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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

how to stop[ a night breast fed?

47 replies

hermykne · 15/01/2005 12:11

ds is nearly 6mths and totally breast fed, i'd like to stop the night one at 2/3am, do i just go cold turkey on him and see if he settles back to sleep. he doesnt really take a good feed a this time anymore, however he still wakes for it.he has never slept thru, he wakes 6/7am for morning feed and i feel its not a great feed for starting the day. and he feeds at 10/11pm still.

he is on solids since 20wks. eek! i confess!!!

OP posts:

Socci · 15/01/2005 12:27

Message withdrawn

Original poster

hermykne · 15/01/2005 12:32

thanks socci, i kinda thought that as most people i know still b/f at 6mths have a night feed. hmmm

OP posts:

Socci · 15/01/2005 12:35

Message withdrawn

Twiglett · 15/01/2005 12:39

8 month DD .. on full solids (3 meals plus snacks) but still bf .. still wakes up at 3am for a feed

after reading mears' 'why not feed at night' thread .. I feel happier still letting her too

TBH she only feeds for 5 mins and is straight back to sleep

Twiglett · 15/01/2005 12:40

tried cold-turkey .. going in every 5 minutes and she was crying for 90 minutes .. too much for me to cope with

smellymelly · 15/01/2005 13:08

LOL - my babies are 4 weeks and I want to drop the 1am feed!!! Could never go till 6 months, hoping I can drop it by 12 weeks.

Twiglett · 15/01/2005 13:15

you can't drop feeds at 4 weeks smellymelly

smellymelly · 15/01/2005 13:17

Yes I know it was 'tongue in cheek'!!

But would definitely be trying to drop them by 12 weeks. My other 2 coped alright by then...

Bozza · 15/01/2005 13:18

But Twiglett you are not feeding at 10/11 and IIRC your DD does go to be very early. My DD still has a two course meal plus breast feed to fit in at that point! I went cold turkey on DD a few weeks ago (she's 8 months today) because as often as not she didn't have a proper feed on the morning. She now as tea at about 6.15, breast feed at 7.15 and goes through until 5 - 7. If its early she goes back to bed - if its 7 thats when the morning starts. Up to you though hermykne.

Bozza · 15/01/2005 13:20

We only had one bad night with dd - 80 mins. then 20, none, 10 etc. sorry for typing she's attacking me.

crazy · 15/01/2005 13:23

From Maternity nurse/mother, it is possible to cut out night feeding from around 7 weeks, even when only totally breastfeeding. At 6 months babies are definately able to go through the night, on a 12 hour stint.

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 13:26

6 months sounds VERY young to be dropping night feeds. Breastmilk is digested VERY quickly. She is undoubtedly waking because she is HUNGRY. Feeding her is the right thing to do. Mine didn't sleep through the night until she was about 18 months, but I never left her to cry. If you are feeling really knackered then maybe go to bed a bit earlier? Sounds obvious I know but it is definitely the path of least resistance!

crazy · 15/01/2005 13:28

hermykne, my advice to you would be to carry on with the 10/11 pm feed still, and with the night feed reduce the time you breastfeed by 2-3 mins every night until you are only feeding for literally 2 mins, then cut out completely, you will find this works. when this is successful, repeat this method on the 10/11 feed and your baby will be sleeping straight through

crazy · 15/01/2005 13:30

sorry but that is ridiculous morningpaper, you can't go advising parents to night feed until 18 months. babies will wake up as long as you are willing to feed them.

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 13:31

Crazy: I totally disagree.

Breast milk is digested in 2 hours, according to the La Leche League.

(formula takes much longer, which I SUSPECT is why my friends who used formula had babies who slept through when they were much younger!)

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 13:32

Crazy: I'm not advising parents to keep night feeding until 18 months - but I would advise them to keep night feeding if it means more sleep for baby and mum.

My daughter didn't eat many solids until around this age and I believe she only woke because she was hungry.

KateandtheGirls · 15/01/2005 13:35

My little one was still waking up in the night for a feed at that age, but it wasn't because she was hungry. It was purely habit and if I'd had the willpower and energy I'm sure I could have eliminated the night time feed. But I didn't so she didn't, and she grew out of it on her own. She was probably sleeping through the night consistently at about 10 months.

crazy · 15/01/2005 13:37

I only breastfed my baby, and she cut out her night feed at 8 weeks and is very healthy, how can continuing to night feed mean more sleep for baby and mum? cutting it out will only aid that. All i'm saying in my 11 year exp as a maternity nurse , helping mums to get their babies sleeping through the night, 8 -12 weeks is the norm, and never had to go over that.

crazy · 15/01/2005 13:39

its usually boils down to not wanting to let your child cry, and your own needs, rather than your baby being hungry

bakedpotato · 15/01/2005 13:41

i imagine if Hermykyne felt she was getting enough sleep, she wouldn't have posted this question

NotQuiteCockney · 15/01/2005 13:42

The Ferber method to cut a feed, which I used quite happily with DS1 at 6 months, is to reduce the feed, rather than cut cold turkey, and do controlled crying with it. We'd already done CC with DS1 at 3 months, so this actually worked really well.

It seems really odd, but you time how long you feed for, and then reduce it by one minute per night. By the time you're down to 2 or 3 minutes, you just cut it out. This gives the baby time to compensate for the missing feed by taking more in the daytime.

DS1 was fine with cutting out his middle of the night feeds at 6 months, despite being a fairly skinny baby.

Of course, if you're happy to feed in the middle of the night, there's nothing wrong with it.

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 13:43

Crazy: I agree that any child can be taught that it can cry and not get its needs met. I'm not sure that's a lesson I'd want to teach my children or one I'd advise others to. I appreciate that you disagree, but it's the old cry-or-not argument, and I'm from the other side of the divide!

smellymelly · 15/01/2005 13:44

I have to agree with crazy, there are plenty of breastfed babies who sleep through very early, and I intend to join mine to that list for my own sanity.

A child expecting a feed in the night at 12 - 18 months is only doing so out of habit, and it sounds ridiculous to me too!!!

NotQuiteCockney · 15/01/2005 13:44

Oh, and formula is digested in 3 hours. But you don't need to have food sitting in your digestive tract to be not-hungry - if that was the case, we'd all be eating in the middle of the night.

I wonder if formula-fed babies sleep through earlier because by the time you've got the bottle sorted, some babies have already gone back to sleep. DS2, sleeping next to me, is fed whenever he starts to grumble or wiggle, so he doesn't get the chance to settle himself back down.

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 13:45

good point bakedpot: Hermykne do you want to stop because you're knackered or because you just think you should do by now?

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