3-4 feeds at night for 6mo old? End of tether reached.

[Koop]

Hi, I know the are a billion threads on this subject but I'm about to crack. My 6mo DS goes to sleep at 8, then wakes at approx 12, 2, 3ish and 4 for feeds. Then he properly wakes at about 5.
With each feed taking around 20 mins I'm just exhausted.
He has a morning nap around 10am for half an hour, and most days an afternoon nap for an hour or so. He's on 3 solid meals a day, plus milk (breast). Regular to bed routine of bath, feed, bed.
Does he really need all these night feeds? I pick him up and he furiously chews on the side of my face as soon as he's level with me, so I've been assuming he's really hungry. I've been starting him on a bottle for one daytime feed in the last week as he's starting nursery next week (going back to work) but I won't be able to work if I feel like this every day. Would 'hungry milk' before bed help, or is that a load of hogwash? Any advice appreciated before I lose my mind.

there are not the are. So tired I can't read anymore. :(

We sort of co slept for the first 5 months, (he'd come into bed for his first feed and I'd fall asleep) it was great for easy feeding, but my sleep was still awful as I kept waking up worried about rolling onto him. :-/

My DD is the same age and just the same, sorry!

Hi Koop,

Most people in this section are all suffering sleep problems so if you want some advice on sleep solutions then try posting in parenting cos then you'll find some people who have cracked it. Hope that makes sense!

Try giving him something solid before going down at night, ready brek used to be a favourite with ds. It just filled him up and made him sleep longer

Thanks all, maybe I'll ask elsewhere. Doesn't matter how much food I give him before bed, makes no difference to his sleeping pattern. Maybe he'll grow out of it before I lose my mind. >__

My DD did the same, it is normal but is incredibly hard. Her sleep continued like this until 9 months when I did some sleep training (using the Jay Gordon method). So nothing I can really offer you except to say it's very hard. He may well grow out of it without you having to do a lot, but I would recommend googling Jay Gordon nightweaning for some tips. In the meantime is there any way you can maximise your sleep by going to bed at 8, at least for a couple of nights a week?

Hi I think it will be worth trying hungry baby milk just not too much too soon you don't want to cause constipation may be give last bottle before bed? Good luck!!

I was still feeding DS2 at 6-7months at night and it was only the HV saying he didn't need a night feed that gave me the confidence to stop. We used his dummy and then once he got past wanting a night feed we stopped the dummy.

Do you feed him everytime he wakes up, how long is he feeding for when he wakes up at night? I think the big thing is to find out if he is really hungry or he is needing comfort feeds at night.

It's years since DS was that young, but in our case what worked was to ensure he had a heavy meal before bed time, waking him up at 11 for another feed and then, if he woke up at night go to see him, probably holding him but keeping the lights off and... no eye contact when we did (because if we did, someway that would keep him awake and amused for hours rather than minutes).

I'm just going to say I feel your pain. DS is 8mo and wakes up at least 4 times a night. Recently he's been waking up less than every 2 hours as he's got FOUR teeth coming through .

He's still in my room (though in a cot) so I'm not sure how to tackle sleep training but I hope to soon.

Good luck!

Hope you're still reading this thread OP! We may still have sleep problems but a lot if us have successfully gotten over previous hurdles! We had that problem at 5 months. Nothing would get her back to sleep except boob. We did sleep training at 5.5 months as also at end of tether. I figured she couldn't possibly need tot feed more frequently at night than in the day. We use a gradual withdrawal method to teach self-settling at bedtime and for night wakings, but if she'd gone at least three hour since previous feed I fed her. We were quickly down to self-settling to sleep and 2 feeds, and by 7 months reliably down to one feed. You have to be consistent with what you do, don't give in after 20mins!

My dd is 6mo and I always found the better she sleeps in the day the better she sleeps at night. One half an hour nap and possibly one small afternoon nap between 5am and bedtime just doesnt seem enough.

Also, the more milk he has in the daytime will hopefully reduce how much he needs night time.