Am I doing the right thing to not feed 11 week old in the night?

[pulapula]

As my 11 week old DS rarely cries (I know I'm very lucky!) I find it hard to know whether he is hungry. I tend to just feed every 3 hours in the day, then 2 bottles of EBM (7oz and 6oz) at 6.30pm and 11pm.

He has done a few nights where he has gone from 11pm until after 7am and wakes up happy.

But sometimes he will disturb me with cranky fussy noises, and I just reswaddle him and/or stick his dummy in. Sometimes he's asleep, but sometimes he's awake. He never does any "crying" as such so I assume he's just coming into light sleep, especially when its around 5 or 6am. But sometimes I think he's wriggled his hands out as he's hungry and I can hear some lip-smacking!

Am I being mean not to feed him, or is this OK? I want to get to the point where we start the day with a feed at say 7am and get into a routine. If I feed him in the night we then go back to sleep until anywhere between 8 and 9am (which is good too, although DH then has to get up to see to DD aged 2.8).

Anyone any experience of this? I'm sure he's big enough (13lb 9.5oz) to manage an 8 hour stretch but do wonder if I'm doing the right thing- would he make it clear by crying if he was really hungry? I know DD was similar to this and when we moved her to her own room, she slept through (ie I probably didn't hear all the "fussing" noises).

I know that night feeds are important in the early days due to hormone production to establish your supply, but not sure how long this goes on for.

I think if they are sleeping through naturally then it is OK to let them do their own thing ar this stage. My 14 week old DD has been sleeping for 11 hours for a couple of weeks now, and she was doing 8-9 hours from about 9 weeks. She is thriving.

Maybe you could try leaving him to re-settle himself rather than popping the dummy in and if he wakes fully, then feed him?

Someone will be along with better advice in a bit!

bumping this for the BF crowd

Is he putting on weight and seeming well and happy?
I'm no expert (just an amateur enthusiast) but this seems a bit too long a gap to me.

Also worrying implications for yuor own supply. Am I right in asuming you are not b/feeding at all from the feed before the 6:30 pm EBM feed until l7:00 am?

That is a hell of a long time to go.

If your ds is othewrise happy, ehalthy and alert, then I would leave him to sleep.

However, I would continue to expressing a lotot make sure your supply is still kept up. Also, remember the contraceptive value of bf will be affected by such a long break!

Thanks for the advice.

DS put on 2lbs over the last 4 weeks, so is doing well.

Yes my last feed of the day is 5pm, then i express at 9.45pm, but i do wake up very full but express off one side as DS usually only takes one as there's plenty in it!

I express 10-12 oz per day like this, so supply is still good.

I have no need to worry about contraceptive benefit of regular feeding, as no action going on!

IMHO id he will settle with the dummy, he's obviously not starving. a really hungry baby will not be fobbed off with anything!

My ds was similar ( lucky us) The only thing I would say is be prepared for a growth spurt when he may genuinely need feeding in the night again - v.common around 4 months.

If my ds woke up at that stage, I'd give him the dummy, or cuddle him back to sleep the first time, then if he woke again, or wouldn't settle at all, I'd feed him , as he obviously was hungry.

You're obviously doing a great job having such a settled and contented baby - enjoy him!!

I think 11 weeks old is too young to be cutting out night feeds and for getting a routine, imo.

TBH pulapula if he's putting on eight and seems happy then just go with the flow and give thanks for a night's sleep. He obviously doesn't need a night feed or he'd wake and make more of a fuss.
Lucky you - my DS took 10 months to go through the night.

11 weeks is far too young to go without a feed in the night, IMHO - he's still tiny! The time he's slept through are just probably just flukes. But more knowledgable people than me will be along soon!

My eldest once slept through at 13 weeks and we thought we wer eon our way. It is just fluke. Mine were regularly sleeping through until 6-7 months.

my ds was sleeping through from 2 weeks ;)

That was too early and so I woke him to feed him - but from about 6 or 8 weeks I was letting him sleep though as his weight gain had finally stablised. that's why I made the comment about him being happy, healthy and alert.

There are babies who sleep through from very early on

Certainly sounds like pulapula's supply isn't an issue!

I think it's fine to let them sleep - but I don't think it's fine not to feed them if they wake up.

It depends on whether the baby is actually waking or just changing from one sleep phase to another. Pulupula - you are the only one who can answer that. IMHO, if he were genuinely hungry, then he wouldn't be placated by a re-swaddle or even the dummy.

Be grateful!

(and realsie that other people will be jealous of you - there were certain people who were sufferign with thier own baby that we couldn't talk to about ds' sleeping pattern! )

Bloody hell!
Amazed at how much milk you have and how he is growing.
You must just be very very lucky.

my lo is 12 wks and is sleeping through he is on the 91st centile so obviously not starved he sleeps from 7 till 6

at all these sleeping babies - ds is 8.5 mo and still not sleeping through! i agree with all the others who've said a hungry baby will make more of a fuss, but also agree with moondog who said that it is a hell of a long for such a tiny baby to go without milk. basically, though, i would follow the babies' lead - if he wants feeding he will let you know, believe me!!

I don't think a hungry baby of this age would be fobbed off with a dummy - certainly neither of mine would be. My dd is 11 weeks and she has slept through from 10pm-7am without a feed for the last week. I am more than happy with this . If she wakes in the night I try settling her with the dummy like you do and she usually goes back to sleep. Some babies are capable of sleeping through the night at this age and others aren't - who knows why.

Thanks again.

I can see opinions are mixed.

When he is definitely in light sleep, and just disturbing himself with his arms, I don't have any qualms about sticking his dummy in and re-swaddling.

When he is wide awake, like the last 2 nights, I'm more unsure. It wasn't too long ago he was awake every night at 2am, which i think was habitual, which is why i try and resettle him now. Also because i know he can go til after 7am, i'm more determined to push him to do it again. But I'm glad to hear that others think he'd make a fuss if he was really hungry.

He's been really happy and settled today so not feeding til 6.45am doesn't seem to have bothered him.

I will just have to see what tonight brings...

Andiem and daisy- your LOs are doing really well to go 11 hours!