Advice on night feeds

[CSMD]

Hi

Any advice greatly appreciated- I am a first time mum and DS is 12 weeks. He sleeps from 6/7pm - 1am then 1.30am - 4.30am then 5.00 - 6am. My question is am I better keeping him up later so he will sleep through in the early hours? I know he is capable of a 7 hour stretch so should I put him to bed at 11/12 midnight? Or do I stick it out until he is able of dropping the night feeds.

Also, what are your opinions on starting baby rice at 3 months

Thanks

No to the baby rice (why would you even consider it??). Its up to you on the sleeping thing tbh

You’ll get very differing opinions on the baby rice .... mine is yes, mine all did from 12 weeks and have grown up absolutely fine - as have most babies for A LONG time. However, guidelines change all the time so you’ll get those who stick to them regardless even when they end up with screaming babies who could probably do with more calories. One size doesn’t fit all.

Keeping the baby up later ...in my experience, they just get cranky and it doesn’t really help anyway. I always kept a good bedtime/nighttime routine and they slept through in their own times (ds1 12 weeks, dd1 6 weeks, dd2 6 months, ds2 10 months).

I would go with your gut instinct. You’re his mum, trust yourself.

In what way do guidelines change all the time? It went from 4-6 months to 6 months in 2003 and has stayed there ever since. If you were to do it earlier than 6 months then the earliest recommended is 17 weeks.

I would say no to baby rice. It has no nutritional value and its better that he fulls up on milk. With regards to pattern, he is doing great. Stick with it. A lot of babies don't sleep well past midnight so putting him to bed later than this will just mean less solid sleep for him. I used to go to bed at 6pm with my son at that age so we both got solid sleep. I'm currently pregnant and plan to do the same with the next one (my son now sleeps from 5pm-5:30am) x

Guidelines changed long before that .... in 1993 it was 3 months, in 1994 it changed to 4 months .... they’re just 2 examples ... my own personal experience. Like I said, one size doesn’t fit all. They are, after all, GUIDELINES .... not set in stone, must follow rules ... simply guidelines.

He's not even 3 months old, he may well need night feeds for a very long time yet. It is normal for them to wake for milk well into their second year.

The earliest suggested age to begin food is now 4 months. There is little to no point nutritionally in baby rice and it certainly won't have more calories than an appropriate amount of milk and probably won't affect sleeping through either.

PS only 2 wakes is pretty damn good for a baby still in the 4th trimester.