Waking for Night Feeds at 8 months+

[Cemile76]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice as to what could be waking my dd through the night and crying incessantly until she is BF. She is 8 months old and up until just over a couple months ago she was sleeping well through the night. I have been EBF and from about 12 weeks old she was sleeping from 10pm until 7am, waking for a night feed here and there but she was a solid sleeper otherwise.

However once she started rolling and we began weaning, both of which happened at 6 months, her sleeping through has gone out of the window. She wakes at least 3/4 times a night (she sleeps in a bedside cot) crying with her eyes closed until I feed her. We have tried rocking, cuddling, a dummy but she doesn't stop until I feed her. I am giving her three meals a day with water although she doesnt always finish each meal, I'm not sure how much more I can give her alongside breast milk. She has cut throught her bottom two teeth and shows no signs of the top two teeth coming through just yet. Even though I think the advice will be that she's hungry, I dont want to force feed her anymore than she is already having in the day.

Happy to answer any questions and even to be told what I might obviously be doing wrong!

Thank you.

It's not at all unusual to still wake for bf at that age. I've read that Developmental stuff like sitting / rolling / crawling / standing stimulates their brains and disrupts sleep. Plus probably not taking in enough from solid food yet to fill them up and replace milk. Try and give more milk in the day? But there's probably not much you can do, I'd just feed her as soon as she wakes and get back to sleep asap

Thank you SliceOfLime, that's quite reassuring. I think as I am returning to work soon I feel quite anxious about how tired I'm feeling as we are waking up so much. I have resorted to co-sleeping and feeding whilst lying down but then worry I'm developing another bad habit!

Hopefully it resolves itself soon.

What's wrong? What's right? It's so hard, isn't it OP? I still don't have the answers. Our third DC is 15 months old and has never slept through... not once. I've been waiting for that morning where DH and I look at each other and go, "Oh my God! It happened! Finally!" High fives all around. Nope. Not even close. I still wake up about 4 times a night and I am a shadow of the woman I used to be. I really, really, really think it's down to two things: security/separation and the teeth. I don't think there is such a thing as bad habits. With all three of my kids I've just decided, "This is it. For the next year I shall happily live in the trenches."

I co-slept with two of my three. My middle child was stellar! By 8 months she was sleeping all night and I never looked back. My other two were (one still is) absolute night owls. I have never worked out the sleep solution. But I think you need to just bunk down and sleep wherever, however. Whatever gets you some shuteye is the short-term solution. In your gorgeous little baby's favour, your DD has a history of being a champion sleeper. So I have a feeling this phase will be short-lived. See if she bites down hard on your finger when she is crying in the night. It may very well be more teeth on the way.

Thank you horsewalksintoabar that was also a reassuring message. It's not easy navigating motherhood and figuring out whether you're doing this right or not. We hall keep plodding along and hope that you are right and this is just a phase!

My 22 month old slept through for the first time 2 weeks ago so I think you're doing a great job ????.
It's normal to still be waking for feeds and I really don't think there's much you can do, unless you want to go down the route of controlled crying/sleep training.

Thank you WorldsBiggestGrotBag. You've done well yourself to have gotten this far waking through the night for almost two years! But we just do it don't we? I have to say the comments on here really put my mind at ease and I just accepted that she's fine and its just going to be this way for a while. Some days are better than others and I just nap with her on those days when I am particularly tired. Thank you all again :)

My DD is 8 months too, she's bottle fed and sleeps through but teething can disrupt her sleep as well as the weather/a cold/noise etc!

I just think it's normal even if previously sleeping through! It's tough but it's just babies!

My Dd2 was the same. Great sleeper to 6 months and pretty rubbish since. Glimmer of hope sun/Monday as she only woke X2 for v short feeds but back to normal again with several wake-up.
Teeth/digestion /separation just don't know.
Fingers crossed she gets there soon. Yawn
Good luck

cemile76 I could've written the exact same post!
Everything got worse at 6m when dd learnt to roll over and started in solids. Co sleeping since then and awake for 10min feeds every 2 hours in the night. Ebf so dh has a great time in the spare room as I'm the only one who can feed her!! Refuses bottles.

Is this normal? It's become normal for us and I miss sleep!
8m old now and such a stubborn baby!

Babies waking in the night is normal. Don't feel pressure to conform to some stupid ideal peddled by misguided sleep experts. My daughters sleep went from fantastic to broken at 4 myths and then worse again at 9mths when she started moving. Get rest when you can. Co sleeping def helps! Giving comfort and milk when your baby wants will not make a bad habit but raise a secure and happy child!

After posting here, I have just accepted that its normal and I'm (hopefully) not doing anything to cause the waking and extra feeding.

As kittyvet said, there isn't anything wrong with cosleeping if its working, that's what we are doing. I have also taken to taking a nap with dd in the mornings and that has helped some!

We shall get there pesto11!

Omg my son has been doing the same thing and hes 8 1/2month. It's been going on for about a month now and he was a solid sleeper, basically exactly the same as yours but I'm still only feeding twice a day and he's been bottled fed from birth. It's driving me up the wall! Im glad. I'm not the only one tho. I'm thinking of increasing his feeds, to make sure he's not going hungry through the day and see if that works. And just hope its a temporary thing cos I need my sleep!!!

Hi GreenEyedMonster2014. I check back every once in a while in case anyone else has come across the thread. I am actually glad to see it isn't just me struggling through the nights!

Yesterday was particularly difficult as even feeding wasn't helping! I think she might be teething and thats making things more difficult. I couldn't function for the first part of this morning and didn't think I would make it through the day to be honest.

I am trying to offer as much milk as possible throughout the day and she is having at least three meals (although not always finished), but she still wakes crying.

Guess the only thing we can do is lots of hand holding!