Nursing at Night

Maybe he's teething? Or maybe he's needing that cuddle time with mommy lately? My lil girl will often want to feed when what she really wants in the closeness of mommy. I found that she sleeps a ton longer if I pull her into bed with me. Then when she wakes up, I feel her little hand reach out and touch me. She seems to fall right back to sleep then.

Hello K.. One thing to try (and I know I'm going to get the third degree here) is possibly letting baby cry it out - not for 5, 10, or even 15 minutes - try 30!!!! If baby is still crying after 30 mins - go into his room, check his diaper .... also, if you feed him @ 6:30 pm, try one more feeding at around 9:30 -10pm.... he will take in a lot of milk at this time (or, at least he will learn to) when he realizes it's his last feeding of the night. My son is 6 mos old - they hit a plateau for growing at about this age until about 11mos. - we do a feeding at 5:30 pm and then his last one is at around 9-9:30 pm ... I go into his nursery, with lights very low, let him kind of sleep feed - just very relaxed, from both sides, until he's done (usually the thumb goes in his mouth)...then I lay him down for the night. He sleeps until 8am. Your son may cry for a while after you put him down after the 9pm-ish feeding, but you have to let him cry for a little bit (for about a week is what it took our son, but the crying periods became less and less from 30 min, to 20, to 15 to 10 to none!) during the transition, but a later night feeding should eliminate the middle of the night feedings! Good luck & happy sleeping!

LRC

I agree with the whole growth spirt advice. Remember... WHENEVER YOU THINK YOU HAVE YOUR INFANTS "ROUTINE" DOWN, THEY CHANGE IT. (the advice that I received from my mom who breast fed all eight of us... there was no formula at all in her house)
Be patient, you will get some sleep eventually.

K.,

He isprobably going through agrowth spurt. Or, he isat the age when separationg can be difficult. He might just need to reconnect with you more than once a noght.

Jess

K.,

You might try pumping once in the night and see how much milk you're producing too. I had a similar situation with my son and discovered I was only producing one ounce of milk during his feeding. I guess when he started to cut back on eating at night, my body started cutting back too - majorly! Once I had my supply back up, he went back to one feeding and then to nighttime feeding at 12 mo.

My son is 9 months right now too and he has definetly hit a growth spurt. He also is smaller and seems to be really catching up this month. I have a few ideas for you! First of all the cry it out method really does work! We did it for 3 days and he was done! Now he barely cries for 1-2 minutes and he goes back to sleep. Also 6:30pm seems really early to go to bed. If he went to bed when other kids his age do them he probably could make it through until at least early morning. Does he take 2 good naps a day? I would try 2 good naps a day to get him to be able to stay up later and go to bed sometime between 8-10pm. Then if he wakes up in the middle of the night let your husband go in if he can't cry it out, but no mommy = no milk. Let in soothe him to go back to sleep. But to make him less hungry in the middle of the night I would feed him his cereal etc. meal (make it with breast milk or formula will make him more full as well) later about 7pm or so and then breast feed before he goes to bed (maybe like 9pm) then he will be full and should sleep longer! There is hope and definetly ways to get him to start learning to sleep through! My son is sleeping through the night 5 out of 7 nights a week and I don't really hardly ever go in. GOOD LUCK! I hope some of the ideas work!

Hi K.-
I would think it was a growth spurt too. One other thing I would try is to pump and have your husband try and feed him. We needed to do that with our son and soon found that it was a growth spurt as well as just wanting mom. It lasted two weeks and soon was back to eating a good bowl of cereal before bed and sleeping through 10 hours.
Good luck! Just remember, go with what works for you and what you are comfortable with!
R.

We have been there. My daughter is 12 months old and still breast-fed, and depending on what is going on with her, the # of feedings changes. It could be a growth spurt, it could be teething, it could be for comfort, it could be a lot of things! Hopefully it won't last long. Just remember that most babies aren't sleeping through the night until sometime after the first year, your not alone!
That advice below about crying it out is ridiculous. I advise you to look up some information on the damaging effects of crying it out if you are considering it. Also, think of the sleep you' and the baby would be losing. How sad that people treat there babies that way.

I'm experiencing that right now with my 6mo. old daughter. She wakes 3 times a night and I just breastfeed her. The doctor recommends I just ignore her and she'll fall back to sleep. It doesn't work but I only let her cry 5 minutes before feeding her. My first daughter was the same way. I just breastfeed her when she cried. Try a late night feeding right before bed that consists of baby cereal or oatmeal and see if that hold over better. If your son is breastfed you just might have to let him cry it out and check in every 5 minutes. If he's growing well and there's no weight concerns then skipping the feedings should be okay. Putting him to sleep slighly awake is good to do too.

My son is nine months old too and we're still dealing with waking up at night. He actually slept through the night once last week (first time EVER!) and it was after spending the evening with my parents and I guess they fed him A LOT of dinner. So I'm starting to wonder if maybe my little guy is just not eating enough during the day? Maybe try increasing the amount of solids he's eating to see if that helps at all. If he's nursing well when he wakes up during the night, he's probably needing that breastmilk so I wouldn't try and wean him from the feeding. He's not only getting extra milk, but he's telling your body that it needs to make more. When you can think about it that way, it makes it easier. At least it did for me.

Hi...I know what your going through! I have a 9mo. old boy who is doing the same. At around 4mo old i got him sleeping through the night and then tried to go back to work. After that he was in bed with us and atteched to me ALL night. The dr told me to have him cry it out and go and reasure him every 10 min to let him know your there and then the next night 15 and so on and so on. I know letting them cry seems harsh and some moms think its a big sin but I have three boys and sometimes thats what needs to be done. I did this and after a few days, he got up once to just make sure i was around...then just a few weeks ago he got his first teeth in and now its back to, on the boob All night again. He is also in the bottom 10% for his age..but my husband and I are not big people and the dr said as long as he is growing healthy..his "smallness" shouldn't matter on how much your feeding him. Anyway it seems alot of breastfeed babies at this point don't sleep through the night because alot of times its the comfort of being with you. My first was breastfed 2mo. and was sleeping through the night fine. My second was breastfeed till 7mo. and started sleeping through the nigh right after that. I think once your done he'll be sleeping just fine through the night. So hang in there. I plan to quit right after Easter myself (I need the sleep and independance)...and talked with my dr about it. I would suggest that if he is growing healthy even though he is small..push the bedtime back, feed him cereal, and let him cry it out. get up once for now at night if he wakes and console him, and after lets say a month, only get him in the morning. Sounds mean but you both sleep better alone and will be getting better quality sleep! Good luck!
(sorry for the novel)

K., Remember when breastfeeding that babies go through growth spurts at 3,6,9 weeks and months. I has this happen with my middle child and the third is following suit. Even with the solids they still would/will wake in the middle of the night to nurse.

9 months is prime growth-spurt time, so I would just allow him that extra feeding and go with the flow. He's probably hungry!!

Hi K.,
Yes, I've had similar experiences. I have a 12 mo. old daughter that I am still nursing and she goes through spurts of eating 1-2 times a night still. She has been going through periods of 1x per night and then 2-3 for months now. It just seems like I get used to one thing, and then she changes again. After our company comes for Easter, we're going to work on sleeping longer between feedings, but it seems like there is always something messing up her sleep: teething, learning to walk, visitors, family trips, shots, etc. I think some kids just don't sleep well and we might have gotten those kids. I just try to remember that whatever may happen tonight, whether good or bad, don't count on it becoming a trend because tomorrow night will probably be different. Someday they will sleep, but its just not yet. I'm not a lot of help, but I wanted to let you know that you are definitely not alone. There are lots of us awake with you at night!
Take care,
J.

First I have to say that 6:30 seems really early for a bed time. Second he is probably going through a growth spurt and needs the nusing, If he is the size of a 6 month old I would think those extra calories he is getting in that feeding will be good for him and not to cut the feedings at night quite yet.
Is he screaming everytime you lay him down?
Is he throwing up at all? Maybe he is having some acid reflux problems at night. Maybe try proping up his mattress with a wedge. My two kids both have acid reflux and they would cry till I nursed them. And they both suffered continual ear infections that went undetected with no signs what so ever. It is something to look into.
Is he cutting any teeth? Maybe he needs some gel to numb his gums were his teeth are coming in.
These are all things to look into, I hope things get better

***Just an FYI, measuring what you pump does not give you an accurate amount of what the baby gets while nursing. A pump and a nursing baby work in different ways and get different amounts out in the same length of time. Babies are typically much more efficient than pumps.

Also, I am really shocked at the amount of people who let their babies CIO, or who say their docs recommend that. Everyone does what works best for them, their family, and situation, but CIO is not something that works for us. JMO

S.

It sounds pretty typical of a breastfed baby, and age appropriate. If he is on the smaller side, you don't want to restrict those calories. It may be a growth spurt, or if he is learning a new skill it may disrupt his sleep. 6:30 is a pretty early bed time, you may want to try pushing that back a little to see if he will sleep longer/better. I bfed all 3 of my kids and it took a long time for them to learn to sleep all night. It was fine, they are only little once and I now miss that special bonding time I had with them when it was just the baby and I up in the middle of the night.
S.