So.. When will my 7 month old want less breastfeeding at night?

[FreelanceMama]

We started introducing solids - finger food or pre-loaded spoons - to our baby at 26 weeks. 3 weeks on he's waking up at least twice a night to be fed and is v hungry (like he did before we started). Is this 'normal'? I think it probably is but, God I'm tired and am working part-time during the day. I tried letting my partner feed him one night but our son got through the expressed milk and needed me to feed him still.

At what age did your little ones need feeding less at night?

Mine didn't stop the nIght waking till she walked. it was a long stretch of night wakin starting at 6 to 7mo. But I find it hasn't got much to do with not eating enough during the day. My DD eats a lot. Nursery regularly comments how she has a very healthy appetite. She has 2 weetabix and toast for breakfast. And 3 bowls of those ikea plastic bowls for lunch. That kind of volume.

Oh and she actually has a bf and a breakfast with me before going to nursery too!

She walked at 14/15mo.

My DD is 7 months, last night was up every 2hrs for a feed but that's a bad night, a good night is only up twice. I start back to work next week but only doing 12hrs per week so hoping I'll be ok. She's starting to eat a lot more too but I'm just going to try and go with it because she's feeding less in the day (just starting to crawl) so at least if she's still feeding at night I know she's still getting the milk she needs. Plus she seems to have a 2hrly waking night when she has a tooth coming so might be that. Am on my knees already today though, went to bed with her at 8 as was already tired and she was up at 9, 11, 1, 3, 5 when she stayed awake and just put her back down at 7am. Hoping to get a couple more hours now.

Hope you have a better night tonight. Thanks for sharing - doesn't seem to be linked to eating then. It'd probably be ok if I wasn't trying to work during the day. I have noticed that if we go swimming during the day I'm more likely to only have to feed at 11ish and 5am-ish.

At that age solids are more about exploring taste and texture rather than filling them up. BM should be the main part of her diet so I would try to fit in as many feeds as you can during the day. The recommendation is to bf them an hour before offering solids until they are one. Once she has reached 12 months you can bf after solids.

There is hope though, have a read of 31 ways to get your baby to sleep and stay asleep and 12 alternatives for the all night nurser. The main thing I did at that age though was just to go to bed earlier so that overall I got more sleep .

I know a lot of BF mums wont agree but i gave my DS a dream feed of 210ml formula (hipp organic) at 10pm and he would sleep from 9pm till 6-7am. I would express my milk for that feed to make sure i produced enough for the morning. I slept much better and he is now thriving. He sleeps 11 hours at night and 3 hours during the day at 9 months.

My DD has never had a bottle and now I'm passed the intensity of the first few months it's seems a bit pointless to introduce one now when she'd have to come off it at 1 anyway. A friend suggested a bottle of formula for my DD and whilst I have nothing against formula, it's not something I'd personally choose to give my DD just so I sleep better. No problem with others doing it, whatever works for you but it's not for me. We're going to move DD into her own room and see if that helps as I think we're disturbing her sleep

My Ds is nearly 7mths and still feeds as mUch as before we started weaning at 6mths. But In the last week we've had success with the No Cry Sleep Solution (Pantley pull off). From feeding every 2hrs through the night he can now do 7-9hr stretches!

Moving babies to their own room should really help too. It helped me at 7 months. My baby is a light sleeper and on his first night alone i had the baby monitor on full and was up every few hours to check. Now i turn it down to 3 out of 5 being the loudest and so i only hear my DS if he crys out. Babies move around a lot during the night and that is what wakes mums up. Left to their own devices they will roll around and settle themselves most times. My advice to all mums is to turn the monitor down.