8 month old Breastfeeds frequently at night

QUESTION:
I would firstly like to thank you for your wonderful books, they have been a great help with parenting so far. I have a 7 and a half month old baby. She is not a good sleeper, for a few months she wakes up every evening around 12/1am, when she was 6 months I went to a local nurse and she advised me that breast babies drink much more at night and that I should continue feeding when she wakes up. She is nearly 8 months old and the habit continues. She is eating 3 meals a day and drinking daily four hourly. How do I know if she is still hungry and how much a breast baby should drink?

ANSWER:

Well done for breastfeeding for this long - you have clearly been meeting your baby's needs very efficiently. At 8 months old, your baby should be having three or four milk feeds during the day (6am; 10am; 2pm - optional; 6pm). In addition to this she should have three full meals a day which include protein. If she is having this, then nutritionally she should not need a night feed at all. In fact night feeds from this age onwards are likely to disrupt her appetite for day solid meals so should be discouraged. When she wakes at 1am, i would offer cool or luke warm water. Hopefully this will stretch her so eventually she wakes at 4am or later. If she continues to wake frequently at night, you may need to do some sleep coaching.