9 month old has been waking at night for weeks, usually taking a full feed

[alingenf]

My DD#2 is 9.5 months old.  She is capable of sleeping through the night, and has done it many times over the last 3 months, but nothing at all consistent.  At most, she'll put together 2 nights of STTN, and that's it.  It seems like something always seems to come up and throw her off - rolling over and getting her leg stuck, teething, illness, etc.

About 3 weeks ago she had a terrible stomach bug and was awfully sick and eating like a bird for a week.  The following week she was eating tons and waking 1x at night (around 4/4:30am) to gulp down a huge amount of milk.  This last week, she slept through one night, but has been waking 1-2x the other nights.  And strangely, she's been waking around 1/1:45am.   I wait until her cry escalates (usally about 5 mins of fussing, then it escalates) and then I go in.  9 times out of 10, she refuses to go down with a little reassurance and patting.  It's like seeing us makes her fuss more (she throws her blankie, kicks her legs into the mattress), and then if we leave she screams.  When this happens, I usually will take her and hold her for a few minutes to settle her down, and try to put her back in the crib (awake).  If that doesn't work, I'll usually go nurse her.  Most of the time, she is taking a full feed, or a nearly full feed, and then going immediately to sleep in her crib.

I'm wondering if we've gotten into a habit of nursing at night, and so she wakes because she's expecting to be fed.   I'm confused though, because she's waking around 1/1:30am to eat (often earlier!) which is only 3 hours after her dream feed!  Is it possible that she actually needs the breastmilk in the MOTN, even at 9 months old??

Other stats - breastfed, started solids at 5.5 mos, great daytime sleeper, independent sleeper, uses a paci to fall asleep but she can replug it herself or sleep without it.  She's a fairly big girl (tall and sorta plump) and goes through about 40-45 oz of milk a day, plus 3 meals. She has 2 teeth.

What I've tried:
I don't think it's discomfort or teething that  is causing her to wake - I can usually tell the difference with the stark cry. 
Also, I went through a period about 5-6 weeks ago where I really reduced her solids at dinner and increased her milk, in an attempt to get more calories in her during the day and see if she'd STTN.  It appeared to make no difference

Here's a typical day:

E - 730am
A
E - 830, breakfast, solids
A
S 9:30-11:30
E - 1145
A
E - 1pm, lunch solids and breastmilk in a bottle
A
S - 2:30-4/430
E - 4/430
A
E - 6pm - dinner, solids and breastmilk in a bottle
A - bath
E - 7:15/7:30 - nurse her
S - 7:30/7:45 bedtime
DF - 10pm (8-10oz!)

Thanks in advance for any help!!! Love BW - you've always been full of great advice.

[amayzie]

Bumping this for you honey!

[Layla]

Hi hun, sorry your post has been missed.

It's still possible she needs a feed a night but if you're concerned that it's a habit more than real hunger, you could try gradually weaning this feed. If you're offering both sides at the moment, I would see how she goes with just one side and then every couple of days start reducing how much she's on the breast (so from 5 mins to 4 to 3, etc...). The other thing you could try is NOT offering a dream feed as with some babies it doesn't help them sleep through and they continue to wake in the motn. See what happens when she isn't woken for it and see what time she wakes then?

I've also noticed she'd taking 2 great naps during the day and it may also be a case of too much daytime sleep. At 9.5 months, the average A time is around 3-4hrs and maybe you need to add a little more A during the day and cut her daytime sleep so that she's tired enough to sleep 11-12hrs at night? Most babies will also do one long and one short nap so that the day isn't too long and babies still get enough sleep at night. I would suggest something like this:

7.30 - awake and E
8.30 - breakfast
10.30-11.30 - morning nap (you would wake her here)
11.30 - awake and E
12.30/1 - lunch
2.30-4 - afternoon nap
4 - awake and E
play, dinner, bedtime routine
7.30/7.45 - final E and bedtime

What do you think?

[alingenf]

Thank you so much.  Shockingly, she has slept through the night for the past 2 nights - wow!  So, for the moment, I am not doing anything.  I will keep watching, listening carefully, try not to go in too soon when she does wake, and try to avoid feeding her in the night (unless she just wont settle any other way and is likely hungry), just so I'm not reinforcing any habit.  I like the idea of gradual weaning - will give that a go if she starts waking in the MOTN again.  Awhile back, I tried cutting her naps short in an attempt to make sure her daytime sleep was not robbing her nighttime sleep, and it made no difference - but, I am open to trying it again if the weaning doesn't work. 

I've considered dropping the DF and seeing what happens.  However, about half the nights though, she wakes and cries right at 945/10pm, and guzzles her milk.  So, I've resolved to continuing the DF for now, and working on one thing at a time. 

I'll post an update again soon.  Fingers crossed!!