Help - 9 month old night waking / nursing all night!

[Tobysmum]

My baby is 9.5 months old and has been an angel/textbook baby (until now!!!)  For the past month or so, he has been waking up a few times per night (usually used to wake up once) and it's getting worse!  Last night was just unbelievable, he was up almost hourly.  I have tried to let him cry for a while to see if he self-soothes but more often than not he just gets himself into a real state and I have to go to him.  The only thing that seems to pacify him is breastfeeding him and I know this isn't the answer!  I may well have brought this on myself as it started when we were on vacation and we were sharing a room and also sharing a house with other family members so I probably reacted to him much quicker than usual because I didn't want him waking the whole house up and he may have forgotten how to self-soothe. Anyway, that's when it started.

So, what do I do?  I did stop the dreamfeed at about 7.5 months I think and that's sort of when these problems started too.  I started the dreamfeed again this week but that hasn't helped.  I have really identified that it's unlikely to be a hunger thing = more of a Mummy pacifying thing!
Our routine is fairly consistent but not always due to various factors (he comes to a exercise class with me 2 mornings per week which changes his nap time and he also goes to a sitter 2 mornings per week) - not ideal but it hasn't been an issue up until now.
Also, I've found it more difficult to get back onto the EASY routine as he's been feeding all night and is therefore not hungry first thing in the morning.
Our routine today has been as follows:
7.00 ACTIVITY wake/play (no feed as I'd fed him all night!)
8.30 EAT solids (fruit/cereal_
8.45 ACTIVITY - play
9.15 EAT breastfed (I think I fed him I can't quite remember!)
9.30 SLEEP nap 1 hr approx (I woke him up)
12.00 EAT solids (veg, meat)
12.30 SLEEP
EAT 2.00 he woke up hungry so I gave one boob and then went back to sleep for 30 mins
BACK TO SLEEP 2.45 Breatfed other boob
3.00 ACTIVITY
5.00 EAT solids
6.00 ACTIVITY Bath
6.30 Fed (breastfed both sides)
6.45 light off/sleep by 7pm.

I know it all looks a bit of a mess but I am generally trying for EASY!  He didn't get much sleep last night due to so many night wakings so that probably didn't help.

So, what do I do?  Do I do a dreamfeed or not?  What do I do if he wakes in the night?  Should I try water?  SSHH Pat does not work - I've tried many times. 

Please help me!  Sorry so long!

[M and N's Mom]

I'm pretty sure that DF is not recommended at this age as it can actually disturb sleep rhythms and cause more night wakings.  It sounds like he has developed a dependency on being nursed to sleep.  Have you thought about trying pu/pd (or pd at this age) to break him of the habit?  It will involve a lot of crying, but it does work.  You may want to stop by the pu/pd board and see what they recommend.

Is DH able to help at night?  Sometimes if it is BF that DS wants, DH may be able to get him back to sleep much faster as DS will know he is not going to get fed by daddy.

Good luck!

[Katet]

I also think it sounds like he is using the bf as a prop to sleep.
I would remove all bf from sleep times & make sure that there is at least 1hour before naps & 15-20mins of awake time before bed after a bf... even if he wakes up early from a nap don't feed him a bf, offer some other type of food.
Make sure he doesn't fall asleep on the breast at bedtime & then the first wake up don't feed either & get him back to sleep either by pu/pd or (how I did it) by walking around with him until he was calm & then patting him to sleep (may take over an hour by either method) then it will be ok to bf on the next waking. You really need to be 200% consistent if you give in & feed on the first waking, then you are just telling him he has to cry more.
After 3 nights don't feed on the 1st & 2nd waking... once your lo learns to not expect the bf & his body adjusts to not getting the feeds, then they should drop off fairly quickly.

[gabbysmommy]

I just want to add that a week ago I was in the same boat as you.  Gabby would wake up every hour and expect to be nursed to sleep.  Now, she sleeps from 7:30-6:00 straight through.  The 6:00 is a little too early, but I am not complaining!    I did PD and it worked.  The first night she cried for 90 min, the second night, 45 min, and the third 3 min and now no crying just sleeping.  Good Luck to you!

[Tobysmum]

Well so far so good - didn't post earlier as I wanted to give it a few days!  Did pu/pd on 27th December - the first time he woke up  at 2.05pm it took about 15 minutes, the second time he woke at 5.05am, I picked him up, cuddled, put him down and he went back to sleep!  Didn't have any milk all night - so I know he wasn't hungry!
The next night he woke up once at 11.30pm - I did pu/pd once and he went back to sleep until 7.30am!
The next night he woke up at 2.50am and went to sleep on his own and the second time at 6.10am I did pu/pd once and he went back to sleep.
The next night he slept 6.45pm-7.30am!!!!  Amazing - only second time he's slept through since birth!!!
The next night he slept 6.45am-7.10am!  Again, amazing!
The next night he slept until 5.30am and I did pu/pd once but he wasn't very settled until I got him up at 7.20am

Now, tonight I am not sure what's going to happen but I'm not hopeful!  He hasn't had any milk since about 11.30am this morning (but did have solids for lunch and dinner).  He didn't have his milk feed after he woke up this afternoon from his nap because I was out and my mother was trying to give him a bottle (which he doesn't like!)  At bedtime he didn't want milk either (surprisingly).  I am sure he'll wake up - I'm even tempted to give him a dreamfeed tonight as I know he won't go until tomorrow morning with no milk.

Anyway, this is my success with pu/pd so far - am hoping it will continue.  I have been trying to follow EASY more and it's working largely because he's hungry in the morning so that gets things off to a good start (rather than when he was feeding a lot in the night, he wouldn't be hungry until about 11am!)

[Katet]

Well done

[M and N's Mom]

Congratulations    I hope things continue going well for you!

[Tobysmum]

I decided not to do the dreamfeed last night to see what happened - he slept until 5.30am.  I tried pu/pd a couple of times but I just knew he must be hungry. He kept dozing off and then waking up continuously.  So I managed to put off feeding him until 6.00.  Did I do the right thing?  He hadn't had any milk since 11.30am yesterday and I felt I couldn't prolong not feeding him since I was 99% sure he was hungry.  Hopefully it won't mess up things today too much - he went down for his normal morning nap at 9.40am.

[M and N's Mom]

Pu/pd won't work if baby is hungry.  Sounds like you handled it well, making sure he was hungry and then feeding him.