which she did eat some of followed by about 1/3 pot of fromage frais - some days she will eat a whole tub of this if distracted enough.

Then milk about 18.30 and bed.

Today however she woke at 4 and I went down about 4.30 to get her a little feed by the time I got back she'd gone to sleep and woke up at 06.10.

that's great!!
slowly you'll get there.
another tip for getting her to wake later is to gradually leave her a bit longer each day - this worked for us anyway.