I am about to collapse. havent slept more than 2-3 hours every night during the past 7 months. my baby boy is soon 7 months and I breastfeed him in addition to feeding him with solids during the day and evening. I was hoping that solids would help and he would start sleeping for longer but he still sleeps 2-3 hours and wakes up for BF EVERY night.
He sleeps with me in our bed, doesnt take passifier or feeder. we tried to give him passifier and then feeder with water in the weekend but he screamed for one hour in the middle of the night until he got my breast and had a full BF session!it seems like he is really hungry when he wakes up and its not just for cuddling and being with mummy.
should I get him checked for metabolism issues? it seems like he digests his food/milk very fast. other mums I have spoken to seem to feed their kids with same solids but they sleep through the night or only wake up once…
I dont have family around me to take care of him in the morning hours so its not an option to wait and see as I am literally about to collapse. I cant sleep during the day either cuz its light outside..tried so many times.
should I feed him more during the day?
This is his schedule for eating/sleep:
Morning: 9.30 - Breastfeeding
11.30: solid and mashed banana
12.30 breast feeding and sleeps
3.00 solid
4.00 breastfeeding
5.00breastfedding and sleeps
8.00 solids
10.00. breast feeding and sleeps
10.45 wakes up for breast feeding and sleeps again
11.30/0.00 wakes up for breast feeding and sleeps again
and this goes on every 2nd/3rd hour during the night. sometimes more often!!
Oh the joys of breast feeding! Im still bf'ing my 15mnth old & he also doesn't take feeder or pacifier. And I do regret that now for not introducing them from birth.
So one of the reasons for his waking up at nights maybe a phase of new teeth cutting through? And he maybe using you as a comforter.
And since breast milk is easily digested it is common for breast fed children to nurse often.
Sorry I have no advice as such but all I'll say is hang in there this phase will pass, inshallah :)
I know u say it's difficult to sleep during the day, but try & take some rest at least when your son naps. Perhaps lay in bed with him, you never know you might just drift off with all the tiredness & sleep deprivation.
my baby also used 2 wake up at night wthout any reason wht i started doing was not letting her sleep after 5 n thn at 9 her dinner thn bath thn feeder n sleep after bath she takes a long nap n thn she wakes up at 6 for next feed since u r breast feeding so its difficult 2 say whether she is getting full feed or not i have no experience of breastfedding but heard tht make sure u feed ur abby for almost 20 to 25 mins n dont let him sleep while feeding in this way he l become dependent on feeding for sleep let him sleep on his own in this way even he wake up at night he vl learn 2 sleep again on his own n give him bath before sleeping all the best
my son is on a similar schedule but he takes the bottle so his last feed is usually around 10 and then he's down for the night AH.
given the frequence of his bf'ing, it sounds like he's hungry throughout the day, and especially at night because maybe he's not getting enough so he can't seem to go longer periods without it.
try giving your son solids three times a day. at 7 months he's old enough for that. maybe give him oatmeal with fruit at night at the 10 or 10:45 mark. remember, breastmilk is lighter than formula and digests much quicker too so he's likely waking up from hunger. of course, he might also be waking up from habit at this point... hrm. but yeah, i'd say try giving him his third feeding of solids at night and make it oatmeal. my son's paed told him it will keep him full longer because it takes longer to digest. if that doesn't work, then you might want to try giving him a paci during the day while he's up to get him used to the idea. usually if you try and introduce something new in the middle of their sleep cycle, they're not too pleased about it and it makes sense that they wouldn't be either.
you might also consider giving him top feed, which is one bottle of formula at night. because formula is heavier, it also takes longer to digest. as well, if you aim to give him formula once at night, either make it after he's had his oatmeal, or make it around midnight and possibly your husband can give him the bottle so you can get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep?
as always, check with your son's paediatrician before you introduce anything new.
my son is also teething now so he's been off his food mark and wants more milk these days rather than solids, but you say this has been going on for a while, so i don't think you can attribute it to teething entirely.
More than being hungry it night it seems that your baby is waking up out of habit. My kids were the same. Even though they were on the skinny side I knew that it was out of habit only.One was nursed and the other was bottle fed. But as they grew older they woke up more and more. I stopped feeding them at night (at 2 years and 16 months respectively) and have never looked back.
Seems like exactually our schedule with our 7 month old. I too nurse and have started solids twice daily.
OK I am not a superwoman but why are you about to collaspe, I do this routine daily plus have 2 more kids and am not lacking sleep.
Our night time nursing schedule is
7-8 pm,11- 12 pm, 2-3 am,5-6 am, 8-9 am
wauw you ARE a super woman!!! well we are all built differently and I have never ever been able to cope with sleep defficiency. I used to sleep 12 hours to function normally before my son was born. I have food allergies, vitamin defficiencies etc so 0erhaps thats why my body is so weak...
my baby also used 2 wake up at night wthout any reason wht i started doing was not letting her sleep after 5 n thn at 9 her dinner thn bath thn feeder n sleep after bath she takes a long nap n thn she wakes up at 6 for next feed since u r breast feeding so its difficult 2 say whether she is getting full feed or not i have no experience of breastfedding but heard tht make sure u feed ur abby for almost 20 to 25 mins n dont let him sleep while feeding in this way he l become dependent on feeding for sleep let him sleep on his own in this way even he wake up at night he vl learn 2 sleep again on his own n give him bath before sleeping all the best
will try bahthing him before sleep daily...perhaps that might help...
started giving him solid 3 times day in addition to frit and nursing him so I hope it will help!!!
wauw you ARE a super woman!!! well we are all built differently and I have never ever been able to cope with sleep defficiency. I used to sleep 12 hours to function normally before my son was born. I have food allergies, vitamin defficiencies etc so 0erhaps thats why my body is so weak...
erm no I am not, I just have adjusted to it as this is my third. Now that I think back, with my first one I had some difficuilty coping with nursing at night time too.
I have been thinking of your delimma and I dont think he is hungry as he is getting enough during day, this is my feeling, I could be wrong though. but maybe the solid before his bedtime has to be a heavier one, like SGC mentioned, we too use oatmeal, well as mines loves desi food, so I mix oatmeal with chicken or whatever I salan I have cooked and she is full and content mA. You can mix fruits/vegetable/meat with oatmeal and its a heavy meal for them.
Another thing breastfeeded kids do the drinking out of habbit and sometimes they are just thirsty as I notice that mines gets up and will it for 5 minutes and will sleep again.
When my #2 turned one year old I got pregnant again, I was nursing her but had to stop as she was getting sick from the milk, so when I weaned her for which my husband helped me, I would leave the room when she would wake up, she would then be given water from sippy cup and she would sleep back again ... this is how she stopped drinking breast milk at night. I am not saying stop nursing but try giving water first and see if he sleeps after this.
^ what did you do when they woke up crying though?
Baby NO.1 Breastfed till 2. Woke up more and more to nurse during the night: Dad put him to bed (hard the first few days) so he wouldn't nurse just before going to bed and wake up craving the same. When he woke up and cried I offered him the sippy cup with water. he threw it away and cried while I held him. finally he went back to sleep and woke up after a longer stretch than usual. Then I nursed him and again when he woke up during the night. Then slowly each night didn't nurse him the second and third time too and offered him the sippy cup (or food which he didn't take). Finally he woke up less and less. He was waking upt o 12-13 times a night.
Baby No.2( 16 months): She was bottle fed. I put her to bed and didn't offer the bottle immediately before bed but half a hour before. When she woke up didn't offer the bottle and let her cry it out with me in the room mostly, offering her the sippy cup. Offered her the bottle in subsequent feedings and lessened the bottle offerings. Within a few days she was sleeping through the night. She was waking up 5-6 times prior to that and played after each waking.
I dont have kids...but SIL had this prob with her first one...so when she had her second child...in the first week when baby used to wake up during the night..she would never give milk..used to give baby water in feeder..baby woke up a few times in the week and at the end gave up as realised no point...
its hard 2 do that to ur child...but she says it stopped the child waking up and now baby just has milk before she goes to sleep and then sleeps till 6am in the morning till it needs its next feed....i dnt tink i wud be able to do that!
^ in the first week?? that’s just wrong… babies aren’t even supposed to have water until they’re a few months old! and babies that are a week old are too young to go a full night without being fed. their bodies need the nutrition. its only when they reach a certain weight that they can go for longer between feeds.
this reminds me of an acquaintance who was so desperate to get her sleep/go out to party at night like she did before baby as if nothing had changed… she would also feed the baby with cold fridge water because she couldn’t be bothered to warm up his water for his formula. apparently it was too much of a hardship on her and the baby had to fit into her lifestyle rather than her adjust her lifestyle to the new baby’s needs i mean, why even have a baby if you’re not willing to make sacrifices in your personal life to raise it?
oh my!! the newborns need to be fed every 2 hours if not hourly.. their tiny tiny stomach cant hold food fora full night.
and no offence but water in bottle seems plain wrong to me.. even for a 5-6 month old! babies expect milk in bottle and thats what they should get.. who are we deceiving? our very own child? they will never build the trust relationship with us!
I give my baby formula for his first night time feed (around 9pm) just so he sleeps for 3-4 hours uninterrupted that is good for him and then he wakes up every 90 mins for bf, and I give him that!!
my baby took milk after every 3hrs until 6 months whether day or night n i never gave her water insted of milk yeah i gave her water during day but only few tea spoon i think till 1 year milk should be priority n i understand in the beginning its difficult but gradually u get use 2 it i never slept for more than 2 hrs till my baby turned 6 months yeah 1st month was difficult but allhumdullah thn every thing went fne :)
i mean, why even have a baby if you’re not willing to make sacrifices in your personal life to raise it?