7 month old only wants milk in the middle of the night

[MissMitten]

Help...DS has got into a pattern where he doesn't want to feed during the day, instead preferring to have a massive feed at 3am. I am still exclusively breastfeeding but he has been on solids for a month and is having three reasonably hearty solid meals per day. I offer him the boob at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6pm, but increasingly his is not interested and drinks just a little, if anything. Then he glugs for half an hour at 3am every night. He is maintaining a healthy weight (75th percentile) and seems happy enough. I know it's not so bad as it's just once a night, but I am pretty exhausted after 7 months of sleepless nights. Also, I am going back to work soon and not sure how I will cope with early starts plus night wakings. Any tips?

Hi MissMitten - I was going to post exaclty the same as you here!! But I have an 8 month old DD, and is formula fed. It's hard to know what to do isn't it? My little one used to sleep 7 till 7 for a month (bliss!) but has started teething, and has been waking once/twice every night, and only milk settles her. Friday night, I decided to do CC, which suited me, but am aware it doesn't suit everybody. Sat night she slept 7pm still 4am, had a feed at 5am and went back to sleep until 8am. Which is good in my book. Seems she can go until 4am/5am every night. Ideally, I'd like her to sleep 7-7. I've tried to let her cry at 4am, to see if she'll settle herself, she kind of does (thumb in mouth, sleeps for 10 mins, the wakes again and cry etc etc). I hate being sleep deprived, ugh. With two other DD as well, its hard going. For now, I will carry on with the 5am feed because its basically a nights sleep for a baby, from 7pm until 5am. I blame the teething, poor thing.
Is CC an option for you?
I'm also going back to work soon - dreading it! Hope you'll find an answer soon x

I came on here to try and find advice for my 7 month old who, it seems, is exactly the same as yours. I could have written your post word for word, except that my ds wants boob at 11pm, 2am and 4am! He won't nurse during the day, he just wants solids (of which he also has three good meals). I try and feed at the same times as you but he hardly has anything. He is far too interested in everything else going on and I genuinely feel like I'm forcing it on him. He prefers to fill up at night snuggled in bed next to mummy. Great for him, but I really need to start getting some sleep now. So sorry, no advice, but much sympathy.

So, I just called the National Breastfeeding Helpline (0300 100 0212) and got some reassurance, if not exactly help. The nice lady said that this is quite common behaviour and is often because babies have reached an age where they are really distracted during the day and are having solid food to fill them up, so are not interested in milk. Instead they decide to feast at night when there is nothing more interesting going on. Also, our milk is nice and plentiful/nutritious at night so it's a good time for them. In terms of the baby, this is all fine as long as they are still gaining weight, but of course it's troublesome for us. The helpline lady suggested offering the boob more often during the day to see if they can get more interested and to keep our milk supply up. She also said not to offer water as this can fill them up and prevent them from feeding.

Bessyboop: I had considered cc, but am worried that if he is really hungry then I should feed him. On the other hand, cc might get him through the night but waking up nice and hungry, which would be great. Hmm...

I hope things get better ladies!

My dd is eleven months and now I am at work she holds out for boob at night - she drinks a few sips of milk or water from a cup during the day, and then basically feeds most of the night, waking about 1am. I just let her feed and we co sleep, carefully. Ds was exactly the same.

This is US now.. did it get better for you?

Yes, but I can't remember when now! I seem to recall that by the time I went back to work at 8.5 months things had got better by themselves, but I was still up once a night. By 11 months he was well and truly sleeping through the night, after we finally decided to do some controlled crying (or intermittent comforting, as a friend nicely put it). That's probably no help at all, sorry!