Sleeping FAQ: 6-9 months – Night Waking

My 7mth son wakes in the night for an hour or two. This makes him tired in the daytime. What can I do?

My 7mth son suffers from reflux but I don’t think this has anything to do with this. He is up or is woken at 7.30am. He takes his reflux medication and then his feed and breakfast. He takes two naps a day. We dropped his afternoon catnap as this meant he was not ready to settle at 7.30pm.

My son has always had a problem sleeping through the night but has managed 11.30pm -7.30am a number of times. We were dream feeding at 11.30pm but he then began waking at this time and staying awake so we moved it to the earlier time of 11pm. When fed at this time he did not take the 5-6ozs he had been having at 11.30pm and he was much more wakeful. So we moved it to 10.45pm and he would take 4ozs, then stay awake for and hour or more after that. As well as this he was waking at anytime from 1-3am. He would lie awake for an hour or two before crying on and off and dropping back to sleep for another 4hours. We have stopped the dream feed but he continues to wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for 1.5-2 hours before crying on and off and dropping back to sleep. We cannot figure out why he does this. He is very tired during the day from this but we limit his daytime sleep to no more than 2.5-3hrs. This is usually two naps of 1.5hrs each. What can we be doing wrong? We never go into his room at night so we are not reinforcing this waking. Is he eating enough during the day? How can we increase his food and not have him vomit if he does so? If he still needs dream feeding, how can we do it and not disturb his sleep so much? If he is hungry in the early hours why is he not screaming for food? It is disturbing to see him on our video monitor just lying awake when we know he needs his rest. Our daughter was so much better than our son and she didn’t really eat more in the day and gave up her dream feed at 7mths, sleeping through the night.

Our son feeds at:
7.30am 3ozs formula with a further 1oz mixed in 2 tablespoons oatmeal and a 2.5oz jar of fruit.
9.45am, 4-6ozs formula.
12.30pm lunch, 4ozs jar of rice/lentil dinner or some other protein containing meal.
1.15/1.30pm, 6ozs.
4.15pm, 5ozs
6.15/6.30pm dinner, 2.5tablespoons rice cereal mixed with 1.5ozs formula and 2.5ozs sweet potato or squash.
7.15pm, 5-6ozs. He may vomit this bottle if he has overfed at dinner. This is when he takes more than 3 tablespoons of rice cereal and 2.5ozs of vegetable.

My son naps at 10/10.15-11.30am and 2.15-3.45pm. He settles within 10 minutes of going down at 7.30pm.

A baby of your son’s age may not cry immediately he wakes even if he is hungry. It would be worth looking at Gina’s Contented Guide to Weaning to see the sort of meals your son could be enjoying for his evening dinner other than rice, cereal and vegetables. A meal rich in carbohydrates is recommended for this age. You could try things such as jacket potato with baked beans and grated cheese; pasta bakes made with vegetable or cheese sauce; lentil and vegetable bakes or thick vegetable soups which have a carbohydrate base such as lentils or potato. If your son needs to eat small meals because of his reflux then you do need to be particularly aware of the importance of the nutritional content of each meal.

At his age he needs to be receiving 2ozs of protein daily. The protein content in jars of food is less than a similar meal made at home. Gina’s Contented Weaning book has plenty of recipes which can be batch cooked and frozen, enabling you to offer your son home-cooked food on most days even if you are very busy and unable to cook a meal from scratch.

You may also need to look at the amount of milk your son is taking, especially in the afternoon, which could affect how much he eats at dinner time. If you move his nap times as explained below, he could have a small top up feed before settling at 12.30pm, helping him to have a good sleep and then a feed of 5-6ozs around 2.30-3pm. Your son may then be hungrier earlier for his dinner which could be moved to 5.30/5.45pm. An earlier dinner would allow him to feed well but also have time to digest his food before receiving his bedtime milk at 7.15pm.

Your son’s daytime sleep may also be having an effect on his night-time waking. You could try cutting back on his morning nap which might help increase his nap at lunchtime to at least 2 hours. To do this, begin to wake him 5-10 minutes earlier every 3 or 4 days. This will help him adjust to having less sleep in the morning without becoming overtired and irritable. Gradually cut back this nap to 45minutes -1hour in length. You may need to bring his lunchtime forward to12 midday so he is ready to settle for a good lunchtime nap around 12.30pm. The sleep needs of a baby at this age do change depending on how active and mobile they are. Some babies will still need to have a very short catnap in the afternoons or at least a rest in their buggy whilst on a walk, especially if they are beginning to crawl and use up a lot of energy by day. A baby who is less active still needs to change his daytime sleeping slightly so he is having a short morning nap and a longer one over lunchtime, which coincides with his natural dip in alertness. He may then be able to get through the afternoon without a catnap but need to be bathed and settled into bed by 7pm/7.15pm.

As your son is able to settle himself to sleep again at night, but the result is tiredness in the day, any changes you make to his routine should be done gradually and over a period of at least a week. Adjusting his daytime sleep, so he is not taking a longer nap later in the day, may mean he will be less likely to wake for long periods of time during the night. By looking at his nutritional needs, making some adjustments to the times and contents of his meals and, at the same time, allowing for his reflux problems should mean he will start to sleep better in the night. It is not uncommon for babies of this age to wake for periods in the night, especially until they do begin to move more: crawling and cruising around the furniture. Give him plenty of floor time during the day and encourage him to roll over as well as spend time on his front, in preparation for crawling. Make sure has regular outings in the fresh air as well, as this will all help him to sleep well through the night.