6 month old started needing a night feed again!!!

[Ellibop]

DS (6 months) used to sleep ok, waking a couple of times in the night but settling back down if I put his dummy in. However this has all completely gone to pot over the past few weeks, with him only settling back down for an hour or 1.5hrs and then waking again. Think this was down to teething as 1 on the verge of breaking through at last. But this has now changed into him waking about 6 hours after going to sleep and crying, I can settle him down by maybe changing his nappy then putting him back into cot awake and he'll go back off to sleep, but an hour later he's awake again. The past 3 nights I've tried feeding him when he's awoken and he's guzzled down 9ozs then settled back to sleep until the morning, and then had another full 9ozs for breakfast, so it would seem he is genuinely hungry. It is a vast improvement to just getting up once in the night, and he is self-settling each time I put him to bed. I'm just confused as he hasn't needed a night feed for weeks and weeks, and he's started on solids recently and has 2 or 3 'meals' a day aswell as loads of milk (usually 4 bottles of 8-9 ozs, not counting nightime feed) so I'm wondering whether I should be trying to settle him without feeding in the night as I'm worried I'm creating a problem, or is he perhaps having a growth spurt and really needs this feed - he does settle back really well after it...in other people's experience will he just drop this extra feed again, perhaps once he's eating more solids? I just feel that we've gone backwards a bit. He doesn't need his dummy to get to sleep anymore so we've stopped using it. Is it quite normal for a baby of this age to still have a night feed, even if they've previously given it up??

Sorry for ramble, any advice gratefully received.

I would say he's having a growth spurt. I would go with it and I'm sure he'll settle down soon. If he's taking 9oz then settling till morning I would say he's definitely hungry.

He Ellbop - definitely sounds like he needs the food. More than likely growth spurt as charchar says. How long have you been weaning for? Has he cut back on any milk during the day yet?

Am I right in thinking he has 4 bottles during the day, and then the night feed? If so, you could try introducing a dream feed to see if this helps?

G

Def. a growth spurt. Starting solids is such a red herring. For the first few months (at least) they don't digest it and it's just filler that replaces milk meaning they get fewer usable calories. If you're not already doing it, give milk before solids to make sure he's getting all the milk he needs/wants and then offer solids after.

Is the whole 6 month weaning thing...they start waking up loads at night, it's awful, after you get used to them sleeping. the only thing that really works is to keep with the food...like everyone says, it's a tough time though. I remember it really well...won't last too long.

my dd did this at about 6 months,so began baby rice and went back to sleeping through. Now 1 yr and started waking again, hoping giving supper will help as it di the trick with ds.
My dd (1yr) has just this minute learnt to drink through a straw. Very funny!!!

Thanks. I always give him his milk before any solids and he's still more or less having the same amount as he always has, but ofcourse he's quite a lot bigger these days and rolling around etc so probably needing more.

Last night though he had his last bottle later than usual at 7.15pm and was asleep in bed by 8.00pm. Well he woke up at 12.30am-ish as normal but I knew he couldn't really be hungry because he'd had a full bottle only 5 hours before and had taken loads of milk and 3 sets of solids. So I went in to settle him, ended up getting him up and changing his nappy as he seemed wide awake and didn't want to stay in bed. After that I put him back to bed with his lights thing to watch and he amazingly went back off to sleep. Same thing happended at 4.30am when I would normally feed him, but just thought I'd try to settle him without and it worked. He didn't get up for breakfast until 7.45am (with a short awakening at 6.45am which I ignored and he settled back to sleep on his own in 5 mins). So I think sometimes I've rushed in with a bottle when he doesn't actually need it. I'm glad I tried it as I would have carried on feeding him every night for god know's how long - ofcourse if he won't settle at that time I'll feed him, but don't want to be doing it unless he really needs it.

Also moving him into his own room at the weekend has really helped as it's really hard not to go to him at every grumble when he's right next to me, whereas I can now secretly observe him on my video monitor and often he's still got his eyes closed and is just wriggling round into a more comfortable position and if left alone goes back to sleep in a few minutes.

Thanks for all your replies, it's nice to know lots of the little blighters do this sort of thing around this age.

Quick update, very strange yesterday - I put him down for a nap at 5.00pm, he often just has 30mins at this time to keep him going til bed time which is usually about 7.30pm, anyway he stayed asleep until 9.00pm!!! When he woke up I fed him and got him changed for bed etc and he was back asleep by 10.00pm. When he woke up at 2.30am I settled him back to sleep but he woke again about 40mins later and would not settle again, so I fed him (guzzled 9ozs) then back to sleep until 7.15am. Am thinking this is supporting the growth spurt theory as he often sleeps more when this happens, also a tooth has finally popped through and looks like another next to it will be following soon - yippee!

Hey Ellibop - WOW sounds like you have some fruit for your labours then! How fab! We have had three sleep-disrupted nights in a row here with nothing to show so I am dead jelous!! Are they his first teeth?

I spoke too soon, last night was horrendous and he just would not settle. Got him back to sleep for 3 hours after feeding him at 1.30am (had been awake since 10.00pm) but then would only settle if held!

Yes TheGabster his first teeth, think that could be what last night was all about, but it's so hard to tell. He's lost interest in milk during the day (still getting about 1000mls overall but that's over 5-6 feeds instead of his usual 4) and so will continue giving him solids, can't see how a few bits of fruit and veg can make much difference though, will introduce some protein this week I think.

Oh Ellibop I'm so sorry you are having such a pants time. I really feel for you because we are having such similar troubles at the moment. And, yes, not an expert but I think it is the teeth. Especially as you said you have had one pop through already. I would only be suspicious its not teeth pain if he seems unaffected during the day.

My LO is doing just the same at the moment - refusing bottles, sleep all over the place during the day, and waking lots at night (has always been a good night-time sleeper up until now).

I've been resorting to a swift dob of bonjela just before each bottle to get him interested in his milk again and chewy food seems to help during the day. Are you doing BLW or puree?

Everyone tells me that the first teeth are the worst (appart from the molars). Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Hi Gabster - how was your night?

We had quite a good one (Phew!). He was asleep by 7.30pm and didn't wake until 1.00am when I settled him, he slept again until 2.30am when I fed&changed him, and then asleep again unil 6.30am. DH settled him again and we all slept til 7.15am when we got up. So quite pleased with that really.

Oh he's just waking from his nap...

Excellent stuff Ellibop - hope this is a sign things are settling back down.

Well our first tooth finally seems to be appearing - can feel the sharp edge and see a "cut" in his gum. Last few nights have been better for DS thanks, although I now seem unable to sleep - the usual old "lying awake, waiting for him to start" routine. Been here before so nothing new.

Hope your good luck is keeping up - now we just have to get our day naps sorted ... .