Should he sleep more?

My son is one today- yay!!

Trouble is I only just survived the year by telling myself he would be sleeping better by the time he turned one... and he's not!

He had a REALLY good night the other night:
7pm to bed
9pm wake for feed
1am wake for feed
5am wake for feed and want to come into our bed but straight back to sleep
7.30am wake for day

That's still a lot of wake ups and usually he wakes more like every 3 hours and when he comes into our bed around 5am he tosses and turns and chats for an hour before going back to sleep.

He should really be sleeping more by now shouldn't he? Surely just one feed even? Any hints of what to do? I tried the no-cry sleep solution ages ago and that helped but I can't be shagged with a big sleep plan and logs at the moment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your DS :partysmiley:

Sorry I do not have any great advise for your sleeping/feeding problem though.

I hope he starts to sleep through for you soon :hug:.

I don't know about 'should', but if this is not working for you anymore, you can try a few gentle techniques to help re-settle him, rather than give him a bf. But be aware he probably goes back to sleep quicker with a bf than what he will (to begin with) trying to use other methods!

My DD had a similar thing start at around 16 mths and it nearly drove me around the bend. After a while I stopped giving her a bf overnight and replaced it with a sippy cup of water. I would still take her into bed to co-sleep and help her settle (she was still fairly cross about not having bb though, and made her feelings known). It took at least a week or so before she was used to the idea and started asking for a drink rather than bb. She rarely woke for a drink after that.

My only point would be that, while this sounds like it was quick, up until this stage she had been sleeping very well, it was a new-ish thing for her and may have been easier to divert. On the other hand, she was a bit older and quite determined! If you are thinking of giving it a try, I would suggest offering water (and maybe get DH to do it) for the 1am bf, rather than stop giving bfs for all of those you listed. If you can cut out those middle of the night jaunts you might find you are rested enough not to worry about the others.

Another thing is, how many bfs is he having during the day? It might make a difference if you give him an extra in the daytime.

happy birthing day ren, gee thats gone soooo quickly!!
i dont have any advice though!! :lol:

Thanks for the birthday wishes! :D

Thanks so much for your ideas Jennifer. I think you are quite right and I have been contemplating a sippy cup for a while. I think I'm about ready to introduce it. I'm sure he could well be thirsty so I'd love if he could learn to help himself to some water instead of bothering me :lol:

I generally breastfeed him at approx:
9am, 2pm, 7pm, 9pm, 12pm, 3am & 6am
I cut back the day time feeds to before his naps to help him eat more as he doesn't eat much solids and I thought that if he filled up more on food then he may sleep better... but then he's getting a lot of milk overnight so maybe I should BF him more during the day? Surely he's old enough to not have that much milk though?

It's completely normal for a child to be bf until 2 years and beyond. It is important that he eats, but it is fine for him to be bfing as well. If he is waking you up during the night I'd suggest he is still wanting more bfs. At his age, my DD was having:

bf at 5-6am, sleep a bit more (if we were luck!) then breakfast at 7-8am. This bf would sometimes be earlier too (3-4am), I think it was hard for her to go too long without anything.
bf before nap at 10am. Lunch after waking at 12-1pm.
bf before nap at 2pm.
bf after dinner (5pm) before bed at 6:30-7pm.
One bf during the night if she woke.

So that's about 5 a day. A bit less than your DS, but every child is different. He will get a lot of nutrients from bm. He is only just 12 mths, up until then bm is their main source of nutrition. He doesn't realise that now he's passed the magic one year he 'should' be eating more solids! ;)

Don't worry about him, he will eat more over time. Just keep offering him plenty of snacks throughout the day. I also introduced a sippy cup of water with meals at this age too, just to give my DD an alternative drink.

Thanks. I'm not expecting not to BF him at all and I fully intend to BF him past two years old. I found when I was BFing him more than I do during the day he seemed really hungry because he was too full of milk to eat much food- that's why I don't BF him when he wakes but feed him food instead. 4 or maybe 5 feeds a day is certainly less than 7- it's funny what a difference 2 to 3 feeds is!