8 month old breastfed bottle refuser wakes 3-4 times each night

[sharond101]

I am at the end of my tether. My dd is 8 mo and wakes every 2-3 hours and only settles back down with a feed. She takes a deep feed like she is really hungry and I am worried my milk is not satisfying her but she won't take a bottle. I have tried several and cups and am now thinking cold turkey is the only way to do it but I am scared it won't fix the problem and I'll be worse off since as well as waking 3-4 times I'll be making up bottles of formula too. This started before weaning, around 10 weeks ago. I tried to night wean her but every night she screamed for 3-4 hours solid, waking the whole house up and doing my back in whilst trying to comfort her.

How much does she eat and drink in the day?

Is she teething? Ill (colds)?

Imo at 8 months I would give my baby a milk feed at wake up for the day, morning, afternoon and bedtime.

Do not feed to sleep anymore. Feed at waking only. Before bed do milk, pjs, teeth, book then bed. Create some distance.

For night wakings do you have anyone else that can help? Only settle in the cot, very little contact just so she's aware she's not alone. I just said it's okay it's time to sleep now.

8 months is still so small and every 3 hours isn't actually that bad for night waking. My youngest is one now. She always would wake at 11pm and 3am until very recently. Breast milk is digested quickly as its so pure, it doesn't sit heavy in their stomach. I'd just co-sleep and feed her back to sleep whenever she needs it. Time will pass, she'll sleep through in her own time.

She is eating well solid wise through the day, 3 meals but only small breastfeeds. No illness or teething and this has been going on around 10 weeks now.

I don't have help in the night no. I try to settle in the cot but she screams and screams. She goes down to nap awake but feeds to sleep at night so perhaps should adjust bedtime to suit this although how do I do this if she falls asleep before pjs on etc?

If she falls asleep before pjs I'd wake her up to put them on