My Baby Still Feeds Every 2 Hrs at Night

You poor dear. You must be so worn out. Try to stretch her to feeding every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day. I recommend the book Baby Wise (even though I know many people disagree.) By following the flexible schedule it has helped my daughter sleep through the night-- not as early as what the book said, but she's 19 weeks and slept almost 12 hours last night. The late night feeding never worked for my daughter either. If I woke her up at 10:00 to feed she would still wake up 3 hours later, so we made her last feeding at 7:00 (8:00 before the time change) and let her sleep as long as she wanted. Eventually she stretched from 1 am to 4 am. The last couple of weeks she's made it to 5 and 6 am. I also like The Baby Whisperer book. It was similar to Baby Wise but doesn't use "crying it out." (We did let her cry it out for naps but not feedings.) I would also talk to your pediatrician to rule out any medical issues.

I would highly recommend reading Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book and The Baby Whisperer. They have invaluable tips and information so that you better understand infant sleep and how to teach your little one to sleep. Babies have to be taught to sleep. They don't automatically know how and leaving them to cry teaches them nothing about how to sleep.

Many breastfed babies do not sleep thru the night till they are full weaned and that is perfectly normal for a breastfed baby. But you can teach how to sleep and that will help you get more than a couple of hours at a time.

Whoa! 8 months! Really? That sounds like quite the endless cycle that is really unnecessary! I can tell you that she isn't hungry! She is looking for comfort and doesn't need to nurse. I would try to even refrain from picking her up, turn her on her side, and pat on her back until she is asleep again. Also at 8 months, let her cry. She'll have a few bad nights, and in a week, she will figure it out. She can go 8-10 hours at 8 months without nursing!

I would hazard a guess that she is comfort nursing... how much does she weigh? As long as she isn't underweight, I would let her go 'hungry' for a little while longer... try to stretch 15 minutes longer than usual... then when she adjusts to that, stretch another 15... etc.

My son is the same age, and what helps him sleep at night are a couple of things: Target night time lotion and we turn on a box fan (the fan is not blowing on him of course but it leans on his crib). I am breast feeding him and I make his own baby food. He eats 4 times a day plus breast feeds. I noticed around 5 months that my milk was starting to be not as thick and my pediatrician confirmed that breast milk is not as thick from around this point on. Good luck

Also, when he was still crying at night I would let him cry himself back to sleep as long as he did not go for more than 15 minutes. He eventually learned to keep himself asleep.

Unless she's underweight or was preemie she's probably not really hungry. Are you co-sleeping? Sometimes a baby who has the breast so accessible can look for it too often. I'm not suggesting you have to stop co-sleeping but try stretching out her feedings some. If you can, let her fuss for a few minutes and see if she settles and goes back to sleep on her own. Or, can your husband soothe her and not feed her for a little while.

Try nursing her more often during the day. Drink plenty of water and eat healthy and take prenatals. That will help with your milk supply. HTH! Good luck!

Is she just nursing for comfort, rather than truly being hungry? If she is a healthy weight and growing normally, would you consider a pacifier? Have you been trying to start her on solids at regular times during the day?

Also, I've never heard of any forumla (cow milk, soy, or otherwise) being linked to cancer. People get cancer for all kinds of reasons and sometimes the cause cannot be determined, so just as an aside, I would not be blaming your mother's disease on formula. Plenty of us were formula-fed (and sometimes, in cases of medications a mother is on, or if a baby is adopted, there is no other choice) and are fine.

First off, great job! Secondly, she could be hitting a growth spurt. My son was just like her. I did find that feeding him rice cereal mixed with fruit right before bed, then nursing him to sleep, got me a longer stretch and broke the cycle. Occasionally he does go back to nursing a lot on an occasional night, but the 2 hr thing is rare now (he is 28 months old). Because you have tried the cereal and she is still chowing makes me think she is hitting a growth spurt. Does she sleep with you? Some babies begin to realize they are alone and want their parents (my kids always co-slept till the weaned completely). If she does co-sleep, try nursing her then rolling her towards dad. Sometimes his smell masks yours and she doesn't wake as much.

You obviously want to be a good mom but every 2 hours for an 8 month old is not neccesary! If she is on target for weight then she is not hungry, she just likes to nurse. Try taking her out or distracting her when she wants to nurse since this has become her "go-to" activity. She should be exploring her world not looking to the breast so often. My son did not take bottles or formula either. I mixed his cereal into pumped breastmilk and gave him lots of pureed fruits and veggies at 8 months. He loved to try the new foods. As far as sleeping through the night, you have to get her out of your room (I am assuming she is there). If she knows you are there then she will ask...I mean, why not? Is she cries, let her cry for an minute or two before you go to her because if she is really tired she will decide a lot of the time that its not worth it. If the crying escalates or lasts more than a few minutes, then go and nurse her but put her back in the crib. My son was also breastfed and he didn't sleep for more than 3 hours a night until 4 months. That was when we got him into his crib. We also never did any type of sleep training.