hungry at night again...7.5 months

[nathan_smom]

My son has been waking the last 5 nights screaming, will not resettle, stops crying only when I pick him up...starts again as I begin to place him back into his crib.  A few times he did fall back to sleep only to reawaken 10  minutes later crying.  He feeds very well during the day, has 2 teeth that broke the skin on the bottom, is starting to crawl backwards, and knows how to resettle as he does this every morning around 6:30. 
When he wakes, he begins to bob on my boob and shows all of the signs he is hungry.  2 nights ago, I tried it to see if it was indeed hunger, or if he would just fall asleep at the breast.  He ATE a full feed, almost 20 minutes.  I would pull him off when he began to doze off and he would open his mouth wide and search for the breast.
My question is....
            Would he eat a full feed if he weren't truly hungry?  I dont mind feeding him (actually prefer it to the screming 2 hour battle!)if its truly the right thing to do?   Am I setting myself up for disaster if I keep doing this?  I really don't know of any other way right now....

Are there any other nursing moms in the same situation?
Any feedback is helpful, but be nice....I know nighttime feedings are frowned upon!

Robin
             

[Carter'sMama]

Was your little guy sleeping through the night until just recently?  I had a very similar experience when carter was 7 months old.  He had started sleeping through teh night at about 6-7 weeks old and did so consistently until he hit 7 months old.  Then he got teeth, learned a whole bunch of developmental things, grew ... you name it, it was happening.  All of a sudden our nights were miserable with him up atleast one time sometimes 5-6 and very difficult to resettle.  I was freaking out thinking it was over and he would never sleep again.  I just stayed consistent.  Every night I would try to resettle him without feeding.  Sometimes the only thing that would work was to go wake up the dog and let Carter play with him for bit    Obviously some nights I would feed him but I started trying to give expressed milk in a bottle for as many as I could so he wouldn't get too used to the idea of me cuddling/playing with him in the middle of the night.  Magically around 8.5-9 months old he went back to being a wonderful sleeper and now he is almost 13 months and we haven't had a night waking in months!

I truly think developmental changes are mainly to blame at that age.  I would say to do whatever you can to get through it while minimizing any accidental parenting.  If he is taking a full feed then he is probably hungry.  If he is playing around then do PU/PD.  You will get through it!!  I promise! 

[joanmarie]

I don't know if I can help at all, but I am in a similar situation with my 7.5 month old.

He's had lots of nightwaking for the past 1-2 weeks (can't even keep track of time anymore!), and I think some (not all) have been hunger related.

It's so hard to know when there are a multitude of things going on. He's got some developmental thngs he's working on, we've been trying to up his solids (although I think this was driven too much by the ped making me think he should be eating more NOW where I felt it was best to take it slow...), he cut his first 2 teeth a month ago but it was in the middle of an ear infection, so I don't know what he's like just teething by itself (don't think this is teething right now), wtc.  I think he is feeding well enough during theday but I am not SURE how full his day feeds are due to his increased distractibility.

Anyway, a lot of the wakings I can re-settle him, but some I would try for 40-50 minutes then give in and feed him. I, too, had difficulty determining if it was true hunger, though he seemed to feed well...

Do you/ did you ever do a dreamfeed? Someone advised me to try a dreamfeed (wasn't doing one before), so I have been doing that for the past 3 days. Wondering if this is the best course of action? At least I am awake and giving him an extra feed at 11:00 rather than waiting for him to wake up for one... I just posted about this on the EASY board. This is the link, I thnk (kind of new to this)
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=58536.msg419135#msg419135

I'm not trying to take over your post, but since we are in a similar boat, I thought any advice I get there might help you, too.

Carter's Mama--
When you say you gave him EBM to minimize the association with cuddling, did you hold him or did he hold his own bottle?

Good Luck, nathan_smom!

Joan

[Sarah J]

me too.... the same is happening here!

lo was sleeping like an angel, had a 'blip' at around 4 months just as he was learning to roll and settled again.

he has been waking for a feed (i give him expressed milk in  a bottle at this time to see what he has) and takes 7-9 oz.  i have tried all sorts of tweaking with his meal amounts and timings but he still wakes for that extra milk.  it started around the time he started to crawl (just before 7 months) so i figure it might be that he is using more energy (??)

dont they always give you something to think about?

[daisymelan]

I think it's natural for little ones to go through this around this age.  They have a lot going on and it is bound to break their night sleep.  I, however, did give a bottle most nights.  It seemed to be what put him back to sleep most nights.  And eventually, he stopped waking again.  But my boy easily adapts to things so I wasn't too worried about introducing a feed in the hopes that he would drop it himself easily. 

Also, it could be some mild separation anxiety.  If he falls asleep when you are there adn then wakes when you aren't (10 minutes later) it could really scare the bejeezus out of your los. 

Don't be afraid to "baby" your los.  If you think you know what will settle them, then go for it. 

[nathan_smom]

Thanks for all the replies!!  The advice is helpful and so is knowing there are other moms in the same crazy boat...maybe we can call each other in the middle of the night while we are all awake!!! LOL
Nathan doesn t really want to play, some nights he seems like he is still sleeping.
I have never done the DF..joanmarie you say youtried the DF? Is it working...is he sleeping through the night?? I will take a look at your thread! thanks!

As for the EBM, dont think its really an option..I have a LOT of trouble trying to get Nathan to take the bottle, my best luck is first thing in the morning (which i dont really like to do b/c I am so full and want to nurse!) and 2nd feed in the morning where I try to coax 4-5 oz while he is in his bouncy chair watching baby einstein (yes, he is the king!)
So I guess the answer is ride the wave and go with my gut!  Hopefully I will be posting again soon when this is over and he is sleeping again through the night...but by then there  will be tons of other things to think about!!!

[Carter'sMama]

Joan:  I would hold him to give the bottle or better yet I would send DH in to do it so I could stay in bed!!    Alot of times DH would go in initially and Carter would get more and more aggravated and that is how I knew that he was hungry.  Carter knew that Daddy didn't have the "equipment" to feed him!

Good luck to all you ladies.  It can be pretty stressful if you have a baby that is up repeatedly throughout the night, especially if you aren't used to it!

Let us know how you all get on!

[joanmarie]

Well, I've done the DF 4 nights. I wouldn't call it a success yet, but I want to give it a try. With it I have been able to keep from feeding him until 7:00 and thus start our day on a consistent basis (was having a feed sometime between 3:30 and 5 every night for a long time, even before the nightwaking started. However, I have had to do p.u.p.d. for a considerable amount of time once each night. I am going to keep trying for a little bit because I think for us it is the lesser of 2 evils at this point.
One mod told me that the dreamfed is usually phased out by 7 months, though. (This was after I had started) Then again, another mod recommended it (in a separate post when I was talking about the nightwaking issues we were having). Although I cannot remember their names right now, I know both are quite knowledgable, which just goes to show you there are always different points of view and more than one right way of doing things. I suppose that is the beauty of this forum, but I am one of those crazy people who find it so much simpler to do something when I can follow THE WAY and be told what to do! (I am such a weirdo)
Anyway, I am rambling and distracted because I am sitting here waiting for another cry from ds. He has a fever and has had an awful time falling and staying asleep tonight (It's been only an hour and a half and I've had to go in more times than I can count  .
So I don't think tonight's going to be a good night no matter what I do  I sure hate it when he gets ill!
Joan

[Kate A]

I"m so in the same boat as all of you.  DD is 7 months, learned to crawl last friday, pull up to knees in crib on sunday, and pushed up to sitting independently on tuesday It's been alot and there is a ton of waking.  Our longest stretch is 7 p to 11:45.  I re-settle w/o feeding and she either wakes up again at 12:40 - 2:40. I feed then.  Then she has been up at 5 and then 7.  Last night i was so tired I fed at 5.  She really wasn't hungry, but is hungry at 2 a.m. 

oh, and she's getting two top teeth, already has the bottom two.  For us, I know her mind is going crazy with all the new things.  We have upped solids a little, but she's a really good eater so I didn't think that was it.  She is just so excited to do all these things.

I'm eager to hear how you all get on with the night wakings.

[nathan_smom]

Well, the last few nights Nathan has been waking himself at 11 or 12 to eat.....I feed him and then he sleeps until around 7 am.  I guess you can call this a DF.  He didnt want to nurse a lot yesterday during the day....I was very concerned thinking he would be up all night wanting to eat, but he only woke once at 11.
I dont know if it's the "correct" thing to do per say.....but it is working for us right now....we'll see for how long!
Good luck to everyone and keep posting updates!