Does anyone still feed a 11 month old at night

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Is it becoming time to stop and try to encourage a full sleep through. DC2 wakes between 1-3 for a quick feed but i'm pregnant and fancy getting some nights were i can sleep all the way through...

Is it possible if they don't do it as a part of their natural rhythm?

The usual advice is that they don't need a feed after 6 months - and that it is a habit you can break by first giving water in the bottle and gradually withdrawing it.

But both mine did seem to need it, so I didn't follow this advice. To me they were still babies, and I just did whatever seemed to work at the time. Can't say they slept through until quite some time later, so you might not want my input on this one!

I still feed a seventeen month old at night! I keep thinking I should night wean properly but I dread the crying and sleepless nights that it would entail. Keep thinking she will sleep through of her own accord eventually!!

Night-weaned at 7-8 months. Dh did all the settling during the night until they slept through. It takes a few nights for the new routine to take hold.

Be warned though - just when you take a full night's sleep for granted they will wake up in the middle of the night just for a laugh.

I effectively night-weaned my 1 year old a couple of months back by getting DH to settle her but she clearly still needs a feed most nights. It's getting later and later now (5.30 a couple of mornings back) but still a need rather than a want. It's so quick and easy I'm fine with it.

A great mate basically said that she thought my approach of baby led night time feeding was wrong. To be honest, i found her attitude a little smug (she put both her kids into their own rooms by 4 weeks) and is quite hard core.

It's something that needs thinking about. I think i'll try and reduce the bottle by an ounce for a few days and see if that makes any difference.

I didn't properly night until almost 19 months - DD was feeding for comfort rather than hunger and I was the same about not wanting to to force the issue. But it became clear the feeding was no longer actually getting her back to sleep in any case, so we did some sleep training with DH going in to cuddle and resettle.
It worked.
At 20 months she's now fully weaned and sleeping better than she ever has before. Thankfully!

Good luck.

I didn't properly night wean....

Mine is 13 months and still has at least 2 feeds during the night - One of which is a proper feed, the others are just snacks he could probaby skip tbh, but he still sleeps in with us, and he knows where I keep the boobies......

Thanks for all the tales of night feeding. I was worried that i was the only one who did it.

I did feed DC one until 3, bottles after 1yr, but she was always very skinny and really gulped down her night feeds (twice a night). It took about 2 months to sort that out and now she still gets up at night and then up between 5-6am for the day. DC2 is already lightyears ahead in terms of sleeping.

Yup, what chunkypickle said. Mine is 13 months and has a good two evening feeds plus another couple during the night. (Plus another couple of times when teething etc). He can sleep about four hours at a push without a snack right in the middle of the night but that's about it.

I just gave a drink of water at that age.

This thread is making me feel better, DD2 is 4 months and feeding more or less every 2 hours at night. Totally normal I know, but have been feeling bit fed up the past few days. Good to see all your matter-of-fact responses about night feeds.

Oh and DD1 stopped making at night for a feed when she was 18 months. At 13 months was on 2 or 3 night feeds I think but I'd had to work to get it down to that.

My DD2 only just stopped her night feed at 20 months! She used to feed regularly at night while I was breastfeeding, but we stopped around 13 months and she still wanted one bottle a night. She used to drain all 7oz v quickly literally until a few months ago. If I tried offering less, or water etc.etc. it wouldn't work. I honestly believe she needed that milk. I tried increasing her food intake during the day but you can't force a child to eat more- DD2 is on the small side naturally and also very late teether (first tooth at 13 months, had only 6 teeth until 21 months) do in a way for her I think milk was more important than it was for my older two DCs. Plus I was so knackered that if a quick bottle at midnight worked and settled her back for the night I wasn't going to knock it! She's just turned 22 months now, off a bottle completely at all times of day and night, eats lots during the day and mostly sleeping through (finally! ). I think every child is different, you could try reducing a feed/cutting out a feed and if they don't take to it try a different approach or just let them have the feed! FWIW none of my 3 slept through properly until at least 20 months- may be I had got them into "bad habits" but I honestly think they just couldn't, and needed the milk/water or comfort making them wake at least once a night. Now they are GREAT sleepers (and DC3 getting there too slowly!) :)

Yes. I quite often wake up in the night and fancy a glass of water and my DH regularly drinks a whole pint glass of squash during the night. And we're 39 and 44 respectively so we would be a bit harsh to deny an 11 month old a drink

Dd is 13 mo and still fed at night. I too am pregnant, and when she reaches around 18 months (I'll be 6 or 7 months gone then) we'll try night weaning. To be honest some nights she sleeps through till 0530/0600 anyway.

I still feed DS2 (11 months) in the night, generally once, sometimes more. I don't think he's hungry, but it is the quickest way to setlle him back down, although he doesn't feed to sleep.

With DS1, I night weaned at 8 months - he still woke regardless and would take much longer to re-settle, rocking and patting etc - so I am holding onto the quick and easy method whilst it works!!

I know there is research out there that is against cutting back but my three all started to wean about a year. For us it felt like a pretty natural progression. The bit that would have felt like I was going against it would have been trying to force the recommended about of formula (equivalent in breast milk) for the child. Personally I like undisturbed sleep and I don't function very well at all with my children if it is disturbed so I did discourage night wakings for feeds and made sure they were fed and watered in the day.

If he didn't finish his bottle, i wouldn't think about it but he guzzles it down and then goes back to sleep. What's the research about cutting back.

i still bf ds 19m at night. He stopped needing it for months, but then needed it again. Sometimes he needs solids so i'm happy if i can get away with a bf in bed. Yes i do give him food during the day and evening before anyone offers this helpfull advice.

They all have different needs, and these change all the time, not always getting easier for us!

I'm hoping confident that he'll stop again when he's ready (though less confident this will be before dc2 arrives...i'm 39+3 )

I fed DD in the night when she was 17 months. Didn't stop until just before 2 when I decided I had had enough and stopped giving her milk in bottles and changed to milk in special "big girl" beakers with pictures on. Within a few days she stopped "needing" milk in the middle of the night (had been up to three bottles which was frankly a bit daft). It took her longer to sleep through but at 6 she is an excellent sleeper :)

I still feed DS any time he wakes at nearly 21 months.

He started sleeping through once a week at 13 months and only waking at my bedtime the rest of the time (all on his own, without any effort from me), but teething and developmental leaps have put paid to that in the last few months.

My first attempt at reducing night feeds got him sleeping much more soundly. The second attempt meant he woke just as often, but I had to be properly up for 10 minutes at a time to resettle him by rocking in the chair, which was hideous so I went back to feeding him (we co-sleep).

God yes - DS 10m has only just settled down to about three or four feeds a night after having been all over the place (sometimes waking every forty minutes) since birth. Can't see myself getting him off the boob at night in the near future, though his day feeds are down to 3.

11mths?

Amateur

Yeah, 16mths, still at it. Pretty normal ime.

You could do Ncss type gentle night weaning if you're knackered. Or Jay Gordon - he's good too and not into crying babies. But if yoiu are ok with it, carry on.

My DD is 11 months & we co-sleep. She used wake too often for my liking during the night for a wee comfort feed but I hated the thought of her in her cot all by herself so kept her in with us. She's now reduced her waking to only once (at 3am-ish) I give her a quick 5 minute bf then she goes back to sleep.

It's wierd though, I only tell a select few friends I do this; I can't be arsed with rod-for-back 'advice' or the 'Really? You still bf AND c-sleep' converstions I'd end up with. My mum would have a fit if she knew we co-sleep - she pulls cat-bum face at thought of DD still being our room, never mind our bed . After 11 months I'm beginning to realise most baby/toddler advice is utter crap and to go with your instinct .

Thanks OP, I feel even more stubborn empowered to keep doing what I'm doing.

I BF DD at night until she was about 16mo. I kept feeding her at night while I felt she was actually feeding rather than just using the suckling to get herself back to sleep.

I did then switch to a bottle with water in, which cut the amount DD woke up and she settled quicker. However it's only been since DD was 20+ months that she's finally regularly sleeping though. We've ridden it out and now she's on a beaker with a straw and falls asleep in the cot by herself.

Maybe try sending DH in with a bottle and just see what happens. I guess it depends what you're comfortable doing, we chose not to do any form of controlled crying and simply rode it out, but I wasn't pregnant!!