Breastfed older babies - how often does YOURS feed in the night?

[cheesebaby]

So, on my third trip up the stairs yesterday evening, I started wondering how often other people's older babies fed in the night?

My DD is 13 months; I work full time and we co-sleep. DD's bedtime has always been flexible, and she's always fed to sleep. Lately she goes up somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30. She used to do a 4 hour stretch, but recently she seems to want boob every 2 to 2.5 hours, so last night it was 9.00; 11.30; 1.45 (then I went to bed ) Once I'm asleep I have no idea how often she feeds, as I don't really wake up

I am fine with all this - I like the fact that I have so much contact with her at night, but I am intrigued to know what other babies are like for night feeds?

So to sum up my question, how many feeds does your baby have during its night-time (as opposed to your night-time, if different)?

Hope that question makes sense - fuzzy brain this am!

DS is 17 months, he varies, he has periods where he is difficult to settle, then he goes back to being easier at night, back to being difficult, etc etc.

I would say on average, he wakes every 2 hours between being put to bed and me going up to bed. Although at the moment he is going longer - around 3 hours or more.

As you say I am usually asleep when he feeds in the night but I would guess that it's only about once or twice now. Me being there seems to help him go longer.

There was a regression around 13 months for us, and for many of my friends, so take heart.

My daughter is 15 months. I work fulltime, we no longer breastfeed during the day, she gets a bottle to go to sleep at night not breast, so we only breastfeed at wakeups now.

When she's in her cot, she wakes 1-2 times. If I take her into bed, it's at least every 2 hours if not more. In the early morning, she's pretty much always in there with us by then, she reattaches constantly even though there's no milk. Drives me crazy, actually, and often I'll get up, leave her in bed with her Dad, and sleep on the sofa for an hour or two. If the boobs are removed, she just sleeps happily.

DS 23 months, goes to bed(his own) around 7.30 and he will generally sleep through till about 1am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. When he wakes DH will usually try to comfort him but then he ends up in our bed for a feed and stays there. Then he'll usually feed in the early hours of the morning, say 5-6 ish. I am happy with this, like you I work full time and I like the cuddling in the night.

I think his feeding patterns at 13 mos were similar to your DDs but the acrobatic feeding would wake me up and drive me demented, so we bought him a single bed at 14mos, he never really liked the cot and now DH can do some comforting which I think has helped to space the feeds out more.

DS is 20m. He feeds at bedtime, then sometimes once in the night, before a big feed when he gets up with the larks at grumble-grumble o'clock.

At 13 months he was probably still feeding two or three times once I'd gone to bed. I didn't count the feeds between his bedtime and mine as night feeds as it was too depressing.

It does get better!

DD is 15 months - doesn't feed at all in the night. If she is ill and wakes up unexpectedly before morning then I will offer a feed to get her back to sleep, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

We don't co-sleep. Seems to me that co-sleeping babies tend to feed more during the night - well, based on my limited sample of friends and random MN threads - I could be wrong!

Almost 17 months. Not co-sleeping. Once or not at all (about 50:50 split).

14 months here, feeds at midnight ish and 5ish. Ish. Sometimes more.

cheesebaby, at same age, DS was exactly like that. In fact sometimes he would constantly be latched on in my sleep, feeding as he felt like it.

If you are genuinely happy with it (and there's no reason why you should feel you shouldn't be, I was) I would let it slide. She'll stop soon enough (DS was 22 months, with enforced cold turkey gentle persuasion).

DD is 1 year and 2 weeks. She was nursing 3-4 times in the night(that I was aware of)has suddenly jumped to 6-7 I would estimate. Funtimes

Thanks for all your replies - it's nice to know I'm not alone!

It's also really interesting the different perspectives you all have on the relationship with co-sleeping, and whether it's 'better' or 'worse' depending on whether you're there or not.

Georgimama, I would say I'm alright with it most - 99% - of the time, although we seem to be having a phase of ever-shorter sleeping intervals (one hour to 1st wake-up last night!) and taking longer and longer to go to sleep initially, which I could do without.

It would be nice, just sometimes, for someone else to do the settling back to sleep; to be able to offload that responsibility just occasionally... While she does sleep eventually for DP, GPs etc, it's not IMO worth the hassle to her or them to try when I'm around. And now I'm working again, it's nice that there is still one thing I can do for her better than anyone else

Yes I do think that on average co-sleeping babies feed more in the night, but I would rather DS co-slept and fed 4-5 times than I had to get up and go to him and feed him and resettle him once or twice - I would find that a lot more disturbing to my sleep. We are all different though

I agree entirely BertieBotts; it's not the feeding during my night-time/sleep that bothers me (because I don't wake up for them anymore), rather the feeds that happen while I'm trying to MN/watch a film/have a couple of glasses of wine of an evening

Well I had a period where DS would not go to sleep in the evenings at all, so having my evenings interrupted every 2-3 hours seems like a good deal to me

You can feed after a glass of wine or two, by the way, especially now he is older. But I would be careful if you are co-sleeping as alcohol can make you sleep more deeply.

I co-sleep with my 12 mo who wakes on average 2-3 times. I usually feed him back to sleep but actually think it's not hunger/thirst but the permanent cold he's had since November and/or teething that's waking him. Also separation anxiety comes and goes and he's also compelled to sing me Wind The Bobbin Up in the small hours, but that's another story...

Cheesebaby have you found it's got worse since you went back to work?

I stopped bf'ing DS when he was 23mo - it was just the right time for us to stop. But prior to that he would be feeding about 4 times in the night because we were co-sleeping. Between 6m and 18m, he slept in a cot in another room and he would wake anything between 0 and 3 times in the night - as he got older, it was usually once or none. But then our circs changed and we ended up co-sleeping again and he realised it was available on tap, so to speak, so started waking more. I fed him to sleep pretty much right up until when we stopped - but it was an easy transition for us [lucky emoticon]

I do believe he woke more when I was there for sure - but I couldn't get him back into the cot because he wriggles around too much and would wake himself when he bashed his head on the side/end . He sleeps in a double bed now...

he is 3, and not at all now - strict morning and bedtime only, but I think I used to feed him in the night until he was about 2 - in fact it might have even been until DD arrives at 2y4m (although between 2 and then he was sleeping through about half the time)

Cheesebaby you are a saint, my 11.5mo sleeps in her own room 8am-8pm and hasn't woken in the night for anything since she was about 8mo (having posted this she will undoubtedly wake 7 times tonight!)- I wouldn't be still sane if I was still feeding at night!

Dd is 14 months and feeds anywhere between 4 and 10 times a night.

She has never slept well! When we co-slept she woke up properly each time so it was actually more restful when we moved her out, for some reason she will now (mostly) just feed back to sleep.

Debka what a lovely post. Nice for someone to be told they are doing well rather than just told to do controlled crying/give formula/move to own room (of course nothing against these things, if you actually want to do them - just annoying as unsolicited advice!)

Lots of lovely posts - am rofl at the mental image I have of Thumbwitch's DS presiding over his own double bed!

Debka I can assure you I am far from saintly... but I do believe babies have evolved to have certain needs, and if I can meet them (especially when I feel personally they don't really cause me that much bother) I will.

THoM yes, I think we're going through a funny clingy phase at the moment; teething molars and just a spit away from walking, so there is a lot going on. I had wondered if that had something to do with frequent need for food/comfort. As for going back to work, no I don't think it got worse, but then DD is cared for by her Dad, so I think it was a relatively easy transition in that sense.

DD1 3.6 very rarely feeds at night (only if she has a nightmare really)

DD2...usually goes to sleep between 7 and 8 and feeds 5/6 times til 7am ish when she's up for the day.

We co-sleep with them both, DD1 would wake more if she was on her own, DD2 would probably wake less, but its easier this way!