6 month old waking every 2 hours for feed

[AK89]

My 6 month old has been going through a major growth spurt for about a month now It started with her waking a couple of hours after being put down, when she had been sleeping a solid 6-8 hours, then she would refuse to go back in her cot (so I started cosleeping to retain sanity!) Then she became really difficult to get to sleep at night.. And somewhere along the way she started waking up every 2 hours for a feed! It's almost like clockwork. She wakes up almost EXACTLY 2 hours after I put her down. I just go and feed her (and she actually takes a decent feed so it's not just for comfort or whatever) and she's back asleep within 20mins usually. Sometimes I'm already in bed by the next feed but usually not, and again it's exactly 2 hours later! At this point I usually go to bed. Then throughout the night she wakes a fee times, although I can never be too sure how many/often cos I pretty much just sleep through it (thank God for cosleeping/breastfeeding!)

I don't mind doing this if it's just a phase and if it's what my daughter needs, but a couple of times now it's occurred to me that this could be something I could put right.. She doesn't even feed every 2 hours through the day! So an obvious solution would be to feed her more through the day so she'd be less hungry at night. But this is almost impossible! If I try to feed her when she's not hungry through the day it just does not work. She'll entertain the idea for all of about 30 seconds and then realise there's something far more fun that she'd rather be doing (like pulling my hair or tugging on my nipple with her mouth YAY!)

The other thing that occurred to me is maybe I should try giving her more solids? I'm doing BLW and then giving her a bowl of porridge before bedtime (in the hope of her getting some more sleep, to no avail!) and at the moment to be honest she's probably not really getting much sustenance from her solids other than her supper. But I read solids are just meant to be for fun for the first 12 months and, if anything, I should slowly work her up to 3 meals a day. Considering I've only been giving her solids for like a month I wouldn't have thought she'd require a full 3 meals a day schedule by now..?? I dunno, maybe it'd be worth a try..

Anyone have any other ideas or just been through something similar?

 

[fortunecookie]

Hey I had the same thing although my DD has extended to 3-4 hours at night now. This has happened naturally. I am BLW and she does eat a fair bit. I try and feed her every 3 hours during the day but she finds much better things to look at and pulls off the boobie, she is so distractable! I hope it gets better with time and the hours between night feeds keeps extending, although she has only ever once slept 8 hours.

 

[Cattia]

She will probably work it out in her own time, but I wonder if you could try feeding her in a dimly lit room somewhere very quiet during the day so maybe she would be less distracted? When I was weaning my oldest two the HV told me to introduce an extra meal each week so that after three weeks they were on three meals a day. However I didn't do BLW with them, and tbh I don't think that eating more solids improved their sleep a great deal. They were both frequent wakers until 8 months when somehow they both just started sleeping through. I guess it's mostly just a developmental thing but I know how tiring it is!

 

[AK89]

Thanks!

I was expecting that to be the case to be honest..

Oh well, I'm actually perfectly happy with it the way it is to be honest! Every time someone asks me how she's sleeping and I tell them they're like "OH MY GOD you poor thing!!" but cosleeping is honestly a lifesaver and I actually sleep really well! It will be nice when she sleeps through and I imagine I'll appreciate having my bed back when she eventually gets back in her cot but I think I'll miss it far more!

 

[Mushymilkfor2]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. I couldn't tell you if it's every 2 hours, as I go to bed with ds, and I cosleep. But I do know he wakes a lot to feed! He's been this way pretty much since we started cosleeping, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that my boob is right in his face all night.

We currently live in a one bedroom apartment, but plan to move to a 2 bedroom in the next couple months and when we do that we are going to try and put him in his own room. He'll be around 8 or 9 months by then, and hopefully that'll slow down night feeds.

And as for feeding them solids, he gets 3 meals a day, and still wakes a lot for feeds. So I don't think that has much to do with helping him sleep better.

 

[LeannieB]

Hi my little boy is 6.5 months and he doesnt sleep through. He is EBF and the only way I can get him back to sleep is to feed him. He isnt really interested in solids yet. The other night he only woke up once early on in the night and then slept through until morning. I woke up in a panic and flew out of bed to check on him as im so used to him waking up. He is a big baby though and he loves his milk. x

 

[apple_20]

Oh in there too and we've even lost the 3 hour stretch she used to do first. I bf too I think it is quite common. Just started blw but she hasn't taken anything yet. I'm in no rush as DS was on solids at 5 months and formula by then still didn't sleep through until 8 months (and even then not every night) unfortunately I think it's a wait it out thing. Until they are developmentally ready.

Mine eats less in the day is all distracted but I'm reluctant to try too hard to change anything as we tried it ALL with DS to no avail!

 

[Prinny_1]

Right there with you all at a few days short of six months... X

 

[AK89]

Aww it's nice to know it's so common! Whenever I tell anyone she's feeding every 2 hours they're like "WHAT?!?!!?!?!" My MIL even (not so) subtly hinted I should switch to formula so she'll sleep better. "I had all my kids on baby rice by 6 weeks" is what she said to me the other day! :O

I'm definitely a firm believer in the Waiting It Out approach. I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to that have given me advice on sleep training, night weaning, etc. SHE'S A BABY!! I'm not leaving her to cry or denying her milk. She's not gonna be this small forever and one day soon I'm gonna miss our little night cuddles!!

 

[Prinny_1]

If it makes everyone feel any better, last night between 1.30 and 5am he woke up every 15-30 mins... They'll all get there in end 😉 xx

 

[vickyandchick]

I'm in the same boat, he has 3 meals a day but it doesn't make a difference.

 

[AK89]

Right now I'm on 2nd night feed and I only put her down 3 hours ago!

 

[AK89]

We're on our 3rd feed of the night and she only went down 4 hours ago! Anyone else getting worse?!

 

[apple_20]

Oh yes ours gets worse.

Last night she did 3 hours for her first stretch first time in ages! Only thing we changed was made her matress comfier with a baby duvet placed under her (I know not recommended)

Once I went to bed she was up just as often(but easier to settle in her cot) the cot is set up as a co-sleeper with one side open to me.

If it wasn't for the fact her older noisy toddler brother was in the other room I would have moved her by now!

 

[MindUtopia]

Hang in there. It won't last forever. We had the same at 6 months, except that it was just about every hour all night long. It turned out in the end to be a combination of teething and starting weaning. Contrary to popular belief, weaning doesn't necessarily lead to better sleep. Actually, the changes that have to happen with digestion when you start to introduce solids can really disrupt sleep. I would literally lie awake at night and listen to my daughter's tummy gurgling and churning for about the first month or so (we also did BLW). Give it time. It will get better. For us, it lasted maybe to around 7 months - teeth came through at 6 months and 2 or 3 weeks and tummy settled down after that. We were co-sleeping anyway already, but it definitely made it more manageable.

 

[AK89]

Aw thank you, that makes me feel so much better! Everyone I ever talk to irl seems aghast that she's waking every few hours at this age. And that's people who have had babies! So it's hard sometimes to keep in mind that it is a normal phase to go through and we will come out the other end sometime soon!

She just cut her two bottom teeth the other day so around the same time as your LO so hopefully we'll see some improvements in the next few weeks.

I'm not completely miserable with it the way it is but it is sometimes a bit of an inconvenience.. Like when you get asked to do anything past like 4.30pm and you can't go haha.. My stepmum, stepsister and auntie are all going out next Tuesday and I was meant to be going with but cos they're going at 6 I can't cos I'll be housebound, waiting for madam to wake up for a feed!

And every time I see my MIL she asks me how she's sleeping... and it's like she knows what the answer is gonna be.. and she tells me about how all hers were sttn at 6 weeks cos she had them on baby rice and formula....

And then I've got my sister telling me to let her CIO cos that's what she did with hers and it worked wonders. She doesn't know about all the stuff I've read about CIO and how it actually is detrimental to the baby and they're not actually "self soothing" as babies and small children aren't capable of that, really they've just learnt that nobody comes whether they cry or not I'm definitely not comfortable telling her that cos it'd make her feel bad and I don't like telling people how to raise their kids! So yeah.. I get the odd "OH is she still not sleeping well??"

People just can't wait to cram parenting advice down your throat can they?!

 

[Literati_Love]

Sorry her sleep keeps getting worse! So does my dd's! Everyone else also seems completely shocked by her terrible sleep (also people who have had multiple babies) so it makes me wonder what the heck is so different about my baby that she doesn't sleep! I know what you mean about being housebound. Once dd is asleep for the night, I will actually need to be there to nurse her more often than during the day.

Dd is almost 9 months so I really hope things stop getting WORSE eventually and actually start improving. And I hope your dd figures things out a little faster than mine! Hehe.

 

[AK89]

Anyone else still there?!

 

[Literati_Love]

We are still in the thick of terrible sleep! How is your dd doing?

 

[Ashley1021]

Owen is on formula and will be 8 months old in a week And a half. Ever since birth he's woken up AT LEAST every two hours. He cut his two bottom teeth at 4 months. We started solids at 4 1/2 months so his tummy was getting use to new things. He just cut his third bottom tooth last week! Poor guy. And for the past two nights he's only woken up once at midnight to eat. I think he's finally comfortable enough to sleep. I hope it stays this way!