My 9 month old has never really slept through the night. We put him to bed around 8pm and he wakes around 3-4am wanting to nurse and then will sleep until about 6:30 or 7pm. I'd love to get him to skip that night feeding. How do I do that? And I'm wondering....at that point he's already been asleep for 8 hours so maybe he really is hungry and does need to eat. He certainly acts hungry. Any thoughts?
He still needs that feeding. It will not be long till he will sleep longer, but at this point he is still actually hungry for a reason.
Just make the feeding as uneventful as possible. When he wakes up, change his diaper in the dark and feed him in the dark, with no conversation.
My first always nursed around that time until about 11/12 mos. The second slept through the night. I think some kids just have a bigger appetite or else he is wanting the comfort to fall back asleep. Probably you can tell best by how voraciously he is eating. If he is hungry then he will just outgrow it naturally as he eats more and more table food. Probably in the next month or two he will drop it. If he is doing it for comfort you will have to find a way to soothe him and then teach him to soothe himself back to sleep. There are lots of opinions on that one! Some people advise not feeding at night, but I always did because mine seemed hungry. In the end it is only a few months and then it is over. I always enjoyed the snuggle time.
I think he is actually hungry. 8 hours at a stretch is longer than any of my 3 kids went at that age. My only suggestion would be to try and push bedtime back a little further so that he wakes up for that feeding later?
My son is 8 months old and will sleep from 7pm-sometime between 12 and 3. I'm not sure if he's really 'hungry' but if I have him nurse on one side, he'll fall asleep very quickly.
The first time he cries/wakes up, I'll just pop the binky back in and see if that works. Sometimes it does, other times he wakes back up and that is when I feed him.
I think some kids wake up in the middle of the night forever (or for a few years even after nursing)....other kids may still be hungry at that age...or he could just be waking up because he's used to it. You never will know for sure, so the best thing is to see what works the best for you and your baby!
Neither of my kids slept through the night until after their first birthday - most of the people I know with young kids experienced the same thing. And, we tried it all - keeping them up later, giving them "food" before bed, etc.
They still have relatively small stomachs, and if they're not incorporating more solids into their diet, they're burning through the milk so quickly.....just like how a Slim Fast or a Carnation Instant Breakfast doesn't last long for us as adults.
I'd take his cues and continue to nurse until he is showing signs that he doesn't need it. It won't be long before he's sleeping better, and you'll be getting a better night's sleep.
Good luck!
M.,
I realize your baby is a little older, but there is a book called On Becoming Babywise...can't remember the author, but I'm sure you could google it. There's actually a follow-up book called Babywise II. They are awesome books. The main recommendation is that you start "sleep training" the day your baby is born, but it also says that you can start at anytime. It really works, but it takes some dedication! I know how awful it is to have a baby who doesn't sleep. My first baby was TERRIBLE! He was up like 5 times a night, even when he was over a year old. Anyway, good luck!
K.
Hi,
Have you tried solid food before bed? Sometimes a full tummy of solid food lasts longer than a tummy full of mommy milk. Breast milk is thin and digests easier than thick solid food and a warm bath with lavinder on the bottome of his feet then socks may just do the trick. It worked wonders for all 3 of my kids. Even for my son who has APD. (APD kids are hard to put down because of special sensitivities and sicurity issues.)
I hope I could be of help to you.
Best wishes and blessings to you and your baby,
A. P
My first woke for one nighttime feeding (breastfeeding) form 6 to 12 months, at which point I let him cry it out at my pediatrician's recommendation and husband's insistence. It three nights, but then he was fine. My second was waking up every 30-60 minutes at 7-9 months. I followed the recommendations of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and eventually resorted to letting her cry it out. It took 7 days, but she is now sleeping through the night. My pediatrician said that they don't need to eat but enjoy nursing so when they wake during the night (as we all do) they look for that comfort. My daughter really actively seeks out the breast, but it is for comfort rather than hunger as I can tell from her sucking patterns and her response to solids. I really didn't like letting them cry it out, but my husband was so fried with the first and I with the second (with my second I slept in the baby's room so my husband wouldn't be disturbed) that we weren't being the kind of parents I want us to be and knew we could. I knew there was no physical reason that the babies needed to eat (I trust my pediatrician on that). So, I just sucked it up and made the change. I was glad I did in retrospect on both--it was just really hard at the time. I know it's tough. Hang in there.
