How do I get my hungry 6mo to sleep better?

[Swaliswan]

DD is 6.5 mo and is waking up twice a night for feeds most nights. A couple of weeks ago, she was waking up 3-5 times a night for food which the HV was a bit about. Since then she's had some cranial osteopathy treatment and I've cut out her daytime breastfeeds (which seemed to be for comfort before nap time) so that she eats more at meal times. She is now eating 3 large meals a day eg 2 weetabix for breakfast. But, she is still waking for milk at nighttime. No-one can believe how much food she eats during the day and everyone says that she shouldn't be hungry at nighttime so I explain that she wants one good feed or even both breasts.

What can I do to help her sleep more? I don't think that I can get more food into her during the day and this has been going on for about 10 weeks so it's definitely not a growth spurt! I'm starting to get a bit desperate due to 6 months of broken sleep. Is there anything I can do to help her to sleep better?

Could it be comfort rather than hunger? I think this was the case with my dd who was doing the same as yours at that age. I solved it by offering her a bottle of diluted EBM instead of the breast when she woke. After two nights she decided this wasn't worth waking up for and she has slept through ever since unless ill or teething.

At her age she still needs to be BF at least four times during the day, the reason she is waking at night is probably because she needs the calories of BM.

Try feeding her an hour before each meal and even try a dream feed before you go to bed.

How much sleep does she have during the day, depending on child you probably don't want her sleeping longer than five total hours during the day.

what milk feeds do you give during the day - did you replace the bf with something else? At that age my ds still had 5 formula feeds - 4 in the day and 1 at night plus his solids. If your lo is taking little milk in the day then of course they will wake for it in the night. My ds gave up his night feed of his own accord at 8 months

She sleeps for half an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. She doesn't seem to need or want more than that. When she is fed before breakfast and before bedtime she has both breasts. She also has 6oz of formula on her cereal in the morning. A baby of her age only needs 20oz of milk and she has closer to 30oz so I'm not sure that more daytime milk is the answer but I think that I may trial your suggestion of milk an hour before meals. I'm a bit wary of dreamfeeds as when I've tried it in the past, she wakes up for milk more often rather than less often.

Would it be unreasonable to offer her water in her beaker if she wakes up after a fairly short period of time? I hate the thought of refusing her the breast but I'm also aware of the fact that in a few months I'm going back to work and can't keep getting up several times a night especially as I work shifts.

Every baby is an indivdual and if she is a hungry baby she may need more than the 20oz.

My four and a half month old charge I was limiting him to 180mls(900mls total - that's what it said he needed on can of formula and me been so sleep deprived I didn't even stop to think what 'HE' needed) five times a day and he was waking 2 -3 times a night. When we went for check up Doc said because of his healthy size he could be having more milk, up to 200mls more per day - no wonder he was waking he was hungry(although he didn't look starved). First day we put his mls up he slept from 11pm until 7am and has done ever since(today it was 7.30am). So he now has up to 240mls at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 6.30pm(in bed at 7pm) and dream feed at 11pm. He's a hungry baby and I'm sure once he starts solids he'll regualate the milk that he does have.

For at least a week full her up as much as you can during the day and perhaps then the sleeping will increase. And if the dream feed wakes her up more just let her sleep.