Breast feeding in the middle of the night

[Twinklestar2]

My boy is 11 weeks old tomorrow.

In the middle of the night he gets up 2-3 times. I automatically put him on the boob to feed him. Sometimes he doesn't feed for long and it's like he sucks for comfort. Which got me thinking: should I try and get him back to sleep in the middle of the night without feeding?

You could do if you want to.

DD is 17 weeks and I automatically feed her when she wakes in the night. Sometimes it seems more like comfort feeding, but at this age I don't mind. She goes straight to sleep after. 2-3 times isn't a lot of night waking. Plus night feedimg is good for your supply as prolactin is higher at night.

I'll be honest, we never fed DD at night (8pm - 6am) after about 6 weeks. If she woke we'd use a dummy or another way to get her to sleep. She was always a good sleeper, ate well in the daytime and night time is for sleeping, not eating IMO.

I'd say it's up to you. For me personally those night feedings are rather sweet and snuggly. If you choose to continue, you won't make a rod for your own back or anything and if you don't, there is nothing wrong with that either.

As TheGirl says, comfort feeding is fine.

At that age (i.e tiny) it would be easier to just feed, even if he only takes a bit of milk he is probably still hungry.

It's totally your decision. Personally I fed mine in the night until he stopped which he did without any input. I found it more restful to let him feed than to try and settle him another way.

Oh hang on, 11 weeks? Sorry I thought you said months. Absolutely at 11 weeks they need night feeds, their tummies aren't big enough to go all night without milk.

Night feeding is important to keep your supply up. If he wasn't feeding at all then that's another thing otherwise 11 weeks seems very young to be worried about it. A friend of mine with twins was having issues with her boys waking but never feeding and got a sleep consultant in one night. Her tip was to roll them on their left side and pat their bums reasonably firmly which apparently soothes them back to sleep. After a week of this, her babies don't wake anymore!

Ok thanks - will stick with the night feeding... Yawn!!