Nursing every hour during the night!!!

[Crystal_81]

My 6 1/2 month old has been enjoying nursing ever 1 or so from 1 am to whenver we get up, between 7-8. We have bed-shared since birth, but he was great and slept up to 7 hrs from 9-4ish up til 3 months, then the next night he started to wake up lots and eat all night long. I don't know what to do, part of me wants to put him in his crib, part wants to try and night wean him. During the day he eats every 1-2.5 hrs, and doesn't eat a lot of solids yet, hardly anything really, a taste here and there.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great?

[Anna's Lovey]

have you ruled out the possibility of reflux, or alergies keeping your baby awake? My lo is 11 months and I JUST stopped drinking cows milk. made a world of difference. At 6 month my lo was up every hour on the hour nursing too. Good luck to you.

[paulamc]

Same problem here with a 6 month old. About the milk, Anna's Lovey, I was wondering if you gave up all dairy or just straight milk??

[jaxxy]

Could it be teething? Laying down at night really puts the pressure on those gums and nursing is so soothing to them in that it rubs their gums some and they are comforted by nursing. Please don't nightwean if you can stand it. Your babe probably needs it more than ever right now. If you can't stand it- perhaps a pacifier part of the time? Sorry you are not getting much rest. It sucks.

[blufishe]

I also think this could be a sleep issue since the problems seem to be during the night. If your little one is fine during the day then you might want to consider it just being a sleep issue. If you feed them every hour...they will get up every hour to feed. I had the same issue with my daughter around the 6 month mark ( but she was in her crib). I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Mark Weissbluth. It offered a variety of ways from attachment parenting to the complete opposite for how to wean your child off of night wakings including co-sleeping. We had to do a little tough love and put her to bed way earlier (around 6pm). Now she goes to bed between 6-7, wakes up only once or twice then wakes up in the morning between 6-7 am. Last night she slept till 4am, woke up for a feeding then went back to sleep till 7:30 am!! good luck!!

[Carita]

do you sahm or wohm - could it be a reverse cycling thing?