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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

'Babies don't need night feeds at 6 months': do we believe this, MN jury?!

147 replies

ParanoidAtAllTimes · 10/12/2009 12:44

I'm EBFing ds (5 months) and planning to do BLW at 26 weeks. He wakes multiple times in the night for feeds so I'm under no illusion that he'll magically sleep through at 6 months. Don't think I have supply problems- good weight gain and content after feeds. So should I try to get him to cut down his night feeds somehow when he's 6 months or will I be denying him vital nutrition?

Oh and I don't think he's having a growth spurt- unless they can last for 7 weeks!

OP posts:
castille · 10/12/2009 12:52

Most healthy babies might not need feeding in the night if they are taking enough during the day, but many will want the comfort and reassurance of it.

But a baby who routinely takes half of his daily ration of milk in the night will probably take a while to adjust to filling up in the daytime alone.

Whether you want to try techniques to make the adjustment or just go with the flow is up to you...

you · 10/12/2009 12:55

I honestly think it depends from baby to baby. Some sleep through from 8 weeks, some from weaning, others never really slepp through

My DD is almost 9 months and still has a night feed which up till about 1 1/2 months ago I'd have said she 'needed'. Now I'm almost certain she doesn't, she eats enough in the day and is putting on a lot of weight. However, I don't mind giving her that night feed as I'm aware it's more than just milk to her iyswim? I'm back to work in April and if she hasn't stopped of her own accord we'll try to gently knock it on the head around her 1st birthday I should think.

I'm pretty sure you'll know at the time whether your baby 'needs' the food or is feeding for comfort, and you can make your own decisions based on that.

you · 10/12/2009 12:56

x posts

anothercoldcupoftea · 10/12/2009 12:57

I've just started weaning DD2 (6 months) and took her to the HV to be weighed yesterday. If its any help, I was told that I should be aiming (gradually over a couple of months, not instantly!) for 3 x milk feeds and 3 x meals in a day. DD2 currently feeds 8 x per day (including one 'late' feed, but no other night feeds anymore thank goodness), so was a bit dubious about that, but HV was adamant that any more than that was unnecessary in terms of nutrition. She said that of course I could continue to give more milk feeds, and that was fine, but that was my choice, rather than a nutritional necessity.

I was a bit , but I've been thinking about it a bit more today, and I think the HV was basically right (although it'll be a good while before we get down to 3 feeds). Its just a real attitude shift from BF as much as possible, to cutting down the BF to introduce solids. So I guess once your DS is taking a reasonable amount of solids, then no, the night feeds aren't necessary for nutrition. However - that doesn't mean he won't wake up demanding them, and its up to you whether thats fine with you, or whether you want to try to restrict them (and whether he'll agree )

you · 10/12/2009 12:59

Just to add- if you do decide to cut his feeds down, I certainly wouldn't do so as soon as 6 months, particularly if you're BLWing. We're BLW and are lucky as our DD is a tiny baby piglet and ate lots from the word go, but lots of people have the experience that not a lot is eaten till 8 months or so, so he'll most likely still need milk first and foremost. You'll know though

anothercoldcupoftea · 10/12/2009 12:59

sorry, x posts with above - castille sums it up much better than I have!

Original poster
ParanoidAtAllTimes · 10/12/2009 13:05

Wow, thanks for responses! Ok, I guess I'll go with him and see how weaning goes...
My thoughts were that perhaps the 'physiologically capable' thing was based on the weaning from 4 months days.
In the case of him not really cutting his night feeds as he gets older, any tips on how to do this in the least brutal way?! It's really frustrating as until 13 weeks he had got down to 1 night feed (as opposed to 5 or so !)

OP posts:
tinierclanger · 10/12/2009 13:08

It just depends. I carried on feeding DS in the night till he was prob around 12 months, then he carried on with a very early morning one and a little sleep after.

I finally weaned him off his last night feed at around 2am when he really wasn't taking much milk at it anymore and obviously didn't need it foodwise. But I did it very gently by gradually reducing the time spent feeding, and then eventually replacing it with a bit of patting and stroking in the cot.

I found this really helpful, it's aimed at people who've been cosleeping but the advice is still useful even if you don't.

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 10/12/2009 13:21

By 7 1/2 months I'd had enough of feeding ds2 at night. He was on 3 meals a day and eating good amounts of a vey varied diet so I decided to stop the night feeds. We kept the 11pm dream feed for another couple of months.

It only took a couple of nights of patting and shushing and he began sleeping through - what a relief!

I really can't remember what happened with ds1!

Original poster
ParanoidAtAllTimes · 10/12/2009 14:08

Thanks for the tips! That doesn't sound too traumatic
Unless ds has other ideas of course

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 10/12/2009 14:13

I was going to recommend the Joy Gordon article too, but we didn;t use it on dd till 18m

cece · 10/12/2009 14:16

DS2 is 6 and half months old. The HV told me to stop the 2 am feed today. She siad he didn't 'need' it so I should 'let him cry it out'.

I am currently considering it...

PrincessToadstool · 10/12/2009 14:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jobhuntersrus · 10/12/2009 14:21

It depends on how much they have in the day. Try decreasing the amount you offer in the night or cut down on the time on the breast gradualy. Once you are down to only 2/3 oz or 2/3 mins on the breast I would say try cutting it out.

MrsBadger · 10/12/2009 14:23

cece - don't do it
CIO is madness for a 6mo - even the chap who invented it said don;t do it before 12m.

thedollshouse · 10/12/2009 14:24

I can only talk for my baby. At 5 months old his last feed was 7pm and he would be fed again at 7am.

ThumbleBells · 10/12/2009 14:24

I demand b'fed DS until he was 22mo. Sometimes that included night feeds. Actually more later, because we mostly co-slept (living arrangement ishoos) so it was convenient. I doubt he needed it because he doesn't now wake for a drink - he still wakes but will settle down again so long as I am there.

It's all down to what you are prepared to do. My DS has temperature ishoos as well - gets ridiculously hot and sweaty when he cries, so if he didn't really "need" a drink beforehand, he certainly did after being left to cry for more than a few minutes (he managed a whole hour once before I gave in)

mears · 10/12/2009 14:28

Maybe babies don't need feeds after 6 months for nutritional reasons but they do for emotional ones? bReastfeeding is not just about getting milk into a baby - it is about the baby's experience of being close to his/her mother and being comforted. You only have to look at a baby's face and body language when feeding to know how much they love it. My third DS was 8 months before he slept through the night. My other three children were much earlier. He just wanted that comfort. I would not cut a baby off at 6 months.

tiktok · 10/12/2009 14:29

DH is rather older than 6 mths.

He has been away for work today and is likely to get back quite late - after midnight. He will have had a beer and possibly a cup of coffee and a sandwich on the train. I know he won't be dehydrated or hungry because he will have had breakfast, a big lunch, snacks and that sandwich. So when he comes in, and boils the kettle or goes to the fridge for a coke, ready to sit on the sofa and chill for a short while, I will be quite firm and tell him he doesn't 'need' anything to drink or eat. I'll tell him he is having the tea/coke 'just for comfort' and he should learn not to bother. If he wants to greet me with a kiss and cuddle, I'll tell him the same, shall I?

We expect a huge amount from our tiny babies if we think that their through-the-night needs for comfort should be ignored because nutritionally-speaking, they should learn to have their calories in the day...and that they have to learn that lesson by being so distressed they cry and scream indefinitely, only to be ignored.

What's that saying to them? 'No matter how upset you are, your wish for comfort and closeness and milk will not be met by the people you love'.

'Cry it out' does of course work in time - at a price. If I continually ignore or belittle DH's wish for comfort, or if he continually ignores or belittles mine, then in the end the requests go away - and the needs are buried. That is not good for anyone's relationship - partners, parents, anyone's.

rubyslippers · 10/12/2009 14:33

DS - dropped his last night feed at around 6 months but i did nothing to force it to happen. He was a hungry boy and needed to feed. He was draining an 8 oz bottle at 2 am

DD - 9 weeks and feeds 2 - 4 times per night, every night. Am fully assuming she will feed until at least 6 months old. She is EBF so no idea what she is taking

Original poster
ParanoidAtAllTimes · 10/12/2009 14:45

TBH I would be quite happy doing 1 or 2 night feeds for the next couple of years if need be (I certainly couldn't stand letting him cry). At the moment we're on hourly feeds though

OP posts:
StarExpat · 10/12/2009 14:52

I love tiktok

somanyboyssolittletime · 10/12/2009 15:04

When my DSs got to around 6 months I decided I had had enough of the night feeds and prepared myself for weeks of crying, comforting, putting back to bed etc, but after a couple of nights all of them seemed to accept that there was no more milk at that time.

I didn't really force it, they were ready, but equally, I think the night feeds would have continued for a long time if I hadn't made the change.

Hopefully it won't have ruined my relationship with them forever

MrsKitty · 10/12/2009 15:11

Very well put TikTok

daisyj · 10/12/2009 15:16

I absolutely take tiktok's point. However, if you do want to try to cut down on the night feeds I would say it's worth trying just a cuddle, and seeing how it goes. That's what we did with dd (initially to restrict her to two night feeds, then down to one) at around the same age. She actually was fine with just a cuddle and happily went back to sleep with only a minute of two of whimpering (apart from those nights when she was having a bad time with teething, in which case I would give her a breast or two as well as the cuddle whenever she woke). You'll soon know if he's not ready, and it's very likely that he'll just cut down of his own accord quite soon. As others have said, tis up to you and you will know instinctively what's best - there is certainly no 'should' about it. I ought to add that we initially tried this by way of an experiment, and not to force the issue - I was quite prepared for it not to work, and to leave it a while longer before trying again.

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