6 month old, I cant keep him full at night, normal for this age?

[monte3375]

Goes to bed at 7:30, up starving at either 11 pm or midnight and then up again at 3 or 4 am starving...should I add in formula

 

[Katteh]

Have you started weaning? If not, when he is eating more food he will start sleeping for longer hopefully.

My health visitor (who is a lactation consultant) said food is recommended over formula as a supplement at 5/6 months x

 

[summer rain]

Twice a night isn't too bad, also they go through sleep regressions at anytime between 4-7 months. My youngest has been a really bad sleeper since 4 months wakes up every 1-2 hours. He is 6 months in a few days but I am holding off starting solids until then as from experience with my four others, solids and formula top ups don't help with sleep. Xx

 

[Biotechick829]

Don't add in formula. Babies sleep well on formula because it's hard for them to digest and takes longer. It could also backfire on you if he has tummy troubles on formula and is up even more because of stomach upset.

It honestly sounds like he has a little bit of a sleeping issue. At 6 months breastfed babies should easily go 8-10 hrs at night without a feed. He maybe nursing out of habit or just want to be with you as there is no reason why he can't go through the night without a feed (there's no physical reason why). Of course he may be going through a growth spurt, in which case it'd be ok to feed at these times, but if this is lasting more than a couple weeks it's likely a habit.

Everyone has a different opinion on the subject, but I recommend sleep training, especially at this age. I sleep trained my LO two weeks ago and it's one of the best things I've done so far. She was waking up at midnight, 2am, and again at 4am to "snack." I came to the conclusion she was habitually waking up. I used the Ferber method after reading this blog: https://noobmommy.com/2008/11/to-ferberize-or-not-to-ferberize.html. She now is asleep by 6:30pm, I dreamfeed at 11pm, and she doesn't fuss until she wakes for the day at 6:15am when I nurse her again.

Some people are against sleep training, which is fine. I've read that somewhere around a year or older babies that once woke throughout the night sort things out themselves and stop waking. This is not from experience, though, so I'm not sure if it's true.

Also, when you night wean your LO will just take more milk in during the day. They'll always get enough milk that they need sometime within a 24 hr period. If you night wean just make sure you nurse him longer during the day or give him a little more milk in his bottles. I also agree solids won't do much to help him sleep, especially so if he's habitually waking.

 

[misspriss]

I would disagree that breastfed babies should regularly be able to go 8-10 hours without a feed. They might be able to, but I don't think it is the average. Breastmilk digests very fast, in young babies and in old babies, they don't get less efficient at digesting it.

My LO is almost 8 months and still nurses 2-3 times per night, and he nurses a LOT at those times. He never fully wakes up, so I doubt he is doing it consciously out of habit.

My opinion is that two time a night is perfectly normal for his age, and that you should not add formula.

 

[BunnyN]

I think a lot depends on the baby. Some babies may be fine sleeping through the night by 6 months but my LO has had trouble putting on weight and I feel night feeds are still very important for her. Since we started solid foods I'm afraid she sleeps even worse because she wakes up with a gassy tummy. I can tell the difference when she has woken up because she is hungry and when it's for another reason though. Dream feeding works well for us too but I don't really count that as sleeping through, because I'm not asleep even if LO is, lol.