Why 6 months of age to drop night feeds?

[lpylou]

I don't understand why the guidance I see often is '6 months' or even '6-8 months'. Why?

Surely it's based on weight, and every child grows at different paces and many babies stop night feeds on their own accord much, much earlier.

I've read babies don't need night needs once they reach 12-14lbs or 5.5-6.5kg.

The week by week book which everyone swears by says 7kg.

My son was 7kg by 12 weeks, and we dropped the 4am night feed at 14 weeks, slowly dropping the 11pm feed not long after and he was fine!

Can someone tell me why 6 months is thrown around so much? Physically some babies don't need to be fed past 3-4 months over night if they're the right weight and continue to develop due to getting enough food in day. Is it psychological to need a night feed? I'm lost.

It’s for weaning bottlefed babies. Babies younger than weaning age should always be fed to demand. And breastfed babies have to be fed at least once a night for as long as you breastfeed if you want to keep up your milk supply

I stopped feeding overnight at 6 months and breastfed until 14 months. While this may be a recommendation, I don't think it's factual.

I thought it was because weaning is recommended from 6 months, but also imagine the guidance is cautious to avoid parents weaning underweight babies.

The problem with the guidance is that the babies haven't read it.

I've always taken a needs led approach - DC1 slept through 10 til 7 from 6 weeks, DC2 needed two feeds a night at 11.30 and 02.30 like clockwork until almost a year old. Both fully BF, same parents, just different babies. DC2 would take both sides in 20 minutes flat, definitely hungry and not comfort feeding!

I also had BF babies who slept through without any night feeds from 7 and 9 weeks old. No issue with milk supply.

Similar to the PP I assumed 6 months as that’s when weaning begins. Quite a bit of baby sleep and feeding guidance seems to be fairly arbitrary tbh, not sure I’d follow most of it without a pinch of salt and consideration for my own baby’s needs.

Honestly, I think it’s because parents prefer guidelines and so books give them! Much easier to say “6 months” than “when your baby is ready”. I suspect NHS gives a slightly later deadline to make sure parents keep night feeds for at least 6 months. Otherwise you might get a parent thinking their baby is ready to drop feeds too early.

My baby was breastfed 0-6 month and formula fed after that (with solids). We fed her whenever she woke up at night, and then when she was 8 months she just stopped waking up (it had been slowly dropping). But even now (she’s 9.5 months now), if she does wake up, we’d feed. It’s just not a nightly occurrence any more.

What guidance are you looking at?

I had definitely stopped night feeds by 6 months with all mine. But by 6 months they were having 3 meals a day.

Because being told to just respond to your baby doesn't sell books.

What does sell books is telling you your baby should be doing xyz at an arbitrary age, and if they're not it your fault. But it's OK you can buy this book and it will tell you exactly what to do

@CocoDC absolutely not true, night feeds are important to establish a supply in the early days, not necessary to keep it up once weaning. I night weaned my dc by 12 months but fed them both until 3.

Ive never heard of this, I just fed on demand which meant we had a lovely few months between 3 and 6 months when he slept though and didn't feed through the night. It was short lived though by 6 months he was teething and wanting to feed every hour, although mainly for comfort. I was always advised and would advise not to wake a sleeping baby.
The only exception would be a premmie or baby not gaining enough weight.
My first was premmie and when he first came out of hospital I was told to feed him every 3-4 hours but though the night I would let him sleep for longer usually 6 hours.

Well that's nonsense. MyDGS was bf for 20 months. He wasn't ever fed in the night after about 5 months

It’s for weaning bottlefed babies. Babies younger than weaning age should always be fed to demand. And breastfed babies have to be fed at least once a night for as long as you breastfeed if you want to keep up your milk supply
My babies stopped waking for a feed at night at 8 weeks.

My Babies are 18 and 14 now so it's a while a ago ,but I'm pretty sure they decided when they they didn't want a night feed

I've never heard this. We stopped at 9 weeks.

@CocoDC well someone tell my 12 week old that...he's been sleeping 11-5/6am since he was 7 weeks old. Still plenty of milk.

Gosh. Can’t even remember what I did now and my twins are only 6. I didn’t feed them on demand though. I fed them on a schedule.

I think some of these things are a little arbitrary. Babies are all different and some can certainly sleep through earlier than 6 months. I think trying to create good sleep habits generally and working toward sleeping through is worthwhile younger, you just have to keep in mind the baby may not take the bait.

It's not specifically the "night feed", IMO. It's just "a feed". And it's not a specific age; it's just the age of weaning. Around six months, most babies start to wean. Starting/increasing solids = reducing milk. Moms should gradually drop feeds in whatever order works best for them and their babies. The only advice I'd give is don't drop adjacent feeds when you start to wean (unless you plan to spend a lot of time expressing for relief) because it will likely hurt. If you can, space out the feeds that you drop to help your body more easily adjust to gradually reducing your milk supply.