My six month old son has been a pretty good sleeper up until recently. He used to sleep for about 6-8 hours, wake to nurse for 10 minutes, then back to sleep for 3-4 hours before waking to nurse again. He would then go back to sleep for a couple more hours. He sleeps in a pack n play next to me. A couple of weeks ago he began waking every hour and a half. He wants to breastfeed each time he wakes. I originally thought he was going through a growth spurt, but it has continued. I am exhausted. Any ideas on why he may be waking or suggestions on how to gently encourage him to sleep longer? I do not believe in letting him cry. I had coslept with my first two so their night waking barely disturbed me. This isn't an option for me now as I have been unable to lay in a bed without severe back pain since he has been born. I sleep on my couch which obviously isn't safe for him to join me. Every time he wakes I have to fully wake so that I don't accidentally fall asleep with him on the couch. Also, he has been eating some solid food each day since I thought he might be hungry. Every time he wakes he will actively nurse for a good ten minutes.
Thank you for your responses. My son is teething, and his first tooth just broke the gums
yesterday. He obviously just needs some extra comfort due to his pain. My other children had no problems teething so I never would've thought about that so thank you.
I wouldn't night wean, he still needs the calories. I would however try to soothe him other ways first. Gentle patting, some shushing and even a bit of rocking, if after about 10 minutes he is still upset and wanting to nurse then I would let him nurse. Six months is another growth spurt for many babies.
My little guy keeps doing that too & it seems to be when he's teething. He usually gives me a little break and wakes like that every other night. This started around 5 months and has continued on and off and he's now 9 months with 4 teeth. On nights he doesn't do this he wakes 2 times to nurse during the night whereas before he nursed once and if he would wake any other time he would take his pacifier.
He is actually about to go through a growth spurt, it's very common for them to nurse more before the spurt to get you ready to make more milk while he's growing so much. He's hungry, feed him :)
Dr. Sears' website has some great advice regarding this, too.
My son was like this and even though he was in a sidesleeper I had to get up to nurse him. Since I could not function at all during the day I decided to night wean him. I can't tell you it was easy but he was sleeping well on the 3rd day. I never left him to cry by himself. I rocked him and told him it was ok everytime he woke up. It would work better if dad did it but my husband could not.
