Could my baby be waking from hunger at 8 1/2 months?? Please read our day!

[Raroo]

Hi I am back again.
We are currently in a stage where my LO is not teething so thankfully she is alot happier during the day and better at night. But we are still having numerous night wakings! I have now stuck to at least 3 hour A time throughout the day even something pushing to 3.5 if its going good. LO has 2 naps- one am and 1 pm each about 1hr or 1.5hrs long. BUT then 7pm comes, LO is tired, goes down great and most nights, like tonight is back up between 8 and 9 crying. We then have at least 2 more NW's through the night. I will give a df at 10 30 and then LO is usually crying at about 3 although it can be as early as 1 and then again at about 5. On a good night the NW is at 3 and I give a bottle of 180ml formula and LO resettles happily till the morning. If I dont offer a bottle I can resettle Lo sometimes but then she continues to wake up every half an hour or so until I eventually feed. Can it really be hunger wakings at 8 and a half months?? I bf during the day at 7, 11, 4 and 7. LO goes happily between feeds. I give a 180ml bottle at the dream feed and then if I give a feed in the night its again a 180ml bottle. LO is firmly established on solids eating breakfast, lunch and supper in the day and snacks in between. I dont understand why we have such troubles. We have been on EASY since 4 weeks old. I understand teething messes things up but now we are not teething and we are still struggling!! Tonight LO went down at 7, was up at 8 30. I tried to resettle her by patting but she kept crying. So I gave her some warm water. She has not resettled. Now she has been moaning in her cot for about 15 mins and I know that she will not go back to sleep until I eventually give the bottle. Please, we really need some help. We have had so many problems and I just dont understand why LO is so temperamental and seemingly wakes up for nothing! Can I also add that since about 6 months I dont feel the fullness I felt before a feed like I did before 6 months. I used to feel very full in one side, as we do single side feeding, but now I only see a minimal difference before and after a feed.
Thanks for taking the time to read!

[Erin M]

From my experience with my 3, every baby is really different at that age.  We generally say that we expect a baby to go as long (or longer) between feedings at night as they do during the day.  While my dd1 was having no night feeds at that age, dd2 was having one, and ds was still having both the df and the nf.  If it's the kind of thing where you are up and down resettling constantly, then it generally is hunger. 

[becj86]

That's a lot of solids at this age - how much is she eating at all those meals/snacks? Just wondering if she's dropped her milk intake during the day?

[Raroo]

LO has about 1/2 cup of solids at each meal so thats 1/2 cup oatmeal and fruit or 1/2 cup chicken soup with veges etc. In between the snacks will be a biscuit or a half a banana or a rice cake. Do you think that is too much? Last night we had 4 hours between the 10 feed and the first nw but then only 2 hours until the next one and then 3 till early am feed and then LO was up at 8 for the day. Does that not seem excessive for this age for an othrwise scheduled baby?

[becj86]

It is quite a lot, I think. Is she waking more now than she did when she was younger?

Milk is higher in calories, so its really best to keep solids for tasting and fun at this age and milk as the main source of nutrition. Have you noticed her milk intake reduce during the day? Pretty hard to tell with BF... Are you doing milk before solids?

[Raroo]

LO sttn from 9 weeks until about 14 weeks and since then things havent been great. On the whole it has been due to teething but not at the moment. It would make sense that her milk intake has dropped during the day. What I am worried about is that I am now not producing enough at all for her and thats why shes waking up starving at night. I pumped a bottle today for the first time in a while. I used to get about 150ml easy and today I really struggled to get 30ml. Do you think that is a good enough indicator?
We do milk first as soon as LO wakes up from night or nap and then solids about an hour later. Should I give significantly less solids?

[becj86]

I used to get about 150ml easy and today I really struggled to get 30ml. Do you think that is a good enough indicator?

Its not a great indicator - she's more efficient than the pump and a lot of women who've expressed succesfully early on find they get very little after 4-6 months unless they are pumping every day at a given time.

I will check with a couple of other people before I say to cut the solids significantly.

[Shiv52]

Is your LO an independent sleeper for naps and bedtime?

[Erin M]

Pumping at 8.5 months is a whole different ball game than pumping early on.  Your supply is really regulated at that age, so if you haven't been pumping, you probably won't get much.  Personally, I only started doing lunch around the 8/9 month mark and no snacks at all until we dropped the day time breast feeds around a year.  Your supply will catch up pretty quickly if that's the issue if you drop the solids back a bit. 

[Raroo]

Ok so yesterday I cut back solids a little bit and tried to feed more often. Still gave 3 meals a day but a little bit less in each one. The 7pm feed I gave a 180ml bottle to try make sure she slept the 7-10 stretch well. 7-9 was good but then LO was crying so I fed her. Then at 11 just before I went to give the df LO woke up crying with a dirty diaper and hungry. So i gave the bottle and changed it. The rest of the night was absolutely terrible. We got zero sleep from 2-6 30. When LO finally fell asleep at 6 30 I just let her sleep until she wanted to get up which was just before 10. It was awful. LO had fever before bed last night so I gave meds but we still had terrible night. Every single day there is another reason why we have a bad night. I am a very tired mommy!
LO is an independent sleeper and napper on the whole. Just needs her thumb and comforter and she is good to go. On a day like today though where she is exhausted from a sleepless night she will cry a bit at naps but nothing too serious. I wasnt sure last night if the crying was sickness related or hunger related so I just offered a bottle every time she was up which LO took.

[becj86]

If she's sick that will throw a wrench in things, for sure. Did you give meds again when they wore off?

[Shiv52]

Has your LO ever had reflux?

[Raroo]

hi so LO had an ear infection which explains that terrible night. Since then we have had better nights which means only 2 NW's but never a solid sleep from 7-10pm. I have started pumping again do you think I can start getting big bottles again or that too late? Never been diagnosed with reflux or thought of it really. LO generally doesnt throw up and is usually happy after feedings. I have really increased A time to between 3.25 to 3.5 hours and sometimes even longer but still having these NW's. Last night was bed at 7 30 and then up for a bottle at 9 30 and then up twice more.

[becj86]

never a solid sleep from 7-10pm.

Wakings this early in the night are usually from overstimulation or overtiredness at bedtime. What do you think?

How are naps? What does your day look like now?

[Raroo]

Ok so now LO suddenly sleeps from 7pm well. Our day is as follows 7am wake up bf and 3 hr A time then an hour and 15 min or so nap then bf then 3 hr15 A time and anther hr or so nap. Then bf bath bedtime routine and bed at 7. Naps are great. Sleeps till about 12 or so and then up and then again at 1 something and then 3ish and 5ish. I can't understand this. Day seems great and night is awful. Last week we had a great night sttn so I followed the day exactly the next day and night was terrible

[becj86]

Maybe push that first A out a bit further til you hit a 1.5hr nap again and cap the PM nap at 45min? What's she like with those 3ish/5ish wakings? Happy and wanting to play? That longer first A should discourage those early morning wakings. Are you feeding at all at night now? How's her milk/solids intake now?

[Raroo]

Ok I stretched first A time to 3 and 1/4 or 1/2 and nap is a good hr and a half. Second one is 30-45 min. Nw's are about 10 30, 12, 3 and 5. I bf at each of those and LO has a full feed. In the day she is a little angel but nights are exhausting! I can't work this out at all!

[becj86]

Ok, have you tried Wake to Sleep? At least to knock out one of the earlier wakings?

Seems like a prop issue - does she settle any way other than BF? Does she go to sleep independently?

[Raroo]

Tried w2s once but she woke up properly and needed a feed to resettle. LO is an independent sleeper. Last night she woke up at one point chatted for a couple of mins then cuddled her snugly sucked her thumb and went back to sleep. She was up at 10 30 for a feed then we had a great stretch till 3 30 where I first offered water but LO cries till I fed her. Then 7 up. How do I stop the bf prop?

[becj86]

I wonder if its discomfort/SA rather than a BF prop...

[Raroo]

Exactly what I was going to ask next! If its SA comfort! Was reading about SA on here and it says LO has a high pitched unusual cry which is the cry I am hearing. LO flips around and arches her back but I am pretty sure it's not pain as she just cut a new tooth last week. Could it be she just needs the bf as comfort? What do you think? She is still in our room. I once moved her out a few moths ago but was harder running to her all night. Would it be a bad time to move her out?

[becj86]

Could it be she just needs the bf as comfort?

Yes, it could... Does a cuddle work similarly well? Just trying to think of ways to stop it becoming a habit/prop.

She is still in our room.

Could she be getting woken/disturbed by you/your DH?

Would it be a bad time to move her out?

I honestly don't know - L has always been in his own room across the hall from us, so never moved him out. Provided you go to her when she's crying her 'I need you' cry, it shouldn't make too much of a difference but you know her best.

[Raroo]

Cuddling doesn't work it just gets her more hysterical. I couldn't sleep the other night and realised my husbands snoring could be disturbing her so I moved her out. She was the same that night but last night we were away for the night so back to sharing room and was same. Tonight however has been dosasterous so far. We were away today but pretty much LO kept same schedule napping on her own in pram but then she was difficult to settle tonight and only went down at 9 and was up at 10 and 10 45 so far hysterical. Fed first time and second time brought her out of room to calm her down in light and now shes doing that 'hu' thing after hysterical crying ( if you've ever heard LO make the 'hu' noise you'll know what I mean!) wonder what the night shall hold for us!

[Raroo]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to update you.
We moved LO out and extended A times to 4 hours and made sure LO was getting a full 12 hour day eg 7-7 or 9-9 and tg things are now great. LO usually sttn or occasionally wants one feed in the night but thats it. So thank you ladies! We finally at a much better place! Thanks alot!

[Erin M]

Yay!