hungry through the night - is this normal?

[krc]

My 4 1/2 month old has always woken 2-3hrly through the night, and resisted sleep during the day. I've been working on his sleep and he is now going down much more easily for naps and goes down like a dream at 7pm. When he wakes through the night, I feed (breast feeding) him and he goes straight back to sleep after seeming to feed quite a bit. I am now always trying to put him down awake and avoiding him falling asleep when feeding. Unfortunately, the little tyke still wakes 2-3hrly and seems only to be placated by food. If he wakes up sooner than 2 hours, I can usually settle him or he settles himself. If he wakes after this, he doesn't settle for me or anyone else. My question is this - do some babies need fed this frequently through the night and grow out of it spontaneously? Or is it more likely to be habit / comfort. This would be fine if I wasn't returning to work f/t in a month or two... I have introduced some solids - baby rice or pureed mush - late afternoon, but this has made no difference and i'm a bit reluctant to just up them at this stage. Any advice would be gratefuly received!

Hi im in the same situation with my dd3 (5 months) she has been draining up to 4 6oz bottles of hungry baby milk a night! She has a dummy but even if i try to settle her with that she will only settle once she has drunk a full bottle. She hardley sleeps during the day and is always ready to go to bed at 6pm and settles instantly alone.

my 17 week old is exactly the same. only placated by food, bless him.
I am sure some of it is comfort rather than hunger because he sometimes only needs a few sucks to get back off to sleep again.
it's knackering, but personally I am ok with it- comfort is just as important as food isn't it?
I am hoping he will just grow out of it

Heck 4.5 months is still tiny, so feeding through the night is (IME) perfectly normal.

Baby rice and pureed veg provide little nutritionally, and are easily digested so won't really keep him full for long and certainly not overnight. Your milk is more nutritious so go with that.

My DD3 needed night feeds for a long time regardless of what she ate in the day so I believe some babies just need more grub more often than others.

Oh, it's nice to hear other people have the same problem! Fingerwoman, I'd like to think I could carry on, and I could if it was going to be for a finite period of time. I'm a bit worried that he'll carry on for years (or at least many months) till I change my pattern of feeding him though...

my 11mth old ds2 eats like a very big horse. Solids oh yes but he still feeds 6-10 breastfeeds a day and night. He started going 5 hours a couple of months ago. Its not got any better than that. He goes down awake but remains asleep for night feeds- no need to wake him for the sake of him settling himself

krc - I bf'd my DDs on demand including at night and didn't do it forever if that's any consolation!

He's too young for solids. He needs milk at this age - and it's very common for them to still need feeding in the night.

I'm afraid that it's a myth that solids help them sleep - milk is far more filling and nutritious than the amount of solid food they could eat at this age. He will soon grow out of it - but he's still very tiny. Feed him when he's hungry and you'll find that the gaps between feeds gradually increase.

I think it can still be quite normal for a 4.5 mth old to feed 2-3 hourly in the night. Especially a BF baby. Not much you can do about it at this stage except maybe introduce a bottle of formula at say 10 or 11pm and see if he lasts a bit longer. However, it may not help and you may want to BF exclusively. Once he is on solids he will probably wake less and if not then you can think about trying to cut down on night feeds then!

Thanks for your responses, and Sidge that is some consolation.

krc, it's totally normal to still be feeding through the night at this age imo, and there is often a big fat growth spurt at 4mo that might mean more night feeds, (fun times!) and also, i don't think the food will makea ny positive difference to the sleeping and may even disturb it a bit tbh, all new stuff int eh tummy and quite early too.

But it does end, so look forward to that! and with my two, without me doing much. dd2 slept through since about 5mo then started waking again for feeds at various points, usually either when ill or having a growth spurt. now 10mo and sleeping very well (no night feeds, she stopped bothering with them really). you can't stop them from feeding int eh night if they're hungry, it's not a pattern you're creating you're just giving him what he needs, which can only be a good thing!

thanks - i guess it was the frequency of feeds rather than feeding overnight that was getting to me - had never gone more than 3 hrs, and more often than not was waking 1.5-2hrly. I've actually moved into the spare room (till we get his sored) and he seems to be waking less (or settling himself)., Think I'd respond to every grunt or snuffle before. He still wakes for milk 2-3 times and doesn't take much (at least later in the night). Thanks again for all the reassurance

Good to read your post krc - I have posted several times recently about the same thing and I eventually decided to totally cut out night feeds and try to settle him wothout feeding. It worked for about 10 days and then I started feeding him again as he was so obviously hungry. I am now back to 2-3 hourly feeds at night and think I need to lower my expectations and get on with it instead of trying to "fix" it.

Good luck to you!

Hi. My son is 15 weeks old and we have the same pattern. He wakes every three hours in the night but goes for 4h during the day and feeds much less. I have the impression he doesnt want to miss anything during the day and thus feeds more at night. I will be returning to work FT in three weeks and am quite happy about the current pattern. This way he can get lots of BF during the night. However, I am very lucky in that he goes right back to sleep after feeding, so I do not feel very sleep deprived. Good luck.