4.5 mo old- when to get rid of the 11pm feed

[julantal]

i have a 4 and 1/2 mo old who is on the 7am to 7pm schedule. We have successfully eliminated the middle of the night feed (ie 2-3am) but still continue with the 11pm feed... which inturn I think allows the baby to "make it" to 7am... so here is the question.... How or When should i get rid of the 11pm (twilight) feed??? Note i wake the baby at 11pm to feed, she takes about 3-4oz and then sleeps beautifully to 7am-- i fear getting rid the 11pm feed will make her revert back to waking in the early hours looking for milk.... and i dont want that. Any suggestions?

I have a 5mo and still do the dreamfeed which keeps her going to about 4am, and only v occasionally until 7am. Consider yourself lucky

If you think that she is ready, why dont you just try dropping the dreamfeed and see what happens.

Why would you want to?

I was still doing a dream feed until DD was eating three meals a day (about 8 months) whereupon she dropped it of her own accord (refused to drink anything and got quite annoyed at being woken up)...

There's no hurry, when she doesn't want it she'll tell you...

If it's an earlier night you're after you could try gradually moving it back towards 10/10.30pm by 5 minutes every couple of nights...

Otherwise I would recommend not rocking the boat - you have a baby who sleeps through until 7am... just feel smug about that and enjoy all that lovely sleep!

db
xx

I'd say just give it a go - drop it for a couple of nights and see what happens. If she's ready she'll sleep through, if not she won't and will wake up earlier than 7am!!

I think trial and error is the only way to go - it's what we did with DS1 and 2.

I think she is too young to drop the night feed

I don't understand why people are always in such a hurry to move on the next stage

Let the baby do it when she is ready

you can only give it a go - if she doesn't go through, she still needs it!

I would think she still might very well need it - at this age she's on milk only still so there's no reason to drop it. I'd keep going personally until as designerbaby said, your baby is weaned.

I kept dremfeeding my ds til he was 8 months old! He slept through from 10 weeks and didn't see the need in reducing his feeds as he slept so well I didn't want to spoil it! I'd keep doing it tbh but it won't hurt to drop it for one night and see how you go. If she's up screaming at 3am you'll know she's no ready! At this age you're doing well to get as much sleep as you are so don't worry if she's not ready yet.

thanks i really appreciate the feedback she has started on solids and i give her some at 5pm when my DS1 eats what other times should i start feeding her at-- i feel like a forgot all about what i did with the first one!!??

No harm in seeing what happens one night though if you drop it - if she wakes early, then you know to leave it and try again in a few weeks, if she doesn't, then bingo! My DD was a different person once she dropped the dream-feed - the extra uninterrupted sleep seemed to make her much less tired the next day and much more cheerful as a result.

Mmm I'd still be feeding on demand at his point as her tummy is very small. I'd concentrate on the milk feeds and keep solids to a minimum. At this age my ds barely went 3 hours without a feed but thankfully slept from 7:30pm, dreamfeed at 11pm, then slept through til 8am but all babies are different and some need less milk.

btw, since when has a "last-thing-at-night" turned into a "dreamfeed"

how very twee

I think we stopped it for DS when he was about 7-8 months when weaning was fully established.

Think it was about 7 or 8 months. DH and me had been out and when we came in she just looked so peaceful we couldn't bear to wake her and then she slept through till 7ish. Didn't always sleep through after that but if she woke up we didn't feed her just settled her back to sleep.

Okay new scenario lets say i wait about 2 more months and i drop the feed when she starts to drink less at the "dreamfeed" and for a couple of ngihts she does well and sleeps all the way thru but then in a week or so she begins to wake-- what do i do??/ Do i let her cry it out and re-settle herself or do i physically respond and try to settle or do i feed????

i would try to resettle without the feed. if that didn't work i would feed. i just can't leave a child to cry unless it is out of temper and my attempts of calming ds down are actually making him more angry.

I stopped feeding at night DS1 as soon as he slept through at 10 mths. I figured that since he could sleep through he was obviously ready to drop the feeds so even when he did wake up I went to him but didn't feed him. He didn't really look for it either.

So in your second scenario I wouldn't feed.

WRT your original scenario, I thought the general guideline was that babies couldn't be expected to sleep through until at least 6 mths (hence the notion that you shouldn't do controlled crying before then) so I wouldn't try and drop the twilight feed.

You are doing really well to get 7 straight hours a night to sleep. Enjoy!

thanks everyone i love this website i feel such great support and warmth in your comments-- if only i lived in the uk!!!