10 month old and sleep

[mollymarthawilf]

Wondering if anyone can offer helpful suggestions or advice about my sons sleep habits.
He is 10 months old and eats and drink well during the day. He has three regular meals and milk in between.
At night he goes to sleep 6.45-7pm after a bath and feed. He is fed, put down in his cot awake and sees himself off. During the night he usually wakes twice. I am wondering whether at this age he needs to feed at night and am concerned that in the longer term if he is feeding for comfort and to help him get back to sleep that it may be more difficult in future for him to sleep for a longer period ie between 7pm and 6ish! I wonder whether he is being encouraged to continue to wake as he seems to sleep for 3-4 hours at the most.
Sometimes at night he will wake and then go back to sleep. However, as I am becoming more and more tired it is harder to get up to feed him!
He occasionally will only wake up once but this the exception and does not happen regularly.
He has an older sister who is nearly four so am used to getting up and looking after kids in the night.
What are other experiences?

Hello,
Ds is also 10mo and sounds similar. He wakes usually once in the night (if not one of those nights where it's teeth or a cold or an r in the month, etc).

I have a rule to myself that I will feed him once a night but if he wakes again before a human time (like 6.30) then it's up to DP to put him back down. We've found he complains a lot the first night (DS, not DP), then less the second then just accepts it.

I used to wake DD (now 2.7) for a 10pm-ish feed to help her go through, but found this didn't really work with DS - he would still wake up at 3am whether I did it or not.

I agree they can get into the habit of waking up every so often. In fact, I am so used to the 3-4am waking, I also wake up out of habit even if he doesn't!

Total sympathy on the tiredness - it gets into your bones after this many months.

Thanks for that it is good to know that others have/are experiencing the same (you know what I mean by that!!!). I wonder whether what he is doing is totally usual for a baby of this age. As you say it could be teeth pain, cold, snuffles etc who knows. I also think who am I to not be there for him he is still quite young! Sometimes I also wonder how common this is but people don't like to mention it with their children.
I like the suggestions of the feed before we turn in, just concerned we might then get in to the habit of him waking then as well as later in night!!!!
Good luck with your little one!

My DS is 9mo. He eats 3 big meals and 3 milk feeds during the day. He had 5 nights of sleeping right through 7-7 last week, but the norm is for him to wake at least once in the night. This is for cuddles though - he doesn't ever seem hungry and settles very quickly. I think he just likes the comfort of knowing we are there sometimes.

We have found that gradual retreat has worked well - cuddle, then hand on tummy, then stand by cot then retreat halfway to door, then out of door. He hasn't needed a feed between 11 and 7 since he was 6.5mo, and hasn't had a feed between 7 and 7 since Christmas Eve.

MMW your point about how common night-waking is... yes, with my first baby I felt this invisible pressure about 'sleeping through' and listened to a lot of new mums proudly describing how long their babies slept for, even though I knew a lot of them weren't bf and some say ff babies sleep longer.

With my second I've realised two things: 1. only the mums whose babies sleep really well tend to shout about it (at least the ones I know) and 2. babies are meant to wake in the night, it's their job. And they're little for such a short, short time that, like you, I want to be there for them while they're little.

But everyone has a limit and you can't function for very long without enough sleep. If DS wakes after about 4am I usually bring him into our bed and feed lying down so we can both drift back off. Is that an option for you?

Thanks for sharing your experiences and advice. It sounds like my little boy is behaving appropriately for a 10 months old.
Ironically last night he slept from 7pm until 2am and then woke for a feed and then went straight back to sleep. Often in the past he has mumbled and grumbled.
This makes me think that he has 'needed' me to be there the last few times. Not sure why. But would feel awful to think he was crying out for me (or someone as my husband will reassure him too) and no one came! I would rather teach him that if he needs us we are there. He is only 10 months old and can settle himself off to sleep, ie he does not fall asleep feeding.
I do think that he only 'needs' one feed between 7pm and 7am and I am offering food because he cannot tell me what else it is!
Thanks for your advice and support!