Night time feeds

[whatdoido33]

Sorry not AIBU I posted in weaning but got no replies :(

How can I wean my 4 and a half month old off night time feeds? She only wakes up once at 3.30am (same time every night) has about 2oz then goes back to sleep until 7/8.

I have read that sometimes it's a habit so I tried with a dummy last night but she wouldn't settle until she had milk.

Any suggestions? (First time mom)

She's probably hungry if she's waking up and eating

My daughter is 11 months and still wakes once for milk. At 4 months I think we were still on 2 feeds a night. She’s still very little. I’m not planning on night weaning. DD will drop the last feed when she’s ready.

Once a night at 4-5 months is good going!! She’s still only little, she needs that drink to get her through until morning.

I think one wake up at that age is pretty impressive and you just have to wait it out. It may all change again too!

Mine only started sleeping through at 9 months, but only did it for 3 months and is still waking once a night at nearly 16 months.

2oz is barely anything.

With my LO, i waited until she dlept through once or twice randomly, then increased her milk before bed (6oz bottle at 5pm then 7oz bottle at bedtime at 7pm) so she was full for bed, then if she woke up in the night i'd either try dummy or 1 or 2oz of milk. I used to leave her whinging fir 5 mins or so to give her a chance to go back to sleep. 9 times out of 10 she does

I breastfed so have no experience of whether this is normal for bottle fed babies. But 4 months is still so little and one night feed seems really good to me. I'm not sure why you're concerned. Baby could be waking purely to see you/ be close to you rather than through hunger. I'd just go with it, but as I said I don't have any experience of bottle feeding, which I know is different.

This was at 4 months old

It's pretty early to stop night feeds. That's good sleeping for a 4 month old.

At 4 months? Your baby only wakes up once a night and is probably hungry or simply looking for comfort. 4 months is tiny.
DS is 22 months and still feeds at night. Usually more than once. I'm in my thirties and still wake up for a drink at night. Also more than once.

Following - my LG is four months too and wakes 1-2 times a night.

We normally start bedtime routine at 9pm (quite late I know!) she is in her cot in our room, it’s really hit and miss what she does, sometimes she will fall asleep after bath, bottle and bed at about half 10, on a good night she will sleep until about half 5 or 6am (happy mummy when she does that!) other times (like last night!) she slept until 12am, then woke up, did not go back to sleep until 1.30am where I had to give her another feed, then went back to sleep until 5am.

She was a tiny baby and still is at the moment so don’t expect her to be sleeping a solid 10 hours yet! The most she has done is 8 hours, but it’s been a few weeks since she has done that.

I am going to be putting her in her own room soon, my aim is when she can start rolling over as I will have to put the cot down a level, at that point I will be bringing her bedtime forward to about 8pm and then hoping she will go longer, I would still expect her to wake up around 12am-1am for a feed even then, still looking forward to her sleeping all night though.

I also think that when she’s in her own room she won’t be getting disturbed by us, (my partners snoring!) and I won’t be checking on her every other minute after every little thing she does in her sleep, so hopefully she will be more settled!

I know with my sister, her first baby slept from 7pm to 7am from 12 weeks! However, her second child did not sleep all night until she was about 10 months old.

What time is her last feed OP? Could you give it later than she's having it already? At that age iirc mine had theirs about 11pm and slept through till 5/6am.

Sounds normal to me. My little ones were breastfed so I didn’t tend to actually get out of bed for feeds but they both dropped their night feeds at around 6 weeks and then were back on and off until around 6 months. I just followed their lead because they’re all so different and it was always easier to just offer a feed than to try and soothe them back to sleep another way.

This is absolutely normal as they have tiny tummies. Plus most adults wake at night for a drink, this is no different. If she's waking, she's almost certainly hungry.

Plus there is a huge developmental leap at 4 months so the 4 month sleep regression is most definitely a thing

We were definitely on at least 3 feeds at 4 months so I'd say one feed is pretty amazing. Baby is hungry

I agree with the others. The baby is probably still hungry at 4 Months at night. Waking up once is bloody amazing at that age looks at the awake 18 month old on my lap

Why would you want to wean a 4mo off night feeds? She needs it and once isn't much at all.

Have you tried a dream feed?

You could try introducing a dreamfeed when you’re going to bed, around 10pm. It might give her what she needs to go all the way through without waking. Then I’d ignore any waking/small noises unless it escalates into actual crying- once we started doing this we discovered DD could actually soothe herself back to sleep. Good luck!

You should def try a dream feed. So u basically just lift them while they are sleeping and they will just down the whole thing. Don't change nappy or put lights on and don't stop to burp halfway, just burp at end. Doesn't work for all babies but we got two out of three of ours to take one. So they have bottle and bedtime routine around 7 then dream feed about 11- 11.30. That was them until 6.30 am 👍🏻

You don't. Waking at night helps reduce the risk of SIDS. Baby is only 4 months old, you are extremely fortunate it's only one wake up

I can see what you're saying OP, given she's taking so little milk in the night does she really need it etc etc. But 4 months is still very small and one wake up is pretty good, especially if she doesn't need a lot of settling. Hang on to 6 months and then start offering her water instead. Or as PPs have suggested, try a dreamfeed - never worked for me but I know it has for others.

Just as a warning - once my DD dropped her 3am feed she started waking much earlier (more like 6am) although went back to 7.30-8am as she hit 8 months.

Every child is different. Just go with her at that age. Mine dropped night feeds early themselves. First EBF baby dropped at 4 months and second baby at 2.5 months both had masses of milk (breast fed) at 7pm then just slept till morning. They liked their sleep. But neither myself of husband has ever woken up wanting a drink in the night so maybe they take after us! Sounds like you all wake for a drink as adults. I think OP that your LO is going well and you can just follow their lead.

This is totally normal for a 4 month old. Their tummies are tiny and they are likely to be genuinely hungry. I wouldn't be trying to stop this until at least 6 / 7 months if she has taken well to weaning and still having plenty milk feeds during the day

Wow, what a fab sleeper you have! At 4 months mine were still having 3-4 breastfeeds a night. They have tiny tummies. Also she may just be feeding for comfort... but at 4 months is that a problem? We all need some comfort sometimes!

Think yourself lucky to just have one wake up and to seemingly not suffered from the 4 month sleep regression.

Don't rock the boat.