7months - still tons of NWs

[Manueli]

When I first posted this post I tried really hard to not feed him more often than every 3hrs (even though I didn't always succeed). For some reason I have slacked off alot lately. I have had some really short nights and am mostly running on auto pilot at night now. Most of the times I keep up the 3hrs intervals until around 12am, but slack of for the rest of the night and feed at every nw. So he is kinda used to being put down differently.

[brenda2]

hugs
it's really tough when they are waking so often.  i have been there exactly as you say - started off only feeding twice overnight and then over christmas it progressed to feeding at every waking - maybe 4 times a night but then had a spell of her waking every hour so i didn't feed at every waking because it was literally all night.

can you recruit some help so you can do the sleep training if that's what you want?  that had been my plan - to sleep train while parents were here over the olympics, but i managed to do it without too much problem...

what are you thinking you want to do?

[Manueli]

Help is a bit complicated. I got my DH here and he is lots of help during the day, but horrible at night. He gets sooo cranky if he doesn't sleep that I rather not deal with him and do the nights myself. As long as I have a plan I should be ok to get through with it. The problem is that I still don't really now how to tackle this issue. I am really leaning towards rocking him to sleep because it will be easier for both of us. But I am a bit nervous that it wount work, especially since I am planning to use pu/pd for the regular bedtimes (nap and night bedtime).

I think I will keep the first feed of the night (so df), and then I cut his next feeds until hopefully 4am. I will try keeping 2 feeds a night, we'll see if he goes with that.

I still have to see a breastfeeding consultant cause I got a bit of a problem with one breast and I want to make sure that he gets enough milk during the day. Otherwise I would just feel bad and unsure and wount be able to go through with it.

[brenda2]

if dh is a good help during the day then you will be ok - you can be up at night and then be able to catch up sleep and nap during the day if he's there to help you.

i felt this way with dd1 - wasn't sure if she was getting enough during the day so i started following every bf with a bottle to top her up and make sure she was getting enough - i wasn't confident with my milk supply.  this resulted in her weaning herself and she went to only the bottle at 7 mo.  this wasn't my intention but i was ok with it. with dd2 i have weaned the bedtime feed - it is now a bottle so i know she at least is getting a nice big fill up at bedtime - 8 oz at least and then i follow with bf if she wants it.  but if you want to continue solely bf then i wouldn't suggest this.

i think you have to decide what you want to do - what is the best approach for you and him and then jump in and do it.

limiting to 2 feeds at night is a good start - the df plus one other feed.  i personally would use shh pat/pupd to sooth back to sleep at all other wakings because i think rocking to sleep may just result in him waking to be rocked.  we went through a stage after an illness with dd1 whre she woke for cuddles in the night..it doesn't really solve the problem of him waking as you are replacing one prop with another one.  it doesn't teach him to go to sleep on his own.  he probably will continue to wkae and then you will have to wean the rocking.  using pupd/shh pat will get quicker results.

if you start it probably will just be a couple bad nights and then it will be much better.

[Manueli]

I just realized that I probably should change my df. Right now I am feeding him whenever his first nw is, sometimes not until 3-4hrs after bedtime. But if I want to break the habit of wakening-feeding-bed I should probably start to feed him when he is sleeping, or? At least as long as he is still sleeping.
The only problem I have is that I think he wount take enough milk then. I have tried the df once when he was still very little, and he didn't drink much at all. Then I am not sure again if he is hungry for the rest of the night.

I will try to stay more awake for the next couple nights and keep his feedings short, so he kinda gets used to the idea of eating less at night. And hopefully this weekend I can go ahead and start pu/pd. I don't think I will get him to sleep much at all for the first night. I just hope that he will actually sleep better once I weaned the feedings, and not keep waking like other babies...

[brenda2]

yes, i would do the df when he is sleeping, then it would break the habit of wake-feed-back to sleep.  he's older now so he'll probably take enough.

both my los woke less or none at all after i weaned the night feeds and they were both NOT screaming for food even when they wake in the mornings - after 12 hours without food.  it really does become a habit and then they think the only way to get back to sleep is to have a couple of sips.

[Manueli]

I don't think I am ready yet to wean the night feedings. All the times I did pu/pd before it just seemed like the right thing to do, but this time I am so nervous and keep feeeling bad for the LO. I can't really explain it, and I don't know why I feel so nervous. For some reason I think that Hayden is not ready yet to wean the feedings, and that I am a bad mum if I push the weaning. Last time I tried, he screamed so much and didn't calm down in 2hrs. I know that there is always some (sometimes strong) resistance, but it just didn't seem right. Maybe I should get DH to go in and wean the feedings.

On the other side the nights are exhausting for all of us... Oh, this decision is so hard for me because it seems so final.

[brenda2]

it doesn't sound like you are ready.  you do need to be ready when you do it, i agree. 

i felt like i had hit rock bottom and couldn't continue with the way things were going.  i knew if i weaned all feeds it would get better so i felt i had to go ahead and do that so things would get better because in my istuation i don't have help during the day and couldn't continue with how little sleep i was getting at night.

why don't you try to feed every other waking...at least this may help him to stretch out what he expects at night?  then you could see where you are in a month or so and then reevaluate?