[b]When will she stop waking every 3hrs to feed[/b]

[bisbis]

My daughter still wakes 3 to 4 times at night and i've got a very active toddler to look forward to the next morning. I'm so proud of the fact that i'm bf her because i gave up with my son but i'm not sure how much more of this i can take.

All i hear is 'wean her' and my in laws have told me from the very begining to give her Formula.

I tried weaning but its proving more difficult than it was with my son. She wont take much, kept sticking her tongue out in disgust and seemed unsettled at night.

Would Formula help? i'm thinking along the lines of 'not the actual formula itself' but the thought that there's no warm boob for her when she wakes would make her less interested in waking to feed.

oh also, i put her to bed awake or semi awake and she has no problem settling herself to sleep.

 

[Tilliepink]

My son woke every 2-3 hours around the clock until I stopped b/f, the day I switched him to formula he slept his night and has ever since, hes 3 today.
Good luck.

 

[polaris]

Could you maybe try to resettle her without feeding her when she wakes? If she is a good weight then she should really be able to go a bit longer than 3-4 hours at night. You could try to stretch the time between feeds by deciding that if she woke after less than 4 or 5 hours then you would try to resettle her without feeding, then stretch it to 5 or 6 hours, etc.

I did this with my LO and pretty much straight away he began sleeping an 8 or 9 hour stretch at night.

 

[bisbis]

Thanks for your replies, she's a very good weight. I tried making her wait for longer stretches but i always gave up and just fed her because i was so tired.
I would give it another go and if it doesnt work then i'll try formula.

 

[eddjanuary10]

I don't have any amazing advice but just wanted to say you have done great getting this far! i know alot of people that have switched to formula in the hope that their babies would sleep longer and that hasn't been the case. my friends baby is 7 months old and has been on formula since 2 months and is also on solids now and still wakes in the night for a feed or comfort! my niece is over 1 and she still wakes in the night too! i guess it works for some people as someone above has said it worked for their lo, and maybe it will work for you too but it'd be a shame if you stopped bf'ing and nothing changed. maybe you could try expressing some milk and using this in her baby cereal or something to get her used to the taste? i read this in another post! good luck and i hope you get more zzz's soon! x

 

[shanny]

Hi,

My babies were all different ane took different amounts of time to go for longer between feeds. I BF all of them to six months. It is really ahrd when they don't sleep I went abit nuts for a while with my boy , but we got there eventually.

Why not set yourself a target and if nothing has improved by then try something else. Then at least you can feel like you have given it a good go and that it is your decision....

The other thing I did was to really ignore them at night ie only feed and put back with as little fuss as possible, no changing unless really necessary, no winding etc, keep lights low. My latest baby responded well to this and settled back really quickly so at least I felt like I was able to get back into bed quickly.

Best of luck

 

[anothersquish]

*sigh*
When a baby is ready to sleep through the night they will sleep through the night. You cant force them to do so (as you have already discovered by trying to give your baby solids)
switching to formula rarely makes any difference and when it does its simply because its harder to digest...this can actually have a negative impact on the babys weight gain and digestion causing more cases of wind and colic during the day and evening.
If you want to switch then do so but not just because you think it will help with night sleeping because its highly likely it wont. Many babies dont sleep through the night by 5 or 6 months old, some NEED feeding still, there are ways to try and resettle without feeding but it may mean a few nights of little sleep so its best done when you have someone around to watch your toddler the next day so you can catch up on some rest but its not impossible and its time you need to put in rather than a "quick fix"

 

[Maffie]

I wouldnt want to try stretching the feeds out at night to be honest. If they are waking up and want food then i'd say feed them. I know its hard I only have one child but when we have OHs other children here 5 and 3 it is very tiring but you just get used to it I guess. (I think I look like a zombie half the time)

Noah some nights doesnt want feeding others he does, guess he'll stop when HE'S ready

 

[Tilliepink]

Just want to clarify I wasnt telling you to switch your baby to formula was just telling you what I did and what worked. Im sure whatever you decided will be whats best for your child.

 

[polaris]

I wouldnt want to try stretching the feeds out at night to be honest. If they are waking up and want food then i'd say feed them. I know its hard I only have one child but when we have OHs other children here 5 and 3 it is very tiring but you just get used to it I guess. (I think I look like a zombie half the time)

Noah some nights doesnt want feeding others he does, guess he'll stop when HE'S ready

I agree if baby is only feeding once or twice at night and is taking a decent feed then they need the feed and I wouldn't try to stop it. But my LO was looking for a feed every two hours and literally just taking about two or three proper sucks and then just comfort sucking. He also had no interest in his morning feed when he got up in the morning. So I knew that he didn't need all of those feeds during the night and it was also giving him wind feeding so often during the night. He now just has one night feed normally, but occasionally he has two, and twice he has slept all the way through. He will now take a really good feed during the night and a really good feed when he gets up in the morning. I am totally happy to feed him once or twice if he is genuinely hungry during the night (or whenever he wants during a growth spurt) but I was not happy to get up every two hours with him to nurse him back to sleep when he was not really hungry.

 

[Wombat]

I feel your pain!!!

Our LO's are the same age and my lo does the same! And I have a toddler too!! ( I think we should meet up to share the pain! lol)

And I pretty much gave up... Half of the time he sucks just for comfort, half of the time he really needs a feed.
On a good nights he wakes up 3-4 times (between 7pm and 7am), on a bad nights - 7-8.

I tried not to gie the boob, but he just cried and cried and cried and then my toddler woke up because of all that crying) that I just gave up....
I know maybe I should have tried for loger, but baby wombat usually is just such a chilled happy baby that I can't stand him crying...

So no advice and just hugs

PS: I tried giving him formula - made no difference what so ever! So back to exclusively breastfeeding. At least I don't have to bother about making bottles!