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Sleep

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Original poster

HELP - woken 5 times last night!

14 replies

beansmum · 26/10/2004 11:55

bean has always been a really good sleeper, has been sleeping through from 8pm - 6or7am for about 2 months now, he's 21wks. but the last week he has been waking up LOADS. I thought he maybe just wanted some attention but he's definitely hungry, nothing else will settle him.

don't know what to do, I'm back at uni so really need my sleep.

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joanneg · 26/10/2004 11:57

my ds always sleeps worse when he is teething. COuld it be that?

Original poster

beansmum · 26/10/2004 11:58

no sign of any teeth, thought maybe he wasn't getting enough to eat during the day but not sure what i can do about that.

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minkmama · 26/10/2004 12:06

hi beansmum, could it be that he's starting to need something heavier than milk? i know they say to wait till they're 6mths now but perhaps a little baby rice with milk during the day or evening might settle his belly a little better?

minkmama · 26/10/2004 12:10

oh and if not, feed him as late as possible before you go to bed, we do 12am normally and keep lights low. as long as you don't play with him and wake him up too much, it should work and he'll probably drop off again milk drunk!!

we did this for both our boys and works a charm getting a couple of hours extra (boys 23mths and 6mths!!)

Original poster

beansmum · 26/10/2004 12:11

was really hoping to get to 6 months without anything other than breastmilk. my mum has been on at me to give him a bottle of formula in the evening but i really don't want to. I used to give him a bottle of ebm before bed but now i need that to leave at nursery the next day.

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Original poster

beansmum · 26/10/2004 12:12

he's been waking for a feed at 11ish but still wakes about 3 times after that. I'm totally exhausted!

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Chuffed · 26/10/2004 12:16

dd started to do this before she needed weaning. She was waking every two hours starving. I also wanted to wait until 6mths and my HV said to try formula at night but I started solids and stuck to breastmilk as well until 6mths. It did help stop the 'waking up for food' until dd started teething and the waking started again.
Do what you feel is right but some babies don't last until 6 months.

yurtgirl · 26/10/2004 13:04

Message withdrawn

MrsBigD · 26/10/2004 13:26

might just be a growth spurt maybe or wind?

My now 7 week old had a phase that he always was demanding milk as it seemed to help him pass wind. As he's bottlefed (breast didn't work unfortunately) he ended up having 40oz or so the odd day! I now give him fennel tea inbetween and it really is an improvement, though the max of sleep I get in one stretch is 4h.

You've got my sympathy though as I know what it's like being woken up all the time at night...

Can't remember a good nights sleep for the last 3 years! My dd was a 'wakeful' baby and a bad eater and wanted feeding every 2 hours until 6 months despite all the tips & tricks I tried. Admittedly I couldn't bear letting her scream for more than 5 minutes and even feeling an unusally cruel mum. Eventually she was classed as 'failing to thrive' and hyperactive (at 6 months?!) and the docs finally gave me some special milk to 'fatten her up' which helped with the sleeping as well as that milk was very rich. At least you seemed lucky enough to have a 2 months spell of sleep!

I know no consolation to know that there are others out there worse off, but it will get better eventually!

As some friends of ours said... we 'asked' for it ... gotta hate those kind of comments, especially from friends without kids!

mears · 26/10/2004 13:28

beansmum - have you tried feeding and sleeping at the same time? That is what I did and after a few nights of frequent feeds it settled back off again. How long as he been at nursery? Sometimes night feedings increase for a while because babies make up for the lack of breast access during the day.
As I have posted before, I only fed my 4th baby exclusively till 6 months and breastfed through the stage of increased night feeds when I started solids with her brothers (20-24 weeks). I found that she did settle back down again with just breastfeeds. I was determined that she wasn't getting solids come hell or high water . However, you do need to get sleep and I got thaby taking her into bed, latching her on and going back to sleep myself.

clary · 26/10/2004 13:33

beansmum i had this with DS2 last summer, was aiming too to wait till 6mo to start solids but in the end went for it, a bit
I think the WHO advice is too black and white, it depends on the child. At least starting solids meant I could get my sanity back, we went from 12hrs non-stop sleep to waking every 2 hrs again! And I kept up the bf (till he was 13mo) so I was happy with that.
I certainly wouldn't introduce formula, your bm is fattier than that can ever be. But do try what Mears suggests if that helps, she's always so wise...

bundle · 26/10/2004 13:35

beansmum, my dd2 has been like this on & off (she's now 18 mths) and it's usually for a variety of reasons. she didn't get any teeth till she was 1, but had teething-like symptoms ages before then. fwiw, i wouldn't bother with solids till you're ready, baby rice has far less available nourishment in it (it's a filler rather than calorie-laden, like breastmilk) and many mums on here will tell you that moving onto solids doesn't necessarily mean they'll sleep through the night. do you always feed when bean wakes? i usually do with dd2 even now, eg she's just had a nasty virus and nothing would comfort her except bf, even though she wasn't hungry. last night, i'm grateful to say she slept straight through, 7.15 till about 6.45. bliss, the first night in ages. however i have got her into the habit of being put to bed awake so she knows what it feels like to actually fall asleep and get herself back off again in the night. that must be tough, with being at uni, is there someone else around to help?

bundle · 26/10/2004 13:36

(btw, i bfed dd1 till 22 mths, 5 months just milk, and dd2 no solids till 6 months, still feeding her at 18 mths )

Original poster

beansmum · 27/10/2004 10:59

hoping mears is right about night feedings just increasing for a while after they start nursery. Bean has only been there for 3 weeks but was off for 4 days last week when I had flu so it's still pretty new. He slept a bit better last night, went to sleep at 8ish then woke at 12 and 5.30. Hopefully once he gets into the routine of nursery etc it will settle down.

heard somewhere that ebm is less fatty than if you actually feed the baby yourself, is that true? but he only gets 1-2 bottles of ebm so wouldn't make too much difference would it?

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