Question about night waking

barefoot barista

My LO is 6 months old.  I decided to drop her night feeding about 2 weeks ago.  She was only drinking about 4-5 oz of breastmilk at a time, and since I took away the night feeding she is drinking 6-7 oz at a time.  SHe still doesn't have a big interest in solids, but I try them at least once a day.

Here's my problem-she continues to wake up every night between 12:30am and 1:30am.  SHe isn't all out wailing, but she is up and goes back and forth between babbling, whining, and crying.  I can't take it, I'm tired of being up for so long in the middle of the night. And she can do this for 2 hrs or more.

Do you think she is hungry?  Should I reintroduce the night bottle, but cut it down to about 3.5 oz?  Or should I continue to let her have it out in hopes that one, glorious night she will actually sleep till the morning?

She goes down between 7:30 and 8:30pm, usually about 2 hrs after her last nap.  SHe drinks about 6-7 oz right before bed. 

Uggh, what do you guys suggest?

JenniCollins

My daughter has done this a few times, we left her put herself back to sleep and I tried to go back to sleep also so long as she wasn't screaming her little head off.  Occasionally she'd give a good wail, be quiet for a few minutes and when she realized we weren't coming she would start talking again.  One night it was at least 3 hours of this, I think she dozed on and off also.  We didn't want her to expect us to come running all night long.  It resolved itself.

Hope everything works out for you!.

SeasideBride06

At 6 months old my daughter was also going to sleep around 7-8.  We let her sleep for a couple of hours, and then when it was almost time for us to go to bed (10ish) we would wake her up again and give her a bottle.  She would fall right back to sleep and sleep solid through the night.

pam1005

If she puts herself back to sleep and doesn't eat I would not feed her.  If she is screaming for food, of course feed her, but waking up babbling does not sound like she is hungry.  My DD wakes up at least once a night to eat and she screams.  Every time we go in her tummy is growling.  I would see if this is a phase and it will pass, for if her body gets used to a bottle then she will need/expect it.

barefoot barista

Maybe I will try the dream feed again. And if she wakes up after that, I'll let her figure it out. If she ate more solids, I'd feel more comfortable completely dropping the night feed.

rjveldman

Because breastmilk is absorbed so fast, she could be waking up hungry. It might be easier to get up and feed her than to be up for an hour waiting for her to fall back asleep on her own. At least for now you might get more sleep. I know that our pediatrician said that we should expect that our baby will be up 2 times at night if he's still breastfeeding. And that it isn't normal for breastfed babies to sleep through the night. Hope that helps.

barefoot barista

Thanks. I've recently started giving her some formula as my supply started getting low. Last night she had formula with a little but of rice cereal ( she's been spitting up and I hear the cereal helps it stay down.) she still woke up :-(. I guess I should add that she has never STTN.

march2008

My LO is 6 months old and she still wakes up to eat at least once (usually twice) during the night. She's EBF. Up until a few days ago (something is definitely going on this week developmentally b/c things are all out of wack), she would eat and then go right back to sleep in her crib.

I really gave up on expecting DD to sleep entirely through the night without eating. I figure if I don't expect her not to, I won't be disappointed when she rarely does! It seems like there is always something going on - whether it be a growth spurt or just some kind of developmental milestones that ends up changing up her sleeping patterns. *Someday* I will get to STTN again!  

Andie_83

rjveldman:

Because breastmilk is absorbed so fast, she could be waking up hungry. It might be easier to get up and feed her than to be up for an hour waiting for her to fall back asleep on her own. At least for now you might get more sleep. I know that our pediatrician said that we should expect that our baby will be up 2 times at night if he's still breastfeeding. And that it isn't normal for breastfed babies to sleep through the night. Hope that helps.

Seriously, you just made my night. I've been going crazy lately with DD still waking up a couple of times a night to eat. Even though, I feel like she is a comfort nurser bc she latches on then is asleep 2 minutes later. To keep my sanity I just keep telling myself that I get extra snuggles bc of her night waking.