EBF and sleeping through the night?

Hi, My DD is 14 weeks and I am EBFeeding. When do you think she might start stretching out and sleeping longer? At the moment she goes down every night around 7.30...wakes again at 10.30 for a feed, then at 2.30,5.30 and after that it can be a free for all as she might want more feeding again at 7.00am, 9.00 etc etc....

If I know that this will continue until she is 6mths then I will prepare for it mentally but I keep hearing all these stories about babies who sleep for 6hours straight at this age and I just wonder am I the only one whose breast fed baby still wants feeding every 3 hours?

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

You're not the only one, I assure you. My daughter was EBF until 6 months, and until then she woke consistently every night, every 2-3 hours.

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

I EBF and I don't think he has ever slept for more than 6 hours! HE is 13 months and still doesn't sleep through the night.

Message edited 5/11/2006 1:05:36 PM.

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

EBF - well, a formula bottle MAYBE once a day if I'm lucky - he's 7.5 mos old and STIIIIIIIll waiting for more than a 5 hr stretch

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

At this stage I would be thrilled with 6 hours if it were all in one stretch......as well as her waking every 3 hours she will not settle back down after her feed and I end up taking her into bed with us just so I can get some sleep....I know its a bad habit and every night I say to myself this is the last night.......

Glad to know I am not the only one in this boat...my mom is trying to persuade me to give her formula last thing at night as she thinks she will sleep longer but I really dont want to introduce formula to her at this stage.

I wonder would an expressed bottle of B.Milk work? I havent started pumping but could try if I thought it would work...

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

My daughter was the same way and is EBF. I think for us it got better around 8-9 months, where she would sleep for longer periods of time but we are still not at a full nights sleep. However I think when you start to introduce cereal and some foods around 5-6 months she will be fullier and may begin to sleep longer.

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

We were one of the lucky ones - DS slept about 5 hours around three months, then six around 3 1/2 - 4 months, and by six months was sleeping 10-11 hours per night. He was EBF and we did not start cereal until about 5 1/2 months. One thing we did do was give him a bottle of BM before bed. It seemed to help because my DH would feed him, and we knew how much he was taking (usually about six ounces). Maybe try the BM bottle - maybe your baby will take more milk that way and stay fuller longer.

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

I think thats what I will do - give the bottle of EBM at night as she doesnt usually feed too well at this stage and I usually just let her fall off and we go to sleep...If I have a bottle at least i might persevere...

Thanks everyone.

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

Re: EBF and sleeping through the night?

We breast feed and try to give DD a bottle or 2 of my milk per night which sometimes helps. Normally she sleeps 2 - 3 hours. Or like the previous poster, I try often to nurse before bedtime then occasionally we may get 4 hours or a rare occasion more...