9 month old wakes every three hours at night

[SukhC2017]

My 9 month old baby wakes ever three hours at night. Should I start giving him a night feed again, sometimes it takes 1-2 hours to resettle him, could it be down to hunger?

I don't really want to start night feeds again as I feel like it would be going backwards, but if he needs it, I don't want him going hungry. He does eat three times a day but not a great deal e.g dinner is often 5-6 spoons of dinner, slice of cheese and a bit of bread. Any suggestions?

If he's not eating enough then it could be hunger.

A better answer would be to increase calorie intake in the daytime though. High calorie foods, bigger portions, more frequent meals, daytime milk feeds.

Thanks for the reply, I am trying to get him to eat more, it a real struggle, he just locks his lips.😕 I'll try feeding him more frequently see if that helps.

Ds2 is the same. 14 months and still wakes, following this post to steal some advice too

Hi
Would need a bit more info about sleep routine/milk/food intake throughout the day to advise.....x

Baby bedtime is usually at 7.15, he normally wakes at about 10.30, then again around 1.30 and again at 4.30.

He wakes for the day at 6.30, has a 210ml bottle at 6.45, then breakfast at 8.00. Breakfast is normally a soldier of toast and a couple spoons of yogurt.

He then has a nap at 9.00am until 10.15ish, on waking he has a 210ml bottle and then lunch at 12.45. lunch is often 5-6 spoons on dinner, 3-4 puffy crisps and a slice of cheese.

He then naps at 2.00 until 3.15ish and has a 150ml of milk. Dinner is at 5pm and simply portion to lunch.

He then has bath at 5.45, followed by massage, and Milk at 6.30pm and storytime then bed at 7.15

The last bottle of the day is also a 210ml

That's quite a lot of milk.....we are the same age and he only gets 2 x 150 ml bottles now...but has 3 pretty large meals plus snacks now too. I only got the food info him by just dropping his milk one day and went cold turkey. It actually wasn't that bad!
What do you do when he wakes at night? Is he upset...? Does he self settle?

Also do you have to wake him from both his day naps?

He wakes crying at night and doesn't settle himself.

Naps I let him wake himself.

I should add my baby is quiet small 9th percentile (well average for Asian babies) weighs 7.47kilos, I have tried dropping his milk but that didn't make him eat anymore.

Perhaps try porridge or weetabix at teatime, something filling and milky?

This was me 5 months ago! If it's any consolation it did resolve without sleep training at 13 months, mainly cause he was better at eating.
Agree with pp regarding a filling dinner, I gave protein first at lunch and the heavy carb first at dinner so I felt he was 'balanced' over the day. We also allowed a toy or distraction during dinner to sneak a few extra mouthfuls in.

Thanks for suggestions, will try getting more food into him and maybe dropping one of his bottles to see if that increases his appetite

How long did you try going by reducing milk to try to get him "hungrier".....
Do you let him cry for a bit when he wakes at night or would you rather not do this?

I think the answer might be more food during the day - can you try a variety of foods to maximise chance of success? As a comparison, at breakfast my 10 month old DS will often eat at least half a slice of jam on toast cut up into soldiers, 8-10 blueberry puffs, quit a bit of fruit and often a yoghurt too. The fruit pouches with added cereal are very good as you can feed them quite a large amount quickly (DS sucks straights from the pouch). You can also make your own and add oats or other filling cereals.

When he wakes at night, will he be pacified by water?

Do you have baby's weight checked often? Is she filling a centile line or losing weight?

Those portions would have been nowhere close to enough for my DD she would be having 3 or 4 times more at each mealtime. But then she was a 91st centile chunk until 12 months old. If you have a tiny, petite 8th centile baby, it's impossible to compare.

I would swap around the order of meals and milks. Don't worry that the timings fobt for within the norms for mealtimes - that will come in time.

6.30 - wake
6.45 - breakfast (solids)
8.30 - milk (as close to naptime as it can without feeding to sleep)
9.00 nap
Upon waking - lunch (solids)
1.30 - milk (as close to naptime as it can without feeding to sleep)
2.00 - nap
Upon waking - milk
5-5.30 - Dinner
7.00 - Bedtime milk

Depending on your child, I would also add milk feeds immediately after every meal to ensure baby was completely full up. As I said though, my DD was a chunk and used to having 2 hourly feeds throughout the day from birth.

Then make sure you use high calorie (but healthy) foods. Fruit and veg are low calories so widen food groups given. Include plenty of protein and carbs. Avocado and banana are higher calorie than many fruit/veg and good first weaning foods.

At this sort of age baby's meals generally followed the pattern of firstly something spoon fed, then some milk (replaced with water as the calories are led needed), then some BLE proper food. Over time less spoonfeeding would be needed as baby independantly are more.

Breakfasts usually involved porridge made with formula, followed by the rest of the formula in the bottle. Then baby would be left with a slice of toast spread with something to 'play with / eat' while I sorted the rest of the family.

Lunches would be a 6m jar of something savoury (spoonfed). Followed by a sandwich, slices of cheese, bits of cucumber etc, followed by fruit? followed by some formula milk (or water as milk was less needed)

Dinner would be a 6m jar of something savoury (spoon fed) followed by whatever we were having, followed by fruit, followed by formula milk (or water when older)

Water does help, but he wakes three hours later. I think his a habitual waker. May try the sleep to wake method aswell

Unfortunately the way to break the habit is to not go into settle him for a few nights unless he's beside himself. Plus increasing solids.....by reducing milk. It may only take a few shitty days/nights but will pay off
Good luck x

I weigh him often, his steadily gaining weight and following the 9th percentile.

Will try dropping his milk

Thanks for all the suggestions