6 Month Old Wakes up 2Xs/night to Eat

Have you tried to add cereal to her bottle? If not then I would try it. I think that the cereal is more filling.

Both of my girls were exclusively breastfed and did not sleep through the night until they weaned at 2 years. We found cosleeping to be a huge help. They both sleep through the night now so no it did not create any bad habits.

Maybe I'm just heartless, but have you tried letting her cry a little longer? She's old enough to be let cry more than 15 minutes--my pediatrician claims my 4 month old can be let cry for "as long as it takes". Or you could try reducing the amount you are letting her eat at night gradually and see if she'll give up. The Baby Whisperer would tell you to try a pacifier (ok, your SO will have to do the pacifier, you smell like milk) when your daughter wakes at night and see if that will help her learn not to eat/wake. Not that either of the latter has worked for me, but those are things that are out there in the parenting ether.

My son was 14 months old before he stopped getting up 2 times a night. We are still struggling as he is 18 months now and still gets up 1 time and his little sister is 5 months and she gets up 2 times as well. The only thing we have found to help is keeping him up a little later and letting him have a snack before bed. this seems to help a little and moves the time he wakes up closer to morning wakup time.

You may want to ask your pediatrician about health concerns as well. If your little one has tonsels or adnoids that are too large she may be waking up because she stops breathing. We had to put our son on antiobiotics for 30 days just to get him down to waking up 1 time a night. We may have to have his adnoids removed to solve the problem completly, but we hate for him to have surgery so young.

Just remember that it will get better. Hope this helps.

Hi there! Unfortunately I dont have any suggestions but wanted to let you know I have a 16 month old little girl and although she didnt get up twice a night, she got up once a night to feed until 9 months!!!! So, I really think it just depends on the child. Just one night she didnt wake up to eat and then after that it just continued that way. So, hang in there. I know its hard but I can say from experience it will end!
K.

Hi S., My first daughter woke up a lot until she was close to one year old (she's now 4 1/2) and my second til she was about 10 monts. I wanted to let you know that you're not alone! All kids to not sleep through the night at 6 months. I stayed home with them, so I didn't pump at all. I think, like you said, that while your daughter does take a bottle, she may enjoy the closeness with you. My pediatrian was really great, very knowledgeable about all topics and not judgemental at all. If I had really wanted to change their habits, I bet he would have supported me. But he didn't really seem to think their waking was that out of line until they was closer to 10-12 months. He seemed to say that all kids are different. The thing to try to figure out is if she's really hungry, or just wanting a visit from you :) Once he felt that they were "working me" :) to get a visit, he had a suggestion that worked pretty quick (again, my oldest was about 11 months, so developmetally at a different place) and that I could live with (I didn't like letting my kids cry it out for too long and gave in, messing up the whole thing). He said to go in as much as I wanted, but not pick her up out of the crib during the night, and to stay no more than a minute at each visit. I would hug her through the crib and tell her I knew it was hard but she could do it and I love her, etc. Then I'd lay her down and go. She did cry between my visits, but she figured out that, altough she could see me, it wasn't as satisfying/ worth all the work to get me in there and she got the message pretty quick. With my oldest it only took one night! With my second I did this when she was about 9 or 10 months and it took a few nights. She would still wake sometimes, but it'd be a quick in and out. If your reading this thinking you can't do it for another few months, I think you should feel comfortable to do what works for you and your family. Good luck!

All 4 of my children did not sleep through the night until they were at least 8 months old. My daughter (the youngest) did not sleep through the night consistently until I weened her at 2 years old, and even now, at 3 1/2, she still gets up occasionally. Being away from her for so long is h*** o* her, she is probably making up the time at night. It is not uncommon for babies to do that. My daughter, who was never away from me until she was old enough to drink from a cup (she would not take a bottle) was a nighttime nurser. She would eat enough during the day to get by, but she would nurse many times at night, sometimes almost all night. We co-slept,so it wasn't a big deal. Even when she was older, if I was gone for most of a day, she would nurse that whole night, and more the next day.
I would definately accomadate her individual pattern. Books are written for the average child, in the average situation. No child fits the average mold in every area. She is still a baby. I would absolutely not recommend crying it out!
Besides, if she is away from you for 12 hours, even if you are pumping, the 2x a night nursings are preserving your milk supply.

My son is also 6 months old and does not sleep through the night. Every baby is different. Just continue with the pattern. It could be that she is using it to have "mommy" time. She knows you feed her and this may be a time for her to bond with you since you are gone so often during the day. Good Luck! Have you tried giving her some food before she goes to bed? This may help her sleep longer through the night.

My daughter did the same thing. She is now 8.5 months and will occassionally wake up during the middle of the night. Like you, I am a working mom is breastfeeding my baby. She has never been a good sleeper and even still does not always sleep through the night. I read all the books and was really worrying, but I finally realized she was on her own schedule and would work herself out of it.

What my husband and I started doing around 7 months was getting up with her in the middle of the night, but I would only nurse her once. She normally went down around 7pm would wake up around 12am and my husband would rock her back to sleep. Then she'd get up again around 4am and I would bring her into bed and nurse her. This would let me get a few solid hours of sleep in while not having to let her scream her head off.
Now, she will get up once or twice but will almost always either put herself to sleep. Only after she refuses to go back to sleep after a half hour or so will we rock her to sleep. By cutting down to one feeding a night she weaned herself off of feedings during the night almost all together. We did let her cry for a little bit so she learned how to put herself to sleep. The best advice I can give you is to pick a plan and try to stick with it. It usually takes 1 or 2 nights but your baby should catch on to the new schedule quickly. I found having my husband rock her to sleep for the feeding we were trying to eliminate helped b/c if I went in she smelled me and wanted to nurse.

Now I nurse her before she goes to sleep and then again when she wakes up in the morning. I found that not forcing her before she was ready worked out the best for us. Others have a different approach and it works for them. Just start trying something new for a week or so and see what works.

Good luck and just know it gets better!

Hello S.,

My name is D. and boy can we relate to the late night feedings. This is my first time on this site. I actually signed up in hopes of finding local daycare before January.

Anyway in an effort to assist in a suggestion for you and your baby. May I suggest two things. The first adding rice cereal to your breast milk. This of course will require cutting a bigger hole in the nipple of your bottle. It sounds like she is still hungry. We use Earth's Best organic whole grain cereal.It can be found in almost any grocery store.

Our son did the exact same. We would feed him and I swear he would be sound a sleep and WOULD wake up approximately fifteen minutes later screaming. Our doctor said it was a combination of(colic/ acid reflux)and to do our best to deal with it. Not what we wanted to hear.

So this brings me to my second suggestion.... to have her looked at by a chiropractor. (that has experience with babies). When I first suggested this to my husband he was not thrilled, however did agree to hear what the doctor had to say. Here is a wonderful site and doctor. If nothing else please read the section about babies....www.sheafferchiropractic.com

The best thing about this doctor is.. if one of the parents are a patient...children are free. We were fortunate that our insurance covered all but 20.00 dollars. But make no mistake we would have paid any price to have our son sleep peacefully.

Long story short at his first treatment the doctor said his lower back was out of line which was causing him pain. He adjusted our son at 8 weeks old and let me just say...that was the first night our son slept all night. He continues to see Dr. Jim from time to time. Our son is very happy...and never screams like he once did.

I no longer mix cereal in his bottle since he began eating baby food. I do mix a little in his baby food. He eats one jar in the morning and another in the evening.

We received good feed back at his last well check up. He is now a little over 4 months and so much happier...as are we...

Hope this was helpful.

I feel your pain! I am also a full-time working mom and pumped twice a day for months months and more months....my daughter is 15 months old and still wakes up once or twice a night to nurse. Remember, they're not with us all day so my thought is they're making up for lost time. I know it's tough, believe me! When they're ready they'll sleep. Have you tried co-sleeping or partial co-sleeping? That's what we do. I put my daughter to bed in her crib and after her first waking I put her in bed with me. It works, I get sleep and everyone is rested the next day. Good luck.

HI S..
This is a week or two after your post, so I'm hoping you are having some luck with Audrey and sleeping. But I would like to share with you my expierence. My son is 10 1/2 months old and is breastfed. Let me first say, that breastfed babies will wake up during the night....breastmilk is much healthier, but not as filling as formula. But our son began sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old and was swaddled during this time. Once he turned 6 months, we stopped swaddling and he started waking during the night. He went down at 7pm and was up around 2am, and then at 5am. I too breastfed at each time he woke, since that was the only thing that calmed him to fall back asleep. We tried feeding him cereal before bed, but that didn't work. (And to be honest, cereal really only has 5 calories, so it doesn't fill them up as much as people say it does.)

I realized that the more that I fed him, the more he would want it. So I needed to put my foot down and decide to let him cry. I started with 3 minutes, then went in, didn't turn on the lights, did not pick him up, checked to see if he was wet, (if he was, I would change him in the crib without picking him up), tell him that it is bed time, shoosh him, and leave. If he'd start crying again, I'd wait 5 minutes this time, and then do it again. It takes some patience, but eventually he would back asleep. This was 2-3 days, but whatever it took, I would not feed him, and he got the understanding that he was not getting any food. He has every now and again woke up during the night, mostly due to wet diapers or a cold room, but all it took was a quick diaper change and I would leave....a few quick whimpers and he was out.

I just started at 10 months to supplement some soy formula with breastfeeding, for he is growing faster than what I can produce...and since doing this he has slept through the night for us. I truly believe that some breastfed babies are just hungry.

I know I wrote a novel, but this is my experience. Maybe you can pick and chose, like I did, from the different advice that is out there, to see what works for you.

Good luck, if you have any questions, let me know.

S.

We were told by our pediatrician to let our baby cry-it-out at this age. He said that at this point they should make it through the night without eating. When we let our boys cry, it took 45 minutes the first night, 10 minutes the second, and about 30 seconds the third night. Worked like a charm!! Every few months we would have to let them cry it out again because they would wake up again...sort of testing us! At this point it didn't take as long to cry themselves to sleep.

It was explained to us that self-soothing is something that you have to encourage your children to do. It promotes self discipline and independence in other areas as well. There is a lot of contraversy over the crying it out method but when you are sleep deprived...you aren't as patient and understanding with your children and thus aren't the best parent that you can be. When your child is an infant, they are confined to a crib. When they are toddlers they can get up and walk around all night and they will!! Therefore, it is best to get a handle on the sleep thing while they are very young.
Good Luck!

Hi S.,

Every baby is different. My son started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks, but then stopped 2 days after I went back to work at age 4 months. He was up nursing all night from age 4-11 months and then finally started to sleep through the night again. I also pumped at work and he got exclusively breastmilk, but I think he missed the closeness of nursing, so he switched his eating habits to eat more at night and less during the day from the bottle. This is pretty common. We ended up co-sleeping out of desperation because I was too tired to sit up and nurse him. It worked out great for us. My husband said he would wake up during the night and our son would be nursing but I would be sound asleep. When he got to be 11-12 months old he was too squirmy to keep in our bed, so we transitioned him back to his crib. I would put him down in his crib every night, but when he woke up at 1-ish to nurse, I would just bring him in bed with us. I think 6 months is too young to cry it out. Before a year, your baby doesn't understand enough to know the difference between needing something and wanting it. If you baby is waking to nurse it is because he/she needs it - weather that need is because of hunger or the need to be close to you - it is still a real need. I wouldn't recommend letting them cry it out until they are much older.

I have written an article on pumping and working which you might find helpful - here is a link to it: http://www.mothersboutique.com/woandbrtifor.html

Congrats on pumping and working - that is a great accomplishment and you should feel proud of what you are doing for your baby!

J.
A Mother's Boutique
Breastfeeding clothing, nursing bras, breastpumps, slings and accessories
MamaSource Members will receive 10% off of their first order - just mention promo code "MamaSource"
http://www.mothersboutique.com

My son did not sleep through the night at this point. I could be wrong but maybe breastfed babies take longer to sleep through the night. My son drove me crazy. Just when I thought he was sleeping through the night he would start to get up again. I tried to feed him more during the day so he wouldn't be hungry at night. Eventually he did sleep through the night. I think if they are getting up to eat you aren't reinforcing a bad habit but it doesn't hurt to try to get him to not be hungry at night. If he is getting up b/c he wants closeness with you or attention or anything else then maybe you are reinforcing a bad habit. Is he eating a full meal or just eating a little and falling asleep? If he's eating a full meal then he really is hungry. If not, he may just wake up and want attention.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but her sleeping through the night is not normal for a 6.5 month old. And the fact that you are gone for 12 hours a day, she is just making up for it by wanting to be close with you. I understand that you are tired, it just really sounds like your daughter just wants to be with you. You definitely are not setting Audrey up for a bag habit. If you can tolerate it, I would really suggest co-sleeping. You can get the sleep you need without having to wake up so much to feed Audrey. If you're not comfortable, try putting a pack and play in your room, that way, you don't have to go too far when she does wake up.
Hope this helps.

Honestly, I did the bottle/formula thing with my first two and then decided to nurse my last one (backwards I know). Let me tell you the older two slept MUCH better, MUCH faster than the one I nursed. You might try suplimenting your nursing with formula, just one bottle of formula might be just what you need for a good night's sleep! Let Dad give her that bottle and put her to bed. You also might want to look at how long and when she is napping or consider keeping her up a bit longer at night. We have always had a 9pm bedtime for our girls from baby-hood until they got into 7th grade when we let them stay up until 9:30. That might seem late to you, but I have always worked nights and it has worked for us. Good luck!!

My son was breastfed and had the worst sleep until a year...he only really got up to eat, but he wasn't sleeping without a feeding for a very very long time. I stuck with it despite everyone urging me to let him "cry it out" and now at 2 1/2 he is an EXCELLENT sleeper despite their dire warnings. Seriousely, he's happy to go to bed with his routine, only occassionally needs the whole "stop playing and go to bed" speech, and even then it's usually once, 20 minutes after his lights go out. He sleeps from 9pm to 11am (yes, 14 hours on average) and even holds in his pee all night to use the potty in the morning.

If yours is in Daycare I assume your bedtime will be earlier (as well as wake time!) but really my point is just that every kid is different, and at your daughter's age her pattern is temporary no matter what it is. Continueing to wake up with her (if you can...I understand just how dificult everything is when you are chronically sleep deprived) WON'T instill any bad habits in her that last throughout childhood. When she becomes a toddler you'll be able to recognise the manipulative wakings as oppossed to the feeding ones you seem to recognise now. Don't despair that this is forever no matter what you choose to do here...no 6 month old has the same sleep pattern as a 1 1/2 year old and kids are more adaptable than you think!

Your baby sounds COMPLETELY NORMAL. MOST babies do NOT sleep through the night at 6 months, their stomaches are still small and need to eat. It's not a bad habit. Dr Sears warns against sleep training, he's certainly not for it.
I know how rough it can be.
If you want to try something else try "The No-Cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. When the "experts" say "sleeping through the night" they mean 5 hours.
Hang in there. You are doing the right thing by responding to your baby's needs.

I think what you are experiencing is very normal. I breastfed my son until he was 16 months old and he was always a good sleeper but did get up to eat during the night. I can't quite remember how often he was getting up at 6 months, but he was always an early to bed, early to rise baby. And I'm sure at 6 months he got up at least once a night to eat. You also have to keep in mind that breastmilk digests quicker so breastfed babies tend to eat more frequently than formula fed babies. I know there are different philosophies on crying it out, but my philosophy was that at that age when they cry they need you. My ped. told me that when they are that young, they are crying b/c they need you and responding to them actually makes them more secure and independent in the long run. Everyone debates the crying it out, but I always just responded to his needs when he cried and as he got older, he got up less and less through the night. He always went down to bed without any problems, was always a good napper and now sleeps 10-12 hours through the night. They say you can't spoil a baby that young. I do also think every baby is different too, so there isn't one way to handle it. Just do what makes you feel comfortable and what works for your baby. Sleep deprivation is tough, but I sometimes still take naps with him during the day to try to catch up. Good luck!

Maybe you should try to feed her more baby food during the day and about an hour or so before bed so that she isn't as hungry during the night. I have a 2 year old who still doesn't sleep throught the night. It's rough, I know.

Sounds like your daughter is "reverse cycling," and this is normal for babies when moms work outside of the home. I would encourage you to bring your baby to bed with you the first time she wakes, and nurse her right there, allowing each of you fall asleep after the nursing, then nurse with barely waking up for the second session. That is basically what I did with all 4 of my kids (well, they started right out in an Arms Reach Cosleeper).

Hugs!

It's probably time to introduce cereal!! she's a hungry girl!! my little boy (who is turning 2 12/22) He was a breastfed boy - til, 10 months, he still wakes up at night...here and there...time will pass, and before you know it, you'll say OMG! I slept, I really slept!! I'm a full time working mom too, it's hard, it really is....plus, she probably just misses her mama sometimes too and needs a mommy fix....breastfed kids are just different i think...Oh, and we co-sleep, night time is all we have!!! I love it, it takes some of the guilt from being gone so much away!
Best of luck to you and your family, and Happy Holidays!!

i would try and get her to drink from the bottle and put a tiny bit of baby cereal in it i know they tell you that you really shouldnt but i did with both of my kids and they slept threw the night

At that age, they should NOT be sleeping through the night, if they are, your very lucky :] My 18 month old JUST started to sleep through the night {That's a little late} I would never change her diaper at night - you could use the next size up, to hold more, and just slather her behind in Balmex before bed.
Also you could try to give her a bottle of water at night if you can't take it anymore - eventually she'll not bother getting up for water in the middle of the night. - Try to do it slowly - replace one feeding with water a night at first.
Some babies are sensitive, and SHOULD NOT be allowed to cry it out for longer than a few minutes.
It's great that you've kept up with it this long :] Also, do you have anyone who can take over one feeding a night {formula, pumped milk, or water}? Good luck, there will be better nights ahead. XOXOX Merry Christmas