Habit or hunger?

[MonkeyandParrot]

Over the weekend, I've stopped feeding DD2 to sleep. She now settles with 10/15 mins patting and shushing and a little moaning but is still waking every hour to breastfeed and feeding very well. Every time she feeds, I am waking her up a little to ensure that she is going back into bed awake. She is 14 months and has been on solids for 2 months now - is this genuine hunger? Or just a habit? How do I break the habit if so? Thanks

If she's been on solids for 2 weeks surely she is not 14 months but 14 weeks?

In which case she will very much still need to feed at night and will be in between 2 major growth spurts (12 and 16 weeks). The night feeds are when your milk production is at its best and boosted the most, so though every hour does sound like a lot, I wouldn't rule out hunger at all - especially if she is taking a lot when you do feed her.

This stage doesn't alst, you're about to go into the hardest bit (lasts until about 20 weeks) and then is will probably get better. If you're serious about long-term breastfeeding, this is the time to do as much of it as possible, you'll feel the benefits later on (in terms of your body being able to adapt to different feeding/expressing schedules if you are going back to work and so on) I know it's hard (dd2 fed twice a night until a year old and she was definitely hungry, not comfort sucking.

14 months?

Why are you waking her up? You could be disturbing her sleep more. I'd just put her down asleep if she drops off during a feed - if she self settles at the start of the night, you're fine.

If she's 14 weeks then solids could be filling her up at the expense of milk - milk is more calorific than baby rice, veg or fruit so she'll need to feed. Plus there's a big growth spurt at 4-5 months.

She 14 months but refused solids until she was 12 months - delayed weaning runs in the family and she has tummy problems but they shouldn't affect her sleep!

My HV said to never feed her to sleep but ensure she always self settles, but i think iggly is right. I'm too exhausted to think at the mo. I'll focus on self settling at the start then just go with her. Thanks

i'm a bit confused by your post. she's feeding every hour through the night at 14 months? you must be on your knees with exhaustion! how long does she feed for? surely just a few minutes each time as otherwise one feed would simply run into the next and she wouldn't be sleeping at all? and for you - i've no idea how you have managed to cope with this for so long.

Honestly - she sounds like she must be having tummy trouble with such frequent wakings. What's her diet like?

Thanks - she is awful with solids and it pretty much depends on if I get her gaviscon down or not (she suffers from heartburn so has to have the gaviscon to settle her tummy before she eats). I've been referred to a dietican so fingers crossed it should get sorted soon! And yes she feeds every hour for 20 mins at night and yes thats why i'm tired .