8.5 months old wakes up 2-3 times every night - please help!

[rachelgz]

My LO is 8.5 months old and she has never been a good sleeper.  She still hasn't learnt to sleep through the night yet.  She is on 3 solids a day with milk.  Below is our usual schedule:

7:30am Wake up
8am  breakfast (weetabit or porridge with fruit)
10:30am  Nap (45 minutes)
12pm Lunch 6-7 cubes of veg & meat, plus fruit or yoghurt
2pm BF
2:15 Nap (2 hours)
5pm Dinner 5-6 cubes of veg, plus fruit (dinner varies quite a bit, sometimes she eats more, and sometimes she refuses it completely)
6pm Bath
6:30 BF
7pm Bed

During the day time nap, she has no problem to settle herself.  However, for night time, she wakes at 12:30am, 4:30am and 6am.  It's almost impossible to settle her without feeding her.  She would be up for 1.5 hours and couldn't go back to sleep if I don't feed her.  Do you know why she wakes like this?  I thought baby with 3 solids a day and milk would be able to go through the night without feeding. 

I would appreciate some help in this.

[hulagirl]

Hi.
Looking at your routine have you included all her milk intake? Because I can only see 2 bf a day. My understanding is babies still need to be on 3-4 milk feeds till one.
My lo is same age, admittedly bottle fed. And has a bottle before am nap, a bottle before pm nap and a big bottle before bed and sometimes still he wakes up for one in the night.

Not sure if this is any help but hopefully someone will be along soon to help.
X

[rachelgz]

Thanks, hulagirl.  I can't really tell how much milk she has taken per day due to breastfeed.  However, she is having 3 proper feeds a day, i.e 6am (though I would LOVE to delay it to 7:30 when she is fully awake), 2pm and 6:30pm.  She is having milk at 12:30am and 4:30am as well.

[hulagirl]

Hi.
I am no use whatsoever on bf as I couldn't with my lo, so I don't want to say too much on the subject, for fear of giving bad info.
I know the rule of thumb for ff babies is they should be able to go as long at night as they can during the day but not sure if that's correct for bf babies too.

I hope someone comes along soon to give you more help. X

[Erin M]

I know the rule of thumb for ff babies is they should be able to go as long at night as they can during the day but not sure if that's correct for bf babies too

This is true for BF babies as well.  The general advice is to be on 4 breast feeds until a year -- is there any reason in particular she's not?  You might look to add one in to get some more calories in her during the day.  However, I will also say that my ds was having a dream feed and a night feed at 8.5 months as well -- some babies really just seem to need them at this point.

I will also say that you might need to up that first A time and hopefully get a longer first nap from her -- the fact that you're getting a good second nap after the same A time after a short nap tells me she could probably do with a bit more A time. 

[rachelgz]

She didn't take much for the 11am feed, hence I dropped it.  I try to give her more calories by cooking with milk/cheese, giving her yoghurt, etc.  For the last week or so, she sometimes was up for an hour at night even after I fed her.  She always tried to reach out and hold my hand.  If I wasn't there to hold her hand, she would scream.  And then we need to start again to resettle her.

At the moment, she is having 3 hours A time.  I wonder if I extend her A time in the morning and she sleeps longer, will the 2nd nap be too close to her bed time?!

[Erin M]

For the last week or so, she sometimes was up for an hour at night even after I fed her. 

OK, definitely not hunger then.  Discomfort of some sort -- teeth maybe?  That was the kind of behavior I got with ds when he was teething.

At the moment, she is having 3 hours A time.  I wonder if I extend her A time in the morning and she sleeps longer, will the 2nd nap be too close to her bed time?!

If you get a longer nap after a longer A time, you might need to cap the second nap so you still get a decent bed time.  Also, as babies get closer to switching to one nap (usually happens around the 10/11 month mark) their days start getting longer, so you might only get an 11 hour night and a 13 hour day. 

[rachelgz]

Yes, she is teething and she just had her 4th teeth came out last night!

I am not sure whether her waking is hunger related as she normally wakes at 12:30 and 4:30.  We have good days and bad days for her solid food.  Sometimes she ate a lot, but sometimes she just completely refused it.  And that confused me because I don't know how I should handle the milk feed.  e.g. she currently have milk at 7/7:30am, 2pm and 6:30pm.  If she doesn't have lunch (solid) at 12, should I give her milk straight-away or wait until 2pm? 

[Erin M]

If she doesn't have lunch at 12, I would do a milk feed then and then maybe try to squeeze another in later between that one and the BT feed in order to get some of those missed calories in there.  Solids can also be hit or miss as they start teething -- sometimes babies don't want to eat when they have teeth coming in. 

[rachelgz]

I have been trying to extend her A time in the morning up to 3.5 hours. Unfortunately she still only naps for 45 minutes.  Her afternoon nap has been shorten to 1.5 hours too.

In the last few days, she woke up exactly an hour after being put down to bed and screaming.  She normally can settle herself back to sleep within five minutes.  I am a bit worried that it's getting into a habit. The same happens at night.  She has feeds at 12am and 4 am, however, she wakes at 3am and 5:30am every night crying and need to be settled back to sleep (even if I just need to make the Shhh sound). 

Is there anything that I can do to improve the situation? 

[Erin M]

In the last few days, she woke up exactly an hour after being put down to bed and screaming. 

Have you ever tried meds before bed to rule out teething at this waking?  It could also be an overtired waking if she's only getting 2.15 of naps in the day. 

however, she wakes at 3am and 5:30am every night crying and need to be settled back to sleep

If she's waking at 3 AM every night, it might be worth giving wake to sleep a try -- it's not the easiest thing in the long run as you'd have to get yourself (or dh) up at night to do it, but it might help get her out of the habit of that 3 AM waking.