Been advised by HV to drop BF night feeds?

[tulip31]

My LO is 10mths old and weighs in at 22lb 11oz. He likes to eat (everything that he can get into his hands), and likes his mummy's milk on demand, but have now been advised that he doesn't need to feed at night.

We are still feeding on demand, and he sometimes only has 1 feed during the night but other nights he can has 4 or 5. He is not my first so I know that if I left him in his cot to cry he might eventually drop back off to sleep or if I offered him water, but I have 3 other ds's that I also need to think about and I don't want his crying to disturb their sleeps. My question is - does anyone know how to discourage night feeds without the crying?

Difficult.

It sounds like he can sleep through with just 1 feed by now, so when he wakes 4 or 5 times he's just wanting the comfort. I'd give it a go maybe at a weekend when the other DCs dont need to get up for school, (although your other DCs might not even notice any crying if you are lucky).You never know 2 nights might be all he needs to master it !

I think you know your baby better than your HV, and if you think he still needs a night feed then so be it.

Go with the flow, ignore HV, let him drop night feeds when he's ready. Mine is nearly 9 months and feeds a couple of times a night (though at opposite end of centile chart - although tbh I think his weight is utterly irrelevant here. He's a baby).

And I don't think there's anything wrong at all with feeding 'just' for comfort, be it night or day.

I agree that you know your baby and what suits you both. At 10 months I still fed my ds on demand as it suited us both. In fact I still do

spent a good deal of last night feeding DS3 (16m)as he was poorly. You have to do what suits you best. Maybe he doesn't "need" it but I don't need a lot of stuff that I eat - but I still do (as probably does your HV )

Neither was I when I mentioned comfort.

Nothing wrong with comfort feeding.

I think if you can live with the night feeds, ignore the HV. But if you want to stop, it might help to know that at about that age, ds stopped waking as frequently so when he did wake at an unusual time we'd try and settle him without bf-ing first. No crying - pick him up, give him a cuddle, etc, but feed him if he wouldn't settle - however, 90% of the time he would. Then over a month or so he stopped wanting feeds when he woke - now he's 1 (today!!!) he occasionally wakes in the night for a cuddle, but is happy to wait until 5.30 or so for milk...I could obviously live with that being later, but it's better than it was...

Thanks for the replies. Was on the phone to dh, who also thinks that as long as lo and I are happy then we should continue.
The HV was saying something about him (lo not dh lol) needing more iron than I can give him through Bf?

I must sound like a complete newbie, but this is the longest that I have managed to bf so this bit is a little new tbh

snickersnack,

thanks for the idea I'll try the cuddles first approach, and happy birthday to your lo

I was also told this at the 10 mth HV visit, but when your baby is screaming at 3a, and you know a feed will shut her up and make her go back to sleep the temptation is too much
Perhaps they don't "need" a feed in the night, but if they wake up and want one do what you want. I was advised this by a wet eared childless woman and chose to ignore her.

but you're not still exclusively bfing, are you tulip? so he'd be getting iron through his food, so long as that's well balanced!

I still demand feed my ds (14m), usully only once in the night but more if he's teething/milestone waking. My HV also said he didn't "need" it but I can sometimes hear his tummy rumbling!

I eventually did ween her off the 3am feed by not pickin gher out the cot, but stoically offering water and otherwise ignoring her, but it was a horrible thing and took ages. In the end the only way i really got her to stop doing it was to stop bfing altogether at about 14 mths but I was ready to by then anyway.

Tulip- if as you say, he is a good eater of solids, his iron intake should be fine. I agree with the others who say as long as the night feeding isn't a problem for you, then there is nothing wrong with a bit of comfort feeding. (my child fed at night till she was 4!) Good luck with whatever you decide. Kellymom has some good pages on gentle nightweaning if you do decide to go that route.

PHD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

with your hv saying that about iron she is showing how little she knows about bfing. if he is eating all he is eating plus bfing, his iron levels should be fine.

@70% of the iron in breastmilk is absorbed by the gut.

~2 - 4% of the iron in formula is absorbed by the gut.

go figure for yourself.

Thank you so much for your replies. I will now carry on feeding my baby and enjoying my time with him, and basically ignore hv. Might still try the cuddles approach - I could do with some sleep

Cheers

yes it was the sleep that drove me to stop

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