to feed 7 month old in the night?

[happygilmore]

I hadn't thought anything of it to be honest, but have seen loads of posts on here recently saying they shouldn't need it.

DD is 7 months, ff, and has one feed (between 100-180mls generally) a night. We're doing blw and she does have three meals a day but obviously it varies how much solids she has.

We don't mind feeding her at night at all (she's obviously hungry so why would we) and tbh I'd thought most people still were feeding their DC at night at this age. Is this not the case?

[nickytwotimes]

yanbu!

babies need fed/comfort in the night for a long time. a few sleep all night early on, but not many.

i wish my 7mth old was only up once!

[TattyDevine]

It would be around this kind of time that I'd be trying to encourage a formula fed baby to drop any night feeds, depending on how well they were eating in the day, their size/weight, how settled they were generally and whether or not it seemed to be becoming a bit of a habit.

Different for a breast fed baby, but for FF where they are having a certain amount in the day and you know what that is, etc, I personally would be trying to stop it.

The fact that you dont mind though means that its only a problem if its a problem.

[azazello]

Milk is the main food until they're one so an awful lot of babies will still want some nightfeeds especially if you're doing blw.

If you're happy to do it then carry on and don't worry about it.

[olderandwider]

Surely every baby is different? DD slept through at 3months, 12 hours solid.DS needed nightime feeds until about 8/9 months.

Both raised the same way, only difference was DD was heavier and just ate more, although you might argue this would mean she wanted feeding at night too. But she didn't

[TattyDevine]

And that is only for MY children, by the way, who were pretty porky and good eaters and therefore there comes a point where you might actually feel you are doing the wrong thing by them feeding them in the night. It can start to undermine the weaning process. It really depends on the individual circs.

[MassiveKnobOfBrandyButter]

If any of my babies were hungry, day or night, I would feed them.

I get hungry at all odd times and eat whenever I feel that hunger, so why not a baby.

[happygilmore]

Yes I'd thought the 'every baby was different' thing too and hadn't thought much of it, just reading a few posts recently has made me doubt myself! Not sure why.

She does wake up more than once nicky unfortunately, just wants milk once though - other times it's a cuddle in our bed or the dummy (or indeed both). But that's fine too.

She is a big baby and eats loads in the day, I know I can keep an eye on how much (I don't really as not on the ball enough) but still hungry at night too it seems.

[littleducks]

I did cut down, then stop bfing ds at night after about 6 mo (i did dreamfeed though and have no idea now when i stopped that, might have been before)

He woke for a cuddle for a little while then slept through

Whereas dd fed (several times) in the night and didnt sleep through until she stopped bfing at 22 mo as i didnt discourage it

So for me it really helped to get some sleep, i was really knackered as i then had a 3 yr old and a 6mo.

But do whatever suits you best!

[TattyDevine]

Massiveknobofbrandybutter, I agree with what you are saying in essence. I wouldn't necessarily want to make a child go cold turkey and I think it goes without saying that you wouldn't let them cry till morning or anything like that - its about encouraging them to take their milk and food requirements during the day.

If they are a normal weight and its a case of if hungry feed them, that's fine generally to be honest - but if they are a milk-addict baby who want to continue on milk to the exclusion of food, and make up the difference in the night by drinking yet more milk, which then gets you in a vicious circle of undermining weaning by having them refuse any solid food at breakfast, etc etc then it can be a genuine reason for not.

I've recently had to cut the daytime milk intake of my 15 month old because she was having "too much" and really not eating enough solid food in the meantime. She's on cows milk and this is a common cause of anaemia.

It really depends on the circumstances. That wouldn't be a big risk with a 7 month old as they are on formula instead of cow.

It really depends why you want to drop the feed and what it will achieve for the baby, and whether its in the best interests for the baby.

[JodiesMummy]

I would say you are not giving LO a chance to go a bit longer if you offer milk straight away. They might not be hungry, just thirsty - if you want to drop the feed, try offering water in the first instance, milk if they will not settle.

[Fibilou]

DD is nearly 11 months and feeds at least twice between 7pm and 7am.

I couldn't give a single shit about what "most people" think.

[Ray81]

My DD is 7 months too and still wakes in the night for one bottle, she is co sleeping and i make up the bottle before i go to bed and keep it in a thermal bag so when she wakes i just have to get it out, check it isnt too hot and feed her, it isnt a problem for me at all. Although a full nights sleep would be nice .

We are doing a combination of BLW and the other way, she prefers the other way tbh and so do i as i know exactly what she is getting and i have to admitt as she is eating more in the day she has less milk in the night, i think she will sleep through soon enough.

dont worry about what everyone else says if you are ok with her being up for a feed it doesnt matter what others are doing.

[emsyj]

DD is 7 months and feeds in the night still... Could that be why she isn't very interested in solids? Am worried now re: Tatty's comments about night feeds undermining weaning...

[emsyj]

Oh, meant to say, of all the 15 or so mums I know with babies of 7 months same as DD there are only 3 who don't feed in the night (2 of them bottle fed and one breastfed, if that's of any relevance).

[Firawla]

i still feed my 1 yr old and 2 yr old in the night if they get up and ask. 7 months is still small really, and you know best what your child needs so just ignore them if others have a problem. i hear of people who's babies wake up @ night but they "refuse" to feed them (out of some kind of weird principal it seems) so it takes them an hour to get them back to sleep and they then wake up after another 1 hr for the same thing again. absolutely ridiculous. its like making life difficult for both themself and their child just because they think "they shouldn't need a feed at this age" - if you just feed them and put them back to sleep then they would be resettled quite quickly and everyone is happy.

[pointythings]

DD1 slept through from 10 weeks with a dream feed at 10 pm, DD2 didn't sleep through until nearly 1 - it was definitely not comfort, she always took both sides, only took about 10 minutes. She's almost 8 now, very slim but extremely tall and takes an adult shoe size 3 (eeek). So sometimes they're just hungry and growing fast, and they haven't read the books that say they dont' need the night feeds.

[Porcelain]

At 7 months BLW she's probably not getting as much solids down her as a puree baby and needs her milk. I'd say, if she's hungry, feed her.

[Porcelain]

I ought to add that the BLW book discusses 10 month olds barely not taking much solid feed as being perfectly fine, so there's no reason to push her.

[thebrownstuff]

how much milk is she having in the day?

Mine have both slept through from very early on, and for the first one I point blank didn't offer milk when she woke up - just cuddles and she soon stopped waking up. Fuzzy baby brain, but iirc t'was at about 4 months that they went though from 7 to 7.

But then I'm a raging monster as far as making sure that I get enough food in to them during the day, to make sure that there's no reason for them to be hungry at night/they're getting all the nutrition they should be getting. I am an anal loon about day time feeds/eating

Then again, babies needs are constantly changing eg. recently ds was teething (10months) and grizzly so I gave him milk at night when I felt that he needed it.

[EauRudolph]

DD was night-weaned at 15 or 16 mo. Couldn't give a crap whether most people think this is OK or not, it worked for us! You know what your DD 'needs', not everyone else. Trust your instincts

[violethill]

Some people seem to get so het up about this - all this talk of 'other parents should feck off' etc

Chill out.

If you are happy doing night feeds, then do it. All some people are saying is that nutritionally your baby doesn't need them. They may wake out of habit, they may not be feeding enough in the day, so its a 'body clock' issue - not dissimilar to an older child or adult who perhaps has irregular eating patterns and wakes and eats at night.

It doesn't make you a better or a worse parent that you are continuing to do night feeding. If you're happy with it, why worry?

[happygilmore]

She's having loads of milk during the day, actually a bit more recently, seems to be having solids too but as you all say, it's hard to know how much with blw. Still her nappy says some def getting down!

[MumNWLondon]

Why are you posting here if you are happy with it?

Its your baby and up to you. If you came on here and said you were totally exhausted couldn't cope, DH wouldn't help etc etc and so over-tired from getting up in night, might be reasonable advice to try and cut out night feed.

I agree with the comments that filling up on milk means not much solids but at 7 months thats not a worry.

FWIW DS2 is 8 months, we are in process of cutting down/out dreamfeed. He goes to bed at 7pm I give dreamfeed at 11pm ish and he sleeps until morning.

Not doing BLW weaning, he eats 3 solid meals - eg fruit/ready brek breakfast / meat casserole for lunch with fruit for pudding / veggies & cheese/fish & yoghurt for pudding for tea. As a guide to portions - he is having eqiv of jar full (although its homemade) of main & half jar worth of pudding at each meal.