Why is my 7 month old baby waking up for a feeding in the middle of the night?

Question

My daughter has been sleeping through the night since she was about 5 months old. Just this last week she's started waking up after like 4 hours and wanting a bottle. She has a bottle right before she goes to bed and often stops drinking before it's gone so I know she's getting enough. When she wakes up it's like she's starving and she downs another whole bottle. I don't want her to get in the habbit of having a night time meal but I can't let her cry if I know she's hungry. Has anyone else had this situation and is there any way to handle it ? Is she going to be 2 and still waking up at night to want to eat if I encourage it now?

Answer 1

I have a 7 month old boy! He also within the last two weeks has been waking up sparaticly through the night to eat. Some nights he will, other nights he'll sleep right through. I don't think you can spoil her by feeding her in the middle of the night. She is probably going through a growth spurt, and just needs that extra meal in the night. Does she eat cereals yet? That is what I find really helps my son, he will have some of his cereal for his last meal before bed and then finish it off with a bottle of milk. This seems to hold him over quite nicely. Try that (if you daughter eats baby cereal) or mix even a teaspoon of pablum/cereal into her last bottle. It will hopefully hold her over. I wouldnt worry about her, she is just hungry! At least she goes back to sleep right aways...my boy likes to play for a bit before he winds back down and goes back to bed. lol Thought my 3am days were over!  

Answer 2

There is no such thing as spoiling a baby under a year old. If she wakes up hungry, feed her. This is normal. This is not very likely to happen once she grows up.

Most parents don't get a good nights sleep, as far as I know.

Answer 3

Is she eating solids yet? Sometimes babies just go through growth spurts, especially at 7 months she would be more mobile than at 5 months and probably just getting hungry from that. My daughter woke up at night for 11 months. In fact she is 2 and a half and comes into our bedroom at 3am and says "get milk daddy"

Answer 4

I asked the same type of question around 4 months.  There's something called sleep regression and it apparently happens at odd times.



I found this:

Sleep Regression (Noun) Several points in an infant's early development, usually around 4, 8, and 18 months of age, in which the child develops sleeping difficulties, wakes frequently and sleeps fitfully, often in erratic spurts.

And also this list that I found...

In the first year of life, the stormy times seem to happen around

5 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

17 weeks

26 weeks (6 months)

36 weeks

44 weeks

53 weeks (around 12 months).

Answer 5

sounds like she is going through a growth spurt, hang in there mommy, it should pass soon.  There is also a possibility of teething, as long as baby seems healthy otherwise i wouldn't be concerned.  

Oh, and if it is a growth spurt i would discourage using cereal as an extra filler because that is all it is...a filler.  When they go through growth spurts they need the nutrients that formula gives them, cereal is more of an empty calorie.

Answer 6

She's hungry.  She's just going through a developmental milestone or growth spurt and needs that extra meal.

She should drop it on her own when she is ready.

Answer 7

My son started doing this when he was teething.  Any signs of teething?  Once his teeth popped thru, he went back to sleeping thru the night.

Answer 8

This will probably happen all the way through the first and second years.  My daughter did that.  Where she would sleep very well for a couple of months, and then have difficulty getting herself back to sleep for a little while.

There are a couple of reasons for it:  she's growing and developing and life's much more interesting when you're awake, and since she is indeed growing so much, her body may still need nourishment during the night at those stages when it's growing the fastest.

It's normal, infant sleep habits ebb and flow all the way into toddlerhood, and it's just something you have to accept and go with the flow.

I would give her the bottle, but don't make a production of it.  Don't talk to her in the middle of the night, and keep the lights off or very dim.  That way she'll still know that it's sleep time, and won't be interested by anything happening around her.

Yes, she might wake up during the night when she's two and want something to drink or eat, and you have to understand that that is normal and acceptable.  If our bodies need fluids and calories during the night, they need to be met.  I can tell you that even at 25 sometimes I get very very hungry or thirsty in the middle of the night and need to get something to eat and drink.  

So mother your child, and be happy that you can tend to her needs, and don't value your sleep so much that it makes you resent your daughter.  That's something that I always have to remind myself of.

Answer 9

Start feeding her some cereal b4 bed. She's digesting too fast. She's hungry.  

Answer 10

She's probably hit a growth spurt. Does she eat an evening meal of solids? If so maybe increase her serving size or offer more formula before bedtime.

If she's waking up hungry then feed her. You aren't encouraging a midnight snack by doing that. She'll grow out of it. If she's hungry then she needs to eat. Some babies do not sleep through the night for the whole first year, even longer. Others sleep through the night very early. So this is all normal for her age.

Just don't make a big production out of it. Keep lights low, stay quiet, give her the bottle and put her back to bed. If you are too lively with it, she'll expect a party every time she wakes up at 2am!

My oldest slept through the night at 3 weeks old. She hit growth spurts at about 6 months and 9 months where she awoke at odd times wanting to eat. It passed. Babies to not adhere to a schedule really until they are over a year old. Before that it's sort of a free-for-all.