I'm having a nightmare with 5mo DD.... Help!

[Newbabynewmum]

Argh!

My 5 month old DD wakes at least twice in the night. I can cope when she just wants a bottle - eyes closed - and straight back to sleep. But increasingly she properly wakes up for around an hour a time refusing to have a bottle or go back to sleep.

Tonight she went to sleep at 7pm, bottle at 10pm, awake 1-2am & awake again 4-5am.

I need help! She had 3 meals of puree/baby porridge which go down really well but she refuses to have more than 1 bottle in the day. She then has 2 bottles to get to sleep & 2 more bottles throughout the night.

I am absolutely desperate. I have been up with her every dingle night now for 5 months. I can handle the bottles but waking up for an hour at a time is slowly eating away at me.

Please help!!

*single night .... God I'm tired!

I would be tempted to cut down on the food and try to increase the bottles. Puree/rice/porridge etc don't have the calories that milk does (let alone other nutrients) so she is probably hungry. I know it seems like a backwards step, but it's what I'd try

What was she like before you weaned her? Did she drink more during the day and sleep better? If so.....

As for being more awake at night, sadly I think that's just cos she's developing at an astounding rate and wants to explore the exciting world around her! You could try wearing her out during the day, but not sure it will make much difference!

She has always been a very alert very awake baby - she naps for 2hours or less in the day & gets bored very easily.

Before the weaning she still had significantly more bottles at night than in the day. I may just have to accept this might I?!

Thank u for your ideas, I'll try getting more milk down her in the day. She's always been a big baby - 98 percentile her whole life & has been on hungry baby milk since about a month!

When she wakes in the night for an hour or so, can't you just feed/attempt a feed then put her back in bed and leave her to it? Or does she cry when left alone?

Developmental spurts do cause night wakings and sleeplessness in the middle of the night apparently, but my dd (nearly 5 mo) will just happily chat or squeal for a while and eventually go back to sleep herself. Admittedly I do tend to lie awake listening to her but it's far less soul destroying than actually entertaining her in the middle of the night!

Agree with the others about cutting down food a bit to increase milk intake if you can...

DS is similar, also 5 months, not weaned yet, but wants to drink more at night than day, if allowed. Think it's because there's more going on to distract him during day feeds, and it's not like I can go somewhere quiet as have 3yo DD

I am trying to restrict the amount he drinks per feed at night, so he still has something, but is hungry during the day and wants to feed then. Some success, but not always. He's also starting to get alert in the night, though usually only from 5am onwards. He typically wakes at 10pm, 1.30am and 4.30am, for feeds. Often wakes at other times and needs comforting back to sleep

Feel your pain!