7.5 months still having 2 feeds a night

[Graciem]

Hi there- I wondered if anyone had any advice?? My 7.5 month old is still wakening twice a night for feeding- usually between 10pm&1am then again at around 4-4:30 am. I always feed her at 4:30am as there is no way she will go back to sleep otherwise and I can't start my day then!!! My question is- shall I try and stop that first night feed or give her a dream feed at 10pm before I go to bed? I've been told that introducing that 10pm feed may disrupt her sleep cycle??
My baby is breastfed but have starting giving occasional formula bottles- especially at night time (my thinking was that she wouldn't get the breast comfort but would still be offered milk)
Our typical routine is

7am wake up and breastfeed
8:15am breakfast
9am sleep 1.5-2.0 hours
11am breastfeed
12:30 lunch
15:00 Breastfeed
15:30 sleep 40 mins (absolutely will not sleep before this time!)
16:30-17:00 dinner
18:00 bath
18:30 Breastfeed and bed

Plus the 2 night feeds..... She will take anything between 3-5 oz of formula

I've really worked hard on this routine  as until 2 months ago we were still feeding 2 hourly and naps were never longer than 45 mins!

I thought the sleeping through night would follow but it hasn't!

We had a few nights 2 weeks ago where I offered her water only from 6:30pm until that 4:30am feed and after a few nights she slept through till 4:30am for 2 consecutive nights! Thought I'd cracked it but now she has gotten wise to the water and it just doesn't settle her without food :-(

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[katie80]

Hi, it's not totally uncommon for an EBF baby to still have two NFs at this age, but I can understand you working at getting rid of one. It is true that introducing a DF at this age can disrupt their sleep cycles and cause more NWs, but I think there's no harm in trying it. Then, you at least are getting to sleep more (not having to wake shortly after you to to bed) and ideally if you continue to bring the feed earlier, that should be an easier way to drop it. If, after a week or so, her night sleep seems more disrupted by the DF than helped, then I would just try to drop that feed by resettling her when she wakes. She won't like it much the first few times, but you know she's capable of making it longer, so you can be confident in resettling.

I always feed her at 4:30am as there is no way she will go back to sleep otherwise and I can't start my day then!!!

I think this signals that your routine still needs to be tweaked a bit. You've done a great job at getting her this far from constant 45min naps, but she still seems to be caught in a UT/OT type cycle. Her morning A time is quite low for her age (and I'm sure she's tired as she has a short pm nap and is likely OT by BT. But, it's a bit of a catch-22 in that she gets that nice restorative nap, but then the cycle starts anew with a short pm nap and likely OT at BT again. At 7.5mo, the average A time is 3hr-3hr15min. I'd start pushing the morning nap back by 10-15min every few days until you get close to 3hr. She then should be able to go another 3ish hr (maybe until 15:30 again) and hopefully take a decent second nap as the day will be a bit more even and she'll be the right amount of tired for it. A more age-appropriate routine should help better night sleep follow.

A couple questions just to be sure...
Is she an independent sleeper at naps and BT (goes into her crib awake and settles herself)?
How is her solids intake? You've got her down for 3 meals, does she eat well at them or little bits still?

[Graciem]

Thank you for the reply- yes she is having 3 meals a day- this last few weeks she's really started eating well. She is an independent sleeper.... Saying that this last week I have had to just hide down the side of the cot at bedtime and just rest my hand in her back until she's drowsy then I can leave- the first nap of the day I can put her down wide awake and she sleeps so yes- maybe by bedtime she's a little over tired and she's struggling to get to sleep - as she used to go to sleep really well at bed time.
I gave her a DF last night - she took 3oz then slept till 1am- I then gave her some water and she slept until 4am when i fed her then woke at 6:50am. So I'm not sure that the DF actually helped??

[katie80]

Well, it's hard to tell the first night.  You need to give it at least a week to see if it makes a difference.  I would start resettling her at the other waking rather than giving water though. I think she does need to learn to go back to sleep without being 'fed' (having a bottle of something) in the MOTN.  Are you ever able to do that?

[Graciem]

I can usually just settle her with a dummy early on in the night if she wakes up between 9pm- midnight (which makes me wonder if she is even hungry at 10pm) I will try to re-settle her tonight then- should I forget the 10pm feed or continue it for a while??

Also I lengthened her awake time this morning to 2.5 hours and she only slept an hour and 10 mins - I was disappointed and had to put her down for another nap at 1:15pm as she was so tired- she's been sleeping for over an hour and she's still sleeping! Practically it's better for me for her to sleep in the morning because then in the afternoon I can get out and about and do things but now I'm stuck in the house whilst she naps! But hey- anything for a good nights sleep!   

[katie80]

I can usually just settle her with a dummy early on in the night if she wakes up between 9pm- midnight (which makes me wonder if she is even hungry at 10pm) I will try to re-settle her tonight then- should I forget the 10pm feed or continue it for a while??

It's up to you, if you'd like to just resettle you can.  If it was me, I'd give the earlier DF a go for a few more days, but if you end up needing to resettle another time in the night anyway, you might just go ahead and drop it.  Do you think she has a dummy prop at all? Can she replug on her own?

Also I lengthened her awake time this morning to 2.5 hours and she only slept an hour and 10 mins - I was disappointed and had to put her down for another nap at 1:15pm as she was so tired- she's been sleeping for over an hour and she's still sleeping!

That was a pretty big jump (30min), it will likely take her body a few days to get used to it and the nap should lengthen again.  But, good that she took a longer afternoon nap for you, that should help with OT at BT.  It won't be long until she's back at an afternoon CN as you start the 2-1 transition somewhere between 10-12mo, so you shouldn't be stuck in the house in the afternoon for too long.  I do think it might be worth it though, if she starts sleeping better at night.

[Graciem]

Well something worked! She slept from DF at 10pm until 5am! I gave her a feed and slept through till 7am! I think I'm going to work on that 5am feed first though as she didn't feed for long- I think she was using me to resettle...... She often sleeps with/without a dummy and she can re- plug herself so I don't think it's a prop.... I think I am though!! Thanks for all your advice..... Going to try and resettle for that 5am feed tonight. !

[katie80]

Sounds good... just so you know, it's often more difficult to settle that early morning wake than the DF.  But, if you keep working on gently pushing out the A times and she's on an age-appropriate routine, it should be easier.

Keep me posted!