8Mo Still Nursing During the Night

When we went to DS's 9 mon appt, the doc said he should be sleeping through the night even though he is BF. At 6 months, I had tried a formula bottle before bed and that didn't help so I stopped that. Then, I was mentioning to another mom who BF'ed that DS was not sleeping through the night and she suggested reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth. So, at 10 months, we did the cry it out method and he started sleeping through the night. If you don't like CIO, the book does mention other methods. At least I think it would be an informative book on baby's sleep habits.

i nursed both my girls for 12 months and let them eat at night or day any time they wanted. It is a security thing. There is nothing wrong with that. Enjoy them while you can.

Your baby is normal and doing exactly what he needs to do. Breastmilk is the best. He soon will be ready for Whole milk at one year old and continue until he is 2 yrs old. If you can go straight to a sippy cup that would be great. Most one year olds feed themselves. Can old a bottle or sippy cup. But breast milk is best till 1 yr old. Cereal, then veggies, then fruit and now if he is doing finger foods he can soon learn to manage a spoon. Take care. G. W

Hi H.,

My daughter nursed until nearly 15 months. She finally started to sleep for an 8 hour stretch when she was nearly 10 months. Before that she would sleep 3-4 hour stretches. By 10 months she would sleep from 8:00pm to 11:40 and then nurse and then sleep until 8:00am. She slept 12 hours straight the week before her first birthday. Hang in there!

As far as how much food a baby needs, as long as his doctor thinks his weight is good, he is eating enough.

M.

My daughter is 17 months old and I still nurse her. She still wakes up during the night to nurse. Babies nurse for more than just nutrition . . . they are meeting an emotional need. For me, it is not a problem at all. We co-sleep, so I hardly even wake up or notice when she nurses at night. She goes to sleep around 8:00pm -- nurses around 11:00 pm, around 2:30 am, 5:30 am, and 7:30 am. It really does not follow an exact schedule -- its just whenever she wants it :) I LOVE that I am there for her -- i know she will grow out of this stage shortly!

That sounds perfectly normal to me.
I don't start solids until they are around a year old, and mine are exclusively breastfed. They still grow well and are not skinny or anything like that. They are healthy little kids.

Breastmilk is so easy to digest that they will nurse more often than a formula fed baby will take a bottle. Being easy to digest is good - and healthier. He will manage to get more nutrients out of the breastmilk.

I also worry about babies who are sleeping through the night. It's not natural or normal. Babies need calories during the night, and they should not sleep heavy. They should sleep very light, as their REM cycle is much different than ours. This is because of their rapidly growing and developing brain. It's a necessary part of brain development for them to wake during the night, and for them to need calories during the night.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether he is getting enough, as long as he is growing normally. It sounds like he is getting plenty, IMO. He'll taper off as he gets older. I nursed my daughter more than a year, and at a year old, they do taper off and start sleeping longer stretches during the night. By 17 months old, she was sleeping about 6 hours straight. By two, she started sleeping 8 hours straight, and sometimes longer. By 3, she started sleeping 10 straight hours. I think this falls in to the normal range for development.

Take care!
Teri

Some babies just need to be closer to mom than others. I had one who would ONLY nurse and did not eat anything until she was 1 year old. She woke to nurse 2 times per night for 1 year. It was trying and I longed for a full night's sleep. Eventually after she was 1 year old I cut out a couple of the daytime feedings so she would eat.

All babies are different. I would just go with the flow and accept that this is the way he is. If his growth is increasing he is fine. I would not force feed him. If he is getting lots of breastmilk he really does not need formula. You could also add breastmilk to his cereal to add more protein to it.

K. Voigtsberger, CD(DONA), AAHCC
Certified Birth Doula (DONA)
Bradley Method® Childbirth Educator
Breastfeeding Trainer

I nursed my son through the night until he was 13 months old. Sometimes he would wake up 3 and 4 times. I had had enough at that point and moved him to his own room. About the second night he slept through the night and has been doing so for the most part ever since. I wish I had done it sooner especially since I had to get up for work the next day.

Neither one of my girls slept all night until they were 12 months....not sure why. My first daughter was on formula and breast milk after 9 months of age since I was pregnant and it was effecting my milk; I saw no change in her sleeping patterns on the formula. He just may need that feeding. Hang in there.....

I nursed my both of my children for a year. My son did not sleep through the night until he was over one year old - my pediatrician assured me it was unrelated to being breast fed instead of bottle fed. He also said that formula before bed would not necessarily make him sleep better, but we could try (we tried it for a short while and it did not help him). I just toughed it out with him and was grateful for the rare night he cooperated. My daughter started sleeping through the night at 5 months old. She went through a little period around 7 or 8 months old where she would wake up around 3 a.m. to nurse. My pediatrician suggested waiting about 30 minutes before going in. I did that for less than a week and then she started waking up about thirty minutes later. I just kept waiting to go in to retrain her internal clock. His trick worked. Rather quickly her a.m. feeding became 5:30 (still early but doable).

As far as feeding your baby enough I would refer to the pediatrician - each baby is different. I think by nine months both of my children were basically eating the same meals that I cooked for my husband (unless it was a "forbidden food" or something difficult to chew). We also had an morning snack and a snack after naptime. My son only nursed in the morning, before nap and before bedtime at that age. My daughter was like your son and nursed all the time it seemed like. She is almost 14 months old and we just finished weaning this week.Good luck and hang in there!

This is completely normal! Some babies of this age even nurse more often during the night. I wouldn't worry to much about it. As logn as you are presenting food to him and allowing him to nurse whne he needs to he will get everything he needs. I would not give a formula bottle. there would be bo reason to do this. Some babies just don't sleep through the night and some do. Mine (at the age of yours) was nursing about every 4 hours during the day, would wake a few times during the night to nurse adn I gave him the opportunity to eat food abotu 3 times a day. Just keep doing what you are doing.

Hi H.!

I worried about the same things and my daughter breastfed exclusively until about 7 months or so, never got formula and started regular milk along with breastfeeding at about age 12 months. I worried for the longest that she was just hungry when she would wake through the night even though my pediatrician vowed and declared that she was a "trained night feeder". I thought that *until* I fed her almost a full bowl of oatmeal before bed and *knew* that there was NO WAY she was hungry when she woke about 2 hours later. (She was waking about 3-4 times/night until almost 11 months) I finally looked up the trained night feeder thing which basically tells you to let them cry it out. I DID NOT want to do that, but didn't want to be up every few hours forever either. The first night, I told myself I'd let her cry, but my cutoff was 10 minutes (though it probably should have been longer) - thankfully she went back down at about 9 minutes. She woke up one other time that night and cried less than 5 minutes. The next night cried ONCE for only about 3 minutes and has slept through the night ever since!! I was so relieved and a little irritated with myself for not trying it sooner given all the sleep I'd been deprived of! She still wakes up at 15 months after about 6-7 hours at which point I nurse her and she goes right back down for the remaining 5-6 hours... but I figure I get hungry in that time span, too.

I have heard that it takes breastfed babies longer to sleep through the night in general, but 8 months should be old enough!

Anywho... I hope this helps!! :) Happy sleeping!

my 11 month only stopped nursing at night 3 weeks ago..really, it was my fault b/c it was easier to nurse him than to either pump, listen to him cry and chance waking up his brother that is 18 months older than him. By the time i really got tired of waking up, he started cutting teeth...SOOO after he cut his last tooth (my kids tend to do more than one at a time) we let him cry it out.

My pediatrician told me 2 things @ 6 months that i found extremely helpful.
1) it takes them THREE DAYS to form a habit...so if you let him cry it out 90% of the time it will only take 3 nights to get him to realize he isn't going to eat.
2) he could go 10 hours at night without eating at that age. I was afraid he was hungry and so i fed him...he wasn't...we just had started some bad habits.

Hope that helps...i can't tell you how much more of a better mom i am with me not waking up and getting some consecutive sleep. The Lord really has refreshed my mind and energy since. Best of luck...remember...it will only take 3 days! :0)

I nursed my daughter for 14 months because she was allergic to milk, soy and would not drink elemental formulas. It was hard--- but a very special time that really made a great bond for us. She woke every 3-4 hours to nurse every night until the day she got a cold and weaned herself (could not breathe through her nose!) I kept thinking of myself as a failure since I could not get her to sleep throught the night like the pediatrician and books all said should happen! Now she sleeps great--no issues. I really think each kid is different--some really enjoy nursing--and don't care if it's in the middle of the night! I would say if he is growing normally and gaining weight in a linear fashion--he is likley getting enough food! If you nurse on demand your milk supply will meet the needs of the baby accordingly. Not sure if supplementing with a bottle will help---I suspect your baby is nursing in order to be with you--not necessarily for the food! Probably a little of both! Hang in there--I know how you feel with the loss of sleep!

Both of my children nursed until they were 14 months old, and neither slept through the night until they were weaned. Whether it was nutritional, emotional or otherwise, I'll never know with certainty.

Both of my breastfed babies nursed at night. My three year old nursed A LOT at night & I finally cut her off from teh nighttime sessions when she was 2, since we were going to be welcoming another baby. She's always been VERY attached to nursing; I think perhaps most BF children aren't quite as fanatical about it as she's been. :)

My 12 month old still nurses a couple of times a night, but they're quick, dreamy latches & she's right back off. We cosleep, so nursing at night hasn't been very bothersome for me. However, if I had to get up & feed these kids two or three times a night, I'd probably be one miserable momma!

The amount he's eating sounds about right, as far as I know. Mine were at two solids a day by that time, moving on to three at around ten months.

I wouldn't give him a bottle unless you are feeling sleep deprived & want to see if the formula will stick in his belly a bit better than breastmilk. He might refuse it, though. but almost anything is worth a try when you're tired! :)

my youngest breastfed until she was almost 2 1/2 and she would wake up at night and like to be nursed back to sleep -it was more comfort than anything. But at 8 months a lot of it is still nutrition - it should be his primary form of nutrition until 1 year of age.