LO waking up every 2 hours for night feeds

[Kikii]

My LO is 6 months old and she will usually go to bed at around 10 and sleep for around 10 hours but wakes every 2 hours for a feed as she would during the day. She has just started solids with 2 small meals a day. Is this normal? I'm exhausted - any tips on how to reduce the night feeds??

It's exhausting isn't It? Bless you. It sounds like she doesn't know how to self settle back to sleep between sleep cycles as she shouldn't need to feed that frequently in the night. I would say it's not actually a hunger thing unless it's a growth spurt and has only been going on a few days. If i were you I'd look on line about self settling methods and pick one which you think you can do and try to implement it. Does she sleep much in the day?

Same here!! Mine is nearly 5 months and it's been going on for about 2 months now. It's pretty normal and to do with sleep cycles at this age. Rather than trying to train him out of it, I'm just going with it at the moment as I know eventually he'll sleep better. Plus, whatever you try, teething, illness, a new developmental stage etc all come and spoil it again!

Hard work though 😴

Thank you Rosie1990, I will check it out. It has been going on for 3-4 months now and at first I thought it was normal taking into consideration that she was teething/ possible growth spurt and weaning but it doesn't seem to be getting any better

Lovemoresleepolease - yes it could also be to do with that. Have you had any advice from a health visitor or Dr?

@Rosie 1990 she has 45 minute naps during the day sometimes a little longer but I find that she is struggling to settle herself back to sleep in the nights

I'm a strong believer that you have to do something to help them learn to sleep. This is my second baby so obvs I'm not an expert but I have some experience and the benefit of hindsight! If you read about the dreaded 4 month sleep regression you will see this is this time that babies sleep cycles change permanently and they come to almost awake between cycles so therefore, need to learn to resettle themselves for there benefit and yours! I don't agree that waiting it out will help. There are lots of methods so you won't have to listen to baby cry if you can't stand it!

My DD woke every 2 hours expecting to be fed until she was 20 months old. She started nursery just before she was 1 and refused expressed milk or cows' milk.

At 20 months I had had enough, so I refused to feed her at night. DH went to her at night for a couple of days and only offered her water and then I did that for another 3 days. As soon as DD realised she wasn't going to get what she wanted, she started sleeping though. (Although that was only 6 weeks ago, so I may be speaking too soon!)

Good luck!

@Rosie1990 I am definitely going to have to find a solution

@Cornishmumofone that's a long period of time, it must have been exhausting for you! I have tried substituting 1 of the night feeds with water so will see how it goes. Thank you for your advice

Is your LO still in your room. I had mine in a cosleeper cot until nearly 12 months. It seemed more convenient for me, but I don't think it really helped the problem.

I feel your pain. Ds was still waking around 2am for a feed when he was 2.5! He's now 3.5 and last night woke up and wouldn't settle again without a short feed. Very unusual indeed that but he was very upset. It's their comfort and sleep aid. It won't last forever so I've always just gone with it. When I had my first two children they woke in the night a lot and I wished I'd have just comforted them like I have their brother instead of fighting with them about it and trying to train them. Once you dd starts having more solids she will probably decrease her amount of feeds. It's a slow steady process. If a breastfeed works to settle her then I'd keep going. Sometimes they make up at night for what they aren't getting in the day so maybe offer extra in the day and see if that helps?

@Kikii I haven't had any professional advice but I'm on a Breastfeeding FB Support Group and lots of people have a similar experience- he's also baby 3 for me so I'm confident things will resolve themselves eventually. Having said that, I might try and cuddle/rock back to sleep rather than feed and see how that goes. Didn't go well a few weeks ago so I abandoned that idea

I don't recall my other 2 going through this at this age but I remember it when they were a bit older. Both sleep 12hrs now so I'm hoping to get there eventually 🤞