night feeding Q

[entreat]

Hi guys,
Jack & I have made it through to 6 months! Not without problems, but we get by.

I wanted to know how to tell the difference between when Jack is waking hungry, or just needs to be resettled. Some times he'll have a big feed before bed, and still wake after 3-4 hours. Other times he has a small feed & goes for longer. In the last week, he's been waking anywhere from every 2 hours, to every 4. As you can imagine, my eyes are getting a bit hollow now.

He's on solids now too, but usually only gets one meal a day (around 5pm, after a boob-feed). Some times he'll get breakfast, and he often gets a crust of what I'm eating.

And in the last two weeks, he's mastered day sleeps (usually one big sleep, sometime 2) - could that be causing him to wake more frequently at night?

Thanks!

[onthefly]

It sounds pretty normal to me.
They do often run into a period of unsettledness at this age, which can lead to more night wakings & feeds - sometimes due to the onset separation anxiety.
How do you know? Well, I would say you do whatever works quickest and easiest to get you both back to sleep. If boob works then all good. Do you cosleep?

[CrazyLady]

Holy crap, he's six months already? That went quick. Charlotte has been waking for a drink in the middle of the night because of the heat lately. Maybe he's thirsty? Babies get so damn sweaty

[MrsB26]

Sounds normal to me too. I remember B would sleep great for 3-4 days then wake frequently for a few then change it up again. I just used to get out the magical boobies cause it was the fastest way to get him back to sleep. If he was hungry he would drink lots and if it was comfort he was after then he would just fall back to sleep pretty quickly - he was usually thirsty though

[entreat]

Oh, ok... I was just getting used to him waking once. Now I have to go to bed by 8pm to make sure I get any sleep. One day I'll get sleep again... he can't be doing this when he's 16...

Holy crap, he's six months already? That went quick

BAHAHHAAA! Yep... already! I wish there were so many things I knew before I had him. I feel bad that he's been the 'learning child'.

marcellus: No, but I often bring him back to bed after 3am. I did try to co sleep more often, but it really angered his reflux to sleep flat. I was doing it every time DH was on night shift, but it wasn't worth the pain it gave him. I've also found that he wakes mroe frequently with co-sleeping & I end up worse off. Pity, because I do love it.

MrsB: yep, magical boobies indeed! one night this week, he woke at 1am chatting to himself. I probably should have let him go until he went back to sleep, but I knew the BBs would do the trick.

[MantaRay]

he can't be doing this when he's 16...

Well no, then you'll just be waiting up for him to get home from the pub - or for the phone call to go and pick him up from a party But I'm sure between now and then you'll get a few good years of sleep!!

[MummaSue]

Hey hun, DD still wakes every 2-3 hours overnight. I get the odd night, maybe once a fortnight when she will do a stretch of maybe 4 hours but not often.

I always settle her with boobie because I'm not game enough to see if she'll settle any other way because when she's awake that's her for at least 3 hours these days - and we were awake the other night between 11pm and 2am

You're doing great - and he's gorgeous!

Hehe, my eyes are starting to look a bit hollow too - but I'm still getting more sleep now than when I was pregnant!

[CrazyLady]

BAHAHHAAA! Yep... already! I wish there were so many things I knew before I had him. I feel bad that he's been the 'learning child'.

Haha! Hopefully they shouldn't need too many years of therapy after being the guinea pig! Well I guess they can feel good after we say "but we tried it on you first so your siblings wouldn't suffer so much"

[studymum]

Sounds like the 6 months growth spurt. Often comes in time for another change in their sleeping habits, sometimes will get a bit harder for them to resettle themselves at night and will need some help to get back into the flow. Development milestone can often change sleeping habits.

Could also be teething? Mine go through wakeful nights every set of teeth that come.

If he self settles already, the easiest way to tell if they are hungry is to go in and try to re-settle them, leave and see if they do (I used to give a few minutes) then go in try again, if they don't then they are hungry, if they don't then back to bed for you lol. Each time I have thought mine didn't need a particular feed this I what I would do to see if they would drop it. Sometimes they just wake up at that particular time out of habit but aren't really hungry.