When can we drop the 23.00 BF feed?

[newmum2008]

Hi everyone,

sorry if this has been covered before.

Our 3.5 month old DS currently feeds 5 times a day, a pretty classic 7 -11 - 3 - 11 type pattern.

He is breast fed.

Would it be advisable or a bad idea to drop the last feed at 23.00? He rarely wakes for it and it is usually a dream feed. How can we know if he really needs the milk from that feed? Should he have at least 5 feeds a day?

I imagine there is no right or wrong answer to this but any feedback would be much appreciated. Obviously we don't want to underfeed him but at the same time we don't want to disturb his sleep unnecessarily.

Thanks so much in advance for any help you can provide.

My DS at 22 weeks still takes the dreamfeed although since I started weaning (yes i know it is earlier than current guidelines recommend) - the amount he takes has gradually started to decrease (i express and this this feed is given by bottle so I can see how much he drinks). I dont plan to drop the feed completely until about 6 months. Otherwise I am worried that he will wake for a feed earlier than 7am.

HTH

that pattern is, i think, more typical of a bottle fed baby. i would expect a bf baby to feed more frequently than that. certainly over the next few weeks you will be hitting the 4 months growth spurt when commonly, all routines go out the window. could you try to encourage an extra feed around 5pm perhaps? then no need to wake for 11?

Hiya, I think the only way to find out is to try not giving the feed and see when he sleeps till. Our DD didn't drop the feed till she was 5 months but I know others who have done it earleir. Basically she was not waking and difficult to rouse for the feed at 11 so we tried it one night to see what would happen. First time she woke at 1.30am (not good) so we waited another couple of weeks and tried again and she slept through till 6. I don't think there's any hard and fast rules aout how many feeds they need and small babies are pretty clear about whether they're hungry or thirsty. As long as he's still having plenty of wet nappies and gaining weight he's be fine. Hope that's useful, sorry not to be more definite!