Expert: ruth kraft - 12/14/2009

Question
Hello,

My baby is 7 months old and wakes up every hour to breastfeed at night.  He will sleep from 11 pm to around 3 am and then wake up to feed.  Then I will have to feed him every hour after that for him to return to sleep.  I co-sleep with him because of this but would love it if I could have him sleep in his crib.  There was a period when I would feed him only once a night...but I don't know what changed that.
Also, my baby is a light sleeper.  He wakes up from the slightest noises such as a door opening or a cough.  He rarely naps if we are not home alone.  So if in another setting he will nap for only 10 to 15 minutes and he only falls asleep on my breast. I would really appreciate any help you can give me.  Thank you.

Answer
There is often an emotional reason babies wake at night to nurse or eat. so we should keep that in mind also. As the emotional need is just as strong as the need for food. However, you can try to start to wean that night time feeding by delaying the nursing and seeing if he will go back to sleep other ways. and hopefully he will pick up on it and sleep through the whole night. You can also read susan pantlys "no cry sleep solution" book. and that should be helpful. You can also give it a little more time, often this is a bit of a breaking point for babies and now will start sleeping longer. If it is too hard pushing back feedings at night, try practicing during the day to wait for feedings and then see if he will tolerate more at night.

I hope that helped!