Do breastfed babies wake more often?

[candelaria80]

It "normal" for a 7 month old be still be waking EVERY two hours to nurse during the night? She has gone through many phases, at one point she was waking only once or twice a night...those days are over!
She is super active, seriously, people are constantly commenting on how "alert" she is (code for your baby is a maniac) and at her last doctors appointment she lost a little weight. She eats every two hours day and night. When she wakes at night she nurses for about 15-20 minutes and goes right down.
We just recently introduced some solids, but I am wondering if we should step it up a little? Will that stick with her a little longer? I plan on nursing as long as she needs/wants so I have been very careful not to push solids, but I am tired.
I have tried to space her feeding out, it didn't go over well. I am a firm believer that breastfeeding is the way to go for us and would never dream of stopping because I am exhausted, but does it get better?
I am wondering if this is the norm for a breastfed baby?
Thanks all!

[Sk8ermaiden]

Mine sleeps through the night, but my DH apparently woke every two hours like clockwork for the entire first year.

[philomom]

I had one that woke more often and one that didn't. Both breastfeed till 20 months. It's just so much your baby that makes these choices.

[Verloren]

My 11 month old wakes every two hours to nurse and has been since he was about 5 months old. I am tired too. Yawn! I'm thinking about nightweaning him soon.

[mommy212]

I have heard that co-sleeping babies wake up more often, because it is so available and doesn't involve a lot on their part to get some extra food... But I haven't really tested this, my LO is only 5 months

[transylvania_mom]

Ds used to wake up every 2h (sometimes even more often), dd wakes up once a night maybe. I co-slept and breastfed both (still co-sleep and bf dd). She is 6 months old.

[Astraia]

Woke every hour until about 13, 14 months. We even stopped night nursing around 9 months because my milk was gone due to pregnancy, and she got a bottle instead (and was eating solids), and she'd STILL wake up. Around this stage you move from it being just hunger into a lot of other things... developmental milestones, teeth, etc. For solids, I'd nurse first and then keep feeding until she seemed full. Or wait... are you doing purees? I don't know anything about purees, so that might be bad advice. If she's hungry and losing weight then it might not be bad to try high fat foods, like avocado.

[Novus]

I don't know whether breastfed babies necessarily wake up more often (my 10-month-old is breastfed and has always woken twice at night to eat), but I can tell you that solids don't always translate to longer sleeping periods! I kept hearing how he'd STTN as soon as we started solids ...well, here we are 4 months later (and he eats EVERYTHING under the sun) and he still has the exact same pattern of night waking as he did at 3 mos old.

[candelaria80]

Oh well, I guess it is just who she is Sounds like I may have many more months/years? of night waking ahead of me.
Thanks for the responses, happy I am not alone!

[tzs]

i think the breastfed-waking-more thing is a total myth. i did read in a book that is banned here for CIO so i won't mention names, that the proof that this is a myth is that newborns that have a feeding tube and are constantly fed have the same nightwaking patterns as other babies.

i've noticed that when my 6mo gets in a sleep "pattern" she tends to keep it unless i try something to break it (reintroduce the the swaddle, white noise, etc...) like, if one night she wakes up at 1am after sttn then she will wake up at 1am again night after night. why? i dunno.

i friend of mine with 11 kids did suggest to add oatmeal to the evening feeding. i haven't tested it though since she appears not to like it.

could she be teething? maybe one night try some tylenol before bed to see if that helps things? or hylands???

sleeping for us also got better when i moved her to her own room. but i didn't do that until we were down to one waking, for my convenience.

good luck.

[candelaria80]

Originally Posted by Astraia

For solids, I'd nurse first and then keep feeding until she seemed full. Or wait... are you doing purees? I don't know anything about purees, so that might be bad advice. If she's hungry and losing weight then it might not be bad to try high fat foods, like avocado.

We are not doing purees, basically eats/plays with what we are eating. Avacados are a good idea, I was also thinking about coconut yogurt, but I have to research coconut. Thanks for the advice.

[candelaria80]

Originally Posted by tzs

i've noticed that when my 6mo gets in a sleep "pattern" she tends to keep it unless i try something to break it (reintroduce the the swaddle, white noise, etc...) like, if one night she wakes up at 1am after sttn then she will wake up at 1am again night after night. why? i dunno.


could she be teething? maybe one night try some tylenol before bed to see if that helps things? or hylands???


good luck.

My DD is the same way (except this is an unfortunate long pattern ). I always thought it was so weird. I am hoping this too is just a phase.

She is teething, her two bottom are about half way up. So far, we haven't given her too much pain medicine because she really doesn't cry or fuss about it. We love the Hylands, but haven't tried them before bed. I will try that tomorrow night (or in two hours when she wakes next )
thank you!

[Katie T]

My 20 month old still wakes every 2 hrs sometimes every 4 hrs at night to nurse. Does she NEED it no probably not but it is so much easier just to roll over and nurse her. My mom tells me "you know she doesn't need to do that in the night anymore" But I don't mind as I don't wake all the way and someday she won't want to nurse or sleep with me for that matter so I just enjoy it while I can lol.

[candelaria80]

Originally Posted by Katie T

"you know she doesn't need to do that in the night anymore" But I don't mind as I don't wake all the way and someday she won't want to nurse or sleep with me for that matter so I just enjoy it while I can lol.

I have to say, on the rare occasion she does only wake once or twice a night I wake up missing her. I do try to be in the moment and not complain too much, but I am pretty sleepy lol.
thank you.

[dislocator3972]

OP, my DD is ten days younger than yours and she's in the same place. Super alert, super active, super, super hungry.

I'm tired too. The other day I tried singing our bedtime song when she woke up during the night and only ended up feeding her twice. HEAVEN! It lasted 2 nights, which was enough to give me a bit of a recharge. Is there something you could try like that? Or have you tried offering the breast every hour or 45 minutes for a few hours before bed? Maybe you can front load her a bit and at least get a good 4 or 5 hour stretch for once.

[candelaria80]

Originally Posted by dislocator3972

OP, my DD is ten days younger than yours and she's in the same place. Super alert, super active, super, super hungry.

I'm tired too. The other day I tried singing our bedtime song when she woke up during the night and only ended up feeding her twice. HEAVEN! It lasted 2 nights, which was enough to give me a bit of a recharge. Is there something you could try like that? Or have you tried offering the breast every hour or 45 minutes for a few hours before bed? Maybe you can front load her a bit and at least get a good 4 or 5 hour stretch for once.

The bedtime song may work, she is obessed with music, she hates the carseat and the only thing that will calm her is Twinkle or High Hopes (non-stop!) I may try that. If it buys me one night I would be thrilled at this point.
I have been trying to get her to nurse more often before bed, she is just so distracted these days! We have a pretty active household though so I may try calming things down a bit.
thanks for the advice.

[Kailey's mom]

My dd who was FF woke up every 1-2 hours from 3 months old-8 months old. 8-13 months old, she woke up every 4. 13-20 months old it was back to every 2 hours (wow, that was TIRING) From 20 months -current she'll sleep a good 6 hour stretch, before wanting something to eat. I think it just depends on the babe

[Katie T]

Originally Posted by candelaria80

I have to say, on the rare occasion she does only wake once or twice a night I wake up missing her. I do try to be in the moment and not complain too much, but I am pretty sleepy lol.
thank you.

O I know, when I go to bed too late I am too sleepy in the morning lol I feel as moms we always have the right to complain every now and then

[cheryllynn]

DD started in a cosleeper next to our bed. I b/f on demand for the first 12 weeks. Then one night I wondered what does 'demand' look like? Everytime she stirred we were right there. I began wondering if we were waking her up when she was just wanting to change positions or stretch. So I made a new rule. When I heard her start making noises during the night, I got up to visit the bathroom and if she was still stirring when I got back, I tended to her. Very quickly I learned that she was not hungry, did not need to nurse and mostly fell back asleep. It took awhile to convince DH of this until he saw for himself. She would wake up and sometimes 'cry' for one or two breaths, then with eyes still shut seemed to never really wake up and fell deeper asleep. I assumed I had been waking her up unnecessarily thinking she needed to nurse.

At six months we put her in her own room in her crib for two reasons, one is that she oftentimes made noises which turned out to be nothing but her vocalizing during sleep and included snoring, which kept me awake.

Also, my DH snores often, frequently and loudly. Sometimes he is completely quiet and is next breath is so loud of a snore I could hear it a few rooms away. This would wake DD up.

Now we all sleep better. We use the monitor and when we hear her, she has to make distress noises for at least a minute, that way we know she is not just repositioning.

Exceptions are during growth spurts and we just went through one in Feb, when she was nine months old and grew 1 1/2" in 4 weeks 3 days. She was up every night for a couple hours. However we did not always nurse her, maybe 1 out of 4 times. She seemed mostly to need comforting in the form of being held while we stand and sway.

[Abraisme]

My DD is 7mo and wakes up every 2-3 hours. She still sleeps swaddled too.