10month old waking 2/3 times a night

[LauM93]

My DS is 10months old, he has never slept through the night.
At best we've done one wake up and and that's it.

He has gone through spells of 5am wake ups to 7am wakes ups. Nothing has ever been solid.

At the moment he goes to bed at 7:15 with 8oz bottle, will wake between 11-1a and have another 8oz, will then wake around 4am and have another 8oz. He will then be very unsettled until morning, resulted in me usually cuddling him in bed to keep him asleep until past 6am so we can have a reasonable wake up time.

He doesn't eat solids very well at all, and currently under professional advice to find out why this is.

So therefore I feel he's waking for milk because he's hungry as he's not truly filling up on solids that will keep him full longer than milk can.

In the day he doesn't scream for milk and will happily go 4 hours between feeds, so I try to replicate this at night as I know he can do it in the day! I just wondered if anyone has had this issue and whether it's normal for this to happen?

Also he has never been a good napper in the day, waking after half hour and needing help to get back to sleep. I have tried leaving him to settle himself or rocking gently without picking up but they don't work and results in him waking or screaming. And I just can leave my baby to cry.
Thanks

Your expectations are very high here. Sounds completely normal for a baby under 18 months to me! Many don't sleep through until 3. They don't wake for milk obviously as they got older. They wake because it's developmentally normal to wake (just inconvenient for modern western world) and then might want the milk for comfort.

Thank you, I feel it's ok to wake, but the outside world seems to make me doubt myself alot and I just wanted to hear other mum's stories!

Some sort of cereal and a bottle.
Thick socks have shown to get the body into it's prime temp to get into a deeper sleep.

My 11 month old still wakes in the night for milk, usually I be but two isn’t unheard of. I class him as a good sleeper as my dd was much worse, and lots of my friends babies wake up much more too. I don’t think waking up 2 or 3 times is that bad really, and he will probably start waking up less as he eats more.

If you're wanting to reduce the milk at night I'd try to set times you are happy to feed him, ie bedtime bottle at 7 then another at 11 and another at 3 (if you want to stick to 2 bottles). I would try and reduce the amount as he may be 'reverse cycling' and getting his calories at night. You're in a tricky situation if he's not eating much in the day but you may find he eats more in the day if he gets less at night

This all sounds completely normal to me! 10 months old are still messing about with food not fully getting their nutrition from it yet. Don’t expect him to have loads of food in the day at this stage!
Also waking through the night is developmentally normal too. Yes there may be some hunger/thirst there. But even adults wake in the night due to thirst/hunger too?!
Try to relax, 2-3 wake up (although I understand is tough) is still very normal. My 21 month old still wakes 3-5 times a night. Just for a cuddle usually now but she still can’t guarantee us a nights sleep! It’s exhausting but will get better!
Follow Lynsey Hookway on Instagram for some real advice and information about how babies/toddlers sleep. Good luck x

Thanks everyone! I'm much more at ease now! Xx

If they get enough calories in the day they can sleep right through. My son did x

He's getting 32oz of milk during the day x

My 9 month old is able to go anywhere from 2 to 5 hours between feeds in daytime but feeds every 2 hours at night without fail.

He eats very well in the day, so try not to worry about your son needing more daytime calories to sleep well, if he isn’t eating well and you are seeking help with this the you really are doing everything you can and even if he are loads it still might not make him sleep better.

We bedshare which gets everyone the most sleep, my 3 year old also wakes around 1-3 times a night so our family rule is that we do whatever works to get the most sleep for everyone!

I second the suggestion to follow Lyndsey Hookway, and even read her books, she shares lots about normal sleep and has some great practical advice too.

You are doing a great job, it isn’t easy but you are most definitely not alone.

Thank you so much xxx

@LauM93 How are things going? I’m going through something similar with my 7 month old

We had a really rough 6-8 weeks with constant wakes and sometimes hours up in the night, driving round in the early hours trying to get him back to sleep.

I stopped allowing him to fall asleep on me, and now I lay in his bed and he falls asleep that way.
I've also reduced his naps from 2, down to 1 two hour nap.

These have helped, but I think it was just a rough phase, and the wakings have reduced and he's doing better, fingers crossed it continues.

As for his eating, we are now referred to a London Clinic as we believe he struggles to move food from the front to the back of his mouth.

Good luck and I hope you get through it faster than us!! Xx