9mo, too much milk, solids and waking up at night - what's wrong?

[Paula30CWR]

My 9mo baby boy is definitely having more than 600 mils of milk in 24 hours. But the thing is that i can't stop it. He has breakfast + 200 mils, lunch + 200 mils, supper, bedtime and 200 mils. In between meals, he has sometimes 150 mils and then at night he wakes up for more!

I give him substantial solid food and fluids but he wouldn't go to sleep without his milk and he's still waking up at night. And it's not like he ever slept through the night. He always woke up at least once.

I went to the HV a couple of weeks ago and told me to stop giving him so much milk - which I completely understood. But then I have a hungry baby.

I don't know what to do. He's a big boy - not overweight, just hungry.

Can anyone tell me what to do? Because I don't know.

thanks

Hi Paula, I'm no expert so can only tell you my experience. My ds is now 8.5 months old and has only recently started sleeping through the night eg last couple of weeks. He was having 5 bottles throughout 24 hours, each bottle being 8oz (think that's just over 200ml per bottle). 3 were during the day, 1 at 11pm and 1 through the night. The hv told me I was giving him too much milk, and this was causing him to wake up for milk out of habit more than anything.

I increased his solids - do you feed your ds until he refuses more food, or until you feel he should have eaten enough? My ds is a very hungry, active baby and he eats far more than I thought he should! He has 3 substantial meals a day, and also a morning & afternoon snack eg fruit or a biscuit. Me and dh then spent about a week having the worst nights imaginable, refusing to give him milk during the night. Just stayed sat with him, stroking & cuddling but not feeding.

This was painful for the first few days, then it just seemed to click for ds, although he isn't consistently sleeping through the night he is not having milk hem he wakes up and I think if he wasn't teething he would be letting me have a full night's sleep now! He isn't having any extra milk during the day. He also used to have milk as a drink, but has water now, I only offer bottles 3 times a day.

Good luc with it, just do what works for you and your ds.

Hi RockChick1984. Thanks a lot for your comments. It really helped. I think my baby needs more activity like crawling and getting tired; however, he still doesn't do it.

Like you, I'm giving Jack like 5 bottles in 24hours. Three bottles of 8oz and small bottles in the morning and afternoon. Then at around 11pm or later, he definitely wakes up for another one (small). So, the HV would kill me but my husband says he's a big boy and he wants more milk. He eats during his three meals but not much. He refuses to eat sometimes by pushing my hand away, which frustrates me a bit. So, if I see he hasn't had enough, I give him a rusk, which he plays with but doesn't eat. Oh dear. I just think, it's cold and we all get hungrier, why can't he eat snacks?

I will give him big pieces of fruit today and see what happens, but I guess that as he doesn't have any teeth yet, probably he finds it annoying.

So, he has a lot of milk, three meals but doesn't eat a lot. Still when he eats the three meals without a problem and has a lot of milk, he wakes up at night. There were nights when we left him moan and he eventually got back to sleep (sleeping through), but that must have been just 3 times and not in a row. If he wakes up, he moans and builds up.

I will try to increase the solids with snacks like fruits and give him some yoghurt with it. Does your ds have teeth? Does he crawl? I think that helps with the sleeping.

Thanks a lot for your advice and I do think that we have to do what is best for us.

xxx

It's all very well the HV telling you to give him less milk but if he wants it, he wants it! And if he's not interested in solids then that's fine too, you're doing the right thing following his lead. I would just keep offering the solids and snacks but don't force it. Does he have a dummy or comforter? I used to feed DS at every wakening and then decided to try his dummy and he went back off! Crawling has definitely helped with the sleeping here, and also with wanting more solids too.