How many times in 24 hours does your 7-9 mo nurse? How many times at night?

[Buzzer Beater]

We're having some long nights with Georgia. She used to be up twice a night, had one night where it was only once. Yay! Unfortunately for our sleep, she's back to 4 or 5 times a night... DH is going to pick up the Sears sleep book, and I've read some of the Pantley stuff. I'm not sure that I want to mess with anything...  but DH is going crazy. Okay so am I. He does nighttime parenting with me- it's hard to get GG comfy and organized for nursing in a side lie with her boots and brace, so DH gets her up and positions her each and every time, changes her once a night, every night. I know he needs his sleep, he's up for tenure this spring and putting his stuff together for that. I am super tired too, but wondering if we should separate beds for a while til this passes naturally. Not sure when I am going to break down either. I'm so tired I can't see straight. Anyway, GG nurses almost every 2 hours round the clock still, and she's tiny, with a tiny tummy I think. Once she took 4 ounces and that's the most I've seen her drink at once. So I don't know why she's awake. Is it hunger? I did rock her back to sleep once out of five times last night without nursing. Is she uncomfortable because of the boots and brace? The ladies on my clubfoot forum do CIO and we are not into that for even one minute so no help there. I know clubfoot kids are not comfy at night. Overall she is NOT a good sleeper at any point in the day, topping out at about 13 hours if I can get her to nap on the dryer in her car seat in the afternoon. I am ragged from a baby that seems to be all over me round the clock at almost 8 months. The choice I have made is to nurse on demand and now it's killing me.

So- is every two hours round the clock reasonable, especially at night?

(Please don't advise me to feed solids- we are delaying for reasons having to do with her oral skills/readiness and she is EBF at this point.)

[Knitting Mama]

Keep in mind that she is at prime "regression" age-- check out this article on Ask Moxie.

As far as our own experience here, from 4-6 months it was once a night, from 7-8 months Cecilia was up 3-5 times a night nursing, pooping, or just wanting to play. She is down to 1-2 at 9 months old.

[Buzzer Beater]

 Aimee- how often is your babe nursing? Cecilia's still not eating much, right?

[Knitting Mama]

Yeah, she barely eats at all. She nurses about every 3-4 hours, 3 during the day, 4 at night. She's been sick for the past 4 or so days and has been nursing a lot more often, both for comfort and because she eats less each time she nurses since breathing is tough with a goopy nose, poor love.

[Buzzer Beater]

Aimee, that's a super good article. I do feel like GG is always working on something... she has about 4 hours a day out of her boots and bar, and has to relearn any/everything she's learned with them on. For instance, sitting up with them she is a sturdy little tripod and can reach a lean to her heart's desire. Take them off and she topples. Rolling with them on is a production, with them off she's all over the place, almost crawling. I don't want to interrupt normal things, but darn I don't want to encourage this thing at night.

How much do you think your baby's tummy can hold at once? Trying to figure out if her bad latch is making her meals tiny and frequent....

Hope your babe gets better soon. I am not looking forward to the first cold or flu! 

[Knitting Mama]

Well, Cece is a small girl, and I imagine that comes with an equally small tum. The most I have ever seen her take from the SNS is 5.5 ounces. More typically she take 2-3 ounces when awake and maybe at the most 4-5 ounces when she is going to sleep. This is in addition to what she gets from me, but from what I can tell, that amount is negligible.

[SilverFish]

7-9 months is usually a TERRIBLE time for sleep. my STTN miracle baby went for weeks during that time frame when she was up multiple times a night, and not only up for nursing, but rolling around, trying to crawl, kicking us in the head and generally being a PITA. she is starting to settle back down at nearly 11 months, now only waking at most twice, generally once. 9 months is also when her interest in solids really picked up, and the first time i saw an appreciable difference in how often she nursed throughout the day. since you aren't starting solids, she just might need more breast milk to fill her tummy all the way. if you don't want to start solids yet, it's fine, but she just realistically might be coming to the end of the stage where nursing alone is not meeting her needs as easily. i know i really notice a difference in both nursing and overall fussiness/mood when we have a day when three meals of solids doesn't happen for whatever reason.

in terms of making it better, well, this too shall pass. eventually.

is there any way you can have one stretch at night with her boots and brace off? it might help her sleep better, and it would be a feeding that your partner could sleep through, in return for him taking over another night waking and soothing her with bouncing/pacifier etc. i really would recommend dividing and conquering in general. both of you getting up for every night waking is not really helping anyone. if you can't nurse side lying by yourself, then getting up and sitting lets your partner sleep, again, in return for you getting to sleep through another waking.

is there a reason you're changing at night? we have occasionally changed at night if she's got a rash or something, but it completely disrupts the night-time and i hate doing it. during the worst of the 9 month wakings, i thought she was waking because of a wet diaper, and tried changing for a few days, but it didn't really help.

i really feel for you. one of my best friends has a 9 month old who slept a 4 hour stretch for the first time in his life a couple of weeks ago. i cannot even fathom being that exhausted for so long. but it really does get better eventually. i would bet that within a month or maybe two you start seeing a big difference in her sleeping.

[Knitting Mama]

We change at night because a lot of times Cece wakes up because she has to poop. So I put her on her potty and let her get her poop out, and then re-diaper and she generally goes back down ok.

[stephbrownthinks]

My DS is a little over 8 months, and just started solids. We offer him solids about once a day and he barely eats any, most of it ends up in his lap. During the day he nurses maybe 5 times, then 1 or 2 times at night. In a typical 24 hr period he'll nurse 6 or 7 times. Now that he's began crawling, he's been waking more frequently in the night... usually because he starts crawling in his sleep and hits his head on the headboard:)

I was going to suggest the same thing a previous poster did; maybe just to give you and your hubby a little more un-interrupted rest, you could handle one feeding all by yourself, then maybe go sleep somewhere else and your DH get up with your daughter the next time and rock her back to sleep? that way you could each get hopefully a 4 hr stretch where you dont have to wake up which should make a big difference! During periods where our DS would wake more frequently, even though my DH would offer to get up with him he'd end up waking me up too so the only way I could really sleep was to sleep in the guest room or couch. Then when it was my turn I'd get up. Even one night of good sleep can make a big difference!

[Buzzer Beater]

We can't take the boots off at night... it takes about 20 minutes of wrangling and screaming to get them on every evening after her time out. I'd love to let her sleep through the night without the dang things just once... but not until she's 5. We just need to get used to it. I think tonight DH is moving to another room and I will get up with her alone. I wish DH could soothe her at night. She just gets hysterical when he tries to rock her back to sleep. I don't know if she'd take a bottle for him in the middle of the night, she rarely gets one. That's something we could try on the weekends tho.

We change once at night because she is soooooo wet. We used to change a lot because she pooped, now she doesn't poop at night but it's really amazing how wet she is. She does latch and nurse well afterwards and then head quickly off to sleep. Any time she's up she goes happily back to sleep with the boob luckily. Just don't want to nurse 5 times a night. Last night she was awake almost every hour, so we tried rocking back to sleep for some of those, and it only worked once.

Originally Posted by SilverFish 

is there any way you can have one stretch at night with her boots and brace off? it might help her sleep better, and it would be a feeding that your partner could sleep through, in return for him taking over another night waking and soothing her with bouncing/pacifier etc. i really would recommend dividing and conquering in general. both of you getting up for every night waking is not really helping anyone. if you can't nurse side lying by yourself, then getting up and sitting lets your partner sleep, again, in return for you getting to sleep through another waking.

is there a reason you're changing at night? we have occasionally changed at night if she's got a rash or something, but it completely disrupts the night-time and i hate doing it. during the worst of the 9 month wakings, i thought she was waking because of a wet diaper, and tried changing for a few days, but it didn't really help.

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by Buzzer Beater 

I wish DH could soothe her at night. She just gets hysterical when he tries to rock her back to sleep. I don't know if she'd take a bottle for him in the middle of the night, she rarely gets one. That's something we could try on the weekends tho.

Cecilia is like this too. She loses her mind if I am not the one comforting her. Papa is good for other things, but soothing must be from Mama. She also won't take a bottle. It's not an easy stage, for sure!

[Buzzer Beater]

Originally Posted by stephbrownthinks 

I was going to suggest the same thing a previous poster did; maybe just to give you and your hubby a little more un-interrupted rest, you could handle one feeding all by yourself, then maybe go sleep somewhere else and your DH get up with your daughter the next time and rock her back to sleep? that way you could each get hopefully a 4 hr stretch where you dont have to wake up which should make a big difference! During periods where our DS would wake more frequently, even though my DH would offer to get up with him he'd end up waking me up too so the only way I could really sleep was to sleep in the guest room or couch. Then when it was my turn I'd get up. Even one night of good sleep can make a big difference!

Fours hours would be a dream right now. I think we'll have to aim for that... DH is on the couch reading the Sear's Baby Sleep book. He took GG to the mall and get that book so I could take a nap. I made dinner instead.

[dharmabum]

I usually sleep with babe in a separate room, if he is nursing more than usual during the night.  In the mornings, my welll-rested hubby takes over for a few hours so I can nap.  

[PatioGardener]

My guy was waking every 90 min-2 hours from 7.5-8.5 months.  Now he goes 3 hours or so between feeds at night, and occasionally 4-6.  He eats very little solids (in quantity - he eats a wide variety of foods, just not much at a sitting!) and nursing must make up 99% of his nutrition right now.  He is super busy in the day and is reluctant to let something minor such as hunger stop his play, so he catches up at night.  Knowing that helps me through it .  The one big drawback is that he sleeps through his feeds, so he wakes well rested and raring to go.  I could do with more nap time!

[GingerNinja]

We're still nursing every 1.5-3 hours or so during the night, with a couple of changes in there (or potty trips, if he's persistent.. so glad that he's shifting his pooping time to a more respectable hour now!).. with DS being 8.5 months. 

I can't chime in for the small babies=small tummies, cause this lil chunk is almost 24 lbs now.. sheesh. 

He's also still getting 99% of his nutrition from the boob.. I'm trying to make these veggies and whole grains seem SUPER AWESOME! but.. hmm.. some days he's a no taker. 

I just don't know what I'll do with myself when he sleeps for 4 hours at a time.. I mean really. My hair might start to grow twice as fast or something with that kind of stretch of real sleep. 

[SilverFish]

for diaper wetness, have you experimented with different diapering methods? a soggy diaper could definitely be hampering her sleep. if you cloth diaper, have you tried any types of boosters? maybe even a disposable at night time might be worth doing for now? we use bummis fleece-lined boosters, dd's diaper seems almost dry in the morning. but a regular disposable seems to work really well too.

[Buzzer Beater]

 We've been using sposies at night because our FB OS leak, have since the beginning. She pees so much at night it looks like she's got junk in her trunk. We can't bring ourselves to leave it all night. I guess if she's eating a lot at night she's gonna pee a lot.

Well wish us luck! I appreciate the advice and commiseration... I know things won't change overnight, but a week or ten days into it i'm dopey. Luckily I SAH and just stay in my pj's all day some days!

[Knitting Mama]

Do you happen to have any prefolds? Cecilia being a small one, I have found that the only way I can use the FB OS diapers with her is to stuff an entire trifolded prefold in the pocket along with the regular insert. That also makes it mega absorbent.

[katelove]

Originally Posted by Buzzer Beater

Fours hours would be a dream right now. I think we'll have to aim for that... DH is on the couch reading the Sear's Baby Sleep book. He took GG to the mall and get that book so I could take a nap. I made dinner instead.

I have an almost 8 month old and I agree with the PPs, it's not a great age for sleep. We have started solids with J but we are doing BLW so she doesn't actually swallow very much at this stage and it hasn't made any difference to her feeds. From when she goes to bed she feeds every 1-3hrs and if she is in bed for 9 hours over night then we call that a good night.

The things which have saved me are co-sleeping (which you're already doing) and DH getting up with her in the mornings. It helps that he is a morning person and I am not but he also sleeps through the night so he is more able to manage. They usually get up at 5:30am and he keeps her until she is ready for her next feed which usually means I get a couple of hours sleep. Then he brings her in and sometimes she falls asleep again and I can have *another* sleep. Even if he has to go leave for work at 7am he still takes her until 6:30 when he has to start getting ready. They have breakfast together and, if he isn't leaving at 7am, they go for a walk. Would it be possible for your DH to do this? Even if it isn't every morning.

The other thing is, if he takes her to the mall, don't make dinner! Have a nap. If you are that sleep deprived you can get a pizza or have beans on toast for dinner. Doing that once or twice is ok. Sleep is more important! Is there anyone else who could play with her or take her for a walk while you had a quick nap? Even an hour can make a difference. Or can you sleep during the day when she sleeps? I know that is a prime time for doing other stuff but honestly, sometimes sleep has to be the priority.

I really wish I had more to offer. It is hard enough with an 8m.o. who *doesn't* have to wear uncomfortable leg braces, I can't imagine how tough it must be for you guys.

[stephbrownthinks]

If him comforting her during the night doesn't work, maybe he can play with her and let you sleep for awhile before your official bedtime... Like when he gets home from work? You could nap, and he could play with her and if she is starving just bring her to you then. I sleep MUCH better when my DH is watching our DS than if I try to catch a nap while DS is sleeping through the day. Just knowing that I don't have to be keeping an ear open to listen to him seems to make me sleep much deeper:)