8-month old not interested in food. How often should I breast feed her at night. Feel like we're going backwards...

[SpeckyB]

I've tried to wean my 8-month old since she was 6-months but she's not interested in food. That's ok and I know I will just have to wait it out. I offer food every day and hope one day she will take an interest.

What I am worried about is how much I am breast feeding my baby at night. She goes to bed at 7.30pm (after bedtime routine of feed bath feed) and then I wake her at 10.30pm (or sometimes she wakes) for a late feed. She used to wake once for milk at 3.30am and then up at 7.30am. Since 6 months the night time waking has increased and she demands to be fed 2 or 3 times after the late feed. She's not hungry when she wakes.

I'm on my knees with tiredness and I don't know what to do for the best. I've seen various health visitors and the doctor who give conflicting advice. Some say she will need more milk at night as she is not eating and others recommend starving her at night to encourage her to eat.

Should I be breastfeeding my 8-month old between the hours 11pm and 7am? If not, how do I stop her waking? If I don't feed her at night she cries and cries (she can easily go for an hour). She's a very happy and content baby in the day time.

Please help. All my books assume the baby is on solids after 6 months. I feel like we're regressing to the newborn stage.

I would continue to feed her at night, which is probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry. I don't think that reducing her milk at night would encourage her to eat if she's just not ready to.

It took a good while for my ds to make the connection between hunger and food. When he was around 7 to 8 months he would ask for a bf if he was hungry rather than food. Gradually as he got better at feeding himself (I did BLW) he has moved away from bfeeding and more towards food.

I'm sure that your dd will start to get the hang of food soon. Could you try bf more in the early evening to see if that helps her go a bit longer overnight?

Specky, no real advice but I'm in a similar situation, DS is nearly 8 months and is feeding through the night in the same way as your DC! I'm shattered too but as he's BLW and still very much at the 'playing' stage, I'm assuming things won't improve greatly until he starts eating much more.
I'll probably be sniggered at by some but I've very much trusted his instinct to regulate what he needs from BF since day 1 and when he's had a crazy feeding period I can generally look back and see it relating to particular developmental stages, they are still so little and milk is still the main food for them... I just try to remember this will be over in such a short time - even though it feels like forever at 3am!

Sorry no advice just sympathy - I started a thread a few days ago about my non eating dd - she also wakes 2/3 times at night. I agree with exbrightonbelle, they just don't get the association between hungry and eating so cutting down on night feeds won't work I don't think. It is hugely frustrating though isn't it.

Oh just realised you already replied on my thread, sorry, am new to this posting lark. See this is what happens with sleep deprivation, you start to ramble...;-)

Thanks karenski kelbells and ExBrightonBelle it's good to know I am not alone (even if you did not give me any magic solutions)!

Karenski - I've discovered my DD will accept things that melt in the mouth. Specifically Ella's Kitchen Puffits. I'm not over the moon that she'll only accept crisps but at least it is something! Oh and they are multigrain?!