Almost 8 Month Old Keeps Waking up Hungry in the Middle of the Night!!

I also had that problem with my youngest daugter now 8, try to give her some warm oatmeal or rice cereal before bedtime.

Give her some rice cereal before she goes to bed. It helped my kids sleep through the night from the age of 4 weeks. She may also need more exercise throughout the day.
Warm regards.
S.

I would say let her take the lead in signaling when she wants to eat and sleep (but don't overfeed her, that will make her full and uncomfortable). She knows her needs best, contrary to what many docs say. Also, at this age many babies are learning new skills (sitting, crawling) and it is common for them to sleep a bit fitfully during these new developments. It's as if their bodies are practicing the movements even during sleep. Secondly many babies begin teething their molars around 8-10 months, and that may result in discomfort that makes it hard for the baby to sleep. Many "experts" will give you all sorts of "remedies" to make the baby sleep without addressing *why* the baby is waking.

Hi K.;

Did she take a nap in the middle morning and afternoon. I usually had my children takes a nap around 2 pm thru 3 pm. Then I took them to the park and run around, play around. Then I bring them back home and I started giving them small snack, we usually ate dinner at 6:30 pm. Give her a full breakfast,lunch,snacks and proper amount of dinner,fluid. Maybe her body metabolism burns fat quickly, no matter how much food you gave her, she still hungry and ate a lot. My husband and my 16 yrs old daughter is like that. But they never gain weight. I guess you have to give her more food to eat since she still growing up. Good luck.

A.

Feed her as much as she would like, my daughter was such a porker that she ate all the time. What I did was right before it was time for her to go down for the evening, I would put a small amount of the rice cereal in her bottle and that filled her up and she slept all night long. She was just one of those babies that loved to eat and she still is and she's almost two.

I don't think that would be overfeeding or anything. As long as she gets the same portions and is eating healthy, you can increase her meals during the day or if you give her a bottle at night, try a small tablespoon or two of the rice cereal in her bottle and that'll fill her right up.

I think you are correct. She might be sleeping too much during the day. My daughter only naps 2-3 hrs during the day.
You don't want to make it a habit to feed her at night.

I have a 10 mo old. I feed her every two hours during the day. Small portion of solids (2/3 of the Gerbert 3 stages) and 4oz of formula. She has approx. 7 meals during the day and right before bedtime, I make her a 6 oz bottle. If she's really hungry, she will drink the whole bottle, otherwise, she only drinks about 4-5 oz.

Hope this helps!

K.,

Have you tried putting baby cereal in her formula? Of course you will need to change the nipple on her bottle. It worked for my 2nd daughter who was always hungry!

Check with your pediatrician about how much you are feeding her and whether she is eating too much/not enough. It all depends on how much she's nursing/drinking bottles and what type(s) of solids she's ready for, as well as where she is on the growth curve.

I don't think it's strange for an 8 month old to be hungry at night; my daughter was still nursing twice a night at that age! She is now almost 15 months and has 3 meals plus 3 snacks (mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and before bed) a day. Plus about 20 oz of milk.

Cereal in a bottle is a bad idea and I'm sure your doctor would tell you this. Cereal before bed (as a snack) is fine, though. Good luck!

i found this really interesting article that can apply to babies at multiple ages. (i copied it below)

my thoughts are that every baby is dif't - so even though your first 2 children did not do this - your youngest had dif't needs. not sure if you are breastfeeding - but bf babies are often hungrier sooner and perhaps your daughter is just going through some serious growth spurts!! i am a big believer in feeding babies when they are hungry, holding them when they are crying and letting them sleep when they sleep - as they know nothing but meeting these basic needs when they are young. we nursed my son every 3 hours or so (ocassionally longer!!) until he was 18 months!!! so i feel your pain but can assure you it will pass!!

here's the article -
Wakeful 4 Month Olds
by Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Reprinted with permission from the author.

One of the concerns I have about some parenting books and pediatricians who give advice about sleeping infants is this: Baby starts sleeping through the night at, say, about 3 months -- or at least sleeping 5 to 6 hours. Suddenly around 4 months, little Buford starts waking up at night to nurse. Mom is understandably distressed. Some books say "it's a bad habit that must be stopped." Her pediatrician says essentially the same thing. Someone else points out that since the baby slept through the night at 3 months, it is OBVIOUS that the baby CAN sleep and isn't hungry. The book goes on to talk about how the baby is now manipulating the mother. The pediatrician says he's big enough to go without eating at night. Grandma tells her to let Buford cry it out. So does the book. There may be different ways, but in essence, don't pick him up and feed him....

Has NO ONE stopped to consider the developmental stage of the
breastfeeding baby that begins at about four months and can go on to 6 or 7 months? Think about your four month old breastfeeding -- what are they doing? This baby is on and off the breast -- so interested in the world around him he can hardly stand it. "Oh look! There's the dog! Hi, Mommy, I love you SOOOO much! The phone?! A car went by. The TV is on. Big sister comes into the room....hey, there's just too much going on for me to concentrate on eating. I think I'm full now. I'll see you later....."

When I get one of these babies in my office, I have to observe the feed without saying a word to the mother. The entire feeding is done in complete silence so that the baby will EAT and not look around at me. How many times have you been told to go into a darkened, quiet room to get a good feeding? OK, now think about night time. Buford is really hungry -- he didn't eat well during the day. Nighttime is here; it's dark, quiet, and he has mommy's undivided attention. So he has a really great meal. Doesn't take long -- he's pretty efficient by now. But it is down to business and complete.

But WAIT! Someone told the mother that the baby can't possibly be hungry -- just let him cry it out. Now mom's milk supply diminishes because punkin isn't eating well during the day -- too many things going on, and he's going through some new developmental stages (when Hildegarde is learning something new, she doesn't nurse as well until the new skill is mastered). IF mom has kept Buford/Hildegarde on a schedule since day 1, then she will probably NOT be able to increase her supply -- not with pumping, not with herbs. If she fed her baby frequently enough and laid down enough prolactin receptors in the first two weeks to a month, there is hope that we can bring the milk back up. But if she was truly "obeying" a schedule and only feeding every 2.5 to 3 hours, she may not be able to (depending on mom's breastmilk storage supplies, etc).

Why don't bottle feeding babies wake up as much at 4 months? Because by this time, mom has often handed the bottle off to baby to feed himself, and/or seats him looking out so he can check out the dog, the phone, the sibling, etc -- and continue eating at the same time.

Please don't deny that your breastfeeding baby is quite possibly very hungry at night at four months, even though they may have been sleeping through the night prior to this. Look at the feed -- can you hear swallowing? Does your breast get softer? Is he EATING? Then don't make him cry it out! He needs to eat....and he needs his mommy.

She is still too little to make it all night on just solids during the day!! Are you nursing? If you are, I think you should have a feeding part way through the night. 8 months is too young to be on only solids IMO!!
Babies are not meant to sleep all night long without eating. She might be going through a growth spurt also and need more calories. God bless and hang in there--if you hear her tummy growling then feed her! :)

K.
I have an 9 month old baby and she does the same thing.
I asked her doctor and her respond was to feed her a good lunch around noon and then dinner around six and then give her last bottle when she is about to fall as sleep.
You can also add cereal to the formula that would keep her asleep longer.
About her long naps she should be taking about 2 short naps about 30-40 min and then a long one about 1 1/2.
Ask your pediatrician. Not all babies are the same.
Good luck to you.

It sounds like you do need to feed her more during the day. One of my boys woke up almost every 2 hours until he was almost 1 yr. ugh :) He nursed during the night, but he was truly hungry. The Dr. & I came up with a plan. I nursed him before bed AND gave him a big bottle of formula before bed. I also fed him a more substancle dinner. I made sure he had cereal or something heavy for dinner opposed to just veggies, fruit, etc. Hope this helps.

I have a nine month old and he slept like and angel until we started with the solids. It seems if you introduce too much too fast their systems can't handle it and they wake in the middle of the night with gas in the belly. The growling sound may be gas. I tried removing some of the food that I had introduced and my baby slept much better. It may be worth keeping a food journal to see what foods your baby eats and how well they sleep at night. We also changed the feeding times a little and now feed 4 smaller meals spread out and snacks of cheerios throughout the day. Good Luck!

Hi, my son will be nine months on the 10th and he started having that problem also back when he was 6 or 7 months old. What I did that made it better was I gave a little bit more food to him each day and if they don't spit up then it should be fine. Also, make sure she is getting three 8 oz. bottles at LEAST during the day, that helps out a lot.

Babies sleep and hunger patterns change with their developmental stages and growth spurts. People swear by different methods to get their babies to sleep, but really I think it is just coincidence. When their babies start sleeping through the night again, it isn't really to the credit of the new sleep strategy, but just that the baby is ready to sleep easily again. My advice is to let her sleep during the day when she is tired and eat when she is hungry. I think if you follow your own instincts and those of your baby it will all settle out fine without the stress of trying to figure out what you are doing "wrong."