To give 4 and a half month old porridge

[usernameunavailable]

My DD is 4 and a half month old. She wakes 3 times during the night to feed. I offer her 5 ounce and she drinks 4 - 4.5, so she truly is waking to feed. I have been told that mixing some baby porridge in with formula before bedtime will help her sleep longer. However now a days your advised to wait until 6 month to give baby any sort of food, but baby porridge says 4 month+ on packaging.

Dunno what to do for the best. WWYD? Let baby wake for feeds or try and fill up more before sleep?

yes yabu.
It would be against nhs guidelines.
Babies should wake up at night. End of.
Please don't.

Hi silver for during the night I make up bottles with 5oz in. How do you go about giving them less? Tomorrow night should I reduce to 4.5oz then the night after 4oz or would I offer 4.5oz for a couple of nights? Thank you for your comment

And just so you are aware sids risk is reduced greatly if babies are in the same room as you. Current sleep guidelines are for babies to sleep in the same room as you for 6 months. Bring your baby back in and there will be less disruption to you all.

OP has already said she will be waiting until her DD is 6 months.

End of

Do not mix in the bottle- it's not the 80s anymore. If your baby is hungry allow them to wake and feed as needed, it won't be forever.

Just saw you leave bubs in cot and feed her lying down. Do you think she fully wakes up for a feed or is kind of sleeping through it?

If she was actually ravenous she would be fully awake.

It seems counterintuitive (because we all want bubs to go back to sleep ASAP so we can too) but try waking her up. She’ll eat better and eat to her appetite rather than just reflexively sucking.

Make her work a little bit for it! We’d all probably eat 5 times a night if someone brought something delicious to our lips while we stayed cosy in bed.

Thanks weebo my partner helps me when on a weekend when he's off work. But Monday-Friday I do night feeds alone. I can't nap during the day when DD naps. I just can't nap, but tbh DD doesn't nap for very long so it would be pointless.

Also, don’t be tempted to give follow on milk before 6 months. It’s not suitable for babies under 6 months and is likely to cause tummy upset.

Even formula fed babies are supposed to wake at night.

Hi OP, I’m bfing so I just gave one side instead of two initially, then I let him feed for 10m instead of 20 etc.

With bottles I would just give half the bottle and then tip the rest out. Bubs won’t be hungry if she’s had half a feed.

Hi amazing grace I know the guidelines for baby sleeping in their own room is 6 month. I have a monitor that's monitors DD's breathing and movements. I also feel like my partners sleep is less interrupted as I am feeding DD in another room. I am not being rude but this threat is about baby feeding. Thank you

I did with all of mine. Eldest now 26. But that's my personal experience and couldn't advise as to what was right for anyone else's babies. Never made it to 6 months with any of mine re: solids.

Sorry 16, not 26

If she isn’t taking the full 5oz, then yes, cut it back down to 4/4.5oz.
Whilst she waking for milk though, i wouldn’t worry too much about reducing the number of night feeds.

As somebody else suggested, dream feeding her before you go to bed is a good idea.

Don't be afraid to share the load when it comes to night feeds.

Plenty of partners do it and still survive working the next day.

I couldn't nap during the day so either I used to go to bed early and DH would do the first feed so I had a stretch of unbroken sleep.

Could you both come up with a plan like that? It helps to remember that it really doesn't last forever.

Silver DD does open her eyes but has the mainly shut. So maybe she is kinda asleep. I think it would be a good idea to wake her some more. However she may be half asleep when feeding but she still is drinking most of the bottle so really she is still getting the feed so does it matter wether she's wake when feeding or? Thanks

Introducing solids did not help my son sleep at all. He woke every 90minutes regardless. Just wait until 6 months.

Verbena thank you. How long would you suggest keeping the night feed bottles at 4/4.5oz before reducing it again? I'm afraid that if she did drink the whole 4/4.5 oz she would still be hungry and keep crying until she's fed more

Weebo I get my partner to give the first feed so I have a bit more sleep

Have you tried dreamfeeding ? Giving her a bottle while she sleeps a few hours after she goes to sleep but before she wakes up for one ?
My friend did this when she was bottle feeding and it worked great for keeping the baby asleep through the night

When my now 13yo was a baby the advice was no food until 4 months but by the time I had my second nearly two years later, the advice had changed to 6 months.

When I queried it, the health visitor said it was basically to stop people giving tiny babies really inappropriate food too early (fishfingers for example!) but baby food/purée is fine from about 4 months if you are sensible about it.

No idea what the current advice is but I fed two big hungry babies shortly after 4 months (with spoon, properly puréed- never from a bottle) and I'm sure they were more content because of it.

I put her to bed at 7/8. Recently it's been 6:30 as she was been really tired. I've often tried giving her a bottle at 11:30 just before I go to bed to see if that'll help. But she still woke up at the same time for the next feed so I just gave up with that bottle as it didn't seem to make a difference.

Does anybody think that DD being extra tired, wanting to go to bed earlier may have something to do with her waking during the night?

please do look into sids guidelines. Having a monitor and breathing mat does nothing to mitigate the risk. A baby hears you breathing and that reminds them to do the same.
Yes I'm aware of what this post was about but I could never forgive myself if I just looked on by later to find out something bad had happened. You obviously were not aware of why babies have to stay in the same room so at least you are informed now if you do decide to continue.

OP- just about the own room thing. Part of the reason for having baby in your room, is because your breathing sounds help them to regulate theirs, and so reduces the SIDS risk. The monitor you have is neither here nor there for reducing risk in that sense. I know you're here about feeding, but I think it's really important to follow SIDS advice where possible- even if it does disturb your partners sleep in the short term.

Crosspost with @Amazinggrace

Just stick some brandy in there while you're at it, a baby that doesn't sleep? Well shit the fucking bed!