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Sleep

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Original poster

9 month old wants bf every 2 hours at night, but won't feed during the day

13 replies

AlbertaWildRose · 09/04/2007 11:40

DS is 9 months old, does well with solid food (BLW) but hardly ever asks for bf during the day anymore. I try to offer it and he is too interested in other things to bother with feeding. The problem is that he is waking up every 2 hours during the night to feed, and I am totally knackered! Any suggestions as to how I can give him more milk in the day so he doesn't wake up so much at night? Thanks.

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SenoraPostrophe · 09/04/2007 11:47

ds2 is similar - he wakes 3 times a night at 7 months and has more milk in the night than in the day (I think).

here are my strategies, whcih seem to be working, although it's hard to tell as he keeps getting ill:

give a big feed before naptime, bedtime, and a breakfast-in-bed feed if you can. I find these feeds work better than others. in fact the others are more or less a dead loss these days.

make a time, say 4am to start with, and resolve not to feed after that time to encourage a bigger breakfast. It's hard work, and I have resoprted to rocking ds back to sleep in the car seat but it is working. some babies go back to sleep with just a dummy. Done't worry if he still doen't bf much in the day: they can get more than you think from one quick feed, plus at 9 months you can feed him yoghurt etc if you;'re worried about calcium.

give water in a bottle with meals. or even a sippy cup actually at 9 months.

also you can try giving water when he wakes at night - he might be thristy rather than hungry. do you have the heating on at night?

Original poster

AlbertaWildRose · 09/04/2007 11:57

Thanks Senora. Some of these things we already do, like big feeds before naptime and bedtime, and water in a cup with meals. I try the breakfast-in-bed feed in the morning, but it doesn't work if DH is in the room, as DS is daddy obsessed and loves to look at him and play with him! We do have the heating on for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, so he may be thirsty, I'll try giving him water when he wakes. He has absolutely no interest in a bottle, so it will have to be out of a cup. Good luck to you as well!

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Quootiepie · 09/04/2007 12:01

Do you co-sleep? I found DS fed alot when we co-slept, just sort of one of those things. Do you feed him everytime he cries? I know now DS is in a cot, when he cries I wait a little while before I do anything, because sometimes he will settle himself back to sleep. When we co-slept, and I breastfed, as soon as he stirred i'd plug him up with some breast But, if he does really want feeding at the moment, there's not too much you can do. DS grew out of it, even while co-sleeping at around this age.

Original poster

AlbertaWildRose · 09/04/2007 12:07

Hi Quootie, we don't co-sleep all the time, but sometimes I'll bring him in to bed if I'm too tired to get up and feed him in his room. Yes, I have to admit I feed him almost every time he cries- sometimes DH is able to settle him with a cuddle, but usually I feed him. I just hate having him cry- CC is definitely not for us, but I do think I need to do something. He used to be a great sleeper before all his teeth began coming (he has 7 now), and hasn't really recovered since then.

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Quootiepie · 09/04/2007 12:10

hmmmm, see I hate CC so really went with the flow. I never refused a feed, just waited maybe 30 seconds or so. Depends whether he was crying or just making noises. I didn't really do much, he mainly grew out of it. He is 12 months now and has been sleeping through for one or two month which at 9 months I thought he would never ever sleep through!. Erm, can you express and give milk rich foods during the day at all? Give dinner early so his bedtime feed is longer as he is hungrier? As i said, DS really just grew out of it...

SenoraPostrophe · 09/04/2007 12:13

ah - I should have asked that!

You should try cuddling (or pref just patting him) back to sleep. It really works! with ds initially I walked up and down with him for up to half an hour, but now if he's not hungry I can get him to go back to sleep just by patting him.

Swizzler · 09/04/2007 12:14

Alberta: if you not keen on CC, have you read the No Cry Sleep Solution? Has some good tips for encouraging sleep - takes a while but seems to be worksing here, albeit slowly

Original poster

AlbertaWildRose · 09/04/2007 15:27

I think part of the problem is I'm just lazy! I would much rather just feed him when I know I'll be done and back to bed in 15 minutes, as opposed to trying to soothe him another way which might take longer. I'm really hoping that it is as Quootie says, and that he will eventually grow out of it! I haven't tried the NCSS yet, maybe I should have a look at it for ideas.

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lori21 · 09/04/2007 20:22

You're lo sounds exactly the same as mine - 2 hourly at night - not interested in the day - he's also bf on demand and we're doing BLW. As I am trying to wean him off falling to sleep whilst bf i now bf him when he wakes up from a nap - I try and catch him before he is too wide awake!

I'm trying to do gradual weaning and gradual withdrawl as I also don't like cc. See my thread about 'am I doing the right thing'. He seems to be responding well to it but is still waking a lot at night. Hopefully we'll sort it by the time I go back to work!

lori21 · 09/04/2007 20:31

Oh yeah and my lo seems to settle quicke by rocking than with a bf. We practied this for a couple of weeks for nap times before i started at night

madness · 09/04/2007 20:37

o I recognise this!I co-sleep and go to bed early (and still tired during the day...)
DH thinks I'm mad: 3 weeks ago I was worried as dd would only bf and not eat, now she stuffs her self with food and doesn't bf during the day, and I'm still worried...

CorrieDale · 09/04/2007 20:46

We had this too at 9 months! Except that DS wasn't interested in solid food or milk during the day. Which was why we night-weaned him.

My DH did the night-weaning over three nighs. Each time DS woke, DH went into him and cuddled him back to sleep. I can't lie - DS cried a lot that first night. But he was never left alone to cry - he always had his daddy cuddling and rocking him. And he fed the next day, which was the aim. After 3 nights, i took over but by then he was used to feeding (and even eating!) during the day and sleeping at night. It didn't last, mind - well, the not wanting a night-feed did, but the sleeping bit didn't. He was 15 months before he started reliably sleeping through, after quite a number of false starts.

Original poster

AlbertaWildRose · 09/04/2007 21:47

Thanks for all your responses everyone. We'll see how it goes tonight - I may try to cuddle him rather than feed him when he wakes. I don't think he'll like it though! I do think (hope?) it's something he'll grow out of, as he used to be quite a good sleeper before he began teething.

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