Baby wakes up 7 times in the night for feed - is that normal?

[IndigoTea]

Hi,

My DS who is 6 months old wakes up around 7 times at night for a feed or suck on my breast. He goes to sleep around 10pm and wakes up between 7am-9am. I'm really tired and I don't know what to do. I must mention he has silent reflux (is on medication now), and has been very fussy due to it since birth. We also co-sleep as that was the only way he would sleep. Can anyone help, and give me tips on how to decrease the number of waking ups and feeds during the night?

Dummy: sounds like he's using you as one. Are you weaning yet? 7 times is too much at this age unless it's hunger our comfort. If you're sure he's feeding correctly the shouldn't need to feed so often. Sometimes they go through a demanding time to boost your supply if they are hungry. Try a bottle of boiled cooled water or a dummy rather than breast. Have you chatted to your hv?

Does he get plenty to eat in the day? he shouldn't need to feed for hunger this often unless it's a growth spurt. Do you feed him to sleep? If so he may have become dependant on feeding to resettle. Elizabeth Pantley's book The No Cry Sleep Solution has lots of ideas for gently breaking this habit and has sections dedicated to co sleeping mums. I found ds was waking more as he got older as he seemed more aware and knew I was there so would want to feed despite not being hungry. I found the only solution was to move him to his own room as his boob radar is too finely tuned! But Pantley has lots of ideas which might help you so I hope you can continue to co sleep happily.

Oh and also how much sleep does he get in the day? 10pm is a very late bedtime and if he's waking up often he isn't getting a good stretch of sleep so could be chronically overtired which leads to very bad sleep. Ds sleep is much better now he has 3.5 hrs naps in the day and about 12 at night.