My 10M old wakes all night long

[Doro25]

Hey!
Hoping for some advice.
My 10M old has me up allll night long. From the moment she goes to bed at 7/730 she’s up for reassurance every 2hrs.
Shes never spelt very well but I’m not really sure what to do now. I’ve tried not feeding her so much (BF baby) I’ve tried not going in straight away. Honestly I’m lost and very tired.

Also she won’t take a bottle, so advice to get her to either take a bottle or stop BF would also be grateful!

thanks in advance from a very tired mum!

Have you got a partner that can do the night wakes for a couple of nights?

At 10 months I’d stop offering milk over night, just offer water.

Id do a quick reassurance check, check they’re okay, nappy’s okay etc and then leave them to it.

Are they in their own room?

Does she get enough calories during the day? A dietitian for my DS said the key is to not let babies feed constantly during the day by this age otherwise they will want the same at night, so aim for about 3-4 hour gaps between food/bf. Also to give calorie dense food before bed, the Ella coconut pouch was recommended (mine had loads of allergies and sleep issues) but he would only eat the beef stew. About 10pm I gave him a beef stew pouch and the a brief bf and he then slept until 2 or 3 which was miraculous.

I didn’t put him to bed until later in the evening, often 9 or 10 so he slept longer. With child number 2 I was so knackered if she went to sleep at 7 so did I !

Well I’m struggle at the moment with the milk feeds. Because she doesn’t take the bottle and I’m back at work during the day she will hold out for me which isn’t ideal. I do worry she isn’t getting enough milk. She is eating 3 meals a day however she isn’t a massive foodie. Honestly I feel like I’m losing the plot with it

Aw I feel you but sadly this is so normal and common. My youngest is 9 months and exactly the same. They do take a bottle but often it's reluctantly and sometimes that involves a lot of crying if he doesn't fancy it that night - my DH does a few a week in the night. And then after drinking a small bottle he will then take another 30-60 minutes to fall back asleep. So it doesn't help his sleep at all overall, but it does give me a tiny bit of respite from the constant feeding. I still wake when he wakes but I wear earplugs and then go back to sleep quickly.

My other two children slept much better which I'm sure was because they had dummies. This baby refused many different brands after offering sooo many times til we gave up, sadly.

If she’s not consuming a lot of calories a day and waiting for a BF, then she is going to want to fill up at night.

She’s also only 10 months so might not be linking sleep cycles. I know you want a fix, but it’s very common for children to wake up in the night until 2!

You don’t need to introduce a bottle at 10 months. Can her caregivers during the day give her some formula in a sippy cup? See if she’ll accept it. Try a few different brands.

Her main food source should still be milk. I wouldn’t be withholding milk during the night for such a young baby

It’s a massive demand on you- but if she doesn’t have the opportunity to take in enough calories during the way, she will be hungry at night.

I’m glad I’m not alone. I’ve honestly tired everything, she’s just wakes so much. Most of the time it’s just a tap of the bum but I’m up every 2hrs. Maybe I was naive I just thought she’d drop night feeds now

I’ve tired the sippy cup, she’s just stubborn like her mama 🤣
could the waking in the night for a feed be habit or do we think it’s hunger?

she wakes after an hour most nights. She’s been up twice already tonight and she’s only been down 3hrs

Mine went to bed at 7pm ISH and has also been up twice already, once for a breastfeed and once mysteriously only cried out for about two minutes and then quiet. Unless perhaps they were crying in their sleep maybe. I know absolutely loads of people whose kids were waking very frequently at this age. Some whose kids didn't sleep through the night til 3ish etc. it's hard but normal. Also my LO does breastfeed frequently in the daytime but he still wakes constantly overnight, so he's not reverse cycling.

Honestly often there are no easy answers or fixes sadly. I think dummies are a god send for babies that take them, I wish this one had! At this point with my elder children, the eldest was sleeping through and the second one was only waking once a night for a quick breastfed. Me and DH are like zombies this time around still.

It sounds like she’s waking out of habit when she comes into a lighter sleep cycle. Is the room very dark and quiet? If you leave her for 10 mins or so will she grumble for a bit and then go back to sleep?

I would stop offering milk at night tbh.

You are definitely not alone and it is normal for lots of babies. My dd woke up approx every 90 mins until about May - she turned 2 in June. She was breastfed until about Easter and was looking for comfort, help to go back to sleep, more calories etc I just had to try to go to bed when the kids did as much as possible. It was hard, I was back at work, have 2 older daughters and ate a lot of chocolate & jelly sweets sometimes to keep me going. Best of luck, do whatever is easiest for you, it was musical beds for me, I started the night in my own bed, might usually get to 11:30/12 then sleep on a mattress on the floor in her room and then on really bad nights go to the spare room and co sleep. I found when she was bigger I really didn't want to Co sleep I needed my space hence the mattress in her room - she was still in her cot but I could just gently shush her sometimes when she stirred and she went back to sleep & it saved me a feed.

My 10 month old is the same but we co-sleep so it’s manageable as i just feed him lying down while I go back to sleep, or cuddle him into me. I honestly don’t know how people do this when they have to actually get up and go into a different room.

Mine was the same. I stopped BF at 13 months and she slept through the night very quickly. We didn’t change anything else. A couple of nights of tears and DH putting her to sleep. Hang in there x