8 1/2 month old now waking hungry at night,

[rachsenior]

My DS is 8 1/2 months old. He is fairly small (17 1/2 lbs), but healthy and umbelievably active, does not sit still EVER! We dropped the dream feed at 7 months, just by stopping one day and he could sleep for 11-12 hours, I was worried at the time that it may cause early waking problems and his wake up time stayed between 6 and 7 wereas they had been 7-8 with the dream feed, although this still meant he was sleeping 11-12 hours so I thought this was pretty good and left it.

Over the past few weeks he now wakes in the night at random times (but usually only once a night), could be 1am, 3am or 5am. He always seems starving (my husband has tried to settle him but he just wants milk from mum!) and will always then go back to sleep until 7ish.

He has never needed bf to sleep and he doesn't need bf to sleep at bedtime, i'm sure it is hunger that wakes him and that i'm not a prop (?).

He eats 3 meals a day and has a couple of snacks, it varies how much he eats and i'd say he's not a big eater, just wants to get up and crawl, cruise around!! I would also say he is becoming much less interested in bf, just fidgets around and then wants to get down on the floor to contine wriggling around!! It's no wonder he doesn't put on much weight with his constant work out!! When I was away at the weekend he had about 20 oz milk EBM a day so he does seem to take a fair amount in the day, but he still took 8 oz in the night (well at 11pm when he woke but he then slept till 7.15am)

This is his routine,

6-7am bf
8am breakfast
9am nap (30mins - 2 hours)
10.30 - 11am formula milk in a cup & snack
12.30 lunch
1pm Nap (1-2 hours dependiing on how much he's slept in the am)
3pm bf and snack
5pm Dinner
6.30 bath,bf, teethbrush, bed

I just wondered if anyone had any ideas about how to stop the hunger in the night?

Should I go back to dream feeding?
anyone any ideas about feeding a fidgety baby?
should I stop the night feed at all if he's not been putting on huge amounts of weight??
Is it more milk or more solids that he needs?
Is it just that he uses up so many calories with his constant activity?

Any ideas would be appreciated greatly,

Many thanks

[First Time Mom]

I could have written parts of your post! At 8 mths my dd weighed 13.5 pounds and I was still dream feeding. My ped said to continue for a month (though she normally would not suggest this for babies this age) and to increase solids. If a lo needs to gain more weight after 6 mths- increase solids, prior to 6 mths- increase bfs. I increased solids and my dd gained over a pound in the month following, but it was hard as she didn't want to eat and I didn't force her. She just woke up one day and wanted more. I wouldn't worry about his weight as long as he's gaining something and I'm sure his appetite will increase on its own. It is important to feed solids until they don't want vs. limiting or force feeding.

The nw could be from the activity. My dd just started waking after sleep (luckily it's 20 min after) because she wants to sit up in her crib. Does he sleep at 6:30? I'm wondering if it's possible to put off the bed a tad later and then the bf would be later and he may be hungrier than bfing close to his 5:30 dinner and thus take more?

How to feed an active lo...ah, I ask myself this everyday! I feed the last feed laying down. Dd feeds for 2 min, pops off, rolls, practices sitting, I pull her back and she feeds for another 2 minutes and we repeat, over and over. Then I switch sides and we repeat, over and over. I'm just patient and figure she will take in enough milk and tire out for sleep within 25 minutes.

[rachsenior]

Thanks for replying firsttimemom, i've worked out that he doesn't like being fed with a spoon, he could eat finger foods until they came out of his ears so i'm going to change tac at meal times and give him things he can feed himself with instead. We'll see how this goes, I think you are right and I need to try and increase solid intake but not force it, i'm sure he's getting enough milk, it just takes more patience than it used to!!(have tried feeding lying down - v effective! - thanks) so i'm going to try not to worry about the bf or slow weight gain and just let him feed himself and hopefully as he eats more he'll wake less!!

Many thanks,
Rachel