My 8 month old ( also my fourth baby within 7 years!) has gone from sleeping 12-14 hours at night to waking every 4-6 hours during the night. He goes down around 7 and then wakes between 12:30-1:30 and I quickly nurse him and he goes right back to sleep, the. We repeat this again around 5am. Should I still be feeding him when he wakes up in the middle of the night, sometimes my husband tries to soothe him first but he fusses. He is still in our room because of not wanting to wake the other kids during the night. I'm just not sure if he's actually hungry or just looking for comfort during the night.
He could be having a growth spurt and when that happens he needs to eat more frequently.
It could also be teething pain.
Sleep patterns change so much as they grow.
Just when you get use to one pattern it all changes again.
there is a major wonder period/growth spurt at this age. It tends to last a good month, long enough to create new sleep habits.
If you don't want to nurse twice a night, then you need to skip the 12 feed. Increase food during the day.
before you put him down to bed at 7 give him a big bowl of cereal with fruit. he is waking because he is hungry and you are going to want to nip this in the bud before the waking gets to be a habit. you may also want to start to stagger the sleep time a little bit. 12-14 hours is a long time. maybe try to get to 8 before putting him down and know you will be up by 6ish with him. thats still a good long time of sleep. and its time for him to move out of your room lol.
I would nurse him. Sounds like a growth spurt and he is hungry. I have tried the 'making him full before bedtime', and it NEVER made a difference. Also, I would never give a baby water in place of a meal.
If he nurses and goes right back to bed it really does sound like hes hungry. He is not waking and staying awake to play. I really couldn't complain when they ate and went right back to sleep....that was easy. Its the 4 am I want to stay awake until 6 that pushed me over the edge ;) It won't last forever (as you know). I
Well, when my kids were babies, they had HUGE appetites and woke and I nursed, on demand. They grew like weeds and were healthy. And at growth spurts they had HUGER appetites. And I followed their lead. I nursed. As needed. I knew if they were hungry or just fussing and having sleep interruptions.
My kids as babies, woke more often than your baby does now.
So, you have it good, still.
Because your baby was sleeping for 12-14 hours previously and now only wakes every 4-6 hours. To ME, that is still, good.
Because you are only having to wake to nurse him at about 12:30-1:30 and then around 5:00am. That is only, twice. During the night.
That is good.
Still.
My kids when they were babies, woke more often than that.
Anyway, our Pediatrician said that for the 1st year of life, breastmilk or Formula is a baby's primary source of nutrition. Not solids. Because solids is not as nutritionally dense, as breastmilk or Formula.
It's growth spurt time would be my first assumption. My daughter was ravenous around that age too. I just fed her and put her back to sleep. We co-slept when it was convenient, and during those wonder periods it was VERY convenient to be able to roll over, nurse, doze, then fall back to sleep when she was done.
Feeding her more solids before bedtime never worked for me. (I know it does for some.) she also stayed in my room until She weaned herself around 16 months.
My daughter also never developed "bad" sleep habits from being nursed at night. When she started waking at night, I fed her. Usually, within a month or two she would either go through a growth spurt, a tooth would erupt, or she would meet a milestone. Usually, her sleep would become better than it originally was afterward, or at least go back to her usual 'schedule.' I always figured that if her body was waking her up to eat, she needed the nutrition. (And until a year old, breast milk/formula is supposed to be the main source of nutrition, with solids only being practice... I didn't want to replace any of her nursing sessions with a solid, even if it meant waking up more often.) Of course, I was a SAHM, and she was my only child, so it was easier for me to manage than if I had to be up taking care of other kids or go to work. You just do what works best for your family. :)
Don't you wish you could ask him? What gives?!
Whatever the reason, it's going to be easy to start a bad habit with you in sight of him. I might nurse him for a while to feed him if it's a growth spurt but then try to introduce a bottle of water at one of the feedings. it might not be worth waking for.
It's a growth spurt. They all do this. If you don't feed him he will only stay awake and cry and cry. He's hungry...feed him.
