7 Months Spirited Baby waking 6 times and brestfeeding &/or pacifier

[Palmira78]

My 7 months Spirited Baby wakes up 6 times a night in average, the best nights only 2 but the worst nights 7 times. During the day he sleeps 2 naps and often 1 cat nap. In order to get him to sleep for the naps we leave him in the cot with the pacifier on and he fells asleep. When we go to sleep for the night we follow a routine always ending in breast feeding and falling to sleep or going to the cot very sleepy. I also breastfeed him whilst he is asleep, before I go to bed in order to avoid hungry wake ups.
For the last month when my baby wakes up I am avoiding to feed him, so I am trying every time with the pacifier first. Nowadays I feed him twice a night despite he wakes 5 or 6 times. The problem is that the total number of awakenings has not decreased.
I was considering to eliminate the pacifier for the naps to see if this helps him in the night, but in the kindergarten they have told me that he is too small for that. Trying that would mean lots of crying since he really is used to it, so I am not sure if this is a good idea. By the way, he does not use the pacifier when he is active he only takes it for sleeping.
His daily routine is as follows:
7:00 E
10:00 - 11:30 S
11:30 E
2:00 - 4:00 S
4:00 E
5:30-6:00 S
6:00 E
8:30 E
8:45 S
He is very large baby percentile 95 in length and 75 in weight, so I cannot rule out the possibility of being hungry but with breast feeding you cannot tell how much he eats.
Should I work to totally eliminate the night feeds, or do something about the pacifier? Or any other idea?   

[jessmum46]

Looking at your routine I would suggest that you need to get rid of the catnap.  He is managing 3-3.5h A time in the morning so only needs 2 naps in the day.  Currently his day is very long and this is probably causing problems overnight.  I would cut the catnap out and aim for:

wu 7
nap 10-11.30
nap 2-4
BT 7/7.30

What do you think?

[Palmira78]

Good idea and thanks so much for your advice!!. Looking at other babies' bed times, I also felt that mine was going too late to bed I just was doing it to fit in with my 3 years old son routine. Besides in Spain adults have dinner around 9:00 pm. Also I was not confident that he would be capable to stay in the cot for 12 hours, since my elder son never did... But I will definitely try! Tonight I am starting :-D Lets hope to have less waking-ups. I would be happy if he only woke up twice a night (I have low expectations, as you see  )

[Palmira78]

I know that one day is just once day but... I am so happy. Last night I put my DS to bed 45 minutes earlier, without the evening cat nap, and he has only woken up twice!!!! I am so hopeful. This is a massive improvement from 6 times. He hasnīt had an early waking either, I had to wake him instead. Thanks so much Jessmum46.

He woke up at 2:30 and at 5:30. Both times I ended up breastfeeding since he was not able to sleep back again with the pacifier, holding my hand or drinking some water. Here comes my next questions: Should I eliminate nursing at nights? How do I know if I must feed him or use any other methods?.
My experience with my elder son was that when I eliminated the night feeding at 18 months old, he started to sleep through the night... but he was 18 months and was bottle feeding at that time, and my little one now is just 7 months and breastfeeding. What are your opinions?
 

[jessmum46]

That's awesome hooray for a better night!

I would say 1-2 night feeds is still within normal at this age for a breastfed baby.  I just took the rule of not feeding more often at night than I would in the daytime, so when on 4 daytime feeds fed no more frequently than 4 hourly at night. That said I did also encourage mine to drop night feeds at 7-8 months once I felt that they were no longer hungry and it had become more habit than anything else.  Often they ate poorly first thing if they fed too much at night and I wanted to shift the calories to the daytime.  Does your LO feed well at daytime feeds as well as the night ones? 

[Palmira78]

Thanks for your thoughts. I like the rule of not feeding more often in the night than in the day. It is a good guidance for me, when I hear him in the middle of the night and I am so sleepy, and common sense is not awake yet.
My LO does eat very well during the day both solids and breast milk, he is accepting well any new foods, but for sure he would eat a longer breakfast if he didn't eat just 1,5h before it.  Lets see how it goes on the following days.
Nevertheless if we continue with the good start, and just wake up twice a night, the thing of eliminating the catnap and bringing forward the bed time is going to be a major breakthrough. Fingers crossed...

[jessmum46]

Hoping this is the start of better sleep for everyone

[Palmira78]

I just wanted to share our improvements 
Since the day I started putting my DS 1 hour earlier to bed and eliminated the evening cat nap, everything has changed. Last night he only woke once to nurse around 2:00, and that was all. I cannot believe how much the situation has improved, with just a little adjustment. I was focused on the wrong things, breastfeeding, pacifier... whilst the real issue was overtiredness and late BT.
The trick that I am using so far to keep him awake and happy longer without the cat nap, is taking him and his brother to the swimming-pool or placing them in the bath tub for some playing with the toys. If my LO is distracted does not moan about the cat nap that is not having.
I hope that in a few weeks time I can let you know that the just once a night waking has continued 

[jessmum46]

That's great Long may it continue!  If you need any help when the next 'bump' comes along then let us know x