Another sleep/feeding/solids/night waking question thread!

We are one week off 6 mths and in the last week Isabelle has been waking every 2-3 hours in the night. :( Earlier she was staying awake to play which she has stopped doing but now she will basically feed and go back to sleep.

My question is - is she ready for solids? I give her rice cereal once a day most day but thats it. Is she waking because she is hungry? I can't sustain physically this as a permanent change, so how can I get her to go back without feeding? Which feed should I try to cut out - Im scared she will be hungry :(
Last night she went to bed at 7 and woke at:
930
1230
330
530
8
Most nights have been pretty similar to this. I cut the 330 feed a bit short - she only ate for about 5 mins before falling asleep so I went back to bed too.
I can't figure out if she is really hungry or if its something else and like I said am not sure which feed to try and cut out by just setttling her instead.
She feeds 3-4 hourly during the day so from 7-7 has around 5 feeds a day.

Thanks from one exhausted chicky!

I'm not sure about the solids question but I know my DD goes through about a week of rough nights before a tooth pops through. Is she happy during the day?

Oooh yeah forgot about pegs!! Very happy during they day, settles well for all of her naps from wide awake grizzles a bit then falls asleep. Occasionally has pink cheeks and has had them for the last 4 weeks or so, so we are well and truly ready for that toothy peg to come up but so far nothing. I know it hasn't been that long and things can change but I dont want her to think its the norm to get up every 3 hours to feed at night!!!

Sending you heaps of hugs Tan. Olivia was doing exactly what Izzy is doing so I chose to start her on solids of an evening and for breakfast. Apart from her bad nights (at the moment it is two good, one bad) it seems to be working better than me having to get up for a few times a night.
What we are doing at the moment is b/f 5pm, play time with daddy, solids of vegies and fruit for dessert, bath, story with daddy, wrap and b/f then bed. This is taking about 2 1/2 to 3 hours so she is being settled about 7.30 - 8pm.
Could it be that she is sleeping too much during the day? How long are her sleeps during the day and how many is she having?

If we are at home (which admittedly over the weekend and late last week we weren't so much) but at home she has a morning sleep - anywhere from 1-2 hours, then one early afternoon and mid afternoon nap both for about 1 hour and thats it. If we are out she tends to fall asleep in the pram and car - but I kind of time her even then and she seems to follow a similar pattern.

Tan, it sounds very similar to how Ash was at the time.
From our experience it was more of a comfort thing than a hunger thing.
Ash was on one solids meal at the time but even when she was taking more she was still waking the same just cause it became habit.
We started slowly cutting out one feed at a time. Its actually only been the last month or so that she's actually started sleeping thru!
Good luck with it all.

Hey Tan!!
I've just started Toby on 3 meals a day, cereal for brekky, fruit for lunch and vegies for dinner. And he has been sleeping thru as a result..
As before he was waking up once a night for a bottle, so I suppose he is a hungry baby!! And he eats anything we give him..

So maybe try some solids at night too and see if that helps her sleep babe..
But every bubba is different..

HTH and big hugs for u too..

Thanks for advice ladies - Alex great to hear from you and I cant believe Toby is over 6 mths!! Time flies hey! I might try to cut one of her feeds out tonight and just resettle her instead and see how we go. Arrggh so hard to know what to do, I might think about vegies too I think.

Hey Tan. Tough call matey. I hope tonight goes well for you.
This sounds exactly how Natty was at that age. I know how thoroughly exhausting it is and I really feel for you. I too found that her waking was not about food, but about comfort/behaviour (not as in 'naughty behaviour', just a behavioural pattern she developed). I suspect that Izzy's waking that many times a night would be due to behaviour too, but of course you're not going to know for sure until you give solids a go.
Personally, I tried cutting out the 9-9:30pm feed first. I'd just give her a big cuddle and she'd fall asleep again after a little while. Then I'd go straight to bed and she'd go through til midnight or so, then 2-3 hourly after that. This worked for us for a few weeks.
GL with it and I hope you get some lovely sleep tonight!

Well I just caved :rolleyes: and fed her again last night - same pattern as the night before, but I found that shes not feeding all that well during the day so I definately need to try and cut at least one of them. I did try to just rock and cuddle her at 9 but she was absolutely screaming and it was in her sleep - makes me wonder if teeny babies have nightmares - poor possum. Will try cutting one of them again tonight and see what happens. I might have to try and cuddle/rock all of the feeeds and see if any work!

if it were me i would be filling her up during the day so in my head i know its not a hunger issue... then u can go about tackling it in whatever way you feel comfortable with....

i have been told that at 7 months they need 5 proper milk feeds a day (last one around 10pm) and three proper solid feeds, then at 8 months it drops down to 4 milk feeds (last one at bedtime), then at 9 months it drops to 3 proper milk feeds (continuing the solids of course).... also adding morning and afternoon tea from 8-9 months or whenever appropriate. Since i started implementing this, it has made night time waking alot easier, as i know she has been fed properly during the day, so i am no longer giving her feeds over night. night waking has reduced SUBSTANTIALLY. when i was just giving her 4-5 milk feeds a day plus 2 solids she was waking ALOT thru the night. now that i am filling her up during the day there is no need to feed at night.

if it were me i would definitely be feeding more solids especially if she is 6 months, u wont know until you try... you can feed lots of bland things at first if you are worried about reactions etc, but really i believe by 6 months they should be eating meals and no longer just 'tasting'... just my opinion.

How'd it go last night Tan?

IKWYM about the screaming, Tan. The first night we resettled, DH cuddled Nat. Subsequent nights I cuddled her. It would take us around 20 mins to resettle, sometimes longer.
Did you give the solids a try?