8 month old wants to feed every 2-3 hours through the night - how do I stop it?

[Nickname1980]

My baby just turned 8 months and has always been a fairly bad sleeper. I kept hoping things would get better as he got older, but nothing has changed.

He wants to feed every 2/3hrs, even at night. This is the usual pattern: 7oz bottle of formula at 7pm, 5oz bottle of formula at 10:30pm, breastfeed at midnight, breastfeed at 3am, 5oz bottle of formula at 5am.

How on earth do I break that?! But gently. If i'd wanted to do CIT, I'd have done it by now.

He eats plenty of solid food during the day - three meals - and drinks plenty of breastmilk.

Any advice?

I had a similar problem. At 4 months DS went back to:

7.30pm
11.30pm
1.30am
4.30am
8.30am

I dropped the 1.30am then the 11.30pm over a month period buy soothing and dummy use.

Helps that he is in a bedside cot I think.

Good luck.

Still wiring out how to drop 4.30am!

No advice I am afraid just sympathy. My 9 month old is almost exactly the same. Nothing makes any difference. He is currently in his cot crying because I have run out of energy for shhhing and patting him and putting his dummy back in: he has been awake since 3.30, it's 5.15 now. I am so sleep deprived but this baby does not seem to sleep. I feed him because if I don't he screams place down and will wake the other two. I wish I had a magic sleep wand.

Hello - I had very similar with my DS. I feel for you as I also currently have a non-sleeping 7 month old (just posted on here about that)! Slightly different with her as it's not so much the feeding that's the problem, more just the waking. But with my DS I fed him every 2 hours probably - and when we went to a sleep consultant, the first thing she said was make sure he goes down awake at the start of the night (even if means giving milk before bath), then start to reduce the time I fed him for in the night. So if it was a 10 min breastfeed, reduce by a minute each night. Ease him off breast and get him back into cot before he's quite finished. Sounds like a recipe for disaster but surprisingly he didn't seem to mind as was so sleepy anyway and let's face it, not really that hungry as was feeding so constantly! But I think you have to do the gradual reducing in this way as you can't just suddenly cut out all those night feeds. Also reduce that first bottle of formula at 10.30?

Should really have said, so you keep going like that, until they are effectively having v short night feeds of just a couple of minutes, and then they can be dropped. In my very hazy memory of those years, that did work!

Oh no leelteloo - I totally sympathise!

A magic sleep wand would be great, wouldn't it? My husband and I sometimes bicker because I'm so tired all the time...

I hope your LO went back to sleep!

I think some babies just need to feed through the night,8 months is little still. My ds did the same. I wouldn't drop any feeds until after a year personally, then you know for sure it's just comfort feeding and you can pat and use a dummy instead. Babies are exhausting

Saying that the post about reducing the time you feed sounds sensible and manageable.

Thanks RooTwo! I will try that tonight and keep you posted!

I've never tried reducing - i do the opposite thinking "this will fill him up and he'll sleep longer..." But I think the hunger is habit.

Yep babies are so exhausting, DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen!

I am never sure whether he's feeding at night because he's in the habit of eating then. To be honest, if I could just drop one of those feeds, I'd be so much better rested...