8 mos old waking various diff times each night

[Janice Anne]

My DS, who is just turning 8 months old this weekend is still waking at night at least once. I can never guess what time it will be. Sometimes it's as early as 10:30pm and others as late as 3:30am, but guaranteed he will wake at some point. I do feed him when he awakes and he will go right back to sleep (although harder if he wakes past 3:30am) and he does take 5-6 ounces of formula. After reading the FAQ it says if he wakes at the same time each night it's habitual so I don't think my DS falls in that category, plus he takes a good amount of formula when he awakes so I assume it's hunger.

I've tried to get him to eat more during the day and a lot of times he will take in more, but it doesn't seem to make a difference on his nightwakings. Still the same thing. I've also tried just not feeding him, but he screams soooooooooo loud that I can't stand it (and neither can our neighbours, I'm sure  - we live in a semi-detached house!) so I always jump up to get him. I've tried the  pat/shush but it doesn't help anymore in this case. I don't think the W2S will work since I can never guess what time he'll chose to wake up at night.

Here is a sample of our schedule:
6-6:30am - wake up
6:30am - bottle of formula-approx 5-6 ounces
7:30am - cereal(mixed with 2 ounces of formula) and fruit
8:30am - nap for 1-2 hours
10:30am - bottle for formula -approx 5-6 ounces
12:00pm - cereal(mixed with 2 ounces of formula) and veggies (1/2 to 1 full jar)
12:30pm - nap for approx 2 hours
2:30pm - bottle of formula-approx 5-6 ounces
5:00pm - cereal(mixed with 2 ounces of formula) and veggies (1/2 to 1 full jar)
6:30pm-7pm - bath then bed with another bottle of formula approx 5 ounces
nighttime feeding at some point where he'll take 5-6 ounces

My DS hs recently sprouted both top two teeth in the past 4 days, and the bottom two came in about 2 weeks ago.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks

Janice

[Layla]

Hi Janice, I am so sorry this hasn't been replied to.

If he is taking a full feed, it might very well be out of hunger. Have you tried watering his night feeds down? That might get him to increase his intake during the day & alot of babies stop waking at night because there's not much to wake up for.

Also at 8 months, I found that I could push my lo's morning A time to 3hrs... this might help spread out his naps so that the stretch before bedtime is not 4hrs. So maybe aim for a morning nap at 9am and a pm nap at 1-1.30pm (he'll wake from it at 3ish) & do a 7pm bedtime. Add A time slowly though so he's not getting overtired.

hth
Layla

[Janice Anne]

Thanks Layla, I think I will try slowly watering down his night bottles and see how it goes. Does it sound as though he's getting enough food/formula during the day to sustain him thru the night?

Janice

[Layla]

The av is 18 - 20mloz formula milk per day, divided between 3 (or 4) milk feeds and inclusive milk used in food.

I would still encourage you to push his pm nap because he is awake for a fairly long stretch before bedtime & could be waking from that as well

[Janice Anne]

Thanks again Layla,

I'll definately give that a try as well.

BTW, he did actually sleep thru the night 2 nights ago. He awake briefly at 11pm but put himself back to sleep after a couple of min, then awoke again around 3:30am but again just a few short cries and back to sleep. Last night I tried to let him put himself back to sleep when he awoke at 3:40am but his whimpers soon escalated into a full cry after about 10min so I fed him and he took 5 ounces then went back to sleep right away. Will keep working at it.

Thanks!

Janice