7 month old still feeds at night- go with it or try stop? Help!

[kms123]

Hi, looking for some perspective here on what to do. My 7 month old DS still wakes at least once, sometimes twice (either 1ish and 5ish, or if just once usually at 3ish). I am BF and up to now have just given feed, he falls back asleep easily within about 20 mins so it feels a quick up and down.

But I've been feeling I "should" stop this so we can both get a better sleep and in long run don't want to keep overnight feeds. So last 2 nights tried other strategies- giving water, rocking, patting, lullabies etc. It was HELL! First night took an hour, last night 2 hours and then he was only asleep 10 mins to wake all over again.

So my question is would you persevere to try and help him settle without feed or keep feeding and he will grow out of it?

I am happy to keep feeding night, more feel I should try stop!

[pinkie08]

Hi KMs123
from what i remember he should be getting enough from his daily intake to get through the night.

The waking in the night is more habit rather than food needs.

I had a maternity nurse who recommended slowly reducing the times that they feed.

So allow him his 20 mins and then reduce down minute by minute til its barely any. He should take more in the morning which will keep his daily intake up.

She never said let them go cold turkey, they use it as a comforter and it sounds like you are a mum who agrees to cuddles and rocking etc so dont do the controlled crying thing. in my opinion that only works if the mum can switch off from it. i never could

Good luck and lots of baby hugs

[littleboyblue]

If my ds was still waking at 7m, I'd try to stop the feeding. I ff and stopped when ds was about 5m. I think it's more of a habit after a while. Is he on any kind of solid through the day? He should be getting what he needs from that and milk.

[ches]

Waaaaaaay too young to be night weaning, especially a BF baby, IMO. A BF baby waking up once a night for a feed at 7 months = luxury. They still have growth spurts and need the milk. When he's on loads of solids and is making log-like poos (so you know it's being digested, not just coming out on the conveyor belt) then you can think about night weaning.

[kalo12]

my 9 month wakes 7 times a night for bf. i don't know how to stop. i'm jealous of you

[ChairmumMiaow]

I agree with ches. My 10 month DS got down to two feeds at around 7-8 months and is now contemplating going down to 1 (or once he slept 6.30 to 5!).

His sleeping (now, never was before!) seems to be related to how well he ate his solids during the day (which depends on many many things) so I am sure that the wakings are hunger, particularly as he feeds for 15 minutes then goes back to sleep.

Once or twice is great at 7 months - I would expect your DC will gradually drop the feeds as mine seems to be doing. So keep doing what you're doing for an easy life. (If your baby is genuinely hungry as I would think in this case, offering water etc is just going to make him really upset.

Oh, and if you want to get more sleep in one go, you can try (and it doesn't work for everyone) doing a dream feed before you go to bed so you get a longer stretch of sleep.

[Gangle]

My DS, nearly 8 months, wakes 2 to 3 times in the night for a feed. This is an improvement from a few weeks back where he would basically graze all night. We are currently doing sleep training to try and crack it but doesn't seem to be working, probably because I'm too knackered and can't bear to leave him to cry. Last night he was awake between 3 am and 6.45am!! We were trying to get to 7am before feeding him again as the sleep trainer advised starting off with 3 hourly gaps the increasing by 15 minutes every night. I wouldn't mind him feeding if he just went back to sleep but he is a nightmare to settle after the 3am feed as we're often awake then until 5.30 or 6am. The sleep trainer gave some really good reasons for cutting them out such as babies need to rest during the night rather than digest food. However, I've just gone back to work and DS is very reluctant to take EBM from the bottle during the day so nightime is the only time he can make up for it so it feels too cruel to cut them out at this point. I'm really hoping that he'll start dropping the feeds of his own accord. Agree that it is hell trying to wean them off - I just can't face the battle at the moment! Good luck.

[moondog]

His stomach is tiny.he needs to feed and he needs to feel loved and comforted by your body.Is that so wrong, especially if you are happy with the arrangement.There is no 'should' about any aspect of babycare.

I was happy to feed mine whenever until age of 12 months when i did make an effort to get some more uninterrupted sleep.

[kms123]

Thank you all. So I had decided I would just keep going with night feeds but see if could gradually cut down the time as I do feel it was getting habit rather than actual hunger.

So last 2 nights he only woke at 5!! I'm happy with that and no idea if it will last.

Thanks for advice.

[jamilah]

really nice to find all this as i was just about to ask the same question! Is is worth cutting bot feeds or just one towards the morning?? all tips appreciated thanks!

[kms123]

I just thought I'd update in case anyone else in same boat as I feel I am getting somewhere with it.

So I had 2 bad nights of up for between hour and 2 hours trying to settle without feed, 2 good nights from 10.30 dream feed to around 5, 1 bad night again up twice but not as upset and last night best yet from 10:30 to 6.

Last night I heard him wake and cry at 2:30 and before I could get out of bed he had fallen back asleep himself.

It's too early to say whether any of this will last but I feel much more confident now that it was habit and not needing a feed and that he can settle. I would not let him cry and am happy to still give comfort but I feel I have satisfied myself that he can do it and it was worth the week of interrupted sleeps.

Fingers crossed continues..