Hello everyone. My 10 mth old, wakes up every 2-3 hours, in the night screaming, and demands the boob. is this a bad habit, it is the only thing that will get him back to sleep, and when i don;t give in, it takes about an hour of crying, i just want to sleep!!! do you think it helps the reflux, or is it just the comfort? HELP!, vicki

I know I am not going to be with the majority here, but I personally think night nursing is very normal. My ds nurses 3 or so times a night sometimes more and sometimes less. Breastmilk hormones actually peak at 3 am which is for a reason, it use to be and in a lot of countries is still normal for a baby to sleep with mom in the same bed and nurse on and off all night.....it's just nature. So until my ds is 2 he will have full acess to the boobs at night, I am thinking he will be pretty much night weaned at that time and won't have a problem when I cut it out at night.

Just my two cents :).....how long are planning on bfing- that could make a difference in your decision too.

I agree with you.

My daughter has always woken up at night. Now alot of these wakings are reflux related but i can tell as she will have a few sucks then go back to sleep.

I would say twice in the night she wakes and has a proper feed.

Before she was on meds she used to be a night feeder as daytime was too painful for her, that was tough!

Normally she still wakes every 2 hours but i would say most of these are reflux related as she doesn't seem hungry.
We also co-sleep otherwise i would be the walking dead!!

Like Meagan and Natalie, my dd was one of those who awoke about every hour (for 15 months...) and could not be settled unless she nursed. When she was diagnosed at her 9-month check up, my doc said that she might very well be comfort feeding--that her nighttime snacking at the breast might be soothing to her sore little throat/esophagas.

That being said, it is soooo tiresome to drag yourself out of bed that often every night... In our particular case, I started slowly cutting down on the nighttime feeds once I knew that B was more comfortable/her meds were working. It's something that takes awhile to do, should probably be done gradually and only after you know your little one is getting some relief from meds.

I co-slept with my dd until she was 9 months old--she was a "late bloomer" as far as crawling/walking, so I was easily able to keep her in the co-sleeper for much longer than most. We tried moving her to her own crib earlier; however, it was just easier for me to reach over and sweep her to me when she *constantly* awoke. :-)
(BTW--her night wakings didn't magically stop when we moved her to her own room. :-( It still took another 6 months of me getting up with her. ACK!)

I have no problem with night feeds, but if it is taking him that long to go back to bed without it, I would say it is more a case of being sore and not about food.

So in a sense the milk is soothing him. Is he on meds? If so do you think that he is waking in pain? Otherwise you can try and drop one of these feeds and try water in between and see how he does.

Other than that how do you feel about all the night feeds?

Ava has always woken up between 5 and 15 (really bad!) times a night, and nursing is the only way I can soothe her/coat her throat and tummy to get her back to sleep to buy myself an hour of sleep. She wakes screaming in pain...her reflux has never been controlled by meds, and even post-fundo, we're back in the same boat. Example, she was up 8 times last night alone, and usually only nurses for 3-5 min at a time, so I know it's a comfort thing for her. She will be 17 mos old on Oct. 4, and I've been getting pressure from friends and family for a long time now to go ahead and wean her...but then what? They think that she's spoiled, and that if I wean her, her sleeping/reflux issues will magically disappear. But in reality, I'll be up ALL night, attempting to soothe a child who just needs a tiny sip to stop the burn, so she can lay down and attempt to sleep, kwim? I think it's pretty normal for refluxers, so I have just resigned myself to the fact that I *may* get to sleep again when Ava is, oh, 45, LOL.

I think that refluxers definitely do need the comfort, I can't even imagine how awful they feel trying to sleep at night! I hope things improve for you guys soon though! Is your son on any meds, I forgot to ask?

Oh, and BTW...welcome to IRD!:xo027o:

A 10 month old may be nursing to soothe reflux pain but using nursing to do that can be a double edged sword. Feeding throughout the night can cause more reflux episodes thus increasing the number of times the baby wakes to soothe any pain. If a baby's pain seems controlled during the day and does not need extra feedings for weight gain (of course reducing night feedings often increases daytime intake), you might want to think about weaning from those night feedings. In the long run it may reduce his pain symptoms at night. However if your feel his pain is not adequately managed I would suggest speaking to your doctor about other ways to control his pain versus feeding. Sometimes the longer you wait to teach your baby to fall asleep on his own the harder it becomes.

Having said that, I nursed at night until Ali was 9 months old and she continued to wake for night feedings from a bottle until 18 months. However, her reflux was not diagnosed until 8 months and she required at least one night feeding for weight gain. She still does not sleep well at 9 years old!

Maggie didn't sleep through the night until she was on prevacid twice a day however I didn't feed her when she woke up at night. Just sitting up for a few minutes usually helped her feel better enough to go back to sleep. I can't even count how many times I would check on her while she was sleeping and she had thrown up in her sleep or just rolled over and went back to sleep.

How do I feel about this? Honestly...I think it varies from child to child. Normally i would say yes that is way too old to be feeding in the middle of night. But #1 you are breastfeeding and I know that they tend to feed more than formula fed babies, and #2 you are dealing with reflux which is a whole other ball game.

Is she waking because she is in pain from reflux? Or is it simply that she is USED to waking up and wants comfort? Does she get enough food during the day that she doesn't need it? Or is she a fincky reflux eater so maybe she is still hungry? I think as her mommy, only you can answer thsoe questions, KWIM?

We DID do the whole CIO thing with Mason under doctor supervision nad it worked fabulous. BUT, we were all quite sure he was no longer in reflux pain and as a huge eater during the day we knew he wasn't hungry.

I say, go with your gut!

Hi just wanted to say hi and :xm8qo2:

Glad you found the site, look forward to getting to know you.

Best wishes

My daughter is 7 months, 4 months adjusted. She is up every 1-2 hours. I am exhausted. But she sounds like she is in pain, and does ALOT of her eaintg at night with "sleep feeds"