5 months and still having night feeds

[Laurawakey14]

My little one is 5.5 months and he is still waking for night feeds! Between him and my 4 year old I'm knackered!! HV suggested solids but he's not interested at all! Anyone else in same boat or is it just me? Ive had a few nights were he slept through but can't work out what I did differently on those days to ones he doesn't! Any advice/suggestions welcome x

Mine gave up her night feed and slept through at about 19 months. Your expectations are unrealistic.

9 months here still feeds usually twice on the night. He eats solids like they're going out of fashion and is 75th centipede. Perfectly normal and food will not make a difference.

Eh? Mine was 2 years before we had the full first nights sleep without a feed.

Do you mean 5 years?

He's not a centipede.

My 18 month old still have a night feed --- we're just going with the flow. He's our 2nd so we know there'll be an end to it at sone point!!

Littlelostdinosaur I just saw your he's not a centipede post appear on my TIO and had to scroll back out of curiosity! I might have to pinch 75th centipede now!

9mo DD still breastfeeds twice a night and DS still had a bottle at night until 9mo. Completely normal. Sorry.

Night feeds at 5 months is totally normal. Don't introduce solids yet, way too early and IMO doesn't make a blind bit of difference to sleep.

My almost 5 mth old wakes twice between 8pm and 7am for a feed. I thought this was good!

5 months is still very young. I imagine you're hearing other parents saying their lo is sleeping through. They're all different. My 2.5 yo still wakes at night. I panicked for a while but learned just to go with it. Developmentally they're not always ready to sleep for longer.

It's normal for them to have night feeds at this age, but I guess it depends what you can cope with and still function.

My first two children slept for 7-hour stretches from about 8 weeks old (big babies, breastfed, I was lucky).

My 3rd was a smaller baby and on the boob every 1.5-2 hours all day and night. When he got to 5.5 months - bearing in mind I had two children of toddler/pre-school age to look after all day as well - I cracked. Gave him a bottle of formula at bedtime. Not long after that he started sleeping through, or only waking once, which is fair enough.

I'm not saying this is the ideal answer, but for me the sleep deprivation meant I wasn't being a good mum to any of my children. So I'm afraid the breastfeeding had to gradually go into retirement. Maybe something to consider? Good luck.

My DS only stopped waking for night feeds around 9 months. He would still wake up after to move from his cot to our bed. It's completely normal.

My one year old still wakes and feeds every hour or two during the night and has never slept through! It's totally normal!

Hahah bath, he's
As fast as a centipede hehe. (What a TIO?!)

Mine stopped having night feeds at 8-9 months, once solids were well established, 3 meals a day. One started sleeping through once I stopped feeding in the night and the other continued waking for the next couple of years despite no night feeds!

My second baby slept through the night from day 1. I have know idea why my other 3 babies wanted at least 2 feeds a night. 2 of my babies slept right the way through from 6 months I weaned at 5 months. My 4th baby is not a good sleeper and at 23 months he still won't sleep at a reasonable time. All babies are different.

I think if a baby still feeds at night past 1 year he or she wants attention. They should get everything they need from food unless they are not eating properly. They only have small tummies so they don't need a lot.

I agree that a one year old doesn't need feeding every hour.

My almost 14 month old has at least one night feed.

I don't think people saying "my 20 month old is still waking for a feed" is very helpful. Feeding at that age is a choice and not a necessity. Toddler's don't need night feeds for the calories, they're needed for the comfort and it's the parent's choice to provide that comfort with a feed. There is no logic behind saying "my 20 month old wakes for a feed so it's normal for a 5 month old to do so." That's two entirely different things. Op, night feeds at 5 months are a necessity for many babies, I wouldn't night wean at that age. But you can look at night weaning at 8-9 months (don't expect it to magically fix all sleep issues though).

I hear this a lot, that babies don't need the calories at night from x age. Can you please link to some research that proves this (e.g. with measured blood sugar levels or similar) as I suspect that it's folklore rather than provable fact. Babies are all different and most of these "rules" just don't apply to all of them.

Re Bruffin's post with her 12 week sleepers - I was on an ante natal thread with my first. 40 women/babies. Only one slept through from four months. The rest were on a huge spectrum of when they slept through ranging from nine months to two years. All but the one I mentioned still had night feeds at five months, which of course is normal and expected.

I didn't need to night wean my first as he did it himself at 13 months. But we were co sleeping and breastfeeding lying down so to be honest, the one occasional night feed he did have had no effect on me by then. His sister I deliberately night weaned at 12 months because she had a terrible latch at night and I had a constantly lacerated nipple! Obviously 12 months onwards they are getting into toddler age and don't need the night feed in a nutritional/ calorific sense. Though it does provide a lot of comfort so I wasn't too concerned. At five months, night feeds do provide nutrition and comfort. I think also there have been research that shows weaning onto solids had no effect on sleep?

Thanks everyone! I expected him to sleep as 4 year old slept through from being 13 week - sounds like I was VERY lucky!! dylsmimi - my 4 year old is same too.
I think I am feeling sorry for myself as tired 😴, thanks for support (it's nice knowing I'm not only one up at silly o clock 😀) xxx

semaphorically do you have any studies that show that some babies aren't capable of going through the night without a feed above a certain age? A 2 year old will not have a dangerous drop in blood sugar levels if he goes without food for 12 hours. He may be genuinely hungry if he is used to having a proper feed at night. But that is not the same as experiencing a potentially life threatening drop in blood sugar levels a 2 week old could have.

The experts say to breast feed up to the age of 2 years but that doesn't mean your toddler still requires a night feed. Toddlers at that age need their sleep I wouldn't encourage night feeding. My 23 month old not sleeping at a reasonable time is my fault I pander to him too much. I need to sort myself out and start putting my foot down. Mummy needs sleep as well.