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7 month old waking....growth spurt or bad habit in the making?

dglvrk2dglvrk2 member
in Babies: 6 - 9 Months
My DD2 is seven months old.  She was an excellent sleeper from on month to six months old.  Since she was about a month old, she's been going down around 8 pm. She eats dinner at 6ish, she gets a bottle at 7 and another before I go to bed (10ish).  

I've been considering weaning her from the late night feeding, but before I could even try, she started waking up at 5-6 am, clearly hungry.  She is "supposed to" wake up at 6:30, when I'm ready to feed her and get her ready for the day.

This has been happening on a regular basis for about three weeks. The wake time is getting earlier and earlier.   She'll take a late night feeding only to wake up again at 3-5 am.  I've tried letting her cry, but it's hard since she shares a room with her older sister.  I try to comfort her by patting her belly, talking to her etc.  The only thing that helps is feeding. She takes a bottle efficiently, and goes back to bed a happy camper.  I tried increasing the quantity of the late night feeding (from 4 to 6 ounces), but that doesn't help either.  After having this late night feeding she wakes up at her regular time happy as well.

I'm wondering if these night time wakings and feedings are just her going through a growth spurt and needing additional food, or if she's developing a habit of waking up and expecting food.  

I've tried keeping her up later, but that does not prevent her from waking up early in the morning and wanting food.  

I have almost completely weaned her from BM in the last month as my supply is decreasing and she's less interested in BFing now that she eats solids, is more aware of her surroundings and teething. Could the change in diet be a culprit?

I'm also trying to make sure she's eating plenty during the day.  I work FT, so this is hard during the week.  However, her DCP notes her food and it looks like a lot for a seven month old. She also takes a 3-4 oz bottle with every meal.  

She usually takes two 90 minute to 2 hour naps each day.  

Any suggestions?  I'd love to get my stellar night-time sleeper back :-)

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Re: 7 month old waking....growth spurt or bad habit in the making?

  • TeacherVickyTeacherVicky member
    edited September 2014
    I'm thinking she's waking early because she's overtired, not out of hunger.

    DD was doing this for a while. Her bedtime was 6:45-7 and she kept waking earlier and earlier (from 6-6:30 to 5am). I started pushing her bedtime up, 15 minutes for a few days at a time and she's starting to wake later again. Her bedtime is now 6:15-6:30pm.

    In my experience, a later bedtime time just backfires and only has the opposite effect.

    What time is her last nap at? If she's awake for more than 3.5h before bedtime, she's likely overtired. Maybe try to keep that wake time to 3h until she pushes her mornings back out. 

    ETA: If she's getting enough to eat during the day, I would drop the 10pm feeding.
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  • dglvrk2dglvrk2 member
    Thank you! I'll try an earlier bedtime. She often does of four hours or more between her last nap and bed time.
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