1 Year Old - Shall I give up Night feeds?

[vasillisa]

DS still wakes up every 2 hours in the night for a feed (usually does take on quite a bit of milk, not just for comfort alone). I would like to stop this as I and DH are knackered (no sleep in day, going back to work ptime soon.

DS is teething like mad in the day - has been doing for months - and often refuses milk as it hurts his mouth (is on calopl a few times a day to help) so he gets a lot - some days all - of his liquid at night. Also worried that giving up at night might have an effect on milk supply in general, and hope to keep going as long as I can. Any tips or advice?

No tips or advice from me, but I'm struggling with a similar issue. DS also is not mad about solids and will sort of 'graze' most days and occasionally gorge on something.

I'll watch this with interest.

Giving up night feeds at this stage is unlikely to affect your supply. Simply feed when you want to feed him and your supply will simply match that. I stopped feeding one night around 10 months as I just couldn't do it anymore. Like your DS mine was up every two hours. The following days saw his solid intake increase massively. He was wolfing food down because he was hungry and I could see it was a good thing. I do very occasionally feed him in the night - he is 14months but only in times of real need like quite ill or something. I am currently trying to eliminate the 5am feed as really that is a night feed to and I think he is ready to sleep 7-7, give or take half an hour or so. Its so hard thought, particularly when visiting relatives and everything as they naturally want more comfort and reassurance when they are away from home.

Good luck :)

too

I would suggest neurofen during the day about 15 mins before a feed (if you can schedule it). Neurofen's a better anti-inflammatory, and when they're feeding there's increased blood flow to the gums. If they're inflammed due to teething, neurofen will help more than calpol.

Worth a try, anyway.

are you BF or FF?

Sorry, just seen your bit about supply, ignore BF/FF question.

That's a really good point PureAsTheDriveSnow - mine is teething horribly! Molars! Soooo grizzly and not sleeping well. Interesting point that Nurofen an anti-inflammatory, thanks .

ColdDriven, oops!

:)
Calpol did bugger all for DS, he teethed for weeks at a time and dropped loads of weight when he did. We had to dose him 10 mins before a feed (you could literally see it working, he'd just relax) and we'd use dentinox as well. If we didn't he'd drink for a few mins and then throw away the bottle in disgust and sign biscuits

lol @ 'sign biscuits'

not so Clearly I meant made the sign FOR biscuits.

little ratbag tike

Thanks a lot for all your advice - useful to hear from those who have been there already, got the t shirt. Don't know many mums who are still bfeeding round here so difficult to gauge what to do.

RubyBB - will feel less guilty about trying to eliminate nightfeeds now knowing milk supply is responsive to demand - and we will see what happens with solids, as he is often not taking that much at the moment.

We are using neurofen (though I was a bit dubious about going for weeks with it as it says not for long term use, the pharmacist at our local chemist says it is ok)and it is much better at relieving the pain.

I didn't know about the blood flow to the gums at feeding times, though have been giving DS a dose about half an hour before bedtime feed which has been effective in helping him have less disturbed sleep.

Is dentinox prescription only?